Groupon and FTD think their $^#@! deal smells like roses

Roses are red, violets are blue; doodoo sure stinks, and Groupon does too.

That little ditty might become the new tune of jilted Groupon users who bought today’s deal, available all across Canada. Users are complaining loudly after many paid for a deal from floral company FTD that had hidden service charges and limited options available for Canadian buyers.

The deal seems like a typical Groupon deal: $20 for $40 worth of goods at FTD.com. The $40 voucher reverts to a $20 one after June 15th, but aside from that little hitch, it should be a cheap way to do something nice on Valentine’s Day, right?

Wrong. Canadian buyers are complaining about being saddled with a $19 service charge for delivery to Canada, and the highly limited selection. On top of that, you can’t get UPS or FedEx same day or next day service in Canada (contrary to Groupon’s write-up on the deal), and, as icing on this cake of shysterhood — the service charge is inflated until Valentine’s Day.

So, with Groupon’s discount, your $40 worth of flowers costs you $20, and then add the $19 service charge, which means you are paying a grand total of… $39.

One dollar’s worth of savings. What a crock.

Needless to say, Groupon customers are pissed. Many of them bought the deal without knowing about the charges, and have taken to complaining on the deal’s discussion board. Here’s what some of them had to say:

Rachel D:

This Groupon was terrible. I wish I had read these comments prior to buying I have already wasted well over an hour on this.

I wasn’t able to order this bouquet online as the website kept asking for a ZIP CODE, and wouldn’t accept my POSTAL CODE on the delivery page. Iwas not able to get to the billing page to discover the $20 fee.

So I phoned the FTD and had to place my order over the phone (took over 26 minutes to do this) the woman on the phone did not tell me about the $20 charge before processing the payment on my credit card and was not able to cancel the purchase. She transferred me to Customer Service, they were equally unhelpful and not very friendly.

Customer Service infomed me that deliveries to Canada are consider INTERNATIONAL and therefore subject to a higher fee, as well any orders placed for Feb 11 – 14 are subject to an increased fee.

This was a waste of money and time, not a good deal at all.

Justin W.

After going through the process I feel that I spent about the same as I would have going to a local flower shop. I regret this deal, and am disappointed that the flowers I originally chose were not available in my area. I could have got the exact arrangement I was looking for at a lower price after coupon just up the street.

Paul H.

I bought this Groupon, I have now cancelled it. $19 ‘service fee’ is a joke! NOT A DEAL!!!

Candice C.

Oh no! I so wish I had read the discussion first. I feel duped! I already purchased one…
Can I get a refund? I just did this two minutes ago.

Groupie .

We should pool some money together to send some sympathy flowers to those 200+ who bought into this ‘shady’ groupon offer.

Have any Terchvibes readers used this deal and felt it was unfair? Have you had any bad experiences with Groupon or other daily deal websites? Let’s hear from you about your experiences in the comments section.