Getting a refund from Groupon - advice

[taco.vidal]

I purchased a Groupon for a service. The company I believe is a one man operation. I have had trouble contacting the company from the start - no one ever answered the phone and no one returned voicemails i left. Finally i was able to schedule a time for the service I had purchased. It was scheduled months in advance. As the date approached, the company never called to confirm some information as they had promised in our original discussion. When I followed up with the company, i had trouble again getting someone on the phone and when i finally did, the company was rude. I then spoke with the guy the day before appointment and got a feeling he was going to cancel. Sure enough he morning of the appointment, he did cancel. He provided a reason that he could not provide he service which I know was factually untrue. Since then ive tried to get a hold of him to reschedule but have gotten the run around and have again had a tough time getting him on the phone.

I dont want to mention the company name at this point or even the sevice because the company could be easily identifiable based on that.

Id like to go about getting a refund from Groupon. Im worried that even if I can setup an appointment again that the service will be garbage. And due to the nature of the service, i will need to interact with the company during the appointment.

Is his going to be a battle with Groupon? Is Groupon going to contact the company and we'll get into a battle of he said, she said with the company? If Groupon contacts the company and hen doesnt refund me and forces me to use he service, im pretty sure i will not get a positive result out of this.

Anyone have experience getting a refund from Groupon and can offer tips?

[squiggs96]

Their customer service is very good. Just email them and tell them you are unhappy about your purchase. They refund your money. Sometimes they refund it to your credit card and other times they credit your Groupon account.

I bought the Larger Than Life art one a year or so ago for $40. The product that arrived was awful. I could have drawn a better picture myself. I emailed them, told them it was bad and my account was credited that day.

A colleague bought a suit and they went out of business. He got the $590 back on his credit card, and still ended up with a suit.

[Olao32]

Exact same thing happened to me the one and only time I ever purchased a groupon. The "Company" that I purchased the vouchers with cancelled and rescheduled three times before enough was enough. Didn't have much luck with groupon, so I bypassed them and filed a dispute with VISA. A couple weeks later I received a refund.

I refuse to buy anything from groupon now. I have heard the same story from many people who buy these "deals". In many instances the small shops sell either too many vouchers they can't handle the demand, or they blatantly are a scam. Not all the time mind you, but unless it is a reputable chain, I would stay far away.

Good luck.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

I dont want to mention the company name at this point or even the sevice because the company could be easily identifiable based on that.

you are being far kinder than a lot of people would be.

[photon]

Groupon is pretty good customer service wise but their policy is 30 days I believe, so yeah you might have to go with a credit card chargeback.

I agree with Oloa32, I'm really careful now after a few times of vendors either disappearing, or treating groupon customers very differently (booking a year out instead of a week out for example).