In June 2023 I purchased a voucher for a case of wine within hours of receiving the email from Groupon. I went online to the ‘Coffee & Wine’ site to purchase, the package was now ‘Sold Out’. This happened to me in March 2023 but, on that occasion, within hours I had received a refund. Not so easy this time!
Without going into excruciating detail my experience so far: I had to use live chat as there was not a link to refund this time (a worrying development). Ended up getting a conversation reference number with the assurance they would get back to me. They did want my permission to forward my personal details to the merchant to resolve the issue but I refused (they want to hand over the problem & I’ll just get heaps of Tele-sales calls after). After a couple of days I’d not heard anything so I consulted Product Review. I got the complaints email address from Rob, the person (? Bot) who always appears to say sorry for any issue reported on that site & asks complainants to send an email. This resulted in me getting a second reference number.
It’s now a month, I have no goods or refund. I do have 2 reference numbers. I do get replies to my emails but, it appears the Management and the Resolution Teams this matter has been escalated up to are still ‘Investigating’!
On Monday I am going to report Groupon Australia to ACCC & Qld Trading Standards.
I will continue to pursue and, when this is resolved I will be removing Groupon Australia from my life!
Update: Sunday 16.07.23 I received an email stating they had tried to contact Coffee & Wine Co numerous times without any response, they offered me Groupon Bucks to buy a different wine package or credits for other items. I replied declining their offer asking for refund bank to my card/bank. Received a reply saying they had passed my request to the Resolution Team & I would hear back within a maximum of 24 hours. 24 hours later I emailed them stating I had not heard back, asked for an update. Received a reply that in some cases it can take 72 hours. At 6:37 pm, 19th July 2023 I got the email confirming I would receive a refund back to my card/account. The automated email confirming arrived under an hour later. Once it’s in the bank Groupon is gone from my life! (Product Review has been updated as the saga unfolded).
