Who is my gripe with?

[Tacocatgoatcheesepizza]

A month ago I bought 3 lots of Groupon vouchers for laser quest ready for the summer holidays. They are valid until October 31st.

I called up laser quest to make a booking to use the first lot of vouchers, to be told they’re no longer accepting Groupon codes because they’ve had so much trouble getting their money, and I would need to contact Groupon for a refund. The said they would book me in at half price for a session which we went to today.

I emailed Groupon and have basically had a series of waffly emails back saying they need to contact the merchant, blah blah blah they’d have to pass on my details, the merchant has to authorise a refund. At laser quest today I spoke to a lady there who flat out said nothing to do with them and confirmed they absolutely would not accept the vouchers because they’d had so many issues. Went back to groupon and told them this. Was told it would be escalated and then had an email back from someone obviously lying through their teeth saying they’d contacted laser quest who confirmed they were in fact still accepting Groupon vouchers and if I didn’t want to use them they could only offer Groupon credit. That’s clearly a load of shit seeing as I was actually in there today which I had already said in a previous email. I’ve gone back again and said I think that’s not true, and I want a refund unless they can provide written confirmation from laser quest saying they’ll accept the vouchers.

I do also feel annoyed with laser quest and think that they should be honouring vouchers that were already purchased seeing as they obviously agreed to work with groupon.

sorry for the lengthy message but who should I be pushing back on? As far as I’m aware Groupon will be the ones with my money which I’d like back if I can’t actually get what I purchased, but I would happily use the vouchers and think they should be honouring them. I feel really irritated with both because now that’s money I need to entertain the kids with!!

It isn't necessarily the case that Groupon are lying through their teeth. Laser Quest may be saying one thing to you and something else to Groupon, particularly if they have signed up to some minimum commitment. However, Groupon's terms are clear that they act as agents. Your contract is with Laser Quest. Your gripe is therefore with them. If you want to take someone to court to recover your money, you should sue Laser Quest. I presume the voucher is for a specific Laser Quest, so you should chase the operator of that location.

Is this one where you could get your money back if you paid by credit card perhaps? Might be the easiest way to do it.

Morning, this may not be of particular help but I used to work for a place where the manager decided to bring in groupon for advertisement. Groupon take a heavy chunk of commission, so our manager would always request customers to get a refund then "pay us direct". I think groupon have caught on to this hence being unwilling to give a refund. I'd have a problem with both places to be honest - at the end of the day groupon have your money and that stops with them. The merchant doesn't have it until they've submitted your voucher codes. Saying that, the merchant has advertised it and should honour it for that reason.

Just to be clear, it doesn't matter who has the money. OP's contract is with Laser Quest. Laser Quest has a contract with Groupon. OP doesn't. She therefore needs to pursue Laser Quest to get her money back.

@prh47bridge I just wondered if I could get your take on this that I found when I was Googling Groupon refunds because I am reading it to mean that they do in fact need to offer me a proper refund?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/groupon-commits-to-offer-refunds-and-improve-customer-service

@Tacocatgoatcheesepizza good idea asking @prh47bridge.

I would also be sending a joint email to Groupon and Lazer Quest. Set out the impasse and asking them to jointly resolve it and copy you into their communications.

I've had similar issues before and I got a refund from groupon. You might want to get confirmation of refusal from Lazer Quest in writing.

I'm no lawyer but I'm surprised people are saying your contract is with Lazer Quest. If LQ are refusing to honour, it's for Groupon to rectify.

@oranges29 I had a Facebook message from laser quest saying they wouldn’t accept the vouchers which I’ve already sent to Groupon

Having taken another look at Groupon's terms, I can see they are more complex than I thought on a quick glance. There are potentially four parties in any transaction - yourself as the buyer, Groupon as the operator of the website, the merchant who will redeem the voucher (in this case Laser Quest) and the seller of the voucher (which may be Groupon, Laser Quest or someone else). Your contract for the voucher is with the seller. When you redeem the voucher, you have a contract with the merchant. So the question you need to determine is who was the seller of the voucher? Was it Laser Quest, Groupon or someone else?

If it was Groupon, you really need to get something in writing from Laser Quest stating that they will not redeem your voucher. Armed with that, you should be able to get a refund. As I said up thread, it is quite possible they are telling Groupon they accept vouchers whilst still refusing to redeem your voucher. Indeed, since Laser Quest is a franchise operation, it may be that nationally Laser Quest have an agreement with Groupon and will redeem vouchers, but your local franchisee is refusing to do so. If that is the case, you may need to try Laser Quest's national headquarters. If the franchisee is in breach of their franchise agreement, they should be able to bring them into line.

Also, @oranges29 how long between the purchase of your vouchers and when you got a refund? I think they’re saying no in the basis that I bought them longer than 14 days ago.

I've used groupon quiet a bit so I've had this happen more than once. On one occasion I got a refund almost immediately. On another occasion it took some time, but Groupon has always been helpful. If you find that their being difficult I would dispute with your bank - providing the proof you have that LQ are refusing to honour the voucher, and that Groupon is refusing/delaying in refunding your money.

If that came from your local Laser Quest, I would send it to Laser Quest's headquarters. This sounds to me like your local franchisee may be in breach of their franchise agreement. That would be consistent with Laser Quest telling Groupon that they still accept vouchers, but your local Laser Quest saying they don't.

@prh47bridge thank you for getting back to me. It’s so complicated!! Perhaps I should just accept the Groupon credits but it feels like a matter of principal seeing as I’m being denied the service I paid for. I have sent Groupon the same link I posted on here but the reply I’ve had from them says I’m not eligible for a refund and then he put a link to their refund t&c’s which doesn’t really say anything about what happens if services are not provided.

I had a Facebook message from laser quest saying they wouldn’t take the voucher which I’ve already sent on to Groupon but like I say, they’re telling me that laser quest day they’ll accept the vouchers. I’ve asked them to provide me with written proof of that but they haven’t done that yet.

I’ve just had another reply from Groupon reiterating that after 14 days they will only offer Groupon credit as a refund.

Start with Laser Quest's national headquarters - [email protected]. If it is a rogue franchisee, they should be able to sort it out one way or another.

If that fails, go back to Groupon. Point out that, whatever Laser Quest say to them, they are refusing to redeem the voucher. They may be in breach of their agreement with Groupon, but that is not your problem. Don't accept a voucher or Groupon credit. Demand a full refund. If they say they are not the seller, demand to know who is. If they still insist on Groupon credit, tell them you will take them to small claims unless a refund is provided. However, to do so you will need to establish exactly which legal entity sold you the voucher. Groupon have a number of companies and you will need to take action against the correct one.

Just to add, it seems that, depending on which legal entity it is, you may need to take action against Laser Quest even if you bought the voucher from Groupon. If, for example, you bought the voucher from MyCityDeal Ltd (which is a Groupon company), you need to take action against Laser Quest.

I don’t think they’d believe me if I said I was taking them to small claims because it’s less than £40 of vouchers 😁 I’d like to though!

I’ve exchanged about 10 emails with Groupon now saying I’m not accepting credit and I want an actual refund but they’re standing firm currently.

I have just emailed Laser Quest proper so will see if they come back with anything useful! Although at this point I don’t even want to use the stupid vouchers with them, I’m so irritated by it all!

Thanks so much x

Well that’s interesting. My latest reply from Groupon contained this paragraph

I apologize for the inconvenience caused. Our policy prohibits us from issuing a refund to the original payment method after 14 days unless the company is unable to provide the promoted service. In this situation, the most we can offer is a refund in credits.

and they’re still trying to insist I must take credits. I’ve resent them the message from laser quest saying they wouldn’t accept the vouchers…..

For anyone still interested Groupon then replied asking me to send the message that I received from laser quest again - nearly every message from them has been from a different person and I suspect no one is actually reading the old messages! So I sent that again and have now received a refund for one of the vouchers I bought! Have replied pointing out that I bought 3 and could they please refund the other 2 as well.

No reply as yet from main Laser Quest.