GrouponReviews 5,287

My initial reaction when discovering Groupon was this must be scam. Discounts which sometimes exceed 90% surely is too good to be true. However, I have since determined that this isn't the case. There is still some question marks over how Groupon gets such good discounts and still manages to make money but I can see three reasons why. Firstly Groupon can presumably get discounts through bulk buying, secondly many companies must offer to give discounts to Groupon in exchange for the publicity and finally some money must be made from people who purchase activities off of the website and then don't use them.

Sure Groupon may have some good deals (after they rip off the merchant that is providing that deal), but once in a while, they make mistakes in the terms of the deal, and then try to cover it up later by changing the terms even after people have purchased it.

I've had this happen to a recent deal that I purchased. The terms were changed on the Groupon AFTER I had purchased it. It is obvious what had happened just from reading the Question and Answer page for the deal, where most of the concern is the term that was changed. Other customers on the same page had comments such as: "Hi! I bought this groupon maybe 2 hours ago, and I'm pretty sure the guidelines didn't include the "sun-thurs visits only" until now when i checked the site again. Why is there a sudden change in requirements that wasn't in place when I bought the groupon initially? And it looks like the question above me asked about the Fri/Sat usage and someone from Groupon replied that it is valid for fri/sat visits (and didnt comment about the $20 surcharge)... ".

Reading some of the other reviews of Groupon, it's not the first time that it has happened:
http://www.missmouthy.com/2011/03/09/groupon-buyers-beware/
http://www.hellopeter.com/take2takealot/complaints/changing-the-fine-print-on-a-groupon-offer-*******
http://www.retaildoc.com/blog/groupon-worst-marketing-business/

In the end, I sent an email to Groupon's customer service and they will probably refund it, but changing the terms on a deal hoping that people won't notice their original mistake is just plain shady. Shame on Groupon!

I would not recommend Ideeli to anyone. Customer Service who seem to be hired guns, with polite typical answers. They email you to let you know they're working on your issue... then, you just don't hear from them. My package is lost in the mail, and even with a tracking number, no one seems to have ever heard of it... not even the usps. I simply want a refund for my items, but wouldn't you know I'd have to return them... well that would be hard considering I never received them. This website seems to be a scam and I am horribly disappointed that I didn't receive my items. I wanted to like Ideeli and give them my business... but if I were you, I'd stay away. There's a reason there are so many issues below.

I was so excited to use ideeli because I have had such great experiences with Rue La La and ideeli seemed to have more options and more daily "boutiques". So when I ordered my first purchase, I didn't expect to have a negative experience.

I ordered this transformer dress and I was so excited for it, until it came. The material of the dress is horrid (which I can't really blame ideeli for since they didn't make it, but they are selling it), but more frustrating is that they didn't include instructions on how to tie the dress to make the abundant styles that were shown on the website. Without instructions, I have absolutely no idea how to make any styles with this dress. I looked on the website and saw that previous buyers had also requested instructions months ago, and yet there are still no instructions. Further, the dress is just kind of crappy. Not only the material, but since I got a patterned version of the dress, many of the styles I've attempted to make mean that the panels look awful since the pattern is only one-sided. And, the dress is see-through.

I've decided to return the dress, which means I'll get store credit and which means that ideeli gets a $10 donation of my money (used for shipping), that I don't get back. Now, I know that shipping a dress does not cost $10. I have paid that much for shipping on Rue La La but was never bothered because I've never returned anything because everything I have ordered was WELL MADE (because, if this transformer dress were made really well - I would probably keep it, even without the instructions). I've never been dissatisfied with Rue.

Add to that, the friend that recommended ideeli to me recently bought a watch on the site. Within 2 weeks, that watch had fallen apart. So now I'm extremely hesitant to order anything from the site except that they will only give me store credit for the return. Ugh. Well, I've learned my lesson. I get to spend $50 credit on something I don't really want (because, if I wait, I'll forget about the site and the credit) and ideeli gets a $10 donation of my money because they sell a crappy product. Awesome. Definitely would not recommend ideeli.

Paid £450 on July 14 for 2 memory foam mattresses which I still haven't received [now October 23]. Contacted Clouds who eventually emailed me back to say my order had been lost in transit and promised to despatch my order and reimburse delivery [£50] - I have received neither!

Contacted Groupon who said they would issue a credit note valid for 6 months - Don't think I could spend £450 in 6 months - don't want to buy things for the sake of it but can't afford to lose it either

Over 45 days so paypal not interested - not sure where to go next!

This sucks! :(

I loved shopping with ideeli... I got myself a gorge pair of oscar de la renta sunbglasses. I ordered them on a thursday and received them in a week... There shipping was less than hautelook... and arrived right on time. I also got to speak to someone on livechat because i had concerns about the fit of the sunglasses... afyter explaining that my face was round and i wanted to malke sure they were oversized sunglasses that would fit my face ( i gave her a good idea of the size and hsape of my face and she did the best she could do with that). She took her time and gave me her honest oppinion. I got the sunglasses and they fit perfectly. I honestly had a great experience with them.

I love this site! I have never had an issue with any purchases, no snags in shipping, and only received top quality items.

Every order made has been processed and shipped very quickly. The prices are amazing for top quality, genuine items.

I've been shopping with ideeli for years and never had an issue. Most recently, I bought three dresses and a pair of shoes valued at a total of $650 for $80 plus shipping. Great items from the Red Sale and Thinkfast Sale and super amazing prices!

Shipping has never been a problem and Jason F. Is super helpful at answering my dumb questions.

Great job ideeli!

I have a friend who orders a ton on ideeli and is very satisfied with them. I'm been a member for a while but it took me a while to purchase something. Then I finally did and so far I'm very happy - all items but one fit and I was contemplating sending it back but then ended up altering it. I had 3 orders so far, still waiting on the last 2 items, but the rest is perfect! The shipping was exactly according to the guidelines posted for the item - all items were new, correct size and very good quality. Overall, I'm very happy with ideeli.com and will order again! Too bad my 1st row membership expired :(.

No offense, but the majority of people who are having trouble with Groupon did something faulty of their own. I've used Groupon three times: to get 50% off concert tickets and to get 50% of two different restaurants. I read the fine print on all groupons, did research prior to buying, and thought about it for half a day before committing.

Most of these people complaining are people who are completely ego-centric, needy, spontaneous or downright careless with their money. It annoys me that there are so many STUPID PEOPLE out there. So many MINDLESS CONSUMERS. If you didn't read the fine print, if you didn't do research on the business you're buying the deal for, if you didn't realize you be short on money this month and get buyer's remorse, guess what? Too bad.

Long story short, stop blaming an internet website for your own dysfunctional god-complexes. As a very careful and responsible adult, I've had a great experience with their deals.

Unfortunately, I have not had a good experience with this place. It's actually a bit of a joke. You order something, you pay for it, plus you pay shipping then you may or may not get it!? I ordered a dress and a pair of flats to go with it. ONE month later I get an email that first: I will not be receiving the flats, and second my dress has finally shipped! Why would I want anything a month later especially after I was told that is was on its way weeks ago? They must be making a huge profit on shipping because it always takes 6-10 Business Days, so when the item ships you will still have to wait 1-2 weeks for the delivery. If I paid Fed Ex 10 dollars I would have the item in 3 business day! Ideeli claims they use UPS but they don't, you get a message saying "delivered to a local post office". Each time I get a UPS tracking number and USPS ends up delivering the item a week or two weeks later. I finally got fed up with this and contacted customer service. Her response was a shrug; sorry we cannot do anything about our vendors. This is unacceptable. I paid for shipping I should get the item in a timely manner or at least my money back because it did not come when it was supposed to. I recommend dealing with a place that can stand behind their products and service. The products are rarely correct with their sizing charts and you can find the same products in any Macys or Nordstrom on sale for a less expensive price.

I have been a member of this site for a little over a year now and have found the customer service to be horrendous! When you reach out to them for assistance they either ignore your emails or don't have the answer to your question. If you have to return an item for a problem, that was no fault of yours, they will not replace the item with the correct/undamaged item. They fail to see that there was a reason for ordering the item in the first place---you wanted it! I have discovered that they only give you an e-mail address so they can ignore you when they feel the need to. I believe the procedure they have in place is: whoever gets an e-mail, answers the e-mail; so you will often get different answers for one problem if you're not satisfied with their answer. They had an area on their web site called "discussion" where you could ask a question or post a review about an item on sale. I found this to be helpful because, quite often, other customers would answer your question based on: 1) buying the item in the past or, 2) having knowledge about the brand. Some customers used it as a way to express their dissatisfaction with Ideeli and, believe me, there were a lot of dissatisfied customers so they did away with it for fear of losing customers. Yes, the shipping can be slow so you have to really pay attention to the return date, if the item is returnable. If you need an item right away, you might not want to place an order with them. Another thing worth mentioning is that you only get a credit for a return; you have to place another order because you won't get your money back! I have had it with them and plan to take my business elsewhere. There are other sites that I have used and have found them capable and willing to resolve an issue/problem. Ideeli, needs to overhaul their customer service department and adopt the customer service policies that Nordstrom has in place.

I purchased a set of paintball tickets from Groupon UK from a company called Ministry Of Paintball.

The deal looked really good, they were selling the tickets for £3 for 2 people to go and play paintball at any of there 100 sites around the country.

When it came to booking myself and friends in I learnt I would have had to pay around another £170 to book my day for 15 friends...

There was no mention of this on Groupon, whatsoever... and I did actually get a refund from Groupon, looks like loads of people were like me p**sed off.

What annoyed me even more was the fact that this company had scammed people before using Groupon, and had already had complaints, and yet Groupon were still hosting their deals... here's 2 articles. http://new.ukpba.org.uk/industry-news/view/ministry-of-paintball-scam.html

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-groupon-forced-to-refund-2-026-vouchers-after-ministry-of-paintball-scam*******525.html

Kid makes you wonder if they actually give 2 hoots, if they carry on hosting deals for companies that are constantly scamming people.

I love ordering through internet since i don't like the inconvenience of going to the store and trying to find a parking not to mention the cost of the gas. So far so good until i have encountered this site. My order took forever to come for onething. If you like to spend so much time trying to figure out on how to return item, this is a perfect site. They don't make it easy at all. And do keep in mind your credit card will not be credited for your return item, you will have credit with their store. Unbelievable. Now i am stuck and had to buy something from aideel. I had to read other people's comment trying to find the phone number where i can talk to someone because i needed help. No phone no. On the packing slip whatsoever... i was ready to call bbb for this. Terrible experience. I will just try to use my credit from my return since it 's their policy to keep peolple's money for return and not ever ever will use this site ever again...

Groupon needs to get its act together. We had some bad experiences with jerky establishments like the Creek Monkey Tap House, in Martinez California. Like alot of people have said in here. The owners get your money upfront and then they get technical on you regarding the fine print which, by the way is written as a sales document to suck you in. I like to dine with my sweetheart and not have to bring my lawyer with me to enjoy and evening. The Creek Monkey Tap House ruined our lunch and groupon with their little racket ruined our afternoon. We'll never be back to the Monkey Tap and one more experince (2 now) like this and groupon is toast too, and not just with us, but with our entire community. Hey groupon and Monkey Tap, if you don't think so, watch this!