"I received a gift card for $25 from one of my vendors. I went to use it and found the perfect restaurant. I could get a $25 certificate for $10!! Woo hoo...I can get two of them with my $25 gift card, right? Wellll....no. I went to use it at checkout and there was no place to key in the code. So I went to the redeem tab and keyed in the code and it was accepted. I went back to the restaurant and $25 certificate was no longer $10 but was $25. I figured I am using a gift card so no problem. But wait....it now says they are out of stock for this restaurant. What? I logged out and back in, found my restaurant, certificates show available for $10. Went to redeem tab and keyed my code...restaurant certificates out of stock. I'm confused. So I call them and here is what I'm told. "Certificates are purchased and SPLIT between those for purchase with a credit card and those for redemption with a gift card." I said "Well, someone had to have purchased this gift card so what is the difference? Can't you let me redeem on with my gift card?" to which I was told "sorry, can't do that." I said "are you kidding me? Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds?" To which she said "No." Wow. Just...Wow. People, don't buy restaurant.com gift cards for others. Whoever you give them to will end up hating you. "
"Scam! First off, I bought 'gift certificates' and was charged too much for too little. They did not apply my promo. Then, I called 'customer service', and the guy got rude with me for being ripped off! He finally put some of the money they had stolen from me back in my pocket. So then my 'gift certificate' arrives, 20$ that were split into 5$ increments at the restaurant. Well that's when I find out I can only use them 5$ at a time, ONE PER MONTH! I have been ripped off by restaurants.com I basically was not given gift certificates, it's coupons."
"Here is the exchange I had with restaurant.com's customer service.
From: Restaurant.com Promo
Subject: Restaurant.com Promo Customer Receipt/Purchase Confirmation
To: Greg
Your voucher will be emailed to you within 48 hours.
Thank you for your order!
From: Greg
I never received this voucher.
From: ****@****
All Vouchers were sent to you 2 hours after your purchase.
From: Greg
What email address were they sent to?
From: ****@****
All Vouchers were sent to you 2 hours after your purchase.
From: Greg
You are funny. You keep sending me the same reply. Answer my question. What email address were the vouchers sent to. I did not receive them at ****@****. If you send me the exact same response, I am going to go postal on you.
From: ****@****
Merry Christmas! ****@****
From: Greg
I am Jewish you moron. So you sent them to the right email address but I never received them. What do you propose we do now?
From: ****@****
I am not a moron so I guess you thought I was Mormon? I am JEWISH! You asked where we sent them and I looked into the system and that was the email you entered. So this is what I propose. Have a Wonderful and Healthy New Year!
All Vouchers were sent to you 2 hours after your purchase.
"
"I have used Restaurant.com since 2006. I have used over 150 certificates and have had success with all but a few. As long as I am upfront with having a certificate and understand my minimum purchase requirement, I have had little issue. I tip on the whole amount and treat the certificate as a gift card while being polite through the process. Restaurants do drop out and is always best to contact the restaurant before heading out to assure they will honor the certificate. I have a few instances where the restaurant won't take the certificate upon arrival and a phone call would of saved the trip. The only criticism I do have is the new phone app is not accepted by every restaurant and this is frustrating since restaurant.com promotes the app. Again, a phone call to the restaurant would have resolved this. One last note, Restaurant.com is more apt to issue a credit than a refund. Just be prepared to get credit back to use towards another restaurant if you aren't able to use the first one. The ease of exchanging certificates is even easier now that it is online. I will get certificates for places I travel to knowing that if I don't use them, I can exchange for a restaurant local to me."
"DO NOT PURCHASE SPECIAL DEALS!! I have been a member of restaurant.com since 2007. We purchased 2 broadway tickets from a "deal" which came with a $50 restaurant.com e-gift card. We paid $116 for each deal. When we received the tickets, the face value read $99. The e-gift cards cannot be used for any special deals(i.e $4 for a $25 certificate). A $50 gift card can only buy a certificate for $50! If I purchased a $50 deal as I usually do, I could pay as little as $8. That would make the value of the deal, if I purchased my ticket directly from the theater, $107. I got cheated out of $9 per ticket deal. This is no discount. "
"BAD NEWS!!!!!! We were duped into purchasing 2 tickets to a Broadway show which included a $50 gift certificate to restaurants.com for each of the show tickets we purchased. This is a seedy tactic. On the ticket, the price read $89. We paid the website $109 for each of the tickets or forty dollars more than the listed price for both tiickets. Why did I need them to purchase a ticket when I could have done this myself and paid less money????!!!!! Additionally you need to realize that you can only purchase certificates with your gift card. The gift card has a number which you enter when purchasing your certificate. They..... restaurants .com keep track of what you have spent in certificates. That's a good thing. However, I looked through the list and could not spend fifty dollars at a time. More like 15 dollars at a time. This forces you to visit many restaurants. I get the point but somehow the math is not going to add up in the end. I can already see that one of two things is going to happen. Either I will lose some of my original fifty or..... I will have to put more money to it to purchase a new certificate thereby using up the remainder on the certificate. It just won't work out!!!!!! I can feel it. I realize what i've said here is confusing to many people but. That's the point . They make it terribly confusing and in the end you think you're getting a good deal. But..... Buyer beware. Yes, the show was terrific. But buy tickets by yourself. You don't need restaurantsb.com to rip you off"
"This company needs to learn the definition of customer service. I would strongly advise anybody considering purchasing anything from this company to RECONSIDER! DO NOT DEAL WITH THESE GUYS!!! BAD NEWS!!! CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!!"
"I work for a restaurant chain in metro Detroit which has recently been bombarded with guests waving restaurant.com gift certificates bearing our company name and logo.. the problem? WE HAVE NEVER HAD A RELATIONSHIP OF ANY KIND WITH RESTAURANTS.COM!! They have collected money for these gift certificates without our knowledge, permission, or compensation. I've also recently seen one of their certificates posted on the front door of another restaurant chain which I frequent, with a warning that they are fraudulent and will not be honored. Nice company, there, restaurants.com."
"I bought a $75 gift certificate for a restaurant and took the whole office to a nice luncheon. When we got there the restaurant said they didn’t accept these certificates for lunch.
I’m very aware of the rules and limitations on all of the restaurant.com certificates and specifically looked for this limitation. On all other restaurants that don’t take the certificates it specifically says not valid for lunch or dinner only. This was not the case for this restaurant.
When I notified restaurant.com they said too bad, we’ll credit your account. I didn’t want a credit, I want my money back. Sorry . . . if you didn’t read our 9 page legal contract, but please try again. I guess next time I should contact an attorney before I make a $30 restauranat.com purchase. That’s not gonna happen because I will NEVER make another purchase from Restaurant.com.
"
"I was duped into spending $30 on Restaurant.com (Specials) coupons. They told me I could purchase $100 worth of wine from OrderWineDirect.com.
The coupon was $15. The catch: You have to spend at least $200 to get the $100 savings. No big deal. I was OK with that. However, OrderWineDirect.com does NOT ship to the state of OHIO. They failed to tell me that before I spent $30 for 2 coupons. I’ve asked for a refund of my money back. They refuse to respond at all and have not refunded my money. I have $200 worth of OrderWineDirect.com coupons that I cannot use. Very frustrated."
"If you are familiar with the term "bait and switch" or would like a perfect example or education of it then buy a coupon from restaurant.com. I did!
Not at all as described-not even close.When I called for a refund within 10min after they charged( I paid through paypal) and was instantly offered a $100.00 coupon,it was like the rep had a script! I refused it by stating the last thing I wanted to do was continue doing business with a company whose first transaction was fraudulent!
Currently involved in a PayPal dispute after Restaurant.com responded with they do not refund fees!!
Paypal has already decided I was delt with fraudulently,however my money has yet to be refunded.
STAY AWAY!!"
"I tried to use their certificate purchased for Liberty Bistro in New Braunfels, Texas and was told they would not honor because of problems ? I did not know that even reading the find print, that a participating restaurants could so easily just opt out. I purchased several to many places, so to try local establishments, before exiting after viewing menu pricing. Do not waste your time and money purchasing, unless you contact participating restaurant first and use them immediately !"
"I have used around 5 of the restaurant certificates and I have yet to have an issue with one of them. Some of them have bad requirements, but some are OK. If you can deal with them it's fine, otherwise don't buy one."
"I’m sitting here trying not to lose my patience, but I can not in good conscience sit idlily by. On June 4th, I purchased 10 $25.00 restaurant.com gift cards to hand out to teachers in my children’s school. At that time, it stated on the website that if you purchased $40 or more, there would be no shipping cost and I should expect to receive my gift cards within 2 – 3 business days. On June 7th I called customer service because I had not yet received my cards. The rep told it normally takes 3 -5 business days to receive. The rep couldn't tell me what the tracking number was or whether the cards were even shipped but I said okay. On June 12th I called customer service again because I still had not received the cards. The customer service rep that I spoke to now said that it takes 3 - 7 business days to receive gifts cards (see a pattern here?). I asked if I could cancel the transaction and I was told no. I had to wait until I received the cards and return them before she could cancel the transaction (what!?!?!?). I called again on June 13th (7 business day later) and the customer service rep that I spoke to this time said that I should have received my gift cards. She said Restaurant.com was not responsible for stolen or lost cards and that I should have followed up with UPS. WHAT!?!?! Stolen/lost, the cards were probably never shipped. She couldn't provide the UPS tracking number or the date they were sent out. I'll never use this website again or recommend it to anyone. It's also interesting that on there website they have a place to put testimonials, but there isn't a place for a client to criticize them. TERRIBLE COMPANY. "
"Restaurant.com also partners with fund raising companies (i.e. that sell cookies and cookie dough through schools). When you go to redeem your "cookie" voucher, you see an option to redeem your contribution for significantly more in restaurant.com "Gift Certificates". They display a $50 gift card during the transaction, implying that you can actually use that much towards a meal. Don't be fooled.
When you go through the two-step process of redeeming your cookie voucher for a Restaurant.com voucher, and then "purchasing" the restaurant.com "gift certificates" in increments of $10, you discover that there are all sorts of restrictions on their use, such as:
- Minimum purchase (usually at least double the gift certificate, sometimes triple or quadruple)
- Mandatory 18% gratuity tacked on before discount
- ONLY ONE $10 GIFT CERTIFICATE CAN BE USED PER VISIT
As noted in other reviews, the restaurants that participate are
typically not known for quality food or location.
The better restaurants quickly realize how bad this deal is for them and cancel their contract, only to have customers come in years later and expect the "Non-Expiring" "Gift Certificates" to be honored.
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS COMPANY OR ITS PROMOTIONS"