The fast-growing groupon sector in Vietnam appears to be full of risks for customers, with two such companies recently falling into trouble. Businesses and services partnered with the deal-of-the-day website dealsoc.vn continue to besiege its headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City to demand that the firm repay its long unsettled debts. Around 20 businesses began demanding repayment last Friday, but the company -- All In One Co Ltd – has ignored their requests. Dealsoc.vn provides customers with goods or vouchers to enjoy services from the company’s partners at discounted prices. The suppliers first sell their products to the groupon company and receive 40 percent of the goods’ value in advance. In the next 15 days, the suppliers will receive 70 percent of the value of products that All In One has managed to sell, and the remainder will be cleared later. “As of the end of November 29, the company had only managed to repay 10 percent of its total debts, and promised to settle the rest at the beginning of next year,” said Do Thi Mai Huong from the Sabu Sushi restaurant. Some suppliers have expressed skepticism over the company’s ability to repay its debts, and have decided to end their partnerships. “But the dealsoc.vn salespeople have repeatedly encouraged us to continue supplying products,” said a supplier who wished not to be named. “Persuaded, I continued selling goods to them and the debt has thus gone from VND18 million to VND55 million,” she added. Previously another groupon website, www.nhommua.com, became inaccessible for four days, worrying customers who had already bought vouchers and products.Rapid growth and high risks The groupon sector has boomed over the last few years, posting a record total revenue of VND700 billion last year, with the participation of a number of deal-of-the-day websites such as nhommua, muachung, cungmua, and hotdeal. But instability has recently spread in the industry. In the case of Nhom Mua, the problem is disagreement between the investors and the company management officials, while financial issues are to blame for dealson.vn’s trouble. Customers, meanwhile, also face high risks when shopping on the websites, as their purchased products may turn out to be different from what was advertised, or be of poor quality. Moreover, the current legal framework cannot yet adequately control this new business sector. “The Ministry of Industry and Trade will submit legal amendments that provide stricter control over the groupon sector to protect consumers to the government this month,” said Tran Huu Linh, head of the E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency under the ministry. “Groupon companies will be required to make a deposit and pay insurance for their operations,” he elaborated.