GroupOff

Have you purchased a discount coupon from GroupOn yet?

We have.

You've practically got to be at your computer at all times to make a reasonable purchase because you only have 24 hours. Starting now.

They seem like a good deal and usually are, but our experiences have been similar to the experiences I've read about from others. Most often it's simply letting the coupon expire, but sometimes it's the feeling of being a cheapskate when you actually try to use it.

You generally have from 3 to 6 months to redeem and although that seems like a long time, it goes by fast!

Our only purchases have been for one car wash and dinner at two restaurants here in Hasselt. Dining out here is quite expensive and we enjoy having dinner out so this was a win-win for us.

First was "Dinner for 2 at Mexico", one of the few Mexican restaurants here. It was about half the price of their normal menu and included 2 margaritas. Talk about win-win! I drank them both.

Just kidding.

The only problem was that we didn't call ahead for a reservation which the coupon clearly stated - in Dutch. We just didn't read it. The waitress said it was okay, but we sort of felt like we were cheating them out of something.

Anyway, next was "Dinner for 2 at Burger Lounge". This restaurant serves a bonafide American hamburger and they. are. good.

The only problem was that we showed up at a time when the "full menu" wasn't available - like 3:00 p.m. The waitress/cashier/cook attempted to explain it to us in English and in our attempt to figure out what we could order at 3:00 p.m., we sort of felt like we had made a new enemy.

I read an article recently that GroupOn is facing a class action lawsuit seeking to apply the state laws that regulate gift-cards to GroupOn coupons.

First, this is good news as I did not know of such a state law. That's very interesting because I've certainly bought gift cards at local establishments in Louisiana that clearly had an expiration date of less than 5 years. Texas, you're not so lucky.

And there's more good news out there. If you have buyer's remorse, just sell your mistake to someone else. That's right. Apparently a secondary market has blossomed and there are now several sites - Lifesta, DealsGoRound, Takemycoupons, and Sellmydeal - that will sell your lapse in judgement for a small fee and it's all electronic.

I don't know much about how all this works, but if I pay $25 for a $50 meal and GroupOn keeps half my $25, the restaurant owner has just discounted his menu by 75%. So he just sold that $50 meal for $12.50. Yes, he may get a repeat customer, but with restaurants typically profiting about 10%, he better hope I come back several times to make up for what he just gave me.

Whatever eventually happens with GroupOn, we've decided it's really not worth it and instead, should just eat out less often. I wonder what conclusion restaurants will eventually draw.