I was disappointed to hear about GroupOn’s Bait and Switch issue concerning the Valentine’s Day offer with FTD, however I immediately jumped to their defence.
A large part of Cudo’s operation is focused on ensuring that the offers we provide are 100% genuine, not just because we advertise on TV and are subject to rigorous standards, but because we believe the long term success of Cudo is hinged upon trust.
Our Merchant partners have to trust that Cudo will do the right thing by them by providing a great audience of new customers, broad brand promotion as described and payment in full within five days. And our members have to trust that Cudo is all about genuine no-brainer offers!
GroupOn must also have a whole team of people focused on ensuring that offers are “as stated”, hence why I jumped to their defence. However after seeing the following “all you can eat” ad, I am no longer sure!
Clicking on the ad for $8 all you can eat Macaroons takes you to a sign-up page, no such offer exists.
Deceptive. Yes. Bait and Switch. I think so.
Unless I am missing something, this type of Bait and Switch advertising is way out of line and threatens to damage the market as a whole. One thing is for sure, Cudo will never resort to these desperate tactics.
57 Signals 
Hey Billy, I’ve Spreets, Scoopon and Living Social using this same method on Facebook Ads.
Paddle boarding and Mexican Food at ridiculous prices only to get to a signup page with no relevant deal.
Simply no need for it.
They are at it again but now advertising fake sushi deals in Sydney.
What a joke.. Star Deals GTFO with bait and switch advertising!
So tell me this Billy – Why is Cudo doing bait and switch advertising in paid search campaigns? You are advertisng Hotel deals at 90% off on google – yet when you register then login to Cudo – there is no such deal. This is highly hypocritical – and given what you have written above – this makes Cudo far more untrustworthy than stardeals
Thanks for the comment Bernard, Offers based advertising is a grey area for sure and my comments regarding Stardeals suggested they had gone too far with “all you can eat for $8 HERE”.
In Cudo ads we use the term “save up to 90%”, and when you join Cudo you can and do save up to 90%, this is not misleading.
This is much like going to a store that has signalled “up to 90% off”, you don’t expect everything to be 90% off. Bait and Switch is where the store said you would get a specific item for 90% off, but that item never existed.
Thanks for the reply Billy – My point is that the bait in your google ads is saying you have “up to 90% off hotels” – but you need to register to actually check. The fact there were no hotel deals on Cudo at all on the day I clicked the ad – is where your advertising becomes misleading. Sorry to pick on Cudo – Every daily deal site is doing this style of advertising – I just think this is just as misleading as a display ad offering a deal that doesn’t exist