• Groupon

Groupon

Write a Review

Overview

Groupon has a rating of 1.6 stars from 5,268 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Groupon most frequently mention customer service, credit card, and fine print problems. Groupon ranks 281st among Daily Deals sites.

  • Service
    652
  • Value
    598
  • Shipping
    444
  • Returns
    509
  • Quality
    515

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 2%
Positive
2
Neutral
0
Negative
99
278
See all photos
How would you rate Groupon?
Top Positive Review

“Sketchy”

G u.
1/2/24

For exactly 120 for a couples massage was not reflected on my account. I contacted groupon and gave them the order number in question as well as screenshots of my confirmation email. Instead of inquiring on the issue they refunded a second groupon voucher I bought for a movie ticket in the amount of 26.45 when I paid 29.45 and skipped out on paying my 3 additional dollars. When I contacted them a third time, my email was blocked. I would have been fine calling and explain this issue but there is no customer service number. Beware of the bs. Groupon is sketchy.

Top Critical Review

“So hard to make a review on groupon have sent this to Mystery Flights no reply... want all to know.”

Ange F.
10/27/24

We were so excited my husband was given this as a birthday gift…. The extra expenses have been ridiculous… extra $100 each to fly out from Brisbane… extra costs to sit together on flight… car hire for 3 days cause a very basic motel is not near city, beach, etc…. We were not honoured any of our three Friday and Saturday night options… had to fly out on a Thursday… taking away our income (haven't even gone and down $1060)… gosh I hope our bottom of the peeking order destination is worth it!

Reviews (5,268)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

customer service (1519) credit card (285) phone number (152) store credit (79) customer support (178) coupon site (14)
Thumbnail of user jjl60
California
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 23rd, 2021

NEVER purchase a 3rd party voucher for goods or services through Groupon. Companies will very often not honor these vouchers. Companies can go our of business, or change terms at any time, and you will be out the money. Groupon has absolutely Terrible customer service, and No telephone contact. You can also purchase direct (without voucher) but Merchandise that I purchased has been low quality import garbage. Very Unhappy with pretty much every transaction with groupon. I'm done!

Tip for consumers:
Not worth the trouble, You will waste money, trying to save a few bucks.

Thumbnail of user lindsaybrooker
New York
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 7th, 2015

They overall have great clothing, but my experience has been soured by the fact that I frequently end up with the wrong items. This has happened 5 or 6 times! I don't think it's any coincidence that the correct item is always out of stock. It's a flash website, so quantities are limited. I'm quite certain that if they oversell an item, they just stuff something else in, banking on the fact that many people won't return it.

Thumbnail of user ronaldr43
Nevada
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
June 6th, 2016

I bought tickets through Groupon for the Slipknot concert in Las Vegas on June 17th. The concert was cancelled. Groupon has refused to refund my money, even though that's their promise. I have five different responses: redeem at another location, give them away, and fabulous Groupon Bucks! In over 30 years of going to concerts, I have never had such an awful customer service experience.

Thumbnail of user edb88
Utah
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 23rd, 2017

I had heard that Tim Allen (TA) was coming to perform comedy in SLC, but I thought he was a little too rough around the edges. About a week before the performance, groupon sent out an add for TA and it contained several customer reviews saying how family friendly his show was and how much they enjoyed it. My wife and I decided to pay the $40.00 each and enjoy the show. TA was about as filthy and vulgar as he could be and dropped f-bombs about every other sentence. When he started in on how much he hated kids, interspersed with f-bombs, we'd had enough and walked out... 10 minutes into his set. I'll do better research next comedian, but I really feel like groupon deliberately set us up and were deceptive in their ad. I've never had reason to question them before, so this was a big disappointment.

Thumbnail of user emilias
Kansas
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
July 11th, 2010

I don't review sites because I never have any strong opinions on them good or bad. I stumbled upon ideeli through another site and immediately bought a blow dryer off of there that I had been wanting forever and just happened to be serendipitously available that day for a ridiculously low price on ideeli. I usually read reviews before to scope everything out before money is involved, but in this case I took a risk. Luckily I did because these reviews in no way reflect my experience with ideeli. I started to expect super slow shipping based off the reviews but my blow dryer came in less than a week, as fast or faster than any other site I'd buy from. So if shipping speed is a concern, maybe they have fixed a glitch or two.

Thumbnail of user jasonf1
DeeDee L. – Groupon Rep

Hi Emilia, as they say: the bigger the risk the bigger the reward. We’re glad you took the leap with us, but want you to rest assured that we do offer the reward without the risk :) Happy shopping.

Jason Faria
Customer Service Manager

Ideeli, Inc.

Thumbnail of user kl6
Illinois
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 21st, 2010

I bought the CuisineArt knives from O Magazine's 31 August #. It arrived promptly BUT is obviously a returned item. The box was ripped and poorly "mended" w/ packing tape, the knife block is filthy including dirt inside the knife slots, several knives show evidence of previous use. (Etching, etc.) Adding insult to injury - 3 knives have bent tips. No way to reach them. The deal sounded great but... I wonder if Oprah has had complaints. Anyone else have problems w/ knife set?

Thumbnail of user jasonf1
DeeDee L. – Groupon Rep

Hi K: I'm sorry to hear about the condition of your Cuisinart knife set. Please contact us at orders@ideeli.com regarding the damages, so that we can directly work to resolve the order. If you ever need to contact Customer Service you can do so through the "Help" link in the header, or the 'Contact Us' link in the footer of the site. We also include our support@ideeli.com email address within the return policy, and packing slip. Thanks so much for reaching out, and we look forward to assisting you.

Jason Faria
Customer Service Manager

Ideeli, Inc.

Thumbnail of user nc300
Hawaii
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
September 3rd, 2023
Verified purchase

I have used Groupon twice to book an excursion. One in Key West and one in Hawaii. The Key West trip was cancelled and the Hawaii one said he doesn't accept Groupons because the take too much from him. He wanted me to cancel it and call back to book directly. Both times I had to fight with Groupon for a refund and neither time would they refund original form of payment. They both were over 300.00. I think this is a terrible way to do business and I will no longer be using them for anything.

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user joelc1
Massachusetts
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 4th, 2011

Groupon = good idea, slipping in execution.

My girlfriend and I have bought N U M E R O U S Groupons, but have begun to see a clear and disturbing trend of extremely poor customer service from the Groupon merchants. It has gotten so bad that we've spent money on Groupons but now refuse to use them. We'd rather swallow the loss than be subjected to such lousy service.

Walk through the door with a big flashing Groupon printout, and second-class citizenship is sure to follow.

Certainly something Groupon will have to fix, in a hurry, of they're going to start losing customers en mass.

***Groupon just emailed me and refunded the $60 Groupon we refused to use because of poor service***

I. E., Groupon is pulling through on the customer service front, now if only they could either enforce such good service from their merchants, or think of an alternative way for Groupons to be used that doesn't result in "oh?-you're-a-Groupon-customer?-here,-let-me-give-you-crappy-service!"

Thumbnail of user jeremyr135
California
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
December 11th, 2019

My wife and I both have accounts. We have been trying to order Groupons for a couple of weeks. We've tried changing passwords. We've sent them messages through their so-called customer support online. No response. They no longer offer phone customer support. I can only conclude that the idiots do not want our business.

Thumbnail of user marieh36
Illinois
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
April 14th, 2015

My first time ordering success now tbat i had free shipping nothing and its horrible they charge my account twice im sick of these places no phone number just shop im contacting groupon since they market for them

Thumbnail of user jasonf1
DeeDee L. – Groupon Rep

Hi, Marie!

Thank you for being in touch with us via Site Jabber. I am so sorry to hear about your experience.

As an online company we keep all of our agents on Live Chat so they can help customer instantly with any issues that arise. You can access our Live Chat here: https://support.ideel.com/app/chat/chat_launch. The same agents who handle Live Chat, and emails, are also the agents who handle the phones. Live Chat allows them to work with multiple members at one time, which they aren't able to do over the phone. While we don't have a traditional call center, you can request a phone call the agents will call with within 4 to 24 hours.

If you would like to send me a private message with your order number or registered email address, I will be happy to have our customer service team reach out and resolve your concerns.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best,
Jason Faria
Director, Customer Service

Thumbnail of user jenb45
Jen B.
New York
1 review
15 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 19th, 2016

Groupon, you failed at acquiring Ideeli. You took a cutting edge retail company and stripped it of everything that people valued. Unique brands, chic design, simple ideas and outstanding selection. Your merging it into groupon makes me feel more confident shopping at a flea market. If your sales haven't plummeted, they aren't far away from it. You can't take designer fashion and jam it into the same interface selling discount carpet cleaning and carry out meals. I'm disgusted.

Thumbnail of user jannam4
North Carolina
6 reviews
34 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 15th, 2016

Ok, I'm all about saving money when I can. I also like to go out. I recently moved to Charlotte, NC and I wanted to explore what was close to me that I might be interested in. I had heard of groupon before but had never used it.
You can get access to just about anything on that site. From food to entertainment, like concerts, musicals, movie tickets, tastings of food and drink. Super deals on hotels and getaways, pet care, tanning packages, you name it and more than likely you can find it there.
My favorite thing is not only does it save you about 50% or more, but you can search locally. That's what I did and it's been a huge help by making everything super affordable, that include directions, links to the direct item you want, lots of info and reviews. I've had nothing but great experiences while having fun, saving money, and learning my new city. I'd most definitely recommend to at least check it out. Groupon.com

Thumbnail of user ljv1
Illinois
3 reviews
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
November 15th, 2013

Do NOT purchase travel/hotel deals with this company. You will not be able to make last-minute changes or cancellations. The best you'll get is 72 hrs and that's ONLY for cancelling. You cannot CHANGE your reservation under any conditions... even though they'll tell you to "contact the merchant directly". Well, the merchant (hotel, etc) can't do anything because it was a 3rd party purchase. Hence, you're out the total amount you paid.

Thumbnail of user sprinklesc
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
June 11th, 2015

Although they have some good deals, I've always had bad customer service experience with ideel.
Once I reached out to them for not receiving an item and they said I should contact the shipping company. I did not shop with them for almost 2 years.
Next time they took almost 12 days to ship my order. I returned one of the items and I was told by their customer service rep it will take 15 days for them to receive my return and then 4-5 business days to process my return!
Am I the only one who finds it ridiculous? Other stores don't charge for shipping and I get my order delivered in 3-4 days. Ideeli charges me almost $10 for shipping and another $10 for return shipping still take 15+5 days to complete the return process and give my money back.
Soo not going back there again.

Tip for consumers:
Be very sure of what you absolutely want to get before you buy anything from here. Returns take so long that you will forget you have one pending and lose your money. Speaking from personal experience.

The prices are not that low but the shopping experience is so mediocre , I find the deals not worth it.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jasonf1
DeeDee L. – Groupon Rep

Hi Sprinkles,

Thank you so much for being in touch via Site Jabber. I am sorry to hear about the troubles you've had with your order, and I'd like to address what seems like some confusion about how our site works.

First, we offer many items on consignment, which means the items are not in our inventory when you place your order. Instead, we hold a sales event, then place an order with the manufacturer for the exact amount of items we need to fulfill our members' orders. This is part of the reason we can offer suc great deals on our site. This does mean that wait time for your order to ship will be longer than traditional retailers.

Regarding returns, the timeline you quoted seems a little off. We expect 3 - 5 business days for your package to arrive back at our Fulfillment Center, but foten packages are delivered earlier if you are closer to our South Carolina location. We then require another 5 business days to process your returns, but often we process them sooner. These time frames are estimates, to ensure that we do not give our members poor expectations of travel and processing times. If you select a cash refund to your credit card, we submit that refund as soon as your return is processed. However, banking policies allow up to 5 days before a refund requested on our end is updated on your balance.

If you have an issue about a specific order that you'd like me to address, please reply by private message with that Order #, and I'll be happy to look into it further.

I look forward to hearing from you so I may resolve these concerns for you.

Best,
Jason Faria
Director, Customer Service

Thumbnail of user robinj10
New York
20 reviews
58 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 15th, 2015

I don't understand all of these negative reviews. And who buys anything these days without reading the "fine print"? Sometimes when I read the fine print I decide against a deal that at first looked promising. I also thing their customer relations is awesome. Never had a problem when the groupon sponsor was uncooperative. Groupon quickly refunds my money. Fast. I usually buy a few of these per month.

They do have less bargains than they had in the past. And some aren't really bargains. But a sharp eye will do just fine. I love this site, and will use it until I experience a problem that cannot be solved. I've been a customer for several years, and so far, so good.

Thumbnail of user lindap82
New York
4 reviews
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
June 10th, 2015

First of all most of their stuff is crap. Merchants who can't get customers to pay full price trying to drum up business via Groupon. Second, there's the expiration date - in my case it was a class and I couldn't get a match with the seller and he walked on it. Groupon won't give me my money back even though it says they will in the contract. Instead they issue Groupon Bucks which makes you buy additional items you don't need that are usually offered in multiples at a "discount" price that is basically offset by the shipping charge. A cheap company and a cheap operation. Stay away.

Thumbnail of user joans85
GB
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
June 12th, 2017

Can. Reccomended. Good customer. Service and never I. The five years have I been. Let down. Great company any problems you have are dealt with asap. Always resolved. I absolutely trust them based on my own. Experience.

Thumbnail of user emteejayi
Florida
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
June 10th, 2017

Anytime I order "goods" from Groupon, the order is either incorrect, missing something, or says it was delivered and never was. Their customer service is minimal at best and they do not provide any reference numbers for discussions. Too many third party vendors and Gropuon doesn't take accountability.

Thumbnail of user jasonr167
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 9th, 2018

I purchased the ultimate date night from Groupon and when i went to claim my vouchers for the movie tickets and restaurant.com. The promo codes did not work. They said that the codes had been previously used. Contacted groupon and never heard back from them with an answer or a solution. Lost my money due to Groupon expiring. Will never use Groupon again!

Thumbnail of user gm276
GB
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
September 9th, 2019

DO NOT USE! Had nothing but trouble from light bulbs to multi gyms I have had to contact customer services on all products the latest being a home gym £450 which is the size of half my garage! After nearly a month I've been told it's been lost in transit! Haha it's ok though because they've offered to refund me with bloody groupon credit! Luckily used credit card which will refund properly another instance was a mattress after nearly a month of back and forth they cancelled my order due to suspicious activity they are a joke of a company

Thumbnail of user margos4
Australia
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
September 19th, 2014

Appalling Customer Service, dishonest suppliers. Firstly I ordered two sets god luggage suppliers got the colours wrong and then Groupon told me I would have to sort it out myself. Then yesterday I received my final purchase from them, I ordered two apple headsets at $19 a set and only received one set so I am $19 out of pocket unless I want to fight with an overseas company. As if.

This company should be shut down, Australian Consumer Affairs should be reading these reviews and conducting a full investigation. Extremely unhappy and have now unsubscribed from their website not a moment too soon, I wish I had of read these reviews before using the site. Thanks very one for writing the reviews.

Tip for consumers:
Don't use it.

Thumbnail of user stevem57
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 6th, 2012

I paid for two nights accommodations and they are unredeemable because the hotel is filled. Groupon thinks it can satisfy me by offering a refund. That's not enough. They have inconvenienced me, taken my money, and have not provided adequate customer service. I suggest that consumers avoid this company and their site. Remember: you don't always get what you pay for, sometimes far less.

Thumbnail of user clairem17
GB
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 23rd, 2013

I thought I had bought a leather satchel - a great deal, was really looking forwards to receiving my bag. But although I'd put in all my details, and the transaction, made through Paypal (which I never have a problem with) seemed to go through ok, I received no email receipt.

Seemed odd, so I looked at my Groupon account and saw the order was recorded there. Phoned up Groupon - who said they'd had problems with the transaction and immediately cut me off. Checked paypal and no record of the transaction.

Phoned back. This time they asked for a credit card. I said no - I didn't trust them, it was my first experience of using Groupon, please use Paypal. Then it transpired that the bag was only now available in a different size and colour. They asked again for a card and I said no and asked them to cancel my Groupon account. They said they would - but cut me off again. I think this is a company to avoid.

Thumbnail of user sharal2
Australia
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
October 5th, 2014

Don't understand all the terrible reviews on here! My email was returned promptly and my issues dealt with fairly. I have always been happy with all my deals from here - granted, I'm usually not vastly impressed either, but it's definitely value for money and therefore you shouldn't expect too much! Customer service took only a few days to sort out my booking issues with a restaurant. Thanks groupon!

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user janed83
Texas
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 2nd, 2015

I just read many of these reviews and I wish I would have sooner-poor Jason. What a horrible job you have having to clean up messes caused by a generally incompetent customer service department and/or fulfillment center.
This company needs to reevaluate it's "non-traditional" call center into a traditional call center with people who are trained to handle logistics as well as an upset customer WHEN THEY CALL not hours or days afterwards and to h%#! With weather or "high call volumes" due to the "holidays". You are a business for crying out loud! Hire more people! Ever heard of seasonal workers?! No one leaves voice messages anymore-get with the times and the technology.
I love talking to Amazon's or Zappos's customer service centers and will no longer stray from conducting my business with them. I can get a real person every time without hold if I need to do so and that matters more than 10% off. Take a lesson from them.
There needs to be a no star option here...

Tip for consumers:
Do not do it! It's not worth the trouble!

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jasonf1
DeeDee L. – Groupon Rep

Hi Jane,

Thanks for your feedback here on Site Jabber. I'm sorry to hear about the experiences you've had with us. As an online, flash sale retailer we feel that having our agents on Live Chat throughout the day, where they can assist multiple customers at a time and work on emails, helps get the immediate assistance needed before a cart expires or an item ships. Since we aren't a traditional retailer, with our flash sale model, we don't have a traditional call center so we can help provide immediate responses. We do have a phone line and will call back, typically within 4 hours, if no one is available to answer. As this is not our only mode of contact, we do request that members leave a message if they can't reach and agent.

I apologize that you weren't happy with the experience you had and would be happy to help resolve any outstanding issues or take any more feedback you may have. I look forward to your response and helping resolve any issues. Thank you very much for providing all of your feedback here.

Best,
Jason Faria
Director, Ideel Customer Service

Sitejabber for Business

Gain trust and grow your business with customer reviews.

From the business

Groupon is the largest "daily deal" site, selling vouchers for discounted local experiences and services such as restaurants and spas, as well as travel packages, shopping, and a number of other items. Vouchers are purchased upfront and typically must be redeemed by a certain date, after which time Groupons expire. To businesses Groupon markets itself as a way to drive new customers. Groupon is a public company (NASDAQ: GRPN) and is based in Chicago, IL.

Company Representative

Thumbnail of user jasonf1
DeeDee L.
Ideel Customer Service Supervisor
Typically does not respond to reviews

How do I know I can trust these reviews about Groupon?

  • Sitejabber’s mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
  • Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
  • Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Have a question about Groupon?