Today I had a very unpleasant experience with a Drinking Outside The Box Groupon and I’m interested to know if anyone has experienced anything similar.
I purchased this Groupon a month ago with the intention of reserving a wine tasting class for the 14th or 21st of January. On January 4th, I attempted to do so via the Drinking Outside The Box website, but was unable to reserve for any dates beyond the 7th. On that day, I wrote to the contact email on the website explaining that I had a Groupon that I wanted to use before it expired on the 23rd, but I wanted to be sure the 7th wasn’t my last chance and the response I got was:
“Hi Lea! We have class every Monday night- so yes- you should be able to make it before the 23rd” (this was on January 5th). Great! So, I went on today to see if the 14th or 21st had become available to reserve and they had not so I wrote a second email and got the following response: “It is not available because it is sold out. Jan 28th is the earliest available. All reservations must be made thru the website.”
… So “my Groupon is useless?” I ask. “Yes” is the response. — Has anything like this ever happened to anyone attempting to book a class through Drinking Outside the Box? I understand that part of the scheme of Groupon is that people who wait too long lose their money, but I feel as though I tried to use my Groupon in a responsible frame of time and was deliberately misled so that I would not be able to participate before the deadline. Hopefully that isn’t the case. Perhaps the website malfunctioned, but in any event, I feel duped and/or shafted.
I know many people have horror stories involving issues with Groupon itself, but has anyone had an issue like this with a vendor regarding a Groupon? What did you do about it?
Eat. Read. Ask. Do. Be. 
I love groupon and I normally have good luck with groupons and little to no compaints except I wasn’t impressed with the picture quality of my Christmas cards, but the cards were cute themselves so I got over it for $25. My one issue ever was I bought a groupon in October of 2011 which was good until may 2012. Went to use it in January 2012 and the company had gone out of business!!! I emailed groupon and they refunded my money no questions asked, said I wasn’t the first or the last to complain about that purchase. Both incidents in this comment were company issues not groupon issues
Thanks for sharing!
I have written to Groupon for a refund, but haven’t heard back yet. I’m hopeful that all will be resolved 🙂
UPDATE:
I received this email today after two weeks of correspondence.
Hi Lea,
I’m really sorry for the trouble and I appreciate your understanding. I’ve just issued a $49 refund in Groupon Bucks to your account.
Groupon Bucks apply automatically to future purchases and never expire. You can see your balance in the top right corner of the page when signed into your account at http://www.groupon.com/mygroupons.
Thanks so much for using Groupon and please let me know if I can do anything else for you.
Regards,
Mina B.
Groupon Customer Support
Thanks, Mina B.! You rock.