OFT to investigate Groupon after rules violations

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has undertaken an investigation into Groupon after regulators found the daily deals website had violated rules on around 50 occasions since the start of the year.

The group buying website, which comes out with daily discounted offers for luxury experiences such as beauty treatments and restaurant deals, was referred to the OFT by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA made the referral after it pulled up Groupon 48 times since January for breaches of advertising regulations.

According to the advertising watchdog's records the site was involved in 11 formal rulings of code breaches. Additionally there were 37 informal breaches, that the ASA addressed directly with the company.

In a statement the ASA said it was specifically concerned about Groupon's failure to 'conduct promotions fairly'.
It also found the site's claims on savings in its daily deal offers exaggerated.

Groupon, with 6 million customers in the UK, was slammed by the ASA in August after the body banned around 60 per cent of its ads in six months.

According to a spokesman from Groupon, it constantly strived for business practices that were in the best interest of consumers. He added the site was constantly evolving business processes to ensure customers received the best possible experience at the highest standards and that it was cooperating fully with the OFT to ensure that the rights of consumers were protected.