So I bought one of these vouchers and decided to use it.Surprisingly, Red Onion said they are no longer accepting Groupon vouchers and ask me to contact Groupon for a refund. They stated that they were not happy with how Groupon organised the whole affair…LOL
Its intereting to see a business stand up to the Groupon morons. Even better that they are rejecting the vouchers instead of providing a crappy experience to customers…
LOL, guess I was lucky…
TBH I think most of these "all you can eat" deals are craphouse. I bought the all you can eat voucher for "Han's dumpling" in Bentleigh and I got served microwaved dumplings, melted icecream and stale fried bananan fritters…
I'm not sure how they are 'standing up to Groupon'. The business made an offer through Groupon and they should have performed due diligence before agreeing to the deal. To outright reject customers is not only a breach of contract it's just bad business (clearly based on the reviews, simply being open appears bad for business too).
I would never buy from Groupon again!
Has anyone out there been ripped off by Groupon? We went trekking in Nepal earlier this year on a deal that included accomm, meals and internal flights. Despite booking 5 months in advance, they managed to bugger up our flights and book them on the wrong day! This caused us to be stuck in a town 2,000m above sea level with no $$$, no working ATM, very few English speakers where we had to cover our own costs because the company didn't care! The only reason we got out after 3 days (and not be stuck there for a further 6/7 days), was to charter a $3,500 helicopter. The company and Groupon have taken '0' responsibility! I've been fighting with Groupon for over 5 weeks now and it's going know-where… NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
They have this terrible customer service system where I can only ever speak to one girl! so if she's not around or doesn't respond, the case just sits there. I haven't heard anything for 2 weeks now and know-one else will speak to me, nor can I even get a name of another person to speak to because (it's been assigned to this particular person whose name I won't mention)!
Any-one else feeling ripped off by Groupon right bout now?
I would say that you were lucky that they rejected your voucher.
October 9, 2012
'BAD' ONION - deceptive & impolite - by WN
Got a voucher from Groupon for the buffet. It took many phone calls to even get someone to take a booking!? It was one of the worst experiences I have had, anywhere in the world. (a) The chef was very impolite when demanding us to move table after we had already sat down. (b) the 'buffet' offered 4 or 5 curry dishes plus rice, all tasted ordinary and too oily. (c) dessert had two choices and they were less than impressive. When we complained, the chef was rude to us, refused to apologise or refund. Even the waiters were embarassed about this situation! The whole deal was deceptive as it was a total mismatch of what was advertised. I failed to see the value of the deal, and I found the chef's poor attitude and terrible customer focus to be appalling. I do not understand how such unprofessional people dared to open up a restaurant in Melb, and then advertised such terrible deals through Groupon. Shame on you, 'Bad' Onion.
October 10, 2012
shockingly horrible rip off - birthdays' celebrations ruined!!! - by npsw
To celebrate my parents' birthdays, we purchased the "$75 for 4" Groupon and went to Red Onion on Sunday 7 Oct 2012. It turned out to be the worst dining experience ever in my life. I work in customer service so exactly know how I want to be served and should be served. We found a few tables of Groupon users like us that day who decided that what the food and services we got that day needed to be reflected in serious complaints!
Let me share my shockingly horrible experience:
Upon our request for kids to stay indoor/safe/warm, the chef told us we do not have any say at all and insisted that they decided to have us sit outside. When we're outside, our table was not set up at all.
Buffet started 20 minutes late and no explanations/apologies about that. When it started, what should originally value up to "$298.80 for 4" only took two cafe tables to hold: two plates of pudding/jelly; small jugs of water/cordial drinks; steamed rice and a few curry dishes -… more - chicken drumstick pieces, diced beef, beans, mashed vegetables and some sort of fish. The food was served by the manager in minimal portions. We felt that something is really wrong and by re-reading the Groupon, we could only conclude that it's a real rip off!
When we asked the waitress if they're going to top up or serve more varieties of food, she said she were there only to help and knew nothing about it! Since we paid and it's a birthday celebration, we still tried to enjoy ourselves.
However, we couldn't help but noticed more and more people seeking to talk to the restaurant about their frustrations. They turned out to be Groupon users like us. When everyone found that dispite our effort to talk to the manager/chef, we got very cold/rude responses and came to a dead end. To avoid making a scene and disturb others, we quickly discussed about putting through complaints. Then, the chef interrupted to warn us that we should leave immediately, take no food with us and no photos. In fact, none of our 90-minutes sitting time was not even up yet!
To add to the absurdity of the ordeal, without our permissions or any valid reasons at all, the chef used her iPhone to take photos of us leaving the restaurant! As Groupon users who felt extremely misled and completely ripped off by Red Onion, we decided to individually approach Groupon and lodge a formal complaint on the deal.
October 12, 2012
Groupon Buffet - by Vinny
If from all the complaints about the buffet offered under the Groupon deal, why won't we just make a complaint to the ACCC about deceptive advertising especially when the voucher says that the value of the food is $149.40 for two? This should wake them up!!
October 8, 2012
What a shame! - by Esther How
As a Malaysian myself, I had thought the deal would at least include famous dishes such as Char Kway Teow or Nasi Goreng, especially after reading positive reviews online about this restaurant and its very experienced Malaysian chef. However, my experience turned out to be a truly negative and disappointing one! I had expected the buffet to have many more dishes other than those pathetic 6 or 7 dishes served. Beef rendang loved up to its reputation on Urbanspoon - not authentic tasting and so-so at its best. While the lamb was the best among the dishes, it wasn't tender enough to separate the meat easily using a fork. The 2 veggies served (dahl ? and another grain) were just mediocre. Drinks served was some red and green cordial, which I could easily mix on my own at home. Dessert consists of a very simple light rose water jelly (not even Ice Kacang!?) and a weird concoction of sago (some are not cooked through) and ginger water. After speaking to one of the waiting staff, I was appalled to find out that that night was the first round of buffet served! My oh my! Were we the guinea pigs then? It would be horrifying and unfair to me and the few diners who dined that night if we found out later that other coupon users might get a better buffet spread after our reviews! Did I mention it was extremely difficult to speak to someone or get a reply email to make a reservation? Red Onion, I am not sorry to say that it's a real shame that you have not lived up to the reputation of being a true-blue Malaysian Restaurant. With the $40 I spent, I'd be most happy spending it elsewhere.
October 8, 2012
Terrible Restaurant - by jasongao218
It was the most terrible restaurant I have experienced ever.
I brought a voucher from Groupon and the food offered is completely different with the picture showed in website. They said that is a buffet, but only four dishes you could select.
The stuffs are very rude when all groups together discuss the complaints with them, and even said that they would call police if we don't leave. (we didn't make any inconvenience to other customers, (be frank, just few people)).
Don't know how can this kind of people make business running, never ever been there.
October 7, 2012
Mobile review - by Lavinia
Sorry i Would never be here again, terrible food taste horrible, advert all you can eat just is lunch box, difficult to find place, not worth the money at all, pls at least be honesty a little bit.
October 10, 2012
Bad restaurant… Rude n not a place for kids - by Lh
Got a groupon deal n it was so hard to get a booking. We had to call several times to make the booking n when we finally got thru n made the booking; the restaurant later told us that they are not having the buffet on the Friday night as they decided to cancel (cancel on a FRIDAY night!!!) n they could only fit us in on a sun. So we thought ok fine, when we got there, they wanted us to sit outside despite the weather was cold n we had two young children. We went there with an expectation that the restaurant would cater the buffet for customer who dun eat too spicy food. There were four dishes to choose from n they are all spicy curry dishes, n the waiter stood there n served us n said that we could only have one piece of meat!!! My children were upset cos they could not have anything.. When we brought our complaint to the waiter, he said that he could not understand us. When we asked to speak to the manager, she was very rude, I believe that my husband n I had talked to her politely but she basically told us to get stuffed!! We were very upset by her attitude n how dealt with this situation. There were other people ther complaining after us n she just started yelling at all of us despite the fact that my family were just sitting down being quiet. We will never go back there, we had a terrible experience there n we do not wish anyone to experience such bad service n attitude especially in front of our children too. It is not kid friendly!!!!