GroupOn - What's the Dealio?

Talbs13

Talbs13

Talbs13

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People keep telling me about Groupon - they have lot's of deals and usually very cheap....I'm mainly talking about holiday offers.

Is there some major hidden charge that they are not including? All seems too good to be true.

Has anyone used to book a holiday? Is it all legit?

Ta.
 
Not used for a holiday but have for many other things. For example we got a 4 ball at Slaley hall plus 50 balls each in the driving range for £19 each compared to £70 each at the course. No restrictions either.

Just read the small print (just in case)
 
gatzi said:
I believe they are normally legit. Just companies selling a large amount at a discounted rate.

I think i heard about a cup cake business that offered cup cakes at cost price and either didn't put a limit on the offer or it was very high. They then had to fufill the order of thousands of cup cakes and made a loss.

Tadaa: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...pon-demand-almost-finishes-cupcake-maker.html
Click to expand...

Quite a few of these stories yeh, from what I read somewhere the business usually make a loss however it gets their name out there as it were.

The story I remember was an oven cleaning business.

I have bought things in the past and never had an issue but nothing as big as a holiday, check the small print is all I can say really.
 
tbh it really depends on what you are buying, the only thing i've found it useful for was accomodation, other stuff that you see on it, you can usually find cheaper if you can use google
 
I've had some great restaurant deals on there but I had to get a refund on an oven clean because they wouldn't respond to emails and phone calls and after a few weeks had an answer machine message that the offer was extended and there was a 6 week lead time.
 
Sometimes the offers sound really good because they inflate the regular price (which I think they got told off for), and often the same deal can be had from other sites or the company directly.

Also they send you LOADS of emails. Like 3 or 4 a day or something crazy.
 
It used to be a website where people would group together and buy in bulk to save money, now its turned into a site where companies offer "bargains" to get people through the door so they can try and sell them more stuff. Sometimes those "bargains" are actually bargains, a lot of the time they are great at drawing in the poor saps who pay for stuff they don't need or of poor quality/overpriced because it's at a "discount". Its a bit like eBay and the DFS sales, occasional cheap deals, but you have to wade through the **** to get to them.
 
Groupon is great, it's advertising. But rather than paying for pure adverts. They just do special promotions, which reach a wider audience than leaflets.
Had tons through groupon. Mainly restaurant stuff, only had one bad deal and in process of getting refund.

Couple of mates have hadd bum deals as well, no hassle getting refund though, just annoying.
Travelzoo local seems more reliable.

If buying products like all sales ignore the RRP and check what it normally sales for on google.
 
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I've got quite a few things from Groupon, but nothing as big as a holiday. I've bought stuff like bubble tea vouchers, 2 for 1 Italian buffet vouchers and bowling vouchers. The only problem I had was that I ordered some hair straighteners and the company had stupidly not specified a cut-off point so zillions of people bought them and it was too much for them to handle. A few weeks later I got an apology email and the money was put back in my account. It sucks that I didn't get them, but it wasn't Groupon's fault - it was OSpa's :(
 
Update - in less than 18hours and just two emails, one request refund, one accepting refund. Got a credit refund.

So that's exceptionally good.
 
I use it mainly for restaurant deals, but you get emails about local services too and I'm gonna get the Mrs a spa day at a 70% discount for her b'day.

Just log on the site and have a snoop around. New deals come on daily so don't write it off if there's nothing you like the look of the first time you look.
 
I think it was Watchdog or similar that did a piece on GroupOn last year. They found that most small businesses didn't make a profit from the deals, they also felt that the advertising it brings them doesn't work either, due to GroupOn members tending to purchase stuff just because it's an offer with little repeat business. Most seemed to say they would look at other forms of advertisement in future.

While GroupOn can be good for the customer, the show found the biggest problem was oversubscribed deals and issues whereby you need to book, but so many deals have been sold, it's impossible to get a slot for months. So that is certainly one to watch out for.
 
Nexus said:
I think it was Watchdog or similar that did a piece on GroupOn last year. They found that most small businesses didn't make a profit from the deals, they also felt that the advertising it brings them doesn't work either, due to GroupOn members tending to purchase stuff just because it's an offer with little repeat business. Most seemed to say they would look at other forms of advertisement in future.

While GroupOn can be good for the customer, the show found the biggest problem was oversubscribed deals and issues whereby you need to book, but so many deals have been sold, it's impossible to get a slot for months. So that is certainly one to watch out for.
Click to expand...

I can't understand how deals become over subscribed unless the retailer is stupid.

I mean most have a limit on how many available. If a retailer goes with unlimited offers then they are stupid.
 
A few years ago people didn't set limits. Lot better these days due to publicity of stupid people not setting limits.

It's not designed to make a profit so that's a bit of an odd thing to say. It's an advertisement tool.
 
A cup cake shop near me had problems with this. They ended up offering mini cup cakes instead of the advertised normal ones as they were losing too much money or something.

Bargains can be had, two problems though;

It encourages you to buy stuff you don't need because you think it's a bargain
They spam you with so many emails that it just gets annoying

I unsubscribed fairly quickly
 
Illusion said:
It encourages you to buy stuff you don't need because you think it's a bargain
They spam you with so many emails that it just gets annoying
Click to expand...

You're doing something wrong, I don't get any spam.
I get 1 email a day from each of my selected areas that I can unsubscribe to easily, if I wish.
 
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