Thursday, May 5, 2011

Groupon Cancellation: Cupcake Gallery

Several readers wrote to us to let us know that Groupon has cancelled their recent deal with Cupcake Gallery. Since we posted the original deal, we felt that we should provide our readers with contact information for Groupon in case they had any issues redeeming their Groupon.

This is the text of the email that Groupon sent out today:

"Unfortunately, our deal with The Cupcake Gallery is no longer meeting the standards of quality that we aim to provide our customers. Our apologies for the inconvenience, but we have decided to close this deal.

If you have not been able to redeem your Groupon, please email us at support@groupon.com and we’ll be happy to issue a refund to the original credit card used for the purchase or to your Groupon account to be used for future purchases.

We appreciate your understanding, and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. "


Uptown Update wants to support our local businesses, and we encourage all of you to continue to support both Cupcake Gallery and Uptown Pie Co. This seems like a situation between Cupcake Gallery and Groupon, and we will leave it at that.

Update: We reached out to Darius, the owner of Cupcake Gallery and received this response:

"
Thanks for reaching out. As you can imagine, I’m livid at this outcome. I can’t go into a lot of detail regarding this, but it’s simple. Over the past 8-9 months, The Cupcake Gallery sold thousands of Groupons in Chicago (4800 Groupons alone back in August of 2010) and also nation-wide. This has equated to a LOT of money for Groupon. We are a small company and Groupon wanted to re-run the most recent nationwide deal. It was in quite a few cities other than Chicago. I rejected the offer because I have 2 employees and 1 oven – there’s no way we would be able to keep up the demand. We have one telephone line. Imagine the craziness that would be upon us if we did that. Groupon took it upon themselves to cancel all of our previous Groupons.

I hate that some of my loyal customers are affected by this, but hopefully the refund process will go smoothly and they’ll understand where I stand from a small business perspective."

17 comments:

  1. I've tried Cupcake Gallery a few times. And each time I am disappointed. Cupcakes should not be greasy and flavorless. I want a local business to do well, but I'm not paying premium cup cake prices for a decidedly inferior product.

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  2. I had that Groupon and used it awhile back without a problem. I don't know what this is about.

    I've been back to the Cupcake Gallery once more when they started serving pie. There baking is good but it's bland and not worth hanging out at on the inside. Especially with the nice Starbucks across the street.

    I've also tried to contact them a couple times about ordering cupcakes for events and they didn't respond. I want a place like this to work in Uptown, but they aren't giving much to spread the word about.

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  3. We used our Groupon last month without a problem; thought the cupcakes were fine; think we'll be back for more (and to try the pir as well.)

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  4. You can find the details in the original Groupon discussion thread for this deal:

    Groupon page

    To summarize: The Cupcake Gallery was telling customers they had to spend more than $10 to redeem the Groupon. This goes against the fine print that the buyer agrees to.

    There are other stories there too of problems so you can read and make your own decision. I was looking forward to redeeming mine so I'm a bit bummed out.

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  5. Darius recently started his own Groupon "dupe" (http://localholla.com). I have a feeling that's what this is about.

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  6. The comments I was talking about started toward the bottom of the page. I'm sure other factors played into it (as mentioned in the "update" which was just posted) but I can't imagine those stories helped.

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  7. Hey - just wanted to share here what I e-mailed to you guys for the UU audience.

    Hey Katrina! This has nothing to do with LocalHolla at all. Both businesses (The Cupcake Gallery & LocalHolla) are incorporated - there is distinct separation of assets from me personally and the companies.

    At any rate, here's the response:


    Thanks for reaching out. As you can imagine, I’m livid at this outcome. I can’t go into a lot of detail regarding this, but it’s simple. Over the past 8-9 months, The Cupcake Gallery sold thousands of Groupons in Chicago (4800 Groupons alone back in August of 2010) and also nation-wide. This has equated to a LOT of money for Groupon. We are a small company and Groupon wanted to re-run the most recent nationwide deal. It was in quite a few cities other than Chicago. I rejected the offer because I have 2 employees and 1 oven – there’s no way we would be able to keep up the demand. We have one telephone line. Imagine the craziness that would be upon us if we did that. Groupon took it upon themselves to cancel all of our previous Groupons.

    The Chicago Groupon that UU advertised for us ran back in August of 2010, while this recent deal they want to rerun was 1 month ago. Why Groupon would cancel the deal from 2010 because I refused to run another deal in May is beyond me. They’re quite a difficult company to work with and despite what they say, they care nothing about the merchants and small businesses they’re seeking to ruin. I’ve worked way too hard to build The Cupcake Gallery and The Uptown Pie Company and frankly, allowing someone or something else to ruin it is not in my immediate interest.

    I hate that some of my loyal customers are affected by this, but hopefully the refund process will go smoothly and they’ll understand where I stand from a small business perspective.

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  8. I just don't get to that side of Broadway very much, but with the opening of the Pie company decided to give them a try. I was hoping for a savory Chicken pie, but that selection wasn't on the menu that day. So went with the Lemon; it was fantastic. We had a family dinner that evening and everyone raved at how great it was.

    I haven't yet tried their cupcakes, but will be going back. Indeed, the sitting area isn't all that great, but it's comfortable and the people behind the counter very helpful and courteous.

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  9. I find Fear and Loathing's account much more plausible than what Darius is saying. Is Darius saying that Groupon is refunding previous CG Groupons out of spite because he wouldn't do another deal? I'm pretty sure Groupon only refunds deals when there is a violation of the fine print, such as when Groupon offered refunds around Valentine's Day for their 1800-FLOWERS deal because 1800-FLOWERS required the deal be redeemed at a special URL that upped the price on their arrangements. I have seen more complaints similar to the one Fear and Loathing discovered, this time on CG's Yelp profile. If CG was requiring customers to spend $10 and that was against the fine print, than that sounds like a more plausible reason to refund the deal.

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  10. It seems like this is just a misunderstanding of the terms in conditions by a lot of customers and Groupon staff.

    Not valid on tax and gratuity means not valid on tax and gratuity.

    If you buy 3 cupcakes at $3 each and use your Groupon, you'd be responsible for the 95 cents in tax. Sure, the tax should have been rang up separately. Groupon should change their fine print to avoid situations like this that can cause conflict between customers and businesses.

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  11. Every time I've had the cupcakes I thought they were filled with flavor and not greasy. Not sure what 60640 is talking about. The cake is so moist and just melts in your mouth... mmmmm... I've yet to try the pie though.

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  12. Sounds like the business model is weak if they can't meet demand. What company would run on this basis he stated? Cupcakes are very disappointing and expensive!

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  13. The groupon is the reason why a majority of people have even visited this establishment.

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  14. @ Adam: when I had the cupcakes it was last year. I haven't been back since. So maybe they stopped being greasy (seriously, my fingers/napkin were coated) and and every cupcake tasted the same. Peanut butter tasted the same as red-velvet. It was not an enjoyable experience, but I'm glad yours have not been like mine!

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  15. I also thought the excuse Darius made was unconvincing. I've read quite a bit of bad reviews of the service of this place on an assortment of websites (and have witnessed this service first hand). That, coupled with the fact that the Cupcake Gallery did NOT uphold the deal as was written in the fine print of the Groupon lead me to believe this is why Darius and the Cupcake Gallery's Groupon was cancelled.

    We also tried to use the Groupon and were rejected. If you can't uphold the integrity of the Groupon deal, then don't offer that deal. As Darius would say, "it's actually quite simple."

    And how about owning up for the fact that you've angered a LOT of patrons instead of backpedaling and giving lame excuses. I think you owe the people who bought the Groupon at least that much.

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  16. I have purchased cupcakes from Cupcake Gallery at least four times in the past 18 months. I have not been very impressed with the quality. Like other commenters have said, I found them too moist. Some have been good, some have been mediocre. I do believe the cupakes are overpriced. $4 for a medium sized stuffed cupcake is a rip-off.

    For comparison, I recently purchased a couple of cupcakes from Real Kitchen. I tried the lemon-filled and caramel-filled cupcakes, and they were divine, some of the best cupcakes I have ever had. And, they were $2.50 each.

    Instead of trying to run a bunch of businesses (Uptown Pie Co, Local Holla), I think Darius needs to focus on quality products and customer service. If you continually piss off customers (read the Yelp reviews to see what I am talking about), you won't be in business very long.

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  17. Call me a snob, but I really can't patronize a bakery of any type that doesn't have a real pastry case. CG's wooden cupboard looks like something two Boy Scouts put together for a den bake sale. As well, the prices are ludicrous- some of us in Uptown might have money to burn, but we're not stupid.

    Not to mention- coffee, coffee, coffee. They sell it supposedly, but only put out a powdered creamer; a complete afterthought, like a Doctor's office waiting room. As well, why not serve and advertise that they offer something local and catchy? Intelligentsia, Metropolis, etc.

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