DO NOT BOOK IF YOU ARE A TOURIST AND ARE WILLING TO RISK LOSING MONEY DUE TO CANCELLATIONS!!
My friend and I had purchased a voucher from Groupon for this excursion and applied it a week in advance as we noticed slots were filling up fast and we would only be in Hawaii for one week. Our excursion ended up being cancelled due to poor weather conditions which is fair however due to the inability to rebook as we were flying back home, we have been given the run-around for who should be responsible for providing us with a refund.
Shark encounters had refunded us the tax we had paid which was about $29 CAD but informed us that groupon would be responsible for providing a refund for the tickets/vouchers we redeemed which costed $150.95 CAD after conversion.
Groupon however stated “We've received an update from the Merchant and they stated that once the codes are viewed they are NON refundable. They also added that, "We tell customers they act as flight credit. We always honor the monetary value of the tickets however they are NON refundable." And then proceeded to encourage us to rebook - we received this update on Feb 29, 2024 @ 8:21PM (the day before our flight that was scheduled for 3:30PM). They state that we have the option to consider redeeming the coupon by April 18, 2024 but realistically, it’s not like Hawaii is down the road from us and we don’t have the luxury to book another flight to Hawaii just to complete the excursion.
So yeah, me and my friend are now down $150.95 CAD each. I’m not sure who is responsible… Groupon or Hawaii Shark Encounters? Both merchants seem to be pointing the finger at eachother so to save yourself a headache, I would not purchase from Groupon OR book this excursion.