Bought a 2 nite break in a pine lodge for up to 6 people. Deal seemed great. The very next morning rang the company to redeem my voucher. Rang 4 times, left 2 messages - no response. Eventually got through around 4pm the first day the coupon was to be redeemed only to be told that they had NO availability for the next 4 months even though I said I would take ANY day and ANY month up to middle of September (when son goes to University). I don't know how much for flexible I could have been. As this was a luxury treat for my son before the start of University it was pointless keeping it.
Rang Groupon the same day (around 4pm) after been on hold for over 15 minutes I eventually got through only to be told their computer had crashed and they would have to ring me back - surprise, surprise they never did!!
Emailed the the following day, no reply, emailed again the next day - still no reply!!
Rang customer service again, 4 days later, and guess what? - yes I was held in a queue for 18 minutes before getting through to a human being!!
They have said they will refund the coupon as I am unable to use it but this will take at least 5 working days (how come they can take your money instantly but take a week to give it back??).
The bottom line is that the coupons are "oversold" out of sheer greed to try and get as much money as they can with no regard to actual availibility.
Their customer service is non existent. If you want a refund be prepared to spend hours on the phone trying to get through to someone - at your expense!
Would never trust them again and have now unsubscribed as, if you have any sense, you will too.

Useless have now has my money and no goods, be very aware!!!!!!

Votes (2)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

annepom L. And enjoy that video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2011/04/groupon_deals.html

Please spread the word.

5/13/11  •  Votes (0)

I think i commented on Groupon.com by mistake - which I have never actually ordered from lol.

Anyway my point is still valid I feel. It is an awesome site if you are looking for a good deal, never ordered anything of any serious value but I have bought driving lessons, trips to the dogs, meals and a few treats for the other half and always been happy with my purchase.

Some items are over priced (but in these cases I simply don't buy)

Overall I love the site, I think its a great idea and a great concept.

jasonb22
jason b.
Groupon

Ordered a mattres topper that was £65 , originally £150 , bargain i thought !! Told it would take 2 weeks to deliver , 2 months later I've still not received it , I email groupon twice, no reply, but did receive an email asking what i thought of there customer service !!

Eventually got the company that was supplying the mattres's telephone number, rang 5 times, each time told someone would ring me back , no one did !! The sixth time I said my piece and spoke to someone , told they didnt have enough mattress for the amount they had sold on groupon and there would be wait, also they didnt have my correct address as the website where you redeem the voucher groupon gives you , as it wasnt working properly and not taking the full addresses.

Ive since rang up and asked for a refund, which im told will take 10 - 14 days to confirm ive not recived the mattress , and another 4 days to go back in to my account ..... im still waiting..........

Avoid , Avoid and avoid !!

my wife bought beauty treatments from Groupon and they worked out pretty cheap as compared to normal high street salon treatments. the only downside is that you have to be quick in making appointments and sometimes have to travel out of town, so in some cases deals can work out to be more expensive.

Its a con. Bought 4 air tickets to '25 European destinations' for £39 each. Fine print says taxes are payable. However it turns out that taxes, charges, fuel surcharges etc etc are payable. Flight to Berlin with the coupon on BA is £87, which is exactly the same as BA says are ALL the extras (total on BA LESS than total with the coupon). Taxes are in fact £19. Total con. Avoid.

Can be really hit and miss as to whether your going to get the deal and how good it will be. One restaurant deal I had been saving for a special occasion fell through as the restaurant did not want to honour the deal anymore, if you were happy to pay the full price you could eat there but with the groupon voucher it was a no no. The second bad experience involved a concert performance of Mathew Morrision, I paid a top whack for the best seats but upon arrival was given far inferior seats which had to be settled for. The restaurant deal groupon were ok about refunding me, though no apology was given; however the concert deal im still battling with today to get the price difference of my tickets back.

I used to think groupon was great, but my last 2 experiences has left me feeling that buying a deal from them is hit and miss and so far I havent bought anything else from them and doubt I will unless it is a truely unmissable deal.

Awful, awful, awful! I have used groupon twice and will never use again! First occassion was an offer with a cavas printing company. Getting the voucher was no trouble, however, when it came to ordering - what a shambles! The picture wouldn't upload onto the website, once this was acheived, it took the product 2 months to arrive and this was only because of many phone calls and emails to the company! People may say this isn't groupon's vault but they are using second class companies that clearly aren't equippped for the demand of groupon customers!

The second, last and recent experience, was a couple of day's ago and another canvas nightmare! Again got the code through fine but entering the code on the website is non-existance! A phone call to the company and they say give it a couple more hours - they're just uploading the codes. Two hours pass, still nothing! A phone call to groupon - the company are having issues uploading codes try in the morning. Try again in the morning and again nothing!

As I've mention before, using companies that haven't got the facilities or equipement that can cope with the demand for the short time that groupon customers use the company for. I wonder if I would have this problem if I was paying full price....I think not!

Contrary to some of the other (bitter) comments about this co. I have had nothing but success with the deals I have bought from them viz: 3 nights in Jersey; full body and head massage; lunch for 2 at a prestigious hotel. NOTE: A reminder to the businesses that use Groupon - no matter what percentage Groupon take (and presumably it is one that you have agreed to) their deal still puts 'bums on seats' that would otherwise not have been in your premises. In our instance, we ate for 2 extra nights in the hotel and bought all our drinks., not a lot, maybe but still more business than the hotel would have had had we not bought the Groupon deal.

Stop whining and read the smallpring.

I paid for two wine tasting experiences, booked a day off work, booked hotel etc for this weekend and the company cancelled the night before!
Customer service stank!

Having bought several deals I have found that if its a really good deal the response usually means you have to wait AGES to redeem your voucher. After buying a hair cut & blowdry I ended up having juniors actually do the hair cut and had to keep on at them to do as I wanted. A hotel weekend booking got cancelled 2 days before we were supposed to be going, due to 'overbooking'. A beauty treatment was done by a newly trained beautician and the waxing I had, burnt my skin badly. Most recently a 3 course restaurant meal, we were given a reduced choice of meals and then told that the steak was all gone and so off the menu. We ended up walking out due to the bad service. In our experience it seems if you have a groupon voucher you are usually given as 2nd class service. If you don't mind taking a chance the site is good.

I was very disappointed with the brazilian treatment. I bought the voucher from Groupon for £68 it was valued at £265.When the Groupon voucher was mentioned to book an appointment .The response was it's fully booked (we don't take anymore bookings, i tried all the branches same response!!!)
When i've finally managed to book an appointment at watford branch the service was appalling, i was treated very badly ,i'v e been waiting for 2 hours to be seen.! The stylist was there but other customers without vouchers were given priority. I think that my stylist was a trainee, it wasn't a professional cut , neither the treatment was done properly . why are these vouchers sold if the customer is treated in this way .
i won't recommend anyone to buy tthese vouchers and me personally i won't return to any ginger group salon after this bad experience.

Votes (1)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

annepom L. Same bad experience, with Spa vouchers.

Just discovered that fantastic documentary BBC made about Groupon. Made my day. I want to spread the word as much as possible. Groupon deserves to fail UNTIL they start being less greedy and more quality focused.

Enjoy it and spread the word:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2011/04/groupon_deals.html

5/13/11  •  Votes (0)

Supplier wouldn't honour the voucher from Groupon.

Waited for 10.5 minutes on the phone then got cut off without any answer.

Rubbish.

Votes (1)  •  Comments (3)  •  Link to this review

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annepom L. Get refunded! Write to support@groupon.co.uk and ask for a refund. :-)

Enjoy this video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2011/04/groupon_deals.html

5/13/11  •  Votes (0)

Paul E. If I get a refund, does that make everything OK then? Of course not. Apart from the emotional sense of disappointment, they have cost me money and time in chasing the refund.

5/13/11  •  Votes (0)

annepom L. Completely agree with you. Why do you think I am writing this here? I got a very bad experience with Groupon too, with vouchers for 0 Spa that i tried to book for months, and with vouchers for Rich Wellbeing. I want to spread the word about this fantastic video of BBC everywhere I can on the web. I want people to be aware that Groupon until today is a looser. No, it doesn't make everything ok. Get refunded AND spread the word against them.

5/13/11  •  Votes (0)

My partner booked herself a pamper session at Sophisticuts @ Beauty, Body and Sole in Topsham Exeter via a Groupon offer, she was the 7th person to book this offer, we received an email late last night to say that unless you have already booked your coupon has been cancelled and you can apply for a refund. this was due to an administrative error! We tried calling the company concerned and they cannot even be bothered to talk to you there is just a recorded message telling you its Groupon fault. Is this company so incompetent they can not organise themselves. Groupon even changed the treatment halfway through the offer. Maybe companies dealing with Groupon need to oraganise themselves better as they are dragging their name through the mud......Unless it is Groupons fault in which case you might have well applied for a ticket for the Olympics or by a lottery ticket, the same system seems to apply.

Votes (1)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

annepom L. watch this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2011/04/groupon_deals.html

5/13/11  •  Votes (0)

I purchased a Groupon voucher for O Spa. It appears that the company (O Spa HQ) are no longer trading. Groupon cannot be reached by telephone and do not answer my emails

Votes (1)  •  Comments (4)  •  Link to this review

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T N. ooh, i think you meant to give it a lower rating then.

5/9/11  •  Votes (0)

joy c. Yes, sorry of course I meant a very low rating. Currently as I paid on VISA they are investigating

5/10/11  •  Votes (0)

T N. well let us know how it goes!

5/11/11  •  Votes (0)

joy c. Have to say, Groupn have redeemed themselves. Emailed me today with an apology & are refunding my account

5/11/11  •  Votes (0)

The customer service from groupon (UK) is horrific. Dealing with them is a nightmare, they go out of their way to employ the most unhelpful, incompetent staff I've ever encountered. Please google, hurry up and bring google offers to the UK so that I don't have to deal with these monkeys!!

I tried out Groupon about a year ago and bought two vouchers, one for a discounted meal in a wine bar and one for a meal at a central London restaurant. Both went ok.

Then I bought a couple more and that is when the trouble started. One for a cleaning company who were obviously so overwhelmed with the number of vouchers sold that they couldn't accommodate my request for an appointment until two months after the expiry date (which wasn't that helpful - I wanted to book the cleaning service between Christmas and New Year) and one for two hypnotherapy sessions.

The cleaning company eventually requested that I get a refund from Groupon and Groupon were fine about this but gave me a credit for my account with them. I said I wanted a cash refund and they were fine about it but this was for very little money.

The hypnotherapy was considerably more expensive (well over £100). My first session was not very impressive but I decided to take up the second session to see if the reinforcement of the message would work. The therapist told me that she had experienced great difficulty in getting through to Groupon to offer her services and it had taken a while to set up the account. She also told me that she had bought a Groupon voucher for a service from a beauty salon and when she went for the appointment, the owner told her that Groupon had sold 2000 vouchers for his very small salon.

I left the session with a follow-up appointment fixed in my diary. On the day of the appointment, the therapist texted me to say she had flu and needed to cancel but would be back in touch with an alternative date. Never heard from her again.

This time when I tried to contact Groupon to ask for a refund, I had a great deal of trouble getting anyone to answer the phone and my emails went unanswered. I plugged away and finally got a response from them. Groupon again tried to refund me with credits for my account but by then I decided I didn't want to use them again so I requested a cash refund and I got it.

For me, the moral of the story is a) you may be better off buying inexpensive vouchers from them, b) you should contact the company offering the service straight away or they may not be able to accommodate you, c) don't assume there is any quality control at all - I don't think there can possibly be, given the amount of merchants they use - so Groupon are selling vouchers for services and goods they have not road tested at all and d) don't accept credits to your Groupon account if you don't want them.

As a business they promise you the earth and change with the wind. All that matters to them is cash so no projections of sales, no proofing of ads or attention to detail and they promised us we would be on sites that were not even live. Ripped up commitments made to us months ago on a whim and say if you don't like it get lost. Takes 5 working days to get the money - better places out there- why give them 40% of earnings for doing nil and their people are arrogant wideboys who need to be given manners on them. You would think after Watchdog slating them on BBC1 recently they would make an effort to change their tune but hey no - avoid them whether you are a business or a client

Votes (1)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

Sam S. I Have to agree with this, as a business who has run deals with them, and yes we certainly reached new customers Groupon as a company have treated us very badly since. We also had issues with the ads, we didn't receive any proof to OK with them, they added things which we had never mentioned and weren't possible to offer and moaned when we insisted it had to be changed while the deal was live. They take weeks to reply to emails or calls and then 'it's someone elses department' We have worked around the Clock to make sure our calls/emails from the voucher purchaser's were answered, Groupon's attitude stinks, as you mention when they want to run a deal they cannot do enough for you but as soon as it's run they go and hide. Living Social, KGB, Moneysupermarket local deals - All much better/nicer to work with and as soon as people start realising that Groupon will be in trouble.

10/17/11  •  Votes (0)

I took a GROUP ON voucher for a o spa treatment in London and ended up having one of the worst spa experiences I ever had...i took a group on voucher for a package of 3 treatments for riverside o spa (in nuffields health centre)...the receptionist showed so much attitude that I was wondering whether I came there for free...I was shown my room which was more like a warehouse converted with unpainted wall and I wanted to ask them whether they know the importance of ambience in a spa...and then I was said the most important thing - that most of the treatments mentioned in the groupon voucher was not available!!...they provided me what they can do, in which except for back massage rest everything was for the name sake...i just wanted the whole thing to end asap since on top of the building there was a train station - everyt 10 mnts a train will go and the whole place will shake as if it was an earthquake...i felt like I was looted after the whole experience...never again o spa and never again GROUP ON also as they clearly cheated people with this package!!

I am horrified by the Business Model. Buying these discounted vouchers runs the risk of putting good, decent hardworking people out of business.

When Groupon sign a business up, they expect the business to provide a good deal. Say 70% off. Then you buy a voucher, and they keep say 50% of that, leaving 15% of the original cost to cover wages, materials used etc. Let's say £7.50 for a £50 treatment, service or whatever. Thinking of a hairdresser: Heating, lighting, water, shampoo, conditioner, wages, and I bet you want a coffee too. I'm not surprised some of the businesses mentioned in this list take their phone off the hook!

The salesmen can be pretty unscrupulous too. They don't advise that as a business you could put a cap on how many vouchers Groupon will sell, or that it it could be within a certain timescale. That could HELP a business. I suspect they are more interested in commission.

I can't really see where they are adding value here. We're on the edge of that double dip recession, and here is a company adding no value, if anything pushing businesses over the edge. PLEASE, DON'T buy a Groupon.

Votes (1)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

Wendy O. We 100% agree with your comments. We have just had a Groupon offer go on line, it was put on their website within days of our meeting with the Rep. They designed the costs and I just went with it because week day evening are pretty quiet. My husband is more business savvy than me and would have worked out that we were making a loss with the offer and stopped it from happening, but he wasn't sitting in on the meeting. Anyway, it went ahead and we sold 956 vouchers in 24 hrs, which we then stopped, as we realised it was getting out of hand. They wanted to carry it on for another 2 days, at least. It was a 3 month deal. We only have 16 tables in the whole pub. With 4 tables set aside for Fri/Sat night each and excluding Sundays, that's 14-15 tables needing to be filled every day. Leaving us hardly any room for profit making regular custom.

We have changed our answerphone message to click straight in and advise people to get their money back if they want to come at the weekends. No-one seems to want to come in the week.

Luckily we have given Groupon no money and feel that we have a right to advise people to get a refund. We don't get paid by them until we put in 2 codes. They are raking it in and making more money from the interst earned.

Regarding Customer Service- from a business point of view they are unavailable to us too. The whole thing is a pile of CR*P! My mistake and I've learnt from it.

11/6/11  •  Votes (0)