9 replies to this topic

[William]

Ok, picture the scene. I was told by a friend that they had gotten a cheap meal for two on Groupon.co.uk. Something stupid like £17 for a three course meal for two including a drink each or something like that. So me, being a sucker for a good deal signed up, and started recieveing emails everyday about all these great deals.

So, Christmas is coming up, i've just been laid off from my job and i'm on the lookout for a gift for my fiance. Guess what? a nice little necklace pops up with a Swarovski pendant on it. 60% off which means i'm getting it for £20. So, as you do, i buy it there and then. The current date would have been the 12th of December 2011. So that gives them nearly 2 weeks to process my payment and send me my necklace, delivery time on the site i was getting it from was 3-5 working days.

The way Groupon works is, you pay Groupon, who then, pays the supplier of the product. You get an email to go onto the suppliers website, enter all your details and enter your promotion code. You get it for free, because you've already paid for it and it gets sent to you. Done.

So, i'm sitting on the 23rd of December 2011 thinking to myself, that should be here by now. If it's not here today or tomorrow then i'm not going to be happy. So i raise a ticket on the suppliers website asking them what the hold up was. I didn't go in all guns blazing, just asked them if there was a problem with delivery or my product. I'm still, to this day waiting for a reply from them.

So i contacted Groupon on Christmas day after having to tell my fiance i didn't have anything to give her on Christmas day because i spent my last on the necklace. Needless to say, i felt horrible about it and even though she said it was fine, i couldn't help feel guilty about it. So that being said, i sent groupon an email that day.

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Hi there,

I bought the Sterling Silver Necklaces With Swarovski Elements Teardrop Pendant from SilvexCraft through groupon on the 12th of December 2011. I then go an email the following day saying i could take the order further by going onto the SilvexCraft website and ordering it. I did that on the 13th of December 2011. I was buying this as a Christmas present for my girlfriend who really loved the necklace and was looking forward to wearing it on Christmas day, and had told everyone about it.

It took SilvexCraft 4 days to send the item from when they were paid and it is now Christmas eve, and i still don’t have it. I am very disappointed with customer service from SilvexCraft and will be sending them an email aswell, even though i already tried contacting them through their site and go no response.

I know a few people who have recommended using Groupon to me, and this was my first time using it. I am very disappointed with the service and i wont be using Groupon again, oh and by the way, this has pretty much ruined my partners Christmas as now i have very little to give her tomorrow.

Thanks a bunch,
Unhappy Customer William.

As you can probably tell from the email, i wasn't to chuffed about it, so i got an automated response that day which i was expecting anyway. The next day i got a reply from "Kyle K"...

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Hi William,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I have submitted a missing order request on your behalf, please allow 10 working days for head office to investigate and respond.

If there is anything else i can do to help in the mean time please let me know,
Kind regards
Kyle K

So that's fair enough, i'll give them their due, they got back to me and were going to help. So 11 days later, still no response. Next email to them from me...

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Hi,

It has been more than 10 days, i have still not received a response from you, and still not received the item i ordered. This is absolutely disgusting customer service and i will never be using Groupon again, and will be advising others to do the same.

William

To which i get the reply, four days later:

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Hi William,

I am sincerely sorry this deal turned out to be such a bad experience for you. Thanks for letting us know. I have forwarded your comments to all involved parties. We are always looking for ways to improve your experience and will do our best to make sure this doesn't happen again.

I have escalated your details as a matter of priority to find out why your order hasn't arrived. Their main aim is to dispatch the item, so if there are no problems with their process you should receive your item shortly. Alternatively, the partner business will contact you directly to inform you of the status of your package. Please allow between 7 and 14 working days for the partner to process the order.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.

Kind regards,
Sarah L

Guess what, 15 days later, no reply and still no product, a full month after i was hoping to give it as a gift.

As a matter of priority, their not being very fast about it. Their customer service is absolutely disgusting and i am really quite angry about the matter and they way it was dealt with.

So i have now stopped emailing them because i really don't see the point. I just wanted to warn everyone that even thinks about using Groupon, don't. This is my first experience with them and i can honestly say, it will be my last.

By the way, the URL is http://www.groupon.co.uk if anyone's interested...

William.

groupon, deals, deal of the day, discount, money off, not received

[marko]

This really doesn't surprise me if I'm honest, the level of incompetence these days by companies absolutely staggers me, it really does.   We're in the middle of an economic crisis, businesses are shutting down every day because they can't afford to keep staff or premises and here we have another example of sloppy service which rightly drives customers away.   It was like a few months ago, I went to a specialist who makes blinds looking for a couple of brackets and was told they "don't do them".   That's like going to a garage and being told we can service your car but we can't change your filters, pretty pointless and the biggest turn-off for a customer.

Ever tried phoning any of the energy companies in the UK too?.   My wife received a phone call from our former supplier and was asked for our meter number - she gave them it and the foreign speaking gentleman explained it was wrong.   My wife explained she had just given him the number he asked for based on the details he gave - without so much as an explanation, he said "no no no, you are wrong, please give me the right number" to which my wife replied, "bye bye" (or words to that effect anyway).   Needless to say, we're no longer with that company.

Customer service is merely a phrase for a lot of businesses, it's rarely something they take pride in but it will be their downfall, as it has already with a lot of businesses - so do as I always do, take your business elsewhere and where possible, warn others of your experiences - works for me

[William]

Yeah, they have over 7000 employees, and not one of them could pick up a phone and basically say "Here you, give that guy his necklace" or something to that effect

[Claw]

Thank You,,,, the first thing I will  do when my wife gets home,,will let "Where's the Deal Wendy" read this!!!! I lived in two different states,,have friends and relatives all over the U.S. and thanks to you ,,they will now be a little bit wiser!!!!

[Gremlinn]

That sucks. I would post my whole experience on as many sites as i could find that would poss have any interactions with them. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire and puts alot of bad publicity out there for them. I've read where it sometimes causes the company to make some kind of ammends. Hey, you never know; it may work!

[James (Jim) Hillier]

That's a really bad break William, if that happened to me I'd be as mad as hell. Do you not have some sort of consumer watchdog in the UK who will act on your behalf? In Australia we have very strict consumer laws which are overseen by a body known as The Department of Fair Trading. Any problem with a vendor, online or bricks and mortar stores, one phone call to Fair Trading is usually all it takes.

June (my lovely wife) and I bought a new fridge recently from a well know retail store, cost just under $1000.00. A mere three weeks later and the fridge died. Rang the vendor and asked for a replacement fridge, they flatly refused, said all they could do was repair the one we already had. One phone call to Fair Trading and within the hour the vendor phones informing us a brand new replacement is on the way - it arrived 2 days later.

These people you've been dealing with need a rocket up their you-know-what and a consumer watchdog would have the necessary ammo.

Cheers mate...Jim

[Claw]

Hey Jim,,here in the good old U S of A,,we have the BBB: Better Business Bureau. They are supposed to work like your DFT.You called them and they tell you if any business has complaints on them,,they are the human version of WOT. One problem,,,if your company pays the yearly $1000.00 fee, your company will just happen to have "NO" complaints against it."All Rights are Free,,as long as you can afford them."3:16- the Gospel according to Claw !!!!

[James (Jim) Hillier]

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"All Rights are Free,,as long as you can afford them."3:16- the Gospel according to Claw !!!!

LOL. Yep Claw, there's only one thing money can't buy - - poverty!!

[Claw]

Jim,you don't need to buy poverty,,governments hand it out to you on a daily basis,,all you can have .

[Gremlinn]

ain't that the toof