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Something's just not right at Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN ) .
It's been a couple of days since I put in a request for a refund. I don't know if I'll get it. Silly me for signing up for a go-carting experience several hours away as rainy season's approaching.
However, I figured I would try to see if I could at least get that money back in Groupon Bucks to deploy closer to home. Groupon's customer support boasts about getting back to its users within a day of filing a complaint, question, or refund request.
It didn't happen.
"Thank you for contacting Groupon," read an automated email response to me yesterday afternoon. "Due to the high email volume, we are running behind our normal 24 hour response time. We are battling this volume with every tool we have at our disposal and feel confident that we will emerge victorious. This victory will result in a detailed response to your email, a swift resolution of your issue and a warm feeling in your belly."
Is it just me, or does Groupon sometimes overdo it on the cutesiness? There are times when I'm reading a daily deal and the writer is going for style points instead of telling me exactly what I could be buying.
I'm not worried about the lateness of the response. If anything, I'm guessing that the delay will mean that Groupon is even more likely to give me the site credit that I'm requesting.
However, this is a situation worth sharing because it's been three weeks since Groupon warned that it would be restating its financials for the holiday quarter because of the need to increase its loss reserves on refunds.
It can't be a good sign if its customer service staff is so swamped that it's falling behind here. Are refund requests like mine pouring in? Is the company in the process of revamping its policies to the point where there's a bottleneck this week? Are folks generally more unhappy with Groupon this week than its staffing requirements planned for? One can always argue that my case requires some more research on Groupon's part, but that would seem to go against the automated nature of the email response.
Meanwhile, the already crowded daily deals space is running low on elbow room, even as some biggies including Facebook and OpenTable (Nasdaq: OPEN ) have decided that daily deals are too costly to pursue. MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) announced earlier this week that it would be helping its bank and merchant clients serve up "relevant and geo-targeted offers" to its plastic-wielding masses. In short, credit card marketers are charging in.
Be careful, MasterCard. Make sure you warm up the support staff for the inevitable wave of refunds.
As for Groupon, good luck on that "emerg[ing] victorious" part.
If you want to follow the daily deals leader to see if it becomes a bargain itself, add Groupon to My Watchlist.
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Report this Comment On April 19, 2012, at 10:23 AM, nikolotta wrote:
I recently did this myself. After some automated "we apologize, high volume" replies, I finally was in touch with a real live human being. This was seven days from submitting my online request.
The net result was that I was granted a refund in the form of Groupon bucks. But only after some haggling, as their initial goal was that I needed to use my Groupon as cash value at the intended merchant. I had to explain that I had since moved and was unable to use the now expired Groupon in my new area because the retailer wasn't in the area.
Under no circumstances would they grant me an actual refund to my credit card, however. I quickly took my Groupon bucks on dumped it into one of their online deal-of-the-day type offerings for merchandise.
In a nutshell, I've had my taste of Groupon and will no longer be using their service for anything more than another online tool when shopping for something specific. Groupon is nothing more than a digital display rack of items in the checkout aisle at the store, intended for impulse buyers. And I am not in the habit of buying stuff I don't really need just because I thought it was a good deal for that brief moment in time.
Report this Comment On April 19, 2012, at 10:47 AM, antislapp1 wrote:
Groupon will not die because of the refunds. It will die because the business model is flawed. It doesn't make money, get it? It doesn't matter how much revenues grow since the margins are still not there.
The Fools obviously do not understand accounting and, therefore, cannot find fraud. Look at the operating cash flow...it is positive while reported earnings are negative. How can this be if payments aren't extended which proves my thesis that the company makes no money? I dunno. My guess is that there is more accounting fraud to be discoverd.
Report this Comment On April 20, 2012, at 11:46 AM, AH0Y wrote:
I submitted a request earlier this year and quickly received Groupon bucks as a credit. I think that's fair. Back when I submitted the request, Groupon Refund page stated:
"If your Groupon experience ever lets you down, let us know and we’ll refund your purchase. Period. If you’d like to return a purchase for any other reason, our Customer Support team will work with you to help make it right."
Now the page states:
"If you're ever having trouble redeeming your Groupon, we're here to help. If a business closes permanently, we will always honor returns for unredeemed Groupons. Unless a deal's Fine Print states otherwise, any unredeemed, unprinted Groupon may be returned within the first seven days after purchase. In other cases where a Groupon is not redeemed, returns are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. After the expiration date on a Groupon, it should still be used at the business for the amount paid, which never expires."
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