Many customers who have bought vouchers from the beleaguered Nhom Mua groupon company said Thursday that they had been rejected when using the company’s vouchers at certain restaurants or fashion shops.

>> Customers worried as groupon firm in trouble “A café refused to accept my Nhom Mua voucher for payment although the usage date is not expired,” said Tuyet Lan, a customer from Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7. Similarly, Ngoc Hue from District 10 said she failed to enjoy the discounted price when using the vouchers from Nhom Mua to buy some lingerie. The deal-of-the-day company on Wednesday angered customers nationwide after its website (www.nhommua.com) became inaccessible and its headquarters was blockaded for inspection by economic police. Nhom Mua’s founder and former director, Tom Tran, is suspected of embezzling company assets and conducting several non-transparent internal transactions. He was forced to leave Vietnam last week. Nhom Mua is arguably the leading groupon company in Vietnam, claiming to hold some 60 percent of the market share with more than 900 employees in the major cities of HCM, Hanoi, Can Tho, and Hai Phong, Thanh Nien newspaper reported. Several million vouchers that can be used for two to three-months had been sold before the company fell into trouble, according to unofficial figures. Nhom Mua admitted that many of its partners now reject payments with its vouchers, director Kyle Pham told Tuoi Tre on Thursday. “[The partners] must be concerned and fear that they may not receive payment from us over the misleading information these days, and the temporary shutdown of our website,” he said. Nhom Mua is still contacting partners to assure them that all transactions will be normally conducted, and vouchers with valid usage dates are still allowable for payment, he added. “If customers are still not at ease, they can exchange the vouchers for a refund,” he said. “Our technicians are trying to resume the website’s operation this week,” he added.