Groupon: Collective Buying Power

Is this $35 for 6 people (seems too good to be true…)? Or $35 per person, with a limit of six people in the group (which would cost $210)? Sorry, my caffeine has not kicked in yet. Somebody enlighten me.

I’m not a fan of these Mon-Fri only groupons. This is the second one this month. Can you try to get more event groupons that can be used on the weekends?

I see your point Scott but I work for SF State and we have 2 f’ing furlough days a month, typically Fridays and Mondays, so these are a great way to kill a day. I’m doing the aquarium tour at pier 39 today.

The disclaimer on the website says

Does that mean they won’t honor the guarantee with the groupon ticket? Thanks.

This Groupon’s restriction (limit of “6” people) is confusing because Groupon also has a limit of the number of Groupins (limit 2) that can be purchased. A better descrptiion of how this particular “deal” would have been helpful in avoiding confusing. The confusion may have prevented some sales of this particular deal as well. A little more effort writing the description would have avoided any misunderstanding.

In one place is says M-F. In the main description is says Monday & Friday. Which is it?

Why does everyone expect a discount on weekends when they sell out anyway? They are trying to fill up the weekdays when demand is lower. Marketing 101 guys!

Alka, is there a “best month” to see them. I was thinking of mid-January. Is that a good time?

Hi Alka,

It is pretty misleading to say this then, correct?

@ Courtney:
I was just about to post the same thing, Courtney… It is misleading, indeed. Or in fact, it’s not msisleading, it says it there, black on white.

@ Alka:
Do you think you can talk to the people from “SF Whale tours” and ask them to extend their guarantee? I have been on a whale watching tour before and also gave one to my parents as a gift when they were visiting, one trip was mid December, the other one beginning of February and we both did not see any whales :(. So the ‘pretty good chance’ unfortunately is pretty disappointing…
Thanks!

I just ordered 2 tix but it only asked my personal info and credit card and there was no place to pick the date. How does that work? It just finished my sale and says it will send me groupon within a day.

Does anyone know someone who has actually gone on one of these?? I’d love to read about a first- or second-hand experience.

Also, can you confirm there will be an “expert naturalist” on board this particular type of tour so one can “Learn about geology, wildlife, and natural history.” It’s not explicit for this type of tour on their website. Thanks.

Will there be limitations around Christmas time? I have family coming in for the holidays, and this would be great, but their time in CA is limited. Yet, I would imagine this is when even their weekday tours fill up as well.

Nothing is stated so I’m assuming not, just covering my bases!

There is a recent and positive review of this company on yelp.

Wow. Thanks for the info. I’ve made my decision.

Bought two — sounds fun :)

Correction… I believe this tour is actually the 5-hour tour that begins at 9am?

I see online that there is a minimum number of people that must sign up for a tour in order to avoid a cancellation of that tour (10 people).

I’m curious about the maximum number of people they allow on their tours at a given time. I’m concerned about being packed onto a boat for 5 hours where it is too crowded to really move around to different areas as different whales, etc are spotted. In other words, do they pack us in like sardines? How big are the vessels?

Thanks Alka, just got two tix for January. Groupon rocks!

Hello all, it says tours start Dec. 1st on the website. does anyone know if we can use the groupon earlier than that? thanks

Oh Gosh! I just bought 6 tickets. I suppose it’ll come back and tell me I can only have 2. Is there anything else I need to do to correct this? I was here reading the discussion and saw this groupon had a limit of 2. Funny it gave me the option of 6 then.
Thanks for your time in this.

It just occured to me; it says the whales are migrating from Alaska. Clearly they are fleeing Sarah Palin. :)

Thanks so much Alka!

thanks =]

I’ve been wanting to do this for a really long time, and now I can actually afford it— HOORAY!

ok. I’, a little confused. If I buy 1 ticket fopr $35 is that good for 1 or up to 6? and if it is for up to 6 and I took 5 friends 6x$35=$210 less $35 i paid Groupon then I pay $175 to the tour or in this case, would I only get the $35 price and my new emimees pay $70 each?

Thanks, I kinda figured that but thought you should be tested on one more permutation on this. Didn’t it remind you of story problems on school math tests? And you passed!! Congrats

Hi, I made my purchase and it says on the home page that I got one groupon, but I didn’t get any receipt. Is there a way, Alka, to make sure my purchase was complete?

Thank you for the response Alka….now reading your response to another person and see no tour Dec 18???!!! that was the exact day I was using it for as a friend is visiting Dec 17-20 from Phoenix. Now what? Will they accept it on Thurs Dec 17? So, I just bought what is now useless tix to me? Where were the blackout dates as I did not see them.

I’m very interested in doing this but, at this stage, have decided against it for the following reason, unless clarification can be made to convince me otherwise.

With the limitation of only Monday & Friday being available, from Dec 1 thru April 29 and considering the black-out period of Dec 18-Jan 3, I calculated 36 days that would be available for use with this groupon. In light of the fact that 670 people have already purchased this groupon, and with a maximum boat capacity of 46 per trip, in addition to their website saying their tours usually sell out, I have concerns about actually being able to get reservations.

I’m making a logical assumption here that surely they wouldn’t want to fill up their tours completely with discounted groupon customers (perhaps the reason for the 6 person group limit?)….so I fear it will be difficult, if not impossible to take advantage of this particular groupon.

Viable concern?

Can I buy 5 tickets for my family (spouse and kids)?

OK so I just noticed that you have affiliate links. I bought two and then wanted to go back and get the code again – how do I do that?

Alka: I completed the transaction, and yesterday it appeared on the page as that I purchased one groupon and it was under “My Groupons.”. But no receipt was emailed. And today there is nothing under “My Groupons.”

Help!!!

Thanks, Alka. I called and it sounds like we’re all set. Thanks again.

When I signed up a little box popped up said – earn $10 by sharing this deal with others – here’s the link. I wanted to do that but couldn’t find the link again. Is this something new?

Patti – Referral bucks is a new program that we just launched. If someone uses the link you sent them and successfully makes a purchase, credits that you can use for future purchases will appear in your account in about a week. The person you refer must be a new Groupon customer and must purchase their first Groupon within 72 hours of your referral. As we continue to develop this feature, we plan to make credits appear in your account sooner. Although yesterday’s deal is no longer available to share, you are still able to share your unique referral link. You can view the ways to refer a friend by looking at the top of the page on our site where it says “Refer Friends, Get $10”.

Katie
Groupon

Hi Groupies,

The location for this Whale Migration Tour Groupon has changed. The location change will be effective beginning Nov. 13.

The new meeting place is at the tour’s booth located at the entrance plaza of Pier 39 (off Embarcadero street, San Francisco, CA 94133). The booth is located right at the entrance of the Pier (the first booth as you walk in on the right).

Everyone will meet at our booth at 7:30 am. The naturalist will be there waiting for check-in. Once everyone has arrived, the naturalist will lead you all down to the boat.

You can also visit Pier39.com for directions to the pier, parking information, public transportation, etc.

Sorry if this this causes any inconveniences.

Thanks,

Katie Grass
support@groupon.com

Has anyone been yet? If so, what was it like? I think I’m going to book mine soon.

My boyfriend and I went on the tour yesterday, 12/11 despite the weather report, since we are leaving town for the holiday soon and I couldn’t wait until January to go. The naturalist, the captain and his co-captain were super nice people, and the boat was awesome. However, we were unfortunate enough to encounter 6+ foot swells both on the way there and bigger swells on the way back, which resulted in half of the boat being sick within the first 2 hours. The cabin was nice and warm, but staying in there made the seasickness worse, while out on the deck it was extremely wet and cold, which resulted in near hypothermia for me and a bunch of other people until we decided to go inside the cabin each with a cup in our hand to catch the sickness :(. There were 1 or 2 whales spotted, but only the blowholes were seen, no fluke :(, plus the swells were so bad and there was no sun, everything looked grey and it was difficult to discern a whale’s back from the shapes made by the huge waves. We did see several porpoises on the way out, though :D. It would have been a perfect experience, if I had been able to practice some patience and wait until a nicer warmer day. For all of you who have not used your groupons, I strongly advise going on a nice day and taking some Meclizine ahead of time even if you have been on a boat a million times before and never gotten sick (like me). As for me, I will definitely buy the tour again even without a coupon, and will take care this time to check for good weather, and even surf and storm report before booking my adventure.

I just called the San Francisco Whale Tours to change my reservation date and they said for groupon purchases they don’t allow changes in reservation (unless they cancel the tour due to bad weather). Is that true? Was this mentioned in the groupon deal?

I don’t recall that anywhere on this one.

I don’t recall it being the case either. I also had the same problem about rescheduling. My husband had a last minute meeting that he cannot reschedule. So we’re stuck.

Same issue here…they won’t reschedule. That’s not cool.

Groupon, you gotta help. This business wasn’t completely transparent with the offer, but they sure wanted out money.

You should post all of these bad experiences on www.yelp.com as well. I just canceled the trip for next Monday 1/18 as the NWS says it’s going to be awful out there. The waves are so big that the Mavericks are thinking of coming. If they won’t let me reschedule they will not get a good review from me on Yelp.

Hey Whale Tour Grouponers, I just got off the phone with Capt. Joe from SF Whale Tours and he was delightful. He convinced me that they do everything possible to avoid taking us out on bad weather days but simply can’t call it 3 days out. Be patient and he (and his team) will analyze all the facts and make a call and let you know what it is. I queried him on how he makes the call and, again, he convinced me he knows what’s a go and what’s a no go day.

Re: the people making complaints on this thread he said what we all know, you can’t please everyone and there are jerks out there. So true.

So, I take back what I said. These guys are a family business and really into what they do for the wildlife out there, making sure we see it and enjoy it and are not just about making a buck. Leave the driving to them!

I’m looking forward to my trip more than ever now — even if it isn’t next week — due to the nasty weather coming our way. (We need the rain anyway.)

Finally, I want you all to know that the folks at Groupon were very concerned about any complaints we had and contacted SF Whale Tours to make sure everyone was happy. Yea Groupon, way to go!

Does anyone have a whale watching groupon ticket you can’t use? I would like to find at least one more (maybe two) to buy from you at the $35.

I went on the Jan 8, 2010 trip but there were no whales to be seen. But the trip was very pleasurable and captain and the naturalist were very helpful and courteous. And true to their word, if no whales are spotted on your trip, you can keep signing up for free until a whale is spotted. I had absolutely no problems scheduling another free tour.

I was disappointed in not seeing any whales but you got to realize its a big ocean out there and whales don’t schedule their migration times to suit sight seers. The boat ride was terrific but dress for cold and wet conditions. Wear a rain poncho or parka and be prepared to get wet even if the weather looks calm from shore. If you are prone to motion sickness, take a pill before heading out. I don’t get sea sick but some of the swells made me a wee bit queasy. But riding the swells was just awesome and the baot felt completely safe at all times. The catamaraan design really makes the boat very stable. All in all it was a very good 5 hour trip if only the whales cooperated a little better, it would have been perfect.

I went on Friday, March 12th and the weather did NOT cooperate. We got under the Golden Gate Bridge and out to Point Bonita and the rain started pouring. We continued up towards Point Reyes and the waves got so rough that most of the people were barfing over the railing in the rain (amateurs! LOL) so we turned around and came back to Pier 39. Since whales were not seen and we came back to dock, I scheduled another cruise for free. The captain and naturalist are super nice folks and very knowledgable and if the weather had been better, I would have had a great time, whales or no whales.

I booked my return cruise for Monday, April 12th and will follow up with more details. If this trip is a bust and I still don’t get to see any whales, I’ll just accept the fact that they don’t want me to see them migrating. :-)

@ddc: if you still need 2 groupons I got em

Julia you still have these

Thank you ! My friend says she really wants to go, but keeps backing out as the time comes closer. So, don’t save them for me, but I should get back to you within a couple days to see if you still have them.

Thanks a million !