[Simon Gerrard]

A competitor of ours in Southampton that was doing the £28 groupon deal, two carpets and a hall has gone bust. We've been having loads of people trying to book the deal with us (because we have a similar domain name) and we have now started taking orders from the disappointed groupeens, full price mind.

Simon

[PaulKing]

so the cheque from groupon cleared and he went bump.

[Steve Rothwell]

groupon do not pay in advance.
The customer gets issued a voucher which the cleaner has to get when the job is done.

The cleaner cannot claim the money in advance any more.

[PaulKing]

sorry we did Living Social similar thing they do it differently and you get a cheque the week after it finishes

[Neil Williams]

Well getting involved in such a sceme does seem like the final throw of the dice when it comes to getting business in.
So as you'll be down this way more often I still want to see that monster TM of yours.

[Simon Gerrard]

Neil,
We are doing a commercial job in Southampton tomorrow afternoon.

[Neil Williams]

Neil,
We are doing a commercial job in Southampton tomorrow afternoon.

Umm, next week or the week after any good, because I'm flat out tomorrow.

[Simon Gerrard]

Neil,

We are doing a cruise ship this Saturday and next Saturday.

Simon

[Neil Williams]

I'll call you tomorrow

[Adam P]

this is a silly thread as groupon clearly isn't to blame . it's not a casualty of groupon that this company has gone bust but other reasons

[Simon Gerrard]

Woe, hang on a moment. Groupon negotiate the deals, no doubt knowing these guys can't possibly make money out of it but still do the deal and lead the gullible into oblivion. Isn't there a moral question there?

[Adam P]

nope just a brains one. it's your business, you're self employed, if you can't work out if something will make money or lose it when you have none and it's going to make you go bust, it's your fault and your fault alone, or maybe parents for raising someone who can't work that out. of course you did i'm just speaking in general, and i'm assuming you're talking about people who sign up thinking groupon will make money but haven't worked out the numbers and then when giving it a go don't bother to review how it's going

i suspect for the business mentioned in the first post, it was a last attempt to get some money no matter how small to stay afloat because they already have no work. the lake of work would be what made them go bust, not that doing a clean for a groupon customer has cost them so much they have have to stop trading altogether.

[Steve Rothwell]

Kermit ..................... you will have to stop making sense   

I have been away (bt problems) and I come back and you seem like a new person   

bring back the muppet we all got to know.

The southampton company is the same one that advertised in bournemouth too, so had another 400 jobs from that area.

[PaulKing]

are we sure they don't get paid in advance, would be difficult to claim it back for each and every job ?

[Simon Gerrard]

I think the prospect of doing a groupon jobs for weeks without seeing any money was what pushed him over the edge.
Simon

[derek west]

or groupon "DO" pay up after the offer has ended and he thought, "sod it" "i'll fold, go on holiday and start back up again when i get home". 

[clarkson]

are we sure they don't get paid in advance, would be difficult to claim it back for each and every job ?

hi

NO! i have looked at it closely. and you cant cap the amount of deals offered?

you can extend the lead in time so you could do one a day with better paying work. but if you get a 1000 yor stuffed.

living social is better they pay up front as soon as the vouchers get payed for. and will cap the deals.

i am running with them on window cleaning. but that is repeat business in the short term. so you can upsell.

carpets i dont think the model works for. you dont get repeat business for awhile.

you have to get the principle it is paid for advertising.

you go in yell pay up front and maybe get a customer.

with this model you get the customer but you do the work for free. in effect.

i think its a case of structuring the deal so you dont loose money.

cheers

john