Friday Question #208 / Thriller in Schiller Giveaway WINNER
Do you use Groupon/Living Social/similar deals? Why or why not? What are the best deals you’ve purchased?
We have actually done a lot of cool things through Groupon: flight lesson,
Intro to Road-Racing Class through the DriveTech Racing School, Exotic Car Driving in Jersey (photo by Gina, and gift from Gina!),
kickboxing class… and we have an exciting upcoming Groupon we will use in October!
We’ve also gotten coupons for grocery stores ($10 for $20 worth of groceries), Starbucks (was that one $5 for $10) and so on.
But I try not to look at the Groupon emails too much. I get all these ideas of things I want to do and it makes me anxious to know I spent the money, and it’s just sitting there, waiting for me to do it. I know the money you spent is always good for that amount of money at the venue if you don’t use the Groupon in time, but I just feel so anxious knowing I have unused Groupons (more for activities then giftcards in stores)!
The Thriller in Schiller Giveaway winner is Queenie! Queenie, please email me (kilax@ilaxstudio.com) and I will send you the coupon code!
Thanks to everyone who entered! Like I said, I am not sure if I can make it since we might be out of town, but I think the bloggers who can should totally do a costume themed meetup!!! Registration is only $25 and you get a t-shirt and pint glass!
Themocracy
I buy Groupon/Living Social deals occasionally. When I first learned about it there were way fewer deals and I would sometimes buy too many. It was really only a few but when I would have multiple at one time I would worry that I wouldn’t use them in time. Now I only buy them if I know I’ll get to use them in time.
Last year I bought a deal for a ropes course that was really fun. We went on the last weekend and it was crowded so it was getting dark by the time it was our turn. That was an experience! Trying to navigate a ropes course high up in the trees with a ton of other people in the dark! We had head lamps but it was still crazy.
Recently I bought a deal to the MD Science Center. Joey’s been talking about wanting to go and then a deal appeared a few days later. Now we just have to go by the end of the year.
I used to buy Groupons a lot, but finally had to unsubscribe myself from their email list. I kept buying deals and would never get around to using them before they expired, so it started turning into kind of a waste of money.
I buy Groupons for a lot of things. I love them.
We’ve used some of those sites, but not often. Horseback riding was probably the most interesting.
We have talked about going horseback riding for many summers now! I just saw a groupon for one, but it was focused on jumping… I want to do a slow ride through the woods… like the horses we saw in WI! 🙂
Groupon is always a catch 22 for me. You can find some really great deals, but if you don’t use them, they become a waste. I’ve gotten screwed also on the “fine print” before too. I try to limit how many I buy to those that I know we’ll ACTUALLY use. (I have a hard time turning down a good deal…)
What happened with the fine print? That sucks 🙁 That has worried me away from buying them before!
It was for a pizza place and the Groupon is good only for dine-in, not take-out. They refuse to budge even when I said “What if I come in, order a pizza, and the second it comes, get it wrapped up to go?” In response they said “You’re welcome to do whatever you want, as long as you order from the dining room.”
LOL! So what did you do? How bizzare. I suppose they wanted you to stay and order more?
We still haven’t done anything (which is probably their point). I’ve seriously considered may times to just go in there order a pizza, and get it to go.
I did not realize you can still use your Groupon Coupon (at the lesser amount) after the expiration date. Thanks for the info!
I have noticed it on the newer ones! It says “the amount paid for this voucher ($xx) with xx place NEVER EXPIRES.” 🙂
I love the idea but also know a lot of the pitfalls. So, I try to limit myself to having just one or two in the queue at a time.
I don’t think I’ve ever used a Groupon, although I like to check them out. I’ve used schwaggle several times with good luck though…
Groupons are awesome – as long as you use them before they expire:)
I check the deals out. Sometimes they have great ones!
I do both Groupon and Living Social deals (about 90/10 on the percentage level of who I use the most/least). Mostly local food places. Although I did buy a watch band for my iPod nano 6th generation from Groupon recently for half price.
Are you bummed the new iPod nano cannot be a watch anymore? I thought that was so cool! 🙁
I am bummed.
I seriously wished they would have gotten rid of the Shuffle and just replaced it with the 6th gen nano. That way we could keep the watch band movement alive.
Now we have to hope that there are enough of these models that stay around even after the new 7th gen nano comes out.