Friday, February 11, 2011

FTD Groupon Deal Goes South

A nationwide offer from FTD, the flower delivery service owned by Woodland Hills-based United Online, with daily deals phenomenon Groupon has gone south, after consumers complained that the price presented to Groupon users was more than the price a user would get by going directly to FTD's web site. Group had offered up $10 for $20 worth of flowers at FTD Thursday in one of their national, daily promotions. However, after the issue came to light, Groupon sent an email to users saying that the offer was "confusing and upsetting to a number of people", because the original terms did not allow the users to use other coupons or discounts. Groupon said that FTD will automatically issue a refund for the difference paid by users for items that were on sale at FTD.com, and that FTD would allow users to also apply other discounts when using Groupon's offer. United Online bought FTD back in April of 2008, in a bid to diversify beyond its dialup internet businesses such as NetZero and Juno, and also to apply its expertise in online marketing to FTD's businesses.