Myself and 843 other people in Belfast bought a voucher for the local Aquarium which was to expire June 9, 2001. When I received my voucher in the mail, the expiry date had changed to April 9, 2011 without any notice. I asked Groupon about this and they said they had made a mistake and it was supposed to expire April 9, 2011.

You may think this was just a simple mistake, but these 'mistakes' are very profitable for Groupon, and here's why. Let's say someone bought the voucher and thought it expired June 9th, they don't check the expiry date on the voucher and don't use the voucher on time. Who gets the money from the voucher? Do they get a refund? Does the Aquarium get the money? Nope! Groupon keeps ALL the money from unredeemed vouchers! So these expiry date mistakes are VERY profitable for them.

Another Groupon trick is to oversell items. Last month Groupon Belfast sold 2000 vouchers for an overnight stay in the Millbrook Lodge. The problem? Millbrook lodge only has 16 rooms! What happens when people inevitably don't get booked in? If their vouchers are unredeemed Groupon keeps all that money. Overselling for services that people will never be able to get is also VERY profitable for Groupon. Beware!!!