5 ms·

My First (and last) Groupon Experience

33 points by klochner 16y ago

city41 16y ago
My girlfriend has bought several groupons. We've had pleasant experiences with all of them. Admittedly, we never would have gone to these venues without the groupon and admittedly none of them made us feel like becoming return (non groupon bearing) customers. The whole scheme seems to prey on small businesses and it does seem valid that it will collapse eventually.
Goosey 16y ago
I use groupon and similar services (LivingSocial, some more local sites) constantly. It is a GREAT way to both save money and to discover new things. I feel like the author is being a little overly harsh on Groupon when: A) He admit's he should have done the back-of-envelope math to determine it could be difficult to get the dentist appointment. B) He had no issue getting a refund. I know we are a society of convenience, but are we really at the point of boycotting and writing rants to influence other's to follow simply for being slightly inconvenienced with no direct financial loss?
- klochner 16y ago
  I tried to be fair in pointing out that Groupon issued a no-hassle refund. It was one of the easier refunds I've ever received. With respect to my own calculations, it's asking a lot (or at least asking something new) of the user to vet the likelihood of actually receiving the service. Again, I tried to be fair in saying that it will take time for both vendors and consumers to flesh out the best way to interact with Groupon.
gkoberger 16y ago
Groupon has recently started serving different coupons to different people (in the same location) based on variables and preferences- so, in theory, this should cut down on future issues like this.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  that could help a lot. that was my own personal beef with them as a potential user. i don't want to get a totally random "deal" each day, solely based on my location, that has nothing to do with what I'm actually interested in in buying/using. hair salons? no. tires? no. now something related to games or books or a restaurant, sure.
  - enjo 16y ago
    It's interesting how difficult "location" is as well. Most groupon offers here are spread out all over metro Denver. I live in Central Denver, and rarely visit the rest of the metro. That disqualifies a lot of offers for me.
    - mkramlich 16y ago
      same issue here, and i'm also a Denver area resident. that plus the absence of any preferences-targeting makes it useless for me. i just unsubscribed from Groupon a few hours ago because of it. was wasting my time.
timcederman 16y ago
Minor nitpick - how is Groupon at all similar to Woot?
- klochner 16y ago
  The business model is to offer one deal per day, getting eyeballs on the deal via a massive opt-in mailing list. They're only really different in that Woot is for tangible goods and Groupon is for local services.
  - timcederman 16y ago
    They're only really different in that Woot sells a physical product (they don't promote a business), they ship it themselves, and make a profit on it like a regular store. The only way that they're at all similar is one possible thing to purchase per day. Otherwise they're completely different.
    - klochner 16y ago
      We're saying the same thing, just disagreeing on whether it constitutes similarity.
jaxn 16y ago
Minor nit-pick. Groupon doesn't make money on the float. They give the money to the retailer pretty quick. My understanding is the the retailer gets paid even when the groupon isn't redeemed. One would think the retailer would make up some money on the non-redeemed groupons, but groupon claims a higher than 90% redemption rate. Other than that I completely agree about service businesses. I saw a local bike shop sell over 1000 tuneups for $7 each. Meaning the bike shop received $3.50 for a tuneup, and their techs would be booked solid for a long time preventing them from being able to perform as many higher profit services.
- klochner 16y ago
  Thanks - I put in an edit on the blog post.
marknutter 16y ago
Uh, is there some kind of calculated Groupon smear campaign going on right now? This is the third Groupon negative story to hit the frontpage of HN in the last 4 hours...
- klochner 16y ago
  My post was from February. I saw the other two posts at the top of HN and figured today had a receptive crowd for groupon-unfriendly posts :)
- cdr 16y ago
  It's trivial to figure out where the stories are coming from if you actually look - no conspiracy needed.
  - marknutter 16y ago
    Oh, you can tell who voted up the stories? Didn't know that..
- jw84 16y ago
  Let me google this for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fads_and_trends http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fads_and_trends
  - Goosey 16y ago
    Don't know why your at -3. Although you did it in a smart-ass way, you are explaining the phenom.
WillyF 16y ago
I can't believe that the author wouldn't try Groupon again if his favorite restaurant offered one. The value is just too great. And if the Groupon doesn't live up to your expectations: From the Groupon Blog: "If Groupon ever lets you down, we’ll return your purchase—simple as that. Why? Because when we do a bad job, we want it to be easy for you to punish us. We believe that when a customer has a bad experience, companies pay for it sooner or later—so we’d rather pay fast so we can make things right before it’s too late." And from their About page: Unbelievable customer service. Like you, we've suffered through hour-long "transfer-athons" with customer service departments, or waited days for an email reply to to a simple question. If you contact us, we'll do what it takes to make things right - and we'll do it fast. Email us, or speak with a human (during normal business hours): (877) 788-7858" I can understand why a business might have a gripe with Groupon (even if its their own ignorance that caused the gripe), but I can't imagine why a customer could be disappointed by Groupon with that kind of policy.
- klochner 16y ago
  That's the wrong question to ask: Would I want a deal from my favorite restaurant? Yes. Do I want to evaluate the deal every day to figure out if it's worth buying? No
  - WillyF 16y ago
    All you need to do is read the subject line of one e-mail a day, and maybe look at a few e-mails that catch your eye. I've saved hundreds of dollars on stuff that I would have already bought. That's probably not good for the businesses, but it's good for me.
    - klochner 16y ago
      I'm not saying it has no value, just that personally I've decided the daily deal isn't valuable enough to distract my attention every day.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
pssdbt 16y ago
It sounds like Groupon isn't the problem in your case, it's the service making a deal like that with no limit. Groupon's can/do have limited quantities, and the dental place should have probably used that. They cooperated and gave you a refund (I've received a refund as well before, the customer service has been amazing), I don't see how you would point the finger at them before the business on the other end of the deal. Anyways, that would definitely piss me off a bit as well, crappy deal. I'll keep using Groupon, I can't pass up half off concert tickets and delicious foods :D. Edit: Oh, this guy says it much better: http://hackerne.ws/item?id=1698788 http://hackerne.ws/item?id=1698788
dennisgorelik 16y ago
Looking for discounted dentist (or any doctor for that sake) without any recommendations is not a good idea in the first place. Your health is not something to joke with.
jlees 16y ago
I've had mixed experiences. Generally a positive feeling from saving money, but one of the Groupons I bought (a champagne cruise in SF) still has yet to come in sight of being redeemed. The Groupon itself didn't specify that the cruise was only available at weekends, and the company insisted on doing everything by email with a 24-48 hour turnaround, so booking became a nightmare. After reading in this thread how easy refunds are, I may well do that instead. I've also had trouble scheduling a discount spa treatment, and the one I did redeem came with a very heavily upsold expensive beauty purchase - sure, I could have stood firm and hassled my way out of it, but she was very persistent and I value my time and sanity more than the price of a bottle of facial cream. The Groupons for "$5 for $10 of $ethnic food" I just don't bother with. To be honest, I only go for these group buy discounts if it's a really good looking deal right now, as I know what I'm getting into booking-wise. And it does work for some; I just got my hair cut at a salon that had been Grouponed, leading to a handful of new positive Yelp reviews, leading to me finding them in the first place. Happily paid full price, but all the smug Yelpers boasting about their Groupon left a slightly acidic taste in my mouth.

33 points by klochner 16y ago

My girlfriend has bought several groupons. We've had pleasant experiences with all of them. Admittedly, we never would have gone to these venues without the groupon and admittedly none of them made us feel like becoming return (non groupon bearing) customers. The whole scheme seems to prey on small businesses and it does seem valid that it will collapse eventually.

Goosey 16y ago

I use groupon and similar services (LivingSocial, some more local sites) constantly. It is a GREAT way to both save money and to discover new things. I feel like the author is being a little overly harsh on Groupon when: A) He admit's he should have done the back-of-envelope math to determine it could be difficult to get the dentist appointment. B) He had no issue getting a refund. I know we are a society of convenience, but are we really at the point of boycotting and writing rants to influence other's to follow simply for being slightly inconvenienced with no direct financial loss?

klochner 16y ago
I tried to be fair in pointing out that Groupon issued a no-hassle refund. It was one of the easier refunds I've ever received. With respect to my own calculations, it's asking a lot (or at least asking something new) of the user to vet the likelihood of actually receiving the service. Again, I tried to be fair in saying that it will take time for both vendors and consumers to flesh out the best way to interact with Groupon.

gkoberger 16y ago

Groupon has recently started serving different coupons to different people (in the same location) based on variables and preferences- so, in theory, this should cut down on future issues like this.

mkramlich 16y ago
that could help a lot. that was my own personal beef with them as a potential user. i don't want to get a totally random "deal" each day, solely based on my location, that has nothing to do with what I'm actually interested in in buying/using. hair salons? no. tires? no. now something related to games or books or a restaurant, sure.
- enjo 16y ago
  It's interesting how difficult "location" is as well. Most groupon offers here are spread out all over metro Denver. I live in Central Denver, and rarely visit the rest of the metro. That disqualifies a lot of offers for me.
  - mkramlich 16y ago
    same issue here, and i'm also a Denver area resident. that plus the absence of any preferences-targeting makes it useless for me. i just unsubscribed from Groupon a few hours ago because of it. was wasting my time.

timcederman 16y ago

Minor nitpick - how is Groupon at all similar to Woot?

klochner 16y ago
The business model is to offer one deal per day, getting eyeballs on the deal via a massive opt-in mailing list. They're only really different in that Woot is for tangible goods and Groupon is for local services.
- timcederman 16y ago
  They're only really different in that Woot sells a physical product (they don't promote a business), they ship it themselves, and make a profit on it like a regular store. The only way that they're at all similar is one possible thing to purchase per day. Otherwise they're completely different.
  - klochner 16y ago
    We're saying the same thing, just disagreeing on whether it constitutes similarity.

jaxn 16y ago

Minor nit-pick. Groupon doesn't make money on the float. They give the money to the retailer pretty quick. My understanding is the the retailer gets paid even when the groupon isn't redeemed. One would think the retailer would make up some money on the non-redeemed groupons, but groupon claims a higher than 90% redemption rate. Other than that I completely agree about service businesses. I saw a local bike shop sell over 1000 tuneups for $7 each. Meaning the bike shop received $3.50 for a tuneup, and their techs would be booked solid for a long time preventing them from being able to perform as many higher profit services.

klochner 16y ago
Thanks - I put in an edit on the blog post.

marknutter 16y ago

Uh, is there some kind of calculated Groupon smear campaign going on right now? This is the third Groupon negative story to hit the frontpage of HN in the last 4 hours...

klochner 16y ago
My post was from February. I saw the other two posts at the top of HN and figured today had a receptive crowd for groupon-unfriendly posts :)
cdr 16y ago
It's trivial to figure out where the stories are coming from if you actually look - no conspiracy needed.
- marknutter 16y ago
  Oh, you can tell who voted up the stories? Didn't know that..
jw84 16y ago
Let me google this for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fads_and_trends http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fads_and_trends
- Goosey 16y ago
  Don't know why your at -3. Although you did it in a smart-ass way, you are explaining the phenom.

WillyF 16y ago

I can't believe that the author wouldn't try Groupon again if his favorite restaurant offered one. The value is just too great. And if the Groupon doesn't live up to your expectations: From the Groupon Blog: "If Groupon ever lets you down, we’ll return your purchase—simple as that. Why? Because when we do a bad job, we want it to be easy for you to punish us. We believe that when a customer has a bad experience, companies pay for it sooner or later—so we’d rather pay fast so we can make things right before it’s too late." And from their About page: Unbelievable customer service. Like you, we've suffered through hour-long "transfer-athons" with customer service departments, or waited days for an email reply to to a simple question. If you contact us, we'll do what it takes to make things right - and we'll do it fast. Email us, or speak with a human (during normal business hours): (877) 788-7858" I can understand why a business might have a gripe with Groupon (even if its their own ignorance that caused the gripe), but I can't imagine why a customer could be disappointed by Groupon with that kind of policy.

klochner 16y ago
That's the wrong question to ask: Would I want a deal from my favorite restaurant? Yes. Do I want to evaluate the deal every day to figure out if it's worth buying? No
- WillyF 16y ago
  All you need to do is read the subject line of one e-mail a day, and maybe look at a few e-mails that catch your eye. I've saved hundreds of dollars on stuff that I would have already bought. That's probably not good for the businesses, but it's good for me.
  - klochner 16y ago
    I'm not saying it has no value, just that personally I've decided the daily deal isn't valuable enough to distract my attention every day.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

pssdbt 16y ago

It sounds like Groupon isn't the problem in your case, it's the service making a deal like that with no limit. Groupon's can/do have limited quantities, and the dental place should have probably used that. They cooperated and gave you a refund (I've received a refund as well before, the customer service has been amazing), I don't see how you would point the finger at them before the business on the other end of the deal. Anyways, that would definitely piss me off a bit as well, crappy deal. I'll keep using Groupon, I can't pass up half off concert tickets and delicious foods :D. Edit: Oh, this guy says it much better: http://hackerne.ws/item?id=1698788 http://hackerne.ws/item?id=1698788

dennisgorelik 16y ago

Looking for discounted dentist (or any doctor for that sake) without any recommendations is not a good idea in the first place. Your health is not something to joke with.

jlees 16y ago

I've had mixed experiences. Generally a positive feeling from saving money, but one of the Groupons I bought (a champagne cruise in SF) still has yet to come in sight of being redeemed. The Groupon itself didn't specify that the cruise was only available at weekends, and the company insisted on doing everything by email with a 24-48 hour turnaround, so booking became a nightmare. After reading in this thread how easy refunds are, I may well do that instead. I've also had trouble scheduling a discount spa treatment, and the one I did redeem came with a very heavily upsold expensive beauty purchase - sure, I could have stood firm and hassled my way out of it, but she was very persistent and I value my time and sanity more than the price of a bottle of facial cream. The Groupons for "$5 for $10 of $ethnic food" I just don't bother with. To be honest, I only go for these group buy discounts if it's a really good looking deal right now, as I know what I'm getting into booking-wise. And it does work for some; I just got my hair cut at a salon that had been Grouponed, leading to a handful of new positive Yelp reviews, leading to me finding them in the first place. Happily paid full price, but all the smug Yelpers boasting about their Groupon left a slightly acidic taste in my mouth.