Another Groupon Expiry Date 'Mistake' = Large Groupon Profits

Another day, another Groupon expiry date mistake.

Groupon customers are enquiring which expiry date is correct after buying a Groupon deal for sunglasses. The terms and conditions stated the voucher would expire on June 16, 2011, but customers received a voucher with an expiry date of April 17, 2011.

Groupon hasn't yet given the correct expiry date. But whether the vouchers expire in April or June is really irrelevant. Groupon is making a lot of money off these expiry date 'mistakes', even if the vouchers are valid for a longer period of time.

Here's how:

Groupon keep 100% of the profit from unredeemed vouchers.

Let's say the correct expiry date is April. Customers who bought this voucher, assume they have until June 16th to use it as stated in the Terms and Conditions of the deal. Anyone who doesn't redeem the voucher before April 17 gives 100% of their voucher money directly to Groupon.

If the expiry date is actually June, and Groupon 'mistakenly' put an expiry date of April on the voucher - Groupon still profit. Many customers will try to use this voucher in May or June. But when they see an expiry date of April, customers will assume that THEY made the mistake, and throw away the voucher - taking it as a loss. All these unredeemed vouchers will make a 100% profit for Groupon.

So it doesn't really matter which expiry date is the valid one. Either way an expiry date 'mistake' makes a large profit for Groupon.

If Groupon has changed an expiry date on your voucher after purchase, please report it to Trading Standards 08454 04 05 06. And the Advertising Standards Authority http://www.asa.org.uk/ .

Groupon for Ministry of Paintball Rip-off for 664 Belfast Residents

A total of 664 Groupon Belfast customers who bought a deal for Ministry of Paintball have been left disappointed this week after they discovered that the closest Ministry of Paintball UK site was in Glasgow.

For those of you not from the UK, that's a 108 mile journey, which involves taking your car on a ferry across the Irish Sea.

So why was Groupon allowed to sell this deal to customers without noting that the nearest Ministry of Paintball UK site to Belfast was in Glasgow?

Many people will just take this as a loss, because the voucher only cost £3. But thats 664 people at £3 each which is a total of £1992. I highly doubt any of the people who bought this voucher in Belfast will be able to use it, so just from a little deceptive advertising Groupon has earned itself a handy £2000.

Customers who bought this deal in Belfast were upset and asked Groupon why there were selling the deal in Belfast when the nearest paintball site involved a 108 mile journey and ferry crossing. One woman named Carolyn bought 8 vouchers for her son's birthday party.

Groupon's response again left a lot of be desired:

'Hi Carolyn, we're sorry for any difficulties you have encountered but in order to enable us to resolve such issues for you we would request you to email our customer service team so they can look into this for you.'

Our translation of Groupon's message:

'Please stop posting these complaints on our Facebook wall. Its bad for business. Instead, please contact us by email. Our waiting times to answer emails at the moment are more than 7 days, and we may not bother to respond at all. Sincerely, Groupon'

(Note: Seven days is the current time Groupon is quoting to receive an email back from their team.)

Groupon's customer service is extremely callous, and seem not to care about its customer base at all. How could Groupon even consider selling this deal in Belfast, knowing full well how far away the nearest site is? How do they expect customers to wait up to 7 days for a response from their customer service teams? Finally, how do Groupon expect to stay in business for the long haul when their customer service policies are ensuring they won't receive any return customers?

If you are in Belfast and have bought this Ministry of Paintball deal. Please contact Trading Standards at 08454 04 05 06. And the Advertising Standards Authority at http://www.asa.org.uk/. Include in your complaint that Groupon offered this deal in Belfast, but the nearest place to use the voucher is 108 miles away and includes a ferry crossing.

We would like to note that while there are Ministry of Paintball sites in the Republic of Ireland, the Terms and Conditions of this deal prevent use of these vouchers in the Republic of Ireland. Stating that the voucher can only be used in one of Ministry of Paintball's UK sites.

Groupon Belfast Steak Deal... Hope you weren't expecting steak!

One of our readers made in interesting discovery this morning- 

 Apparently, Jimmy Brown's of Belfast isn't serving steaks for the steak deal they offered last week. They have a daily 'steak quota' and once they surpass it, you will get chicken or pork.

This was never included in the original Terms and Conditions of the deal:

'Steak Dinner for Two for £15.50 at Jimmy Browns (Value up to £39.90)

The Fine Print to this deal simply states that the voucher expires June 30th, and it is only redeemable from 5pm-9:30PM Wed-Sat.

With 2,500 vouchers bought, that's a massive 5,000 steak dinners Jimmy Browns will have to produce and we were wondering how they were going to accomodate everyone.
Its apparent now, everyone will not be receiving a steak dinner.

The following feedback was left on Groupon's Facebook page:

'hard to get through on the phone but deal is extended due to number of responses. Hard to get weekends but I went tonight. If u are expecting a steak be prepared there are only so many allocated. We arrived at 7.30 and all gone.'

What?!? No steak?!? For a Groupon deal that promised steak?!?

Groupon's response was callous as always: 'Thanks for your comments, we're sorry the steak was over but glad to hear the food was good : )'

Customers have been writing enquiring why people are not getting steak, as this wasn't included in the original terms of the deal.

Groupon's response: 'We've taken note of this and we'd like to assure you that this has been passed on to all concerned, to address but if you have any further concerns please feel free to contact out cs team and we'll do our best to help. Happy Friday : )' Well Groupon, its not 'Happy Friday' for those who bought the steak deal is it?

If you have bought this deal, we would recommend you call Trading Standards at 08454 04 05 06. And the Advertising Standards Authority at http://www.asa.org.uk/.

Groupon Mother's Day Hephalump Deal- Weeds and 6 chocolates worth £52?

Today's Groupon Scam comes from London, and there are a LOT of unhappy customers today!

Groupon offered:

'Bouquet of Flowers with Chocolates and Personalised Card for £19 from Hephalump Cards (Value £52.48)'

Unfortunately, Groupon customers received what they have described as '6 weeds and a bar of chocolate', hardly worth £52. And many didn't receive anything at all.

Here's what customers has to say about what they received:

'Flowers and chocolates I ordered were not delivered on time and when they did come today (too late for Mother's Day) they were the wrong flowers, dead flowers, and then wrong chocolates.'

' Paid an additional £14.99 for Sunday delivery and they never arrived.'

'Finally arrived on Monday, small brown roses, brown as they were dead on arrival.'

'In the same boat, no flowers despite paying £15 for delivery.'

'Better described as 6 weeds, and a bar of chocolate.'

'My mother-in-law received a box of dead weeds and 6 chocolates! So embarassed.'

Customers are trying to contact Groupon and Hephalump but neither are answering the phone or emails.

Some more observant customers have looked up the bouquet on Hephalump, and found that they are selling it for £18, not the £47 Groupon claimed. So they would have saved £1 getting the flowers directly from Hephalump.

To the right is a photo of what was actually received from Hephalump by one customer. Certainly not a bouquet of 'purple chysanthemums, white roses, and purple carnations' advertised by Groupon. And definitely not worth £52!!!!

If you have bought this deal contact the Advertising Standards Authority at: www. asa.org.uk

And Trading Standards at: 08454 04 05 06.

Groupon Mount Errigal Scam... is it another April Fools Joke?

Today's Groupon Scam comes to us from Belfast... again...

This deal is pretty straight forward:

'One Night Stay Including Full Use of Spa Facilities and Breakfast for Two People for £79 at the Mounth Errigal Hotel (Worth up to £206)'

So we went to the Mount Errigal website to search for prices for a room for 2 adults and breakfast.

Suprisingly, we found prices from €74 for a weekend stay for 2 adults including breakfast! That's £65! £14 less than the Groupon deal price!!!

So where did Groupon get the original price of £206 from? We searched many other weekend dates through the summer and fall and the highest price we found for a room with breakfast was €129 (£113).

That's still just HALF of the Groupon value of £206!

Lots of Facebook users are asking where the original price came from, but still no response from Groupon.

I'd like to think its another April Fool's Joke, like the Groupon National Deal today offering tickets to the Royal Wedding..... but sadly, I think people are actually buying this deal.

Groupon has explained that the original price is based on the €240/night Master Suite. The Master Suite has 2 Plasma screen TVs and an in-room jacuzzi. So if you have booked this deal and do not get the Master Suite contact the Advertising Standard's Authority at: http://www.asa.org.uk/.

And Trading Standards at: 08454 04 05 06

A little victory!

Twitter was buzzing yesterday afternoon with people who received clothes bought using their Groupon ASOS voucher. Many stating that the clothes were poor quality and stained. Some people got an item which wasn't the color or size that they ordered. ASOS Customer Service was replying that if they return the items, they cannot exchange for another item or get a refund due to Groupon T&C.

Let's take a look at the Fine Print:

'Expires 10 April 2011. Limit 1 per person, may buy additional as gift. One Groupon per transaction. Minimum basket spend of £21 required (i.e. £20 Groupon voucher must be supplemented by an additional spend of £1). Not valid on sale items and ASOS Marketplace. 50,000 Groupons available. Refunds will be based on amount paid not ASOS R.R.P. Purchased item can only be exchanged for an additional size; exchange for alternative item not available. For full ASOS terms and conditions visit www.asos.com/infopages/pgehelpde '

Well that was a mouth full!!!

We read the terms and conditions when this deal first came out and we thought most of them were pretty fair: You have to spend an extra £1 at ASOS. You can't use on sale items. 'Refunds will be based on amount paid not ASOS R.R.P.' sounded fair as well. Afterall, you can't expect to buy something for £21 using your £9 Groupon Voucher and then return it for £21 cash!

However, the fact that purchased items can only be exchanged for another size and not for another item was what put us off. And this is where people are having issues. This is an online clothes retailer, certainly people are going to want to return clothes! They may not fit properly, they might not look good on. They might me poorly made.

A number of regular ASOS Customers are complaining that the quality of the clothes they have bought with their Groupon vouchers is not as good as the quality of items they usually get. Like d, who has used ASOS for the past 4 years. He stated that the item he got with his Groupon voucher was not as nice as the thing he normal orders from ASOS.

This woman bought 2 items (one for £18 and one for £22) and used her £20 Groupon voucher. She returned the item for £22 as it was too small. She should have received at least £20 cash back, and ASOS should have used her Groupon voucher for the other item.

Instead they used her Groupon voucher for the return. So she lost the £9 she paid for the Groupon voucher, meaning she's paid £27 total for an £18 item! ASOS have refused to refund and so did Groupon.

The problem with the fine print is, while it says you can only exchange for another size, it says you will get a refund for what you paid. Technically, people paid £9 for the Groupon voucher so they should get at least £9 credit.

Twitter users and @GrouponUKScams complained about this technicality in the small print, and insisted they should get a refund. And by 4PM yesterday, ASOS had agreed to give angry customers a new code for a Groupon £20!

So if you had a problem with this offer please contact @ASOS_HereToHelp on Twitter and they will get you a new code.

Groupon Paintball Scam

Today's Groupon Scam comes to us from Sheffield:

'Paintballing for Ten with 100 Paintballs Each, plus Lunch for £19 at the Danger Zone (Value £150)'

Sounds like a great deal for a bachelor party or teenager's birthday party! Only £19 for 10 people!

But you actually have to pay £89.... Really!

The Fine Print states:

'Must pay £7 deposit for each member of the group, which will be refunded in the form of 100 extra paintballs.'

That's a £7 for all 10 people, a total of £70 for the group! But it will be refunded right?

Yes of course!.... in the form of 100 paintballs.

We're now up to £89 for 10 people to go Paintballing and have lunch. However, there is fine print about lunch as well:

'Lunch provided only to groups who start at 9AM. Around 100 paintballs used per hour.'

So in order to get lunch, you have to get 10 men on a stag do or 10 teenage boys out of bed and to the paintball place by 9AM. Good luck with that....

Even if you manage this amazing feat of getting everyone there by 9AM, you get 200 paintballs (including your refund paintballs).

According to the Fine Print, this is about 2 hours of activity, so your lunch will be at 11AM, and then you're done for the day.

Our advice for the day, always read the Fine Print, and Highlights section of the deals. If either section is exceptionally long, it's usually a good indication not to buy.