Groupon Middle East has parted ways with its second chief executive in less than six months as the daily deals website struggles with a flood of consumer complaints both regionally and internationally.
The United States-listed media giant offered its first UAE promotion in March last year, but has since struggled to compete against local peers, reshuffling management in August and again making changes last week.
Globally, Groupon's business has come under fire after it was accused last week by a UK regulator of misleading consumers and given three months to clean up its practices.
Simon Pugh, a senior account manager at Groupon, confirmed the departure of Ainsley Duncombe, the chief executive of the Middle East, and said Alexander Kappes, a vice president, was now acting as head.
"Yes, Ainsley has left the company. Alexander Kappes is acting chief executive," he said. He declined to comment on whether Mr Duncombe had left because of complaints about the site.
Mr Duncombe co-founded the discounts site LowCostDubai.com before taking up his position at Groupon Middle East last August. He declined to comment on the reasons behind his departure.
Groupon has left swaths of customers waiting for more than two months for products they purchased online. It has been inundated with complaints on Facebook, with consumers bemoaning poor service.
Ross Jackson, 31, a Dubai resident, waited nine weeks for his iPad accessories to arrive and said he was also berated by Groupon staff for accusing them of deleting his complaints from Facebook.
Mr Jackson said he asked Groupon if it had deleted his complaints on Facebook and claimed a Groupon representative posted the reply: "It's right below, can't you see it, even a blind man can see it there."
"It's not the customer service you expect," Mr Jackson told The National. "I understand I made a mistake but do you really want to talk to customers like that? I'm not sure I would go through the hassle [of ordering] again."
A number of customers have previously accused Groupon of deleting complaints on its Facebook page.
Complaints about the daily deals site began last year when the Middle East division botched an attempt to source products cheaply abroad and have them delivered to the region. Using its vast buying power to agree cut-price deals globally, the promotions website then failed to ship the products on time to the region.
"I have been asking for a refund for three months now … and I am not getting any response … really I do not even know why are you operating … you have time to update your Facebook pages but no time to solve your customers' problems with your stupid deals," said one customer on the Groupon UAE Facebook page.
In August, Mr Duncombe replaced Faisal Haq, who was previously the managing director of Groupon Middle East.
But Groupon struggled to compete with the market leader Cobone.com and LivingSocial.com which bought out GoNabit.com. Also other smaller group-buying websites in the Middle East are all fighting for business.
Gaurav Sinha, the managing director of Insignia, a brand consultancy,said the group-buying concept had value in the Middle East, but it needed to ensure it was transparent with customers to avoid being branded "dishonest".
"Something like this can create an absolute brand hijack if they cannot maintain what's being offered in an efficient manner," he said.
Groupon, which launched a US$13 billion (Dh47.75bn) initial public offering on Nasdaq in November, is among the biggest players in the US, but has found trading in new markets difficult.
In the UK, the Office for Fair Trading last week found it had broken laws relating to advertising, pricing, inaccurate offers and unfair terms. The company could face enforcement actions by UK courts.
In India, the founders of SoSasta.com, Groupon's acquisition in the market, left within a year, according to reports. The website in India also leaked customer information last June.
Gaopeng, Groupon's joint venture in China, also laid off staff last year in the face of competition from other players.
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Results
5pm: Al Maha Stables – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Reem Baynounah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Mohamed Daggash (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: AF Afham, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Emirates Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Ghallieah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout
6.30pm: Emirates Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Yas Xmnsor, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
7pm: The President’s Cup – Group 1 (PA) Dh2,500,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Adrie de Vries, Jean de Roualle
7.30pm: The President’s Cup – Listed (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Haqeeqy, Dane O’Neill, John Hyde.
WHAT FANS WILL LOVE ABOUT RUSSIA
FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
FANS WILL LOVE
It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
FANS WILL LOATHE
With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
FANS WILL LOVE
The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
The walk from Krestovsky Ostrov metro station to Saint Petersburg Arena on a rainy day makes you wonder why some of the $1.7 billion was not spent on a weather-protected walkway.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Read more from Johann Chacko
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
