Groupon UKReviews 175

SHOCKING CUSTOMER SERVICE! Never had such a bad customer service experience in my life. So many phone calls, countless emails, all ignored or brushed off with one line answers, emails sent to me from them intended for other customers with their customer details in the emails! Staff that didn't seem to know what they were talking about. False promises. All to get a refund of over £100 for a faulty/damaged product. The other company that was selling through Groupon agreed to the refund immediately but Groupon still wouldn't refund, no replies to my countless messages. 5 weeks later still no explanation as to no refund, even the other company who sold the items where baffled. In the end the other company had to refund me as Groupon customer service failed to even reply or refund. DO NOT USE GROUPON UNLESS YOU ARE READY NOT TO GET A REFUND.
I have spent hundreds on Groupon in the past but have not used it since nor have anyone I know since I have warned them about Groupon's shady behaviour.
Would have given them 0/10 but this site has 1 star as the lowest score

I think i commented on Groupon.com by mistake - which I have never actually ordered from lol.

Anyway my point is still valid I feel. It is an awesome site if you are looking for a good deal, never ordered anything of any serious value but I have bought driving lessons, trips to the dogs, meals and a few treats for the other half and always been happy with my purchase.

Some items are over priced (but in these cases I simply don't buy)

Overall I love the site, I think its a great idea and a great concept.

Jasonb22
Jason b.
Groupon

Ordered a mattres topper that was £65, originally £150, bargain i thought! Told it would take 2 weeks to deliver, 2 months later I've still not received it, I email groupon twice, no reply, but did receive an email asking what i thought of there customer service!

Eventually got the company that was supplying the mattres's telephone number, rang 5 times, each time told someone would ring me back, no one did! The sixth time I said my piece and spoke to someone, told they didnt have enough mattress for the amount they had sold on groupon and there would be wait, also they didnt have my correct address as the website where you redeem the voucher groupon gives you, as it wasnt working properly and not taking the full addresses.

Ive since rang up and asked for a refund, which im told will take 10 - 14 days to confirm ive not recived the mattress, and another 4 days to go back in to my account... im still waiting...

Avoid, Avoid and avoid!

Can be really hit and miss as to whether your going to get the deal and how good it will be. One restaurant deal I had been saving for a special occasion fell through as the restaurant did not want to honour the deal anymore, if you were happy to pay the full price you could eat there but with the groupon voucher it was a no no. The second bad experience involved a concert performance of Mathew Morrision, I paid a top whack for the best seats but upon arrival was given far inferior seats which had to be settled for. The restaurant deal groupon were ok about refunding me, though no apology was given; however the concert deal im still battling with today to get the price difference of my tickets back.

I used to think groupon was great, but my last 2 experiences has left me feeling that buying a deal from them is hit and miss and so far I havent bought anything else from them and doubt I will unless it is a truely unmissable deal.

Awful, awful, awful! I have used groupon twice and will never use again! First occassion was an offer with a cavas printing company. Getting the voucher was no trouble, however, when it came to ordering - what a shambles! The picture wouldn't upload onto the website, once this was acheived, it took the product 2 months to arrive and this was only because of many phone calls and emails to the company! People may say this isn't groupon's vault but they are using second class companies that clearly aren't equippped for the demand of groupon customers!

The second, last and recent experience, was a couple of day's ago and another canvas nightmare! Again got the code through fine but entering the code on the website is non-existance! A phone call to the company and they say give it a couple more hours - they're just uploading the codes. Two hours pass, still nothing! A phone call to groupon - the company are having issues uploading codes try in the morning. Try again in the morning and again nothing!

As I've mention before, using companies that haven't got the facilities or equipement that can cope with the demand for the short time that groupon customers use the company for. I wonder if I would have this problem if I was paying full price... I think not!

Bought a 2 nite break in a pine lodge for up to 6 people. Deal seemed great. The very next morning rang the company to redeem my voucher. Rang 4 times, left 2 messages - no response. Eventually got through around 4pm the first day the coupon was to be redeemed only to be told that they had NO availability for the next 4 months even though I said I would take ANY day and ANY month up to middle of September (when son goes to University). I don't know how much for flexible I could have been. As this was a luxury treat for my son before the start of University it was pointless keeping it.
Rang Groupon the same day (around 4pm) after been on hold for over 15 minutes I eventually got through only to be told their computer had crashed and they would have to ring me back - surprise, surprise they never did!
Emailed the the following day, no reply, emailed again the next day - still no reply!
Rang customer service again, 4 days later, and guess what? - yes I was held in a queue for 18 minutes before getting through to a human being!
They have said they will refund the coupon as I am unable to use it but this will take at least 5 working days (how come they can take your money instantly but take a week to give it back?).
The bottom line is that the coupons are "oversold" out of sheer greed to try and get as much money as they can with no regard to actual availibility.
Their customer service is non existent. If you want a refund be prepared to spend hours on the phone trying to get through to someone - at your expense!
Would never trust them again and have now unsubscribed as, if you have any sense, you will too.

Contrary to some of the other (bitter) comments about this co. I have had nothing but success with the deals I have bought from them viz: 3 nights in Jersey; full body and head massage; lunch for 2 at a prestigious hotel. NOTE: A reminder to the businesses that use Groupon - no matter what percentage Groupon take (and presumably it is one that you have agreed to) their deal still puts 'bums on seats' that would otherwise not have been in your premises. In our instance, we ate for 2 extra nights in the hotel and bought all our drinks., not a lot, maybe but still more business than the hotel would have had had we not bought the Groupon deal.

Stop whining and read the smallpring.

Having bought several deals I have found that if its a really good deal the response usually means you have to wait AGES to redeem your voucher. After buying a hair cut & blowdry I ended up having juniors actually do the hair cut and had to keep on at them to do as I wanted. A hotel weekend booking got cancelled 2 days before we were supposed to be going, due to 'overbooking'. A beauty treatment was done by a newly trained beautician and the waxing I had, burnt my skin badly. Most recently a 3 course restaurant meal, we were given a reduced choice of meals and then told that the steak was all gone and so off the menu. We ended up walking out due to the bad service. In our experience it seems if you have a groupon voucher you are usually given as 2nd class service. If you don't mind taking a chance the site is good.

I was very disappointed with the brazilian treatment. I bought the voucher from Groupon for £68 it was valued at £265. When the Groupon voucher was mentioned to book an appointment. The response was it's fully booked (we don't take anymore bookings, i tried all the branches same response!)
When i've finally managed to book an appointment at watford branch the service was appalling, i was treated very badly, i'v e been waiting for 2 hours to be seen.! The stylist was there but other customers without vouchers were given priority. I think that my stylist was a trainee, it wasn't a professional cut, neither the treatment was done properly. Why are these vouchers sold if the customer is treated in this way.
I won't recommend anyone to buy tthese vouchers and me personally i won't return to any ginger group salon after this bad experience.

My partner booked herself a pamper session at Sophisticuts@ Beauty, Body and Sole in Topsham Exeter via a Groupon offer, she was the 7th person to book this offer, we received an email late last night to say that unless you have already booked your coupon has been cancelled and you can apply for a refund. This was due to an administrative error! We tried calling the company concerned and they cannot even be bothered to talk to you there is just a recorded message telling you its Groupon fault. Is this company so incompetent they can not organise themselves. Groupon even changed the treatment halfway through the offer. Maybe companies dealing with Groupon need to oraganise themselves better as they are dragging their name through the mud... Unless it is Groupons fault in which case you might have well applied for a ticket for the Olympics or by a lottery ticket, the same system seems to apply.

As a business they promise you the earth and change with the wind. All that matters to them is cash so no projections of sales, no proofing of ads or attention to detail and they promised us we would be on sites that were not even live. Ripped up commitments made to us months ago on a whim and say if you don't like it get lost. Takes 5 working days to get the money - better places out there- why give them 40% of earnings for doing nil and their people are arrogant wideboys who need to be given manners on them. You would think after Watchdog slating them on BBC1 recently they would make an effort to change their tune but hey no - avoid them whether you are a business or a client

I took a GROUP ON voucher for a o spa treatment in London and ended up having one of the worst spa experiences I ever had... i took a group on voucher for a package of 3 treatments for riverside o spa (in nuffields health centre)... the receptionist showed so much attitude that I was wondering whether I came there for free... I was shown my room which was more like a warehouse converted with unpainted wall and I wanted to ask them whether they know the importance of ambience in a spa... and then I was said the most important thing - that most of the treatments mentioned in the groupon voucher was not available!... they provided me what they can do, in which except for back massage rest everything was for the name sake... i just wanted the whole thing to end asap since on top of the building there was a train station - everyt 10 mnts a train will go and the whole place will shake as if it was an earthquake... i felt like I was looted after the whole experience... never again o spa and never again GROUP ON also as they clearly cheated people with this package!

I am horrified by the Business Model. Buying these discounted vouchers runs the risk of putting good, decent hardworking people out of business.

When Groupon sign a business up, they expect the business to provide a good deal. Say 70% off. Then you buy a voucher, and they keep say 50% of that, leaving 15% of the original cost to cover wages, materials used etc. Let's say £7.50 for a £50 treatment, service or whatever. Thinking of a hairdresser: Heating, lighting, water, shampoo, conditioner, wages, and I bet you want a coffee too. I'm not surprised some of the businesses mentioned in this list take their phone off the hook!

The salesmen can be pretty unscrupulous too. They don't advise that as a business you could put a cap on how many vouchers Groupon will sell, or that it it could be within a certain timescale. That could HELP a business. I suspect they are more interested in commission.

I can't really see where they are adding value here. We're on the edge of that double dip recession, and here is a company adding no value, if anything pushing businesses over the edge. PLEASE, DON'T buy a Groupon.