[ahrens]

I think the biggest problem is that the staff and sometimes the owners don't understand what is the biggest possible gain - to get people in the door and then blow them away with great service and great products. I guess Groupon and the other giants probably don't tell the companies this enough. If I buy a coupon and get great service (pretty much the opposite of the story above) I would come back and recommend it to my friends. What companies end up doing, is paying through their noses to spread bad reputation about themselves.

If the restaurant would have treated the customers like all the other guests and maybe let them order the more expensive bottle of wine while explaining that it's actually not included (with a smile!) those two guys would have walked out happy and would probably have returned.

Groupon and the other coupon sites is a marketing expense, so treat it like one. You don't put up ads in the magazine with a discount and then scare away the customers when they show up! I don't defend the coupon sites, they seem to take a whole lot of the money for a small benefit. However, if you go into the deal, you might as well make the best of it. They will use the groupon no matter if you're nice or not.