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