[Ian Rochester]

Just got up to see this on my computer:

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/newcastle/spring-clean-carpets/777678?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_247&a=61

Two carpets for £26

3 sold so far, be interesting to see how many they sell.

I've never heard of them as a company in this area, website says they are NCCA and also Woolsafe?

[Paul Evans]

And here

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/manchester/clean-co-homess/777610?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_247&a=11

[derek west]

when i was searching for a web marketing consultant, i had a few applications, they were telling me what they would do for my business, and alot of them said they would get me on groupon and explode my business into a new dimension. good job ive got my head screwed on. the guy i ended up going with said groupon is a business killer. and i still believe that that is the case.

i hope they fail dramatically as i can't bring my self to support this kind of marketting. sorry if you feel differently but thats my take on groupon.

[Andrew Briscoe]

Just got up to see this on my computer:

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/newcastle/spring-clean-carpets/777678?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_247&a=61

Two carpets for £26

3 sold so far, be interesting to see how many they sell.

i see its upto 27 sold now in a short period, of the £26 how much do groupon take.

Andrew


I've never heard of them as a company in this area, website says they are NCCA and also Woolsafe?

[Andrew Briscoe]

Upto 37 sold now Ian,
maybe Sunday morning is the best time for marketing carpet cleaning.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi guys

Seems like they've upset a few people

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Group-buying-websites-offer-tele-2573794756.html?x=0

Cheers

Doug

[creighton foyle]

lets not forget they do not actually get all the £26, i can not see how this is viable.

[Gary Humphreys]

The Nottingham Groupon last week offered 3 rooms and 3 peice suite £49. Lol

[Mark Lawrence]

78 bought now - good luck with that

Agree with Derek, no-one is seeing the long term detriment to the industry or the short term panic/stress/making no money. Its been seen already with a CC trying to now 'sub out' as much as possible all the jobs he got through groupon. He couldnt cope, and obviously wasnt making money.

When will people learn

Mark

[peter maybury]

There have been a few articles this week about people who have bought deals off group on and have been unable to get the services that they had paid for. There was also an article about people who get fobbed off by hotels when trying to book their deals.
We bought a photo shoot present for my son and his family but my son was unable to get hold of the people, we ended up getting a refund.
It will not   take long before people will get vary of parting with their money..
 Peter
www.carpetcleaningcardiff.com

[John Kelly]

Well they don't appear to be NCCA memebers or Woolsafe approved. This is your work they are taking guys. 145 bought now and 7 hours to go. I would be raising the roof.

[derek west]

i can see the wool safe logo but all i can find of the NCCA is a quote but no mention of membership or logo! where am i looking?

[Mike Halliday]

the first one is vast regd and charges £65 for a 3pc suite and £40 for a through lounge. at those prices he must be very busy to hit the vat threshold.... why does he need to do groupon? but we can only second guess his motives as he is not here to gives his side.

[John Kelly]

First of all it is an illegal website as there is no business address on there. It says prices are inclusive of vat. Some others say this even though they aren't actually vat registered and don't actually charge vat. Again this is illegal. Derek, sorry I was told they were saying they were NCCA approved when in fact they just have a quote on there.

[mark_roberts]

The first ones says their member 2011 of the NCCA and they have the woolsafe logo.  As theres no address how can we check if they actually are members?

I suggest if these guys are in your area you do the checks and shop them if needed.

Mark

[derek west]

i think 2011 is the year of the above quote.

[garyj]

On the same page is a Groupon offer for an MOT and certificate for £15.

If your car was due an MOT and you saw this offer would you be tempted or would you pay £60 to another garage up the road? All mechanics are the same aren't they?

All the suppliers of carpet cleaning chemicals have offers to entice us to use them, people come on here and say how cheap they have got their printing done ( sometimes its an unqualified printer working from his garage), but doesn't matter as all printers are the same aren't they?

Its human nature, we love a bargain. Just last week someone posted about some pads available on Ebay at a bargain price, people went and bought them. They didn't care the person selling them is working from home and has nothing to do with the industry.

[Steve Rothwell]

here here Gary,

I bought some of those pads and they are not too bad either.

[cozy]

Some very true points there Gary, how does that apply to this thread? Are you saying that people will get a poorer standard of clean from this Groupon deal? How will the people know if this company is dodgey and below par if that's the case?

[garyj]

Nope not inferring they will get an inferior job, on the contrary really because the person doing the Groupon deal that I know of is  doing it for long term customer relations, so will be out to impress. And up-sell, and get referrals.

Just pointing out that some people moan about Groupon then will use Groupon themselves to save a few quid in another industry with no thought to the knock on effect that has.

For so long the pious on here have said don't worry about what your rivals charge just worry about what you make. If those people can't service the work gained from Groupon I think it will give Groupon a bad name, not carpet cleaners. I've never met so many doom merchants in my life.

You can't have it both ways