I was a semi-regular customer of Little Athens of Sewickley, a small Greek restaurant in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. However, I hadn't been there as often because I was trying to save money.
To my delight, the restaurant was listed in my local Entertainment book and offered a buy-one-get-one (BOGO) discount, prompting me to go one more time. For your info, here is the exact wording in the Entertainment book, Pittsburgh 2009 edition:
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"Enjoy one complimentary DINNER ENTREE when a second DINNER ENTREE of equal or greater value is purchased."
"Up to $12.00 Value"
"Fri. & Sat. Seating before 7 P.M.; Dine in only."
"valid anytime"
"Not valid with any other discounts or promotions."
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Anyway, a friend and I went to the restaurant on a Friday at about 5:30 P.M. I asked the server if the Entertainment card was valid, and she said yes, pointing out that we had to select a "dinner entree."
So my friend and I ordered meals that were clearly labeled "Dinner Entrees" on the menu. We ate the food (no problem with the food itself) and gave the Entertainment card to the server.
The server came back and said we could not get the discount because we both ordered a "half" meal. Now mind you, both "half" and "full" portions were ALL listed under "Dinner Entrees, " and there was absolutely NO mention of "half" versus "full" meal restrictions anywhere on the page in the Entertainment book itself, and the server mentioned nothing of this restriction when we first mentioned wanting to use the Entertainment card.
I asked to speak to the owner — a Greek guy who was extremely rude to me from the moment I met him. I was very friendly at first, saying, "Listen, I know you're really busy, so I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me." He immediately said something like, "Yes. Yes... I'm VERY busy... What do you want?"
I told him that I would really appreciate him honoring the Entertainment card since there were no restrictions listed in the book, and especially since I was just laid off from work that week and wouldn't have even come in to the restaurant at this particular time if it wasn't for the advertised discount.
He reiterated what the server told us, refusing to give us the discount because we ordered "half" meals, not "full" meals. I told him the book said the discount applies to dinner entrees, and he still refused, raising his voice as if he was highly annoyed.
I told him that if he didn't give me the discount, it would be unethical and it would just be bad business. I told him I had previously been a regular customer and said I would not go to the restaurant again (after he refused to give in). All he could say to me was, "Good! It's YOUR loss!"
So not only did this restaurant owner refuse to give me an ADVERTISED discount, but his customer service was absolutely HORRIBLE.indeed, I will NEVER eat at Little Athens again, and I'm going to tell all my friends about this incident. I'm also going to ask the FTC if this restaurant was within its legal rights to refuse to honor the discount.
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