Complaint Review: Groupon

Groupon lures consumers with "half price" offers and a very "simple" money back guarantee.  I bought a half-price offer not realizing that I had less than sixty days to take advantage of the offer or I would lose the promotional value (not my original investment)  I tried to invoke the money-back guarantee and Groupon repeatedly refuses to refund my money.  Many of the half-price offers are not actually half-price (especially services where a company offers similar deals to new customers)

I told Groupon that the window (around 60 days) was shorter than any deal I'd ever seen and was shocked that it had already expired.  Too bad - I failed to read the "fine print."  They also use an annoying trick where you buy something and you have to wait at least a day -- that keeps many more customers from actually using their Groupon.  It's no accident that Groupon's stock price has lost 66% in value over the last 15 months or so.

In my opinion, the best solution is to avoid Groupon and you'll avoid unnecessary impulse buys and the predatory "gotcha" practices.