Groupon - should they refund me?

Purchased restaurant Deal. Made reservations and handed in voucher within the valid period (3 weeks to go till close of deal). Shown table down the back. Then realized 100 plus of the same group in the restaurant and unfort within 15 mins started refusing to pay their bill and shouting etc started to such an extent the chef etc had to close down the buffet. Left and asked for voucher back but given restaurant own voucher for buffet meal for two. The following weekend the restaurant shut and has been since, its on FSAI Closure List http://www.fsai.ie/uploadedFiles/Mo...nt/Enforcement/Enforcement-Orders-Closure.pdf .

I am requesting my money (or credit) back.

Groupon stance is they are unable to action refunds as

"The expiry dates on Groupons are agreed upon in cooperation with the partner business before the deal starts, and reflect the needs of their business model. For that reason, expiry dates are unfortunately non-negotiable, and always stated clearly on the deal page and the voucher itself.

In the past, as a gesture of goodwill, we have occasionally offered Groupon credit for recently expired vouchers. However, as our customer base has grown, we’ve had to cut down on offering credit for expired vouchers. My apologies for any inconvenience caused, and I hope you can use your voucher before the expiry date next time around.

If the business has since closed after the Groupon offer has expired, this does not effect this policy."

Any advice on this would be welcomed. My voucher had not expired, I used it originally within the time period.

Sorry I don't really understand the first paragraph.

Did you visit the last day of validity of the voucher?

I visited within the valid period but unfort the following week the restaurant was forced to close and is still shut.

Iv changed the text in my opening to make it clearer.

I had a terrible meal from Groupon about a year ago and wrote a complaint email to them. I received an reply four days later stating I had recevied the full amount refunded (as Groupon credits).

It's not really clear who was shouting or what was going on there. However, it does sound like you should push this one further. You complied with the terms specified, but were refused the meal after presenting the voucher. That alone would be grounds for a refund, their subsequent closure should be irrelevant.

Having ran a couple of Group On deals myself my understanding is that Group On should refund you. I know that I honoured vouchers for up 28 days after expiry and anyone who came after that was referred directly to Group On for refund. The retailer only receives payment once voucher is redeemed, has the restaurant redeemed your voucher?

The group were Travellers (men in one area and women in another corner of restaurant), they refused to pay their bill and both they and the Chinese staff were shouting at each other but also the Chinese people were shouting among themselves. We were afraid to get up out of table. The staff started taking the buffet food away and eventually the Travellers left (well they hung around outside, the shopping centre was full of their vans, how we didnt see they before going in I dont know).

leroy67, the restaurant took my voucher and after I complained they gave us there own voucher (but now restaurant has been closed for weeks by FSAI).

I will email Groupon again. Thanks.

Sandals - get back on to Groupon. For goodwill they should give you a full refund. Post a message on their FB page asking for help and a refund, that usually gets attention. Sounds like you got a cranky customer service person.

I find them generally very good with issuing a full refund to me if I have any issue with the place or the service I received. My mam has gotten a refund after she had dinner at a place, didnt like it and gave feedback to Groupon - for giving the feedback they gave the full refund.

uptomyeyesin, thanks for that, read alot other people looking for refunds, will await reply to my last email but really not looking forward to using my FB account to get the €16 credit back,

Great news, just got awarded €16 groupon credit. Thanks everyone for your comments because I had reached the stage where I was just about to give up.