Sr. U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson (D. Minn.) has been assigned the putative class action complaint against Groupon. Deja vu all over again (and again) for Groupon, it seems. The complaint alleges:
Groupon’s systematic placement of expiration dates on its gift certificates is deceptive and harmful to consumers. Groupon effectively creates a sense of urgency among consumers to quickly purchase “groupon” gift certificates by offering “Daily Deals” for a short amount of time, usually a 24-hour period. Consumers therefore feel pressured and are rushed into buying the gift certificates and unwittingly become subject to the onerous sales conditions imposed by Groupon, including illegal expiration terms, which are relatively short, often just a few months.
Consider these allegations without the adjectives and adverbs.
The allegations, in a nutshell, are that Group sells “groupon” gift certificates by offering “Daily Deals” for a short amount of time, usually a 24-hour period, with expiration terms of a few months.
And that’s a problem and/or that should be illegal because…(?)