GrouponReviews 5,287

Groupon = good idea, slipping in execution.

My girlfriend and I have bought N U M E R O U S Groupons, but have begun to see a clear and disturbing trend of extremely poor customer service from the Groupon merchants. It has gotten so bad that we've spent money on Groupons but now refuse to use them. We'd rather swallow the loss than be subjected to such lousy service.

Walk through the door with a big flashing Groupon printout, and second-class citizenship is sure to follow.

Certainly something Groupon will have to fix, in a hurry, of they're going to start losing customers en mass.

***Groupon just emailed me and refunded the $60 Groupon we refused to use because of poor service***

I. E., Groupon is pulling through on the customer service front, now if only they could either enforce such good service from their merchants, or think of an alternative way for Groupons to be used that doesn't result in "oh?-you're-a-Groupon-customer?-here,-let-me-give-you-crappy-service!"

I recently purchased a Groupon for my BIL's birthday present. It was flavored popcorn...$15 for $35 worth of popcorn. The Groupon clearly stated that I would have to pay shipping... okay, fine.
When I went to the popcorn site, it was not until I completed my transaction that I was able to determine the shipping costs: $15! For popcorn?
I emailed them immediately to cancel my order... no reply. Called Groupon a day or so later. They were happy to hear feedback (positive or negative). They advised they would reimburse my shipping costs if the order was not cancelled.
I finally heard from the popcorn company... nearly ten days later. I guess they were slammed with orders. They sent me a check, via US mail, for my $15 shipping costs.
I emailed Groupon about it all and they refunded my Groupon cost within two hours of my email. Fantastic service... I love it!

I just received the first (and now only!) item I will buy from Ideeli. They are a pair of boots--expensive at $275 and they have CLEARLY been worn. I would send them back, but frankly I can't risk getting my blood pressure up by shopping for inferior/used products to use up a credit as they won't refund cash. I have shopped Rue La La and Gilt group with no issues. I really feel taken here, but I guess Caveat Emptor--I should have looked for reviews before I made a purchase. I was thinking of buying one of their vacation packages in the Caribbean--no way would I chance it now!

Well, prior to today, I have used the site with good success. Today, in the infinite wisdom of "someone", they decided to offer AMC Theater Coupons.

Well, ALMOST.

See, there was only 1000 coupons available for Phoenix. A little math will tell you that 1000 coupons for a city of 5 million, doesn't go very far. Do the math. ******* divided by 5,000,000 equals I had a. 02 percent of getting one.

That of course if you were only one, but it allowed you to purchase two!

So overall, AMC and Groupon allowed a. 04 percent chance to see a movie for $4.

Beware... Sometimes it's a WAIST of time!

I really love this site and have bought a number of things (multiple dresses, a shopping coupon, underwear, sunglasses, etc.) Shipping can take a bit but it has told me everytime when I purchased something expected date. The deals can't be beat and all of my co-workers are now shoping on the site as well. They had a delay on some of my items but nothing that wasn't manageable and they gave me a credit for the inconvience. I'm sorry to seee it getting such poor reviews but I love it!

I'm a sucker for a deal and I'm having a problem turning down these deals. I long for my groupon incoming emails. I have a psychological problem letting what I perceive as a good deal get away.

Jean Chatzky on the Today Show suggested you ask yourself "Would I buy this if it was full price. " I wish I was armed with that advice when I purchased a gym membership at 67% off. I went once (that's a future review) and never went back.

But on the other hand I'm haunted with regret in passing up a newspaper subscription in my struggle with this groupon addiction.

People with limited self control and or will power be warned. Groupon can become addictive but gosh aint it fun!

If you can't trust the groupon facts... you can't trust the groupon specials.
It's simple. Customer service sucks. When I pointed out that the Groupon Facts were incorrect, and referred them to studies done by professors at US Universities to confirm this, Claire Miller, a customer service rep argued with me and told me that they were right and I was wrong. I sent her proof and rather than considering my email or checking the info to verify it or sending it to management, she single handed dismissed me which indicates a complete lack of integrity. I have to believe that they train their reps and therefore she was acting the way the company wanted... to totally dismiss a customer.

I had to wait a bit for my city (it has a cathedral) to come on board which upped the anti. In the meantime I bought discounted entry to Plymouth's paintball for my son.
I understand that these are businesses trying to promote their own business and giving away "product" is a cost (marketing) wish hopefully pans out for them. I made sure I read the fine print and I am happy with the terms & conditions.

When Exeter did come on board one of the offers was a popular tea room claiming to offer a big discount. I looked at the menu did the maths and the discount didn't add up. I would still save money (that I wouldn't of spent in the first place but I am grown up now and understand this) however I chose not to use the Groupon because I didn't like it that they appear to be overclaiming/promising the savings. And I don't want to be dissappointed when I get there. I could ring them and demand clarification but in this instance I have just said "pass". I hope Groupon takes off and I get to save money on not only luxuries and treats but essentials as well.

I joined this website last week and when i tried to purchase something was told my address did not match the address on my credit card which is not true. I figured it was just a glitch in the system and never bought anything. Imagine my surprise when I had 20 $1 transactions to my card for no reason. I tried calling their "customer service" line which told me due to the "Holidays" (It is almost March - they must have a huge St. Patricks Day crowd) they have a high call volume and I got transefered to a voicemail telling me to try their live chat. This is the live chat I already tried and when I brought up my issue was disconnected and no can not re-connect using my name and e-mail. So I made up a name and e-mail shcockinly got through but was kept waiting for over oh wait I am still waiting 20 minutes later. So considering I have never used this site and I have still been charged I don't plan on ever using this site.

I like group buyng sites in general and I feel that Groupon continues to be the best of the best. Whenever a Groupon business has disappointed me, tried to upsell me, or has not been responsive, Groupon quickly (most of the time under 5 minutes) refunded my money and appologized for the mistake. Most of the deals are great although some businesses are starting to catch on to the model and inflating prices in order to be able to offer a 50% or more discount to buyers. I've had issues with Living Social, Tippr, Kudzu, and other sites and Groupon's service is definitely the best of any of the sites I use.

This is actually a MESSAGE FOR MR. JASON F.
Mr. F, I want to communicate you that I ordered yesterday a dress, but I just realized that I asked a wrong size. I need the size number 2, which is still available in the web site. I sent an e-mail yesterday night to Ideeli asking for you guys to change the size before to send it to me.

But now, that I already read all these bad reviews about Ideeli I am afraid that I will have a bad experience as well. So, here is my message for you Mr. F: If you really sorry for all the mistakes Ideeli did to all these costumers, here you have the opportunity to fix a problem before it comes. I am sending you this message in a public web because I want make sure that YOU will take care of what I already asked. If Ideeli do not give an answer immediately, I will come to this web again and let people know the continuation of my story.

If something goes wrong, I do not want to see a message from you here saying the same thing you said to all these people: "I apologize, I apologize..." If it happen, then it will be more than clear that you just apologize but you do not really move a finger to help anyone.

That is my order number: *******
This is my incidence number: **************

Appreciate any help. Priscila

This is the worst merchant on the internet today. I have received from ideeli in the past month, one previously worn (and damaged) bracelet and two necklaces that I did not order and do not even remotely resemble what I did order.

The fine folks at ideeli customer service (there are rocks in my front yard with higher intelligence) promised me a full refund - purchase price plus shipping - back to my debit card. I have this agreement in writing.

Today, I get an email from customer service that my purchase price - less shipping - is now available to use as STORE CREDIT.

Hey ideeli, no offense, but I don't want to shop on your website ever again. So I'm going to need you to go ahead and refund the entire amount back to my debit card as you originally promised...

I will post again once I have resolution. Until then, caveat emptor! Or shop with someone else.

I've been getting Groupon's Deal of the Day via email for about a couple months now. It's not snapping my bean, I haven't bought anything yet, and here's why: Most of the deals are for girly stuff like teeth whitening, spa treatments, and lotions & potions. I'm a non-girly guy and just can't dig it. The rest of the arriving deals are for food - restaurants and the occasional bakery or butcher.

Anybody with a lick of sense knows that if they spring for the $99 dental exam and Zoom! Whitening, they will be also getting an earful of upsells and doom-and-gloom from the dentist/hygenist/salespeople, things like "OMG! UR teeth are falling out nearly and must be reimplanted stat! For $5,000" and such. If you resist, you will be getting a lot of hairy eyeball attitude.

The spa deals have odd rules like "Spa coupon is for spa services only. Redeemer must purchase spa reservation," and you find out the reservation's $350 - in other words, your coupon is only for add-ons to a spa reservation, not for the reservation itself.

And the food coupons are typically for expensive restaurants. So your "$50 for $25" coupon means you'll only be spending $150 instead of $175 for your dinner for 2. And there are too many complaints online about people being treated poorly when they use the coupon, or of merchants sticking extra unwritten terms onto the deal, like "Groupons not redeemable on weekends."

My favorite was a recent Tempe bakery offering a Valentine's Tiramisu Cake for only $20 with Groupon. This cake was only 6 inches, which is just a tad larger than a cupcake. The bakery claimed this was a $40 cake. I suspect the cake was created specifically for this promotion, and there's no way that a pint-sized tiramisu is worth $40 (tiramisu is an unskilled Italian trifle). This thing wasn't even worth $20.

Then there's the recent FTD fiasco, which has finally convinced me to avoid Groupon altogether. Consumers are weary of fine print, exclusions and manipulative marketing B. S. Groupon is more of the same old, in new garb. Yawn.