Just bookmarked Hello Peter (here's why...)

Isis

I'm seriously getting fed-up with the customer service we receive on an almost daily basis.

We ordered a bunch of cupcakes for my wife's birthday from one of Groupon's partners called "Party Haven". On the day we were suppose to collect the cupcakes, the lady at Party Haven told us that she burnt some of the cupcakes and she couldn't produce the amount we required because she didn't have any eggs.

My wife responded by saying that the cupcakes are for a birthday party and that the number of cupcakes we require aren't really negotiable. The lady offered to give us a voucher for the outstanding cupcakes. My wife politely told her that this is not acceptable and that there are literally dozen's of shops in the area that sell eggs. At this stage the lady from Party Haven got extremely rude and subsequently told my wife that she is being unreasonable. This lady was insane. My wife was even kind enough to remind Party Haven of the collection date the week prior to her birthday. If my wife hadn't shown me the emails I wouldn't have believed her.

My wife cancelled the order and informed Groupon about the situation. In the end we had to buy cupcakes from Spar.

After numerous failed attempts at calling Groupon, I eventually got through after holding on for 21 minutes. They told me that they don't give refunds after 7 days. So we get screwed over because we bought the the vouchers 3 weeks prior to the pre-arranged collection date.

Now I find out from Groupon that they already paid Party Haven (for doing a very good job of stressing my wife out on her birthday) and that there is no chance that we'll get a refund.

I go to HelloPeter to complain and... BAM!, notice that during the last year more than 3000 people lodged complaints to a similar effect. Some of the stories are shocking. Numerous people bought vouchers only to find out that the restaurant, spa, or whatever, had closed down. Others ended up never receiving their goods and have been waiting for months for Groupon to sort it out. Requesting a refund is basically a waste of time. Groupon refuses to give them refunds.

While we lost hundreds of Rands, some of these people bought goods to the value of thousands, and are now stuck with Groupon credits because Groupon refuses to give them refunds for goods/services they never received.

Sorry for the rant. I just find it absolutely jaw-dropping that companies can still get away with this nonsense. Isn't the Consumer Protection Act suppose to protect consumers from this?

NorioDS

I can't imagine it's legal to refuse a refund on those terms. CPA and all that. ALL points in the delivery chain can be held responsible, so Groupon should have to refund you, methinks.

(You can't sign your rights away by checking a checkbox on their site that says that you do. The law exists to protect you. Try mentioning this to them and see how it goes. Keep us posted. I'm no legal expert but my sister is an attorney and has mentioned this before.)

IceCreamMan

Norio wrote I can't imagine it's legal to refuse a refund on those terms. CPA and all that. ALL points in the delivery chain can be held responsible, so Groupon should have to refund you, methinks.

(You can't sign your rights away by checking a checkbox on their site that says that you do. The law exists to protect you. Try mentioning this to them and see how it goes. Keep us posted. I'm no legal expert but my sister is an attorney and has mentioned this before.)

Quite correct, companies cannot void yr rights by making you agree to something...

I use hellopeter now and again, it always results in action ...but service should be right first time hey

Sounds like you have a legitimate beef and a legitimate cause for yr money back, you contracted for something and did not get it...simple

DonovanB

Groupon rips the ring out of every business. They demand you give at least 50% then they take 50% of that. So you end up with 25% of the fee.
Absolute joke. Rather stay away.

warrenpridgeon

IceCreamMan wrote
Norio wrote I can't imagine it's legal to refuse a refund on those terms. CPA and all that. ALL points in the delivery chain can be held responsible, so Groupon should have to refund you, methinks.

(You can't sign your rights away by checking a checkbox on their site that says that you do. The law exists to protect you. Try mentioning this to them and see how it goes. Keep us posted. I'm no legal expert but my sister is an attorney and has mentioned this before.)
Quite correct, companies cannot void yr rights by making you agree to something...

I use hellopeter now and again, it always results in action ...but service should be right first time hey

Sounds like you have a legitimate beef and a legitimate cause for yr money back, you contracted for something and did not get it...simple

People seem to have this absurd belief that if you "signed" a contract or ticked a checkbox that you are 100% bound to whatever you agreed to... Companies use this mentality to bully people to accepting what they say as law...

Charlie4

My view in business is, you screw me you don't get away with it. We've been having so much trouble from "Quality" Vacation Club that we decided to end our contract, only problem is according to them we are not allowed to end our contract.
???
Simply have to pay till death and not receive what we pay for. QVC then has the audacity to sue us for not paying. Solidarity is now in the loop.

Service delivery imo is non-negotioable. Hello Peter does sometimes prove to be effective though. My rant is over. ?

Attila

yaaa Spar cupcakes are k@k ?

In my opinion most of the online services leaves one wanting. in truth the only one that always leaves me with a WOW every time is Amazon.

Set the expectation and better it .... key to success IMO

RobbieZ

I am in service delivery for a living and I feel that it is extremely sad, yes, sad, that we keep on arguing against bad service. Then when we get service we are entitled to, we are extremely happy.

I feel that most SA companies, small, medium and large needs to take a leave out of Lance’s book as far as service delivery goes. It is excellent. I agree with Amazon as well, never had bad service from them.

The fact is that we should be surprised when we get bad service. It should not be the norm.

Bottom line, I think before doing any business, check hellopeter first.

That is my 10cents worth.

Here is to brilliant service!