Groupon – A Class Act(ion)

If you’ve purchased anything from Groupon recently, you may be receiving an added bonus soon – a class action notice. The online service was recently named a defendant in a California class action, along with retailer Nordstrom. The suit contends that Groupon, and its retailing participants like Nordstrom bury short expiration dates in fine print. And according to the suit, that’s deceptive. Groupon CEO Andrew Mason isn’t quite sure what the fuss is all about. In comments related to a similar action filed last year in Chicago (and dismissed soon after), he noted, “[t]he confounding thing about this experience is that we give everyone refunds if they have any issues with their Groupon experience – we don’t need to get sued for it.” But I’m guessing those refunds don’t include attorney fees. Which could explain why they haven’t eliminated the lawsuits entirely.