Groupon, monumental stuff up - spent $3,449 instead of $33.15

pilotg2 on 29/08/2015 - 12:54

The crux of it - instead of buying a $39 massage with 15% discount i ended up unexpectedly spending $3,449!

I was lured by the 15% discount email i received, so found a full body massage for the wife. I'm on the checkout page and all i need to do is find my wallet. Mention the deal to my wife and go looking for my wallet. I take a phone call, come back to my laptop and it's on the same screen, scrolled down to enter payment details. In they go and as I'm closing my wallet up loads the confirmation. Thank you for buying x at $3,449. Brown stuff everywhere, what the hell!!! Turns out my wife had an eye on getting her teeth done, heard 15% off and had a browse… she opened a new window (as always instructed, don't mess with my million open tabs) added x to see the discount on Groupon (max $50!) and failed to tell me. To add i was somewhat surprised Groupon doesn't have a basket so we didn't even get the wanted massage! Maybe the code only allow one item, anyway panic stations.

Call and email to cancel the order immediately. Thankfully after a few hours wait i receive confirmation the order is cancelled but it can take 7 - 10 business days for the refund to be processed.

Yesterday was the 10th business day and no sign of the money. Got in touch, had to send a bank statement to show i had not received the money before they would even pass the request onto their accounts team. Was not happy about sending all my transactions details but finally succumb by blanking out all transactions bar groupon to move forward.

I was banking on getting that money before the end of the month! Any ideas how i should proceed, usually the social media approach via Facebook or Twitter works but this is Groupon and i don't even know where they located or most active on that front.

Archived

Related Stores

Groupon Australia
Groupon Australia
Marketplace

closed Comments

  • Unorthodox on 29/08/2015 - 15:06

    Couldn't you have told the bank not to process that initial $3k~?

    • Rashed on 29/08/2015 - 21:04
      +1

      No, you can only dispute a transaction only after it has been finalised.

  • pilotg2 on 29/08/2015 - 15:11

    Didn't know i could do that - it appeared to go straight out of my account when i checked online.

  • loulou1 on 29/08/2015 - 16:16
    +6

    I dislike Groupon with a passion. I have found their customer 'service' to be appalling, they say they will help but keep sending you the same response over and over about how they are looking into it. Last time I had an issue I raised a PayPal claim and got my money back that way. Will never buy from Groupon again.
    Lodge a claim (chargeback?) with your bank. They will sort it out quicker than Groupon will.

    • eatwell365 on 29/08/2015 - 20:38
      +1

      Thanks, I feel better now as I am not the odd one out. I unsubscribed to their emails.

      • [Deactivated] on 21/12/2016 - 08:22

        The beginning of Groupon was golden, but they have crashed and burned into a Danoz Direct style site, I blame the lack of vetting in the deals they offer. They will take anyone's money, and they don't care who does what to their reputation, as they bought up a dozen other daily deal site names. I am out of the voucher game altogether as a couple of exy coupons went unredeemed, but also because my friend is a chef at an upmarket restaurant and they call the groupon tables the groupon peasants, if I go out to a fancy restaurant. I want their best service.

  • cim85 on 29/08/2015 - 18:50
    +3

    Although most online e-tailers and companies do the right thing, I am always amazed at how quickly funds are ripped from an account, compared to the delays with restoring funds due to an error, fraud etc. Obviously there are checks and balances when processing refund amounts but seriously the red tape and hoops you must jump through are astounding. From my experience the threat of a bank chargeback works nicely as does a PayPal Claim. Thanks for the heads up regarding Groupon. Never purchased from them and it will stay that way!

  • MITM on 29/08/2015 - 20:36
    +1

    I wish you many a happy ending to your dilemma.

  • c64 on 29/08/2015 - 21:55

    i got a group refund once a while back. iirc it took about 2 weeks.

  • Diji1 on 29/08/2015 - 21:57
    +1

    Find out whatever gov department rules over them, not sure who that would be, Consumer Affairs for your state maybe - and make a complaint and state what you want them to do ie. refund $3445 or whatever.

    I think many companies have an internal policy of refusing any customer request regardless of what it is and then waiting for the request to come from whatever machinery regulates them. In this way they win all the cases where the customer doesn't use the complaints process which makes them do the correct thing.

    I have started to treat the initial complaint/request as a mere formality that has to be carried out in as little time as possible in order to qualify for help from someone that the business will listen to any time I have an issue. Or else you get idiocy like telcos charging you $70 because they feel like it and refusing to refund it etc.

  • pilotg2 on 29/08/2015 - 22:58

    I initially thought OK major stuff up but, hey this is Groupon, they've confirmed the refund i'll get it no prob. On Friday (the 10th day) i started searching "Groupon refund" and see people have been waiting months for refunds!

    So… i have just received this email in reply to my request on Friday (yesterday): ANOTHER 10 working days they have got to be kidding??? Looks like i will have to go down the chargeback route and Consumer Affairs in WA i guess. Not used either before.

    "Thank you for your reply and sorry for the trouble.
    I have checked with the relevant team and advised that due to some technical glitch your refund has been failed.
    Once again, I have now cancelled the below voucher and processed the refund back to your original method of payment.
    Merchant:
    Date of purchase:
    Amount: $3,449.00
    Voucher Code:
    Our refunds are processed as a reverse transaction meaning the refunded amount will appear in your bank account with the date that you purchased the Groupon voucher.
    Please be advised that it may take up to 10 business days for the funds to be received and if you are unable to locate your refund after this period, please do not hesitate to contact us.
    We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us."

  • Nutrino on 30/08/2015 - 14:11
    -1

    Was this groupons fault that you paid $3449?.

  • pilotg2 on 03/09/2015 - 09:03

    Update for those who may ever have to deal with Groupon customer service - still chasing as no sign of the refund. Told they have tried to refund twice but it has failed due to a technical glitch. That's helpful! Meant to be getting back to me in 48hrs. That's past already!

    Submitted a chargeback with my bank on Monday - it appears this will be the only way i will get my money back.

    • Store RepGroupon @ Groupon Australia on 03/09/2015 - 11:26
      +1

      Hi,

      Our support team has advised that they will be in touch today regarding your refund.

      We thank you for your continued patience and hope to have this resolved as soon as possible.

      Regards,

      Lorelai
      Groupon Australia

      • pilotg2 on 03/09/2015 - 20:46

        Thank you Lorelai, someone did get in touch and I received the money today too.

      • [Deactivated] on 17/11/2015 - 23:38

        Will you be replaying interest at the daily cash rate upon these peoples money, or is that why you deliberately do this ?
        So you're able to consolidate these funds and collect a tidy sum of interest for literally nothing ?
        We're not stupid, perhaps time to stop treating us as such.

  • abadacus on 03/09/2015 - 18:31
    +2

    Seems as if there is an issue with the wife too.

  • MITM on 05/09/2015 - 22:08

    Seems you got special treatment that comes with a happy ending.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/12/2016 - 08:25

    http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/Online_servic… - these guys and the ombudsman are your online shopping friends, and they work at a much faster pace.
    Edit: turns out this is an old thread, but the advice is still good.

  • IMadeYouReadThis on 03/01/2017 - 09:52

    Thank you for buying x at $3,449.

    This is why I really like my CBA credit card (not sure if other banks have this feature too). I have an online spend limit per transaction set to $499 and if I have to pay more than this, I will have to manually login to their app and increase the limit.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join