to warn you about Groupon?

[HumpMeBogart]

My Groupon account was hacked a couple of weeks ago and purchases were made by the hacker to the value of £800. While the money wasn't debited from my bank account, they were marked as Pending Transactions which meant I couldn't use my debit card / withdraw any money for 12 days.

Groupon were absolutely bloody useless. Every phone call resulted in 'we understand the problem, it will all be fixed in 24 hours, we'll confirm by email'. It was never fixed. I never got the confirmation email. I asked to speak to managers, was told this wasn't possible.

Tweeted them, tweets were ignored. Sent emails / used LiveChat, was just given the standard cut-and-paste response: 'We're sorry this has happened to you. We take your security extremely seriously' etc. I was beyond frustrated.

Eventually spoke to my bank, who were amazing and so reassuring - money wouldn't leave my account, I wouldn't be charged overdraft fees etc.

The woman I spoke to in my bank's Fraud Dept told me I was the 12th person she'd spoken to that week who'd reported security issues with Groupon - yet there's been no publicity about this (that I've seen).

I'm now going through the same rigmarole trying to get my account closed (emails going unanswered, phone calls resulting in 'I can't help you right now but I'll get back to you in 24 hours') I've even written to the Managing Director, who has also ignored my email.

If you have a Groupon account - even if you haven't used it for a while, like I hadn't - keep an eye on it and on your bank account. Or better yet, close it. Maybe if they lose enough customers, they'll actually up their security measures.

[ShotsFired]

You spent 12 days trying to get sense out of Groupon before you even spoke to your bank?

Why weren't they your very first call?!

(That said, thanks for the reminder - I'll check my old Groupon account now, ta)

[jellybaby1]

Same thing happened to me in January, I got my money back after 3 weeks.
I've closed my account now
www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/shopping/2016/12/fraudsters-target-groupon-accounts-to-make-unauthorised-purchases---check-now-if-youre-affected

[ASDismynormality]

I know Groupon was hacked just before Christmas, I changed my account password then.

[HumpMeBogart]

(Obviously I'm not BU, but posting here for traffic)

Shotsfired - no, I spoke to my bank after 2 days because at first I believed Groupon when they said they'd sort it out.

It took 12 days to get the money refunded.

Poor wording on my part!

[HumpMeBogart]

jellybaby1 - thanks for that link. I'm furious (although not that surprised, given my experience over the last fortnight) that this has been happening for months now and they still haven't sorted out their security issues. Tossers.

[SukeyTakeItOffAgain]

Groupon are an appalling company.

Not only do things like the OP described happen, they also completely screw over their suppliers.

[Awwlookatmybabyspider]

Thanks for the heads up. If you're on face book report there, too.

[Squaddielife]

Happened to me to ... over £1000 WAS taken from my bank !!!
I was and still am furious with my bank and Groupon
Money was refunded within the day by my bank but likely only because I went psycho on the phone lol
I'll never ever deal with Groupon again - appalling customer service.

[MinimumPaymentMaximumBurrito]

Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for the heads up.

[londonrach]

Thanks, was about to join as like a breadbin they selling. Think im off to argos now. Hope you resolve it but id go to bank first to put stop on it.

[ShotsFired]

So in order to close my account, which was a request I made from my LOGGED-IN account, I had to prove my identity, which meant they had to have my name, email, DOB, postcode and 1st line of address.

Because of course these overseas contact centres are so trustworthy and nobody has ever head of them selling customer details before now.

Talk about devil and deep blue sea

[HumpMeBogart]

londonrach - actually I did go to the bank on day one. They told me they couldn't help as the money hadn't been taken out and to call 'after it was debited'

Day two, after more fuckwitting around by GO, I went back to the bank and asked to speak to the fraud dept, who were brilliant. Would def do that first next time. Fraud dept even told me to 'not bother contacting GO again as it's obviously making you stressed. Leave that to us, it's our job'.

For the others this happened to - esp Squaddielife - sorry you had to go through this as well. Can't believe their customer service is this bad - nowadays, with social media etc, reputation is so important!

[oliviaoatcake]

ShotsFired exactly. You might as well post the information online after doing that.

[HumpMeBogart]

shotsfired - seriously??? This is ridiculous. I thought BT were a terrible company but this takes the

[murphys]

Our Groupon closed down last year.

I haven't missed it I must say.

[riceuten]

GroupOn are abysmal. They will

a) often sell stuff that the supplier has no hope in hell of physically meeting the demand for (think tablets/laptops)
b) if a trader is selling, say 100 x £10 haircuts, Group On will then sell 1000 and request they extend their offer
c) and most importantly, if a supplier refuses to supply you with the goods/meals/ ordered and paid for, GroupOn walk away and say your contract is with the other firm, not them.

Avoid, avoid, avoid

[PointxTaken]

good to know, thank you

[shovetheholly]

I hate Groupon so much. Such a horrible experience.

[ShotsFired]

oliviaoatcake HumpMeBogart

Yup. This is the email I got after raising a support ticket from my logged-in account.

And it is also all in that horrible OTT simpering English tone of voice which I hate as well.

[Scaredycat3000]

I am very cynical at the best of times but I never liked the business model of groupon and the like and thankfully avoided it like the plague despite pressure to get a bargain from relatives I love a bargain. Sounds like I was lucky. I often saw things in the groupon adverts that were cheaper on Aliexpress, I know the downsides of ordering direct from China, much less risky than groupon. Glad you got your money back OP, hope nobody else has lost to much.

[HumpMeBogart]

I really hope there's some way that the banks can report them for consistent fuckwittery fraudulent transactions / hassle. Because they definitely don't give a damn about customer complaints.

[allthecheese]

Thanks, I've requested to delete my account.

[ChrisYoungFuckingRocks]

I ordered a king size duvet cover in blue from them, but received a double in red. The suppliers wouldn't even reply to my e-mails, and Groupon promised to sort it out, and then couldn't be bothered.

This was almost a year ago, and I still have the double red duvet cover, and have had no refund. I've told Groupon I will never buy from them again, and will advise others not to buy from them either. Had no response to that e-mail either.

[MimsyFluff]

Groupon are evil in their support in greyhound racing alone

[JamDonutsRule]

Groupon are lying shits whose only concern is to make money.

I bought from them, vendor couldn't deliver the service (no booking dates left) and Groupon tried very hard to tell me it wasn't their problem and I wouldn't be getting a refund.

Absolute tosspots. I warn everyone about them.

Also, a friend of a friend worked in their call centre one summer. The instructions they were given were "don't give a refund for any reason, let the legal dept deal with it".