Scoopon Is Being Sued By The ACCC

Maybe they can get a good voucher deal on legal representation?

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has commenced legal proceedings against group-buying site Scoopon in the Federal Court of Australia, accusing the site of misleading consumers and businesses with its service.

The ACCC will allege that Scoopon misled consumers in regards to the refundability of vouchers, while also alleging that businesses were misled over claims that up to 30 per cent of vouchers would actually be redeemed.

Here are the allegations from an ACCC statement:

The ACCC alleges that Scoopon misled consumers regarding their ability to redeem vouchers, their refund rights, and the price of goods advertised in relation to some of its deals. The ACCC also alleges that Scoopon represented to businesses that there was no cost or risk involved in running a deal with Scoopon, when a fee was payable to Scoopon.

Further, it is alleged that Scoopon misled businesses by claiming that between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of vouchers would not be redeemed when there was no reasonable basis for this representation.

This case will surely reveal a more than a few interesting tidbits about the way Scoopon operates in Australia. We’ll wait and see what sordid secrets may or may not come out.

Update:

Scoopon have responded to the allegations from the ACCC. Here’s its response in full:

At Scoopon, our number one goal is to connect happy customers with happy business owners so people can enjoy the best of what these businesses have on offer.

As a pioneer of the ever-changing Group Buying industry we have come a long way from being a small business to being one of Australia’s largest Group Buying sites, serving over two million customers.

We have also recognised the need to continuously improve our deal selection and customer service policies.

Since we began, Scoopon has improved its processes for selecting and managing deals to improve our customer experience and is a founding signatory to the ADMA Code of Practice, which is aimed at increasing consumer confidence in dealing with Group Buying platforms.

We will review the ACCC allegations made and work to resolve the issues raised

Republished from Gizmodo


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