Woman turns to abc13 after falling victim to fake Groupon deal

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston woman turned to abc13 for help after she fell victim to a fake Groupon deal.

"It was a real good discount," Groupon user Destinee Carmouche said.

When Carmouche saw a Groupon deal offering lash service for $49 for something that typically costs twice as much, she wasted no time.

"I was like, oh, $49 that should be a good steal, everybody should be getting it," she said.

But when Destinee arrived at 9898 Bissonnet for her appointment at Lash Paradise, she knew something was wrong.

"There was no name on the directory, and I walked around to see if I could find the door, and I walked up six flights of stairs and there was no company there by that name or the lady's name," Carmouche said.

When Destinee called the shop, the phone went straight to voice mail.

"Eventually just I called the leasing agent of the building and they said they have never heard of this person or the company," Carmouche said.

So Destinee called Groupon to get a refund, but that did not make her happy either.

"She was like, 'OK, so we will give you a refund'. She gave me Groupon bucks," Carmouche said.

Unsatisfied with that, Destinee called us and we called Groupon. Now the company is making a different offer. A spokesperson told us over email:

"Refunds will be issued automatically to everyone who purchased the deal. If they have any questions, they can reach out to us at www.groupon.com/support."

"I have purchased off of Groupon many times and I have never had this problem," Carmouche said.

Nine others bought the Groupon from Lash Paradise, all of those customers will get full refunds by going to the link in our story.