Wednesday, March 2, 2011

COUPON NEWS: Groupon Sued

According to this article in the Huffington Post, a Chicago man has sued Groupon claiming that the expiration dates are illigal.  Evidently, there is state and Federal law that prohibits selling coupons that expire within 5 years.  I'm familiar with that limitation on gift certificates (and now gift cards), but I had not been aware it applied to these types of coupons, as well.  I had wondered about it when I first started buying Groupon type deals and saw that most of them expire within 6 months.  Actually, I think the first one I ever bought expired within about 3 months (which really did annoy me).

Then again, I'm also fully aware that the expiration of the coupon is one of the main selling points for retailers, since it's guaranteed money.  From their point of view, hopefully the number of those who don't redeem the coupons before they expire will be high enough to cover the loss they will have from those who do.

So what do you think? If this becomes a class action suit, would you join in?  Have you bought a Groupon that has expired before you got to use it?

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