It's really sad, because it's not only good restaurants that do the Groupon thing. It can be a good way to advertise your business in addition to the standard (boring) ways.
Any restaurant that treats their customers like crap because the customer uses a deal that the restaurant approved is... Well, rude. I don't have much use for rude restaurants. For a lot cheaper, I can cook the food myself, and it's probably as good. Worse, the time spent is about the same, too! And cooking can be fun.
So in the end, what does a restaurant offer me? New dishes, and good service. Most restaurants don't have the former, so that just leaves good service.
The restaurant in this post failed at the only thing they can offer their customers. And all because they made a bad decision. (I'm assuming they think it's bad because of their actions.)
I'm not a Groupon apologist. Some of the tactics I've heard lately are downright dirty, and detrimental to both the restaurant and Groupon both. But it's not inherently a bad thing.
There is a distinct possibility that restaurant owners approved the deal with Groupon but staff is left to suffer the consequences, possibly with little warning from management or the owners.
The restaurant business is not exactly raking in the big bucks right now, with the continuing (and deepening) recession, and the owners may have signed on in desperation to claw out whatever money they can.
I'm not sure how it matters what part of the company went wrong. As a customer, you only care about the end product. You don't care whether an owner or a waiter failed to do their job. The responsibility for the failure always lies on the business.
I should say the service wasn't horrible - it was just so noticeable the change in attitude from when we were regular customers to 'Grouponers'. I do like the point that half the value of a restaurant is the service. Except in Chinese restaurants, my favorite one has terrible service but the food is great and it seems to add to the character of the place.
You felt unwelcome. That's horrible service, no matter the reason!
It's quite possible that they give excellent service when the customer is not using a coupon. But I'm guessing you'll never know because of how they treated you. Even if you aren't their target market (because of the cost and driving distance, etc) it's possible that you would take someone there for a business deal or date because you remembered how nice it was. (Nevermind the outside.)
They defeated the whole point of groupon: To attract new customers.
Any restaurant that treats their customers like crap because the customer uses a deal that the restaurant approved is... Well, rude. I don't have much use for rude restaurants. For a lot cheaper, I can cook the food myself, and it's probably as good. Worse, the time spent is about the same, too! And cooking can be fun.
So in the end, what does a restaurant offer me? New dishes, and good service. Most restaurants don't have the former, so that just leaves good service.
The restaurant in this post failed at the only thing they can offer their customers. And all because they made a bad decision. (I'm assuming they think it's bad because of their actions.)
I'm not a Groupon apologist. Some of the tactics I've heard lately are downright dirty, and detrimental to both the restaurant and Groupon both. But it's not inherently a bad thing.