Mike T.

On 1/3/2017 we bought for $100 a Groupon Coupon for The Melting Pot restaurant in Bedford, Massachusetts, where we understood we could apply our $100 to meals, and would get 4 $25 credits when we visited the restaurant 4 times.

On 1/25/17 (3 weeks later) we first went to use the coupon on a $37 meal, only to find out that the deal was not exactly as described. We had thought we could use our $100 over several visits, but our waiter told us we needed to spend it all in a single visit. We showed them the deal, and asked them to show us where it said that, but they could not. Nonetheless, the restaurant said we needed to spend the rest of the $100 on that visit, which we did not want to do. They said they could do nothing and we had to take it up with Groupon. We paid for that meal in cash and left, very unhappy, but expecting at least to get a refund.

(We are not alone. After visiting the restaurant, we read the reviews of the offer, and there were two which recounted experiences identical to ours. One called it the biggest scam around.
Also, reading all the other scam victims of Groupon on this website provides strong evidence for our government to take action to stop what Groupon is doing.)

We contacted Groupon the next day. Even though we had good reason to ask for a simple refund, Groupon refused to give it. Over the course of several emails and phone calls, we gave them our arguments, but they just replied with bland robo-emails. They had our money and were not going to give it back.

We had charged it on a VISA card, and we entered a dispute. VISA listened to our story, saw our point and gave us a "provisional" $100 credit. But a few weeks later they took that back saying that they could not legally take back the money from Groupon (or at least were not willing to fight them for our measly $100.)

We were naïve to trust Groupon, and it looks like we will get no satisfaction from them. We can at least warn others to beware of Groupon.

This episode reflects poorly on the business practices of both Groupon and The Melting Pot restaurant, neither of whom even apologized for the misleading offer. If they even cared, they could have at least improved the description of the deal to make it clearer, but they have not.

Good businesses stand behind what they sell. There is no good reason for Groupons 3 day refund rule, other than to keep the money of unhappy customers. They have no regrets as long as they can keep our money.