On the 30th of June this year I purchased 3 products from groupon for a total of £320.

Now more than a month later i have none of them and am still £311.98 out of pocket.

I purchased a pair of earings but the next day it was just refunded - still being sold on the website so purchased again and refunded again - neither time did i get any explanation and the product was still being advertised for sale.

I purchased a pair of shorts for £11.99 the listing stated please allow up to 7 days for delivery, after 2 weeks i tried to contact groupon about the item... The tracking showed it in transit and still within the delivery window so i could not raise it with groupon, after 4 weeks still the same and then all of a sudden it has disappeared from my live purchases and cannot raise anything into group yet i have not received either the product or a refund. M

The biggie - i spent £299.99 on a garden furniture set. After about a week it hadn't arrived so i went online and saw that there had been two failed delivery attempts (both dates i had been in all day and no card had been left by the courier) i called the courier and arranged another delivery attempt.

On the day of delivery I noticed a courier outside a property about 5 down from me, as i started to walk towards the van it drove off... So i quickly got in my car and caught up with him... He had my furniture but only had the road name and an incorrect mobile number!?!? (i do not know how as both are correct on my groupon and what i gave the courier over the phone)

So finally i had received my item - but this is where the fun started.

As i started to unpack it i noticed some of the components were wrapped in plastic bags and some were not... I had already noticed a few little bits of damage but not too major and repairable so i continued to construct the furniture whilst taking pictures of the damage. I then got to the 3rd/4th chairs and found they had very significant damage and were unusable... That's when i stopped constructing and started checking all the boxes... It became clear that every component in plastic was fine every one not in plastic was damaged.

It appears to me that what I received was a collection of new components and returned/faulty/damaged components.

See pics attached for an idea of just how unfit this pile of junk was. I have only put a handful of pictures on here for an idea - there was 11 pieces of damage that i found.

I contacted groupon and sent 13 pictures... Two days later they offered me a £40 refund off the £300 cost!?!?! I explained that it was unusable junk and either wanted a replacement or refund. Two days later they offer me an £80 refund!?!? I explained it was unusable and wanted a refund... Two days later they told me to send it back to them for a full refund. Their courier collected the items on 25/07 but as of yet (a week and a half later and well over a month since the purchase) I am yet to receive a refund.

Groupon? Groupong more like this company stink and treat customers like turds on their shoes.

I urge people to look beyond the shiny website and what appears to be great value for money and consider what an awful organisation lies beneath.

Disgusting company with no values. I purchased a KARCHER 4K pressure washer. There was no reference to it being a REFERBISHED ITEM. I have screen shots to prove it. £122 36% off compared with Argos it said!
I paid through PayPal and of course PayPal provide the address for the seller. Days later I wondered why it had not arrived so I checked the tracking which advised that parcel force didn't have enough of the address to deliver the item. Groupon had missed off the first 2 lines of the address! I took a look at My Orders on the groupon page and noticed that REFERBISHED had been added to the details on my order. Both the screen shot of the original advert and my invoice emailed by groupon made no reference to the item as REFERBISHED!
I imidiatly contacted PayPal to report a claim and contacted Parcelforce and instructed them to return the item to the sender. I also contacted Groupon with my findings and complaints!
PayPal have been amazing, Parcelforce did as instructed and Groupon couldn't be bothered to respond however they did change the advert adding REFERBISHED to the item!
Groupon did finally email 2 days later offering Groupon credit £122! Why would I accept that as under distant selling your entitled to a full refund provided you notify the seller within 14 days. I received a second email advising my request had been passed to payments team but no apologies for the deceitful underhand and downright illegal behaviour from Groupon!
Pay Pal have closed the case in My favour and are issuing a full refund. I WILL NEVER USE GROUPON AND WOULD URGE NO ONE ELSE! If I could have I would have given ZERO star rating!

Lost in transit!
I ordered and paid for a rug from the site which had a 7 working day delivery time. On the 8th working day i called the so called 'customer service department' who could not help me. I asked to speak to a manager to be told that they would get a manager to contact me and i would hear back from them in 7-10 working days! It has been well over a month and still no call from a manager. What a surprise!
I have had numerous online chats trying to sort out the issues and no-one could tell me what they were...
I received an email this week to say that my goods were lost in transit but its OK because I can have Groupon credits to the value of my order... Are they expecting me to thank them for my credit refund? This would mean that I would have to order from them again and quite frankly I would never use Groupon again, not while i still have a hole in my a***.
They are coming across as crooks who take your money and do not provide the goods, their customer service is appalling and do not have a clue what they are doing or even how to apologize...
My reply to their email is below which may give you some idea of the frustration that this company will quite happily leave you with...!

Good afternoon,
Lost in transit!
This is really not good enough! I placed an order with you for which you did nothing but mess me around with, I have waited weeks and had absolutely NO help from your customer service department, despite me trying time after time.
I require a full refund back to my card on which I paid for the item and will NEVER EVER use Groupon or recommend you again.
You have caused nothing but inconvenience and anxiety to me regarding this purchase and your poor excuse for customer service and apology are nothing short of embarrassing. You should be ashamed of the service you have provided to me.
I am out of pocket, having to go to a shop to get a rug in time for an event at my house which has cost me money and time! Not to mention my time on the phone and online trying to sort YOUR problems.
I will ensure that this sequence of events is posted on Twitter as well as review sites to advise anyone else thinking of purchasing from a company with such appalling CUSTOMER service.
You have been absolutely no help and I am utterly Disgusted.
I would appreciate a response, however will not hold my breath given the service you have already provided!

LET THIS BE A WARNING TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PURCHASE FROM GROUPON... IN MY OPINION, DONT!

Really bad customer service

Find attached copy of my discussion with Groupon. See what you think

I have just viewed a mattress on Groupon where the offer price for a King size is £259.99. I can find exactly the same mattress on Mattressworld for £189.99 yet you are claiming that this is an offer. Can you explain

[Ahmad B.]
Thank you for contacting Groupon. My name is Ahmad B.

[Ahmad B.] Hello I'll be assisting with your query today.

[Dal Hello, can you please explain your price

[Ahmad B.] Regarding this issue, We at Groupon UK doesn't guarantee the cheapest price on our deals. If customers manage to get a better deal, they are welcome to purchase from their own source.

[Dal This is a standard explanation. Groupon market themselves as a discount site yet this item is £70 dearer on your site. This is not an explanation. I purchase from you on a number of occasions but failure to provide a reasonable explanation will result in my closing my account and posting various reviews to warn people of your pricing.

[Ahmad B.] We at Groupon UK offers customers with wide variety of deals and we are from time to time analyzed and provide the most competetive price. However, if you have further feedbacks to improve our services to customers, you may forward your concerns to *******@groupon.co.uk. We do take our customers opinion seriously. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

[Dal] Yet again a stock response. Yopur responses do not show that yopu take customer opinion seriously and you will see on review sites that I have already begun the task of advising others of the Groupon rip off.

[Ahmad B.] What would you expect me to respond to you Dal? Please advise.

[Ahmad B.] It's not my place to answer to your question. You may forward those queries of yours to our specialized team email that I provided to you.

[Ahmad B.] If you expecting me to give you a further reduction of the pricing, I'm not authorized to do so as well. So, please, kindly advise me how would you like me to respond to your questions?

[Ahmad B.] If you can; t accept my answers, I believe that I'm unable to assist you personally this time.

[Ahmad B.] I apologize on that.

[Dal] You need to make up your mind. On one hand you how you should respond and then you tell me that I need to contact someone else. Youer responses since are nothing short of disgraceful and lacking in customer service. I will use these to advise of my discussion with you on review sites. For the record I am not looking for a discount on a mattress just an explanation which you fail to provide.

[Ahmad B.] I believe I've already provide you with the answer, however you do not want to accept it.

[Ahmad B.] I'm sorry to inform you that due to this "personal attack" on me. I will need to end this conversation. Thank you for contacting Groupon UK!

The operator has ended the chat. Thanks for contacting us.

I made my first ever Groupon goods order for a dressing table and a three piece bedroom furniture set. I made it especially in time so that my mum, who works at a school - would be able to wait for the delivery as she was off work. The delivery stated 7working days, i tracked the delivery every day after the order just to see what day my mum would have to wait in.
Six days after places the order, I tracked it only to see the error message - due to unforeseen circumstances your order has been cancelled.
I then rang customer services, after waiting 15minutes I got through to someone I can only describe as a puppet. She had absolute no idea what was going on and originally told me my order had been cancelled due to my address being incorrect- I checked the order and my address appears as stated on my bank statement - sorry not falling for that one. So then I said ok I've now confirmed my address even though I've wasted 30minutes on the phone and now have to organise for someone to be at home for the delivery - I will do that so when will it be? She then informed me that I can't have the delivery as the goods are no longer available. At this point I asked to speak to a manager as I had been obviously lied to- please note at no point was I emailed that my delivery was cancelled it was only due to me tracking my order.
The girl came back and told me there was no manager available and I would have my full refund in 5-7working days (even though I need it to buy furniture) obviously I was not happy with this at all.
So I was made to wait on hold for 1 hour until a 'supervisor' named Jeffrey could me bothered to come talk to me. I explained I had been on hold for an hour, been fed some rubbish about my address being wrong and basically sold something that wasn't in stock to the value of £250 were not talking £20 here. He basically told me there was nothing he could do and I would have to wait up to 7working days for my refund. So basically I have given someone £250 for 16days to receive no furniture and be treated absolutely appallingly - I am actually really disappointed as I was a big Groupon fan but in no way shape or form will I myself or any of my family or friends be dealing with them again.
I'd just like to point out I have worked at a customer services department for an online store and it doesn't ever take upto 7working days for a refund they could transfer it straight away if they wanted they just want to keep your money for as long as possible.

Below is the correspondence and an interesting link to a newspaper article where Mr Blanga made all kinds of promises. Has he improved the service of Groupon? I'll let you decide! (I've had no response from him at all!)

Dear Mr Blanga

Further to my email (copy below), I am still awaiting a response from you.
I rang Groupon again yesterday (Wednesday 22nd July 2015 on *******2373) and spoke with Dexter. He informed me that my complaint had been 'escalated' to another department.
When I asked to be put through to this departments he informed me that he could not do this.
When I asked to speak to a supervisor he put me on hold and then returned stating they were all busy on calls.
When I asked for a call back he told me they had no outside lines so no-one was able to make outgoing calls.
When I asked if I could have an email sent I was told that they could not send emails.
When I asked about my order he replied saying that they only had limited stock and that I would either get my order or be given a refund! He could not tell me which, and he could not put a time frame on this.

In short, Groupon have taken my monies under false pretences by advertising goods (which they still are) that they are ‘not sure' if they have! The customer, in the meantime, is to wait for Groupon to either deliver the goods or give a refund, but the customer is not informed which, given NO time scale and is expected to wait in ‘limbo' while Groupon keep hold of their monies, therefore preventing them from ordering the goods elsewhere.
I found an interesting artice online:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-*******/The-inside-story-Groupon-refund-policy-exactly.html

Where you have stated that changes are being made so have cpoioed the editor into this email.
I formally request a response to all the points I have raised and yet, again, request what Groupon intend to do about this since they have my monies and have NOT delivered the correct order.
I look forward to your response.

Alex

From: Alex
Sent: 20 July 2015 18:37
To: *******@groupon.com
Subject: FW: Appalling Customer Service. Taking monies and not delivering the correct goods. Stating that Delivery has been made when it has not.
Importance: High

Dear Mr Blanga
Please find below an email I sent regarding the poor service of Groupon.
I rang today at 16:45 and spoke with Rona on ************** to voice my concerns that Groupon have sent the wrong parcels and that, despite my NOT signing for the package, have labelled it as delivered. This is completely untrue and Rona promised me that she would escalate the complaint. She gave me a reference for the telephone conversation: ***
She told me that she was unable to send an email while I was on the ‘phone, but promised she would send one within the hour. This was 2 hours ago and I am still waiting for the email.
I have asked for a date for when the delivery I have paid for will arrive, but Rona could not answer this question. I would, therefore, like to know WHEN I can expect my goods and what Groupon will do regarding the interest I am now paying on my credit card for goods that have NOT been delivered true to a mistake by Groupon?
I look forward to your response.
Regards
Alex

From: Alex
Sent: 18 July 2015 09:05
To: *******@groupon.com

Subject: Appalling Customer Service. Taking monies and not delivering the correct goods. Stating that Delivery has been made when it has not.
Importance: High

Dear sirs
Reference: ***
I ordered a Peru VA Large White Gloss with LED Kit from Groupon only to have a black and white one delivered. When I checked my order, it said black and white, but had a picture of a white one thereby leading the buyer to think they were ordering the correct one. I rang Groupon since the order was signed for by someone other than me. I have arranged for a collection for this one.
In the meantime I ordered another one ensuring it was the correct one (I have the order on my phone) however, when it arrived today, it was Black and had no LED kit. Needless to say, I have NOT signed for their delivery so I am at a loss as to why Groupon have put it as delivered when I refused to take delivery and made a note on the paperwork. Is it usual to take money, make no delivery and yet put that the delivery was made? Is this legal?
I have now had £249 taken TWICE and still no goods! Below show what I ordered and what I agreed for money to be taken for. I did NOT agree for money to be taken for a Black unit WITHOUT LED which is not only incorrect, but cheaper. I feel my money has been taken under false pretences.
I feel that groupon are very quick to take monies but not so good at delivering the goods or returning money. Please advise as to WHY Groupon have labelled my delivery as delivered when, the truth is, it is with the delivery people. Also, WHEN the correct item ordered will arrive!
It greatly concerns me that a company take money, lodge that they have delivered an item despite the customer NOT having signed or taken delivery and leave the customer out of pocket and with no item.
I have only used Groupon twice and both times they have got it wrong. Our Operations Director was talking to Groupon a fortnight ago about using them for our business and due to the poor service I shall be advising him not to as we have a good reputation and I do not want our customers to be subjected to such a poor standard of customer service.
Please advise what you intend to do about this. Should I not hear from you within 5 working days, I shall be taking the matter up with Trading Standards.

Regards

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.