4 ms·

Must be some kind of miscommunication . . . I doubt either are lying about their perception of the situation.

digispaghetti 16y ago
To me, it sounds like the salesman in the middle is at fault here - it was probably near the end of the months and he needed his sales for commission, so pushed this through knowing that it may hurt the business in the end. It shows that Groupon overall isn't a bad idea but that they need to improve their pre- and after-sales care with customers.
callmeed 16y ago
I'm gonna sound cynical here, but why do you think that? People in business lie all the time to cover their butts or prevent embarrassment.
- edkennedy 16y ago
  As someone who works in B2B I have found this to be the case.
- travisp 16y ago
  Well for one thing, it would be easy to verify whether or not Groupon is lying here, by talking to other companies that have used Groupon. If they are caught lying, it will hurt their reputation, especially when they are in reputation-protecting mode. They could be lying, but it would be a very bad business decision.
  - smackfu 16y ago
    The lying one was probably the salesman, if my past experience is any guide.
gojomo 16y ago
A wild guess: Groupon gives a better deal to businesses without a cap, or with high caps. Or, if you set your cap too low, you never get your 'day' because you're stuck waiting behind other businesses that offer more juice to Groupon. That's fair, though it may tempt small businesses with only a rudimentary understanding of their own margins to over-market.
- megablast 16y ago
  Or groupon gives a better deal to there sales reps with there is no cap.
- vaksel 16y ago
  well she did say the original rate was 100%...might have went like this: "well I can lower that to 50% if you agree to run unlimited coupons"
forensic 16y ago
Based on all the published words of Lucinda it seems clear to me that she is essentially incompetent. Groupon is just one type of rope that she used to hang herself. But not the only rope by any means. Having said that, of course it is in Groupon's best interest to avoid doing business in those kinds of situations. Pretty frightening PR for them.
- shadowsun7 16y ago
  What proof do you have of Lucinda's incompetence? I must admit I'm curious as to how you came to that conclusion (even if it's little hints in the article, here and there).
  - prodigal_erik 16y ago
    The owner of Posies is Jessie, not Lucinda (the regular customer). I have to admit I'm surprised Jessie agreed to take a loss without any upper bound. It's almost like stock speculators who used to take naked short positions with no hedging. Somehow it never crosses their mind to say "wait, couldn't this completely wipe me out?"
  - forensic 16y ago
    Oops I meant Jessie. I base it on a few things. 1. She didn't see this coming. Apparently she has no instinct for due diligence. 2. The way she handled one of her best customers, Lucinda. This woman does not seem to understand the most basic principles of successfully running a small business. I've seen Jessie make essentially 2 business decisions and both have been horrendously embarrassingly bad.

To me, it sounds like the salesman in the middle is at fault here - it was probably near the end of the months and he needed his sales for commission, so pushed this through knowing that it may hurt the business in the end. It shows that Groupon overall isn't a bad idea but that they need to improve their pre- and after-sales care with customers.

callmeed 16y ago

I'm gonna sound cynical here, but why do you think that? People in business lie all the time to cover their butts or prevent embarrassment.

edkennedy 16y ago
As someone who works in B2B I have found this to be the case.
travisp 16y ago
Well for one thing, it would be easy to verify whether or not Groupon is lying here, by talking to other companies that have used Groupon. If they are caught lying, it will hurt their reputation, especially when they are in reputation-protecting mode. They could be lying, but it would be a very bad business decision.
- smackfu 16y ago
  The lying one was probably the salesman, if my past experience is any guide.

gojomo 16y ago

A wild guess: Groupon gives a better deal to businesses without a cap, or with high caps. Or, if you set your cap too low, you never get your 'day' because you're stuck waiting behind other businesses that offer more juice to Groupon. That's fair, though it may tempt small businesses with only a rudimentary understanding of their own margins to over-market.

megablast 16y ago
Or groupon gives a better deal to there sales reps with there is no cap.
vaksel 16y ago
well she did say the original rate was 100%...might have went like this: "well I can lower that to 50% if you agree to run unlimited coupons"

forensic 16y ago

Based on all the published words of Lucinda it seems clear to me that she is essentially incompetent. Groupon is just one type of rope that she used to hang herself. But not the only rope by any means. Having said that, of course it is in Groupon's best interest to avoid doing business in those kinds of situations. Pretty frightening PR for them.

shadowsun7 16y ago
What proof do you have of Lucinda's incompetence? I must admit I'm curious as to how you came to that conclusion (even if it's little hints in the article, here and there).
- prodigal_erik 16y ago
  The owner of Posies is Jessie, not Lucinda (the regular customer). I have to admit I'm surprised Jessie agreed to take a loss without any upper bound. It's almost like stock speculators who used to take naked short positions with no hedging. Somehow it never crosses their mind to say "wait, couldn't this completely wipe me out?"
- forensic 16y ago
  Oops I meant Jessie. I base it on a few things. 1. She didn't see this coming. Apparently she has no instinct for due diligence. 2. The way she handled one of her best customers, Lucinda. This woman does not seem to understand the most basic principles of successfully running a small business. I've seen Jessie make essentially 2 business decisions and both have been horrendously embarrassingly bad.