[gojomo]

My experience has been the opposite. Despite the fact that this blog post from Mason...

http://www.groupon.com/blog/cities/groupon-organizes-class-a...

...suggests that Groupon's "completely open return policy" can be used, rather than a lawsuit, to get a refund on an expired Groupon, that's not true. They won't give such refunds, and their customer service responses have advised that the Groupon in question may still be usable "if state law applies". So rather than providing "unbelievable" customer service, or even following through on the refund promises of their CEO, they're doing the absolute minimum required by law.

So in the single interaction where I could independently test whether what Mason touts is true, it was not. As a result, I don't put much weight in anything Groupon claims.

[hop]

Well they just refunded my 4 helicopter ride Groupons for a total of $596 that would have expired next week. If I let a Groupon expire though, I wouldn't bitch about not getting a refund, no matter the state law.

[gojomo]

And I would have requested the refund just before expiration... if I'd known the Groupon Promise and the Mason blog post were misleading. (Actually, I probably wouldn't have bought the Groupon in the first place. I bought it right after being impressed with the Mason claim, and thinking, "what a smart policy, it takes all will-I-use-it-or-not anxiety out of buying a Groupon".)

But I trusted them, and was burned. Miniscule amount of money, but now I know that they strategically deceive about the refund policy, so I won't be trusting them again.

I'm OK if a particular business wants to grind out their margins from fine print, 'breakage', and other gotchas. I'm all for caveat emptor. They could change the "Groupon Promise" to read "If your Groupon experience ever lets you down, let us know and we’ll refund your purchase. Period. Except for expirations." And Mason could fix his blog post so that it doesn't portray the 'completely open return policy' as the preferred remedy for people with expired Groupons.

I just hate the act that they've got Nordstrom/Bed-Bath-Beyond/Costco/Zappos/etc-style customer service, when they don't. Together with the other reports of dodgy advertising claims, encouraging businesses to raise their prices pre-Groupon to inflate discount percentages, and pushy sales practices, it gives me the impression that they've ranked 'honesty' far below 'growth at all costs'.

[namityadav]

Have you tried redeeming the groupon for the money you paid at the merchant? From Groupon's FAQ:

What happens if my Groupon's promotional value expires?

All is not lost! If your Groupon's promotional value expires, you can always redeem it for the amount paid. For more information about expiration dates and voucher values, read our Terms of Sale

[dot]

Does that get charged to the business or does Groupon cover the loss? I was under the impression that Groupon sells businesses on the fact that a certain percentage of users will never redeem.