OpenTable

I have been using Opentable for lunch and dinner reservations for a few years now. When my boss recently received an $80 cheque for the 'points' she had gained I was curious as sto why I hadn't received anything. I checked the website, and it turns out you are ONLY eligible for points if you initiate the booking from the opentable website, rather than finding the restaurant and following the reservation link to make the opentable booking. Feeling a tad ripped off!

You cannot reach anyone if you have a problem. Years ago they actually would email back and forth to solve issues. Now they have a useless FAQ system, no phone support and they tell you to live chat but "no one is available. Try back later". This is infuriating.

A while back, I received a $75 OpenTable gift card from a friend. On Saturday afternoon, I activated that gift card to use for dinner at a high-end sushi restaurant on Saturday night. My family of six had a $270 meal, ordering things we wouldn't normally get because of the $75 card. When our server entered the code to take the $75 off our bill, she got a message that the balance was $0. I called OpenTable and spent 20 minutes on the phone with a "customer service" agent while my family sat there ready to leave. The agent said the balance was $0 and she could not determine where the money had gone, despite the fact I had an email from 12:30 pm the same day saying $75 for use at this particular restaurant, and my assurances to her that I had not eaten a $75 lunch there before returning for dinner at the same place at 6:00 pm. As far as I'm concerned, OpenTable stole $75 from me. We'll see if they make it right...

I have written a 5 star review on a restaurant, it was accepted immediately. The next day I had a bad experience at a restaurant rated very high on OpenTable. I didn't understand. I wrote my review and gave the restaurant what they deserved: 2 stars. It didn't get published on OpenTable. I thought it was a mistake and wrote it again. It was blocked again. Apparently the restaurants must be paying them money not to allow bad reviews to be published. I will never use them again. Fake reviews, fake business.,

Recently after years of booking reservations through OpenTable, our account was no longer a registered account. When we contacted OpenTable customer service we were told repeatedly that we were NEVER registered under our email. Having spent years in high tech, it a bit more difficult to fool my husband by trying to convince him that he really never made all of those reservations with the account and password that he has saved in his own computer password files. DO NOT give them your CC number to hold a reservation. Clearly they do not take their computer systems and clients seriously.

OpenTable used to send me certificates to redeem at restaurants. Now I can't figure out how to redeem my $200 dining reward. They sent me an email telling me to book a table through the link in the email in order to redeem. I did as instructed but did not get any confirmation that I would be using the dining reward at the restaurant I booked. I called the restaurant, and they said there was no dining reward noted in my reservation. My only recourse to get help from OpenTable was through "Live Chat" on their website. After waiting for 30 minutes, I got kicked off the Live Chat. I queued up again and was kicked off after 40 minutes of waiting. I found a phone number that also redirected me to the Live Chat for help. I replied to the "dining reward" email, and it bounced back. It appears that there really is no way for diners like me to 1) contact customer service at opentable.com and 2) to redeem my dining reward. What a colossal waste of time!

I have not used their reservation service. My opinion is limited to the restaurant reviews. I have done many comparisons between the reviews on opentable in my town (montreal) and reviews of food critics and something is amiss. The open. Table reviews appear to be much more favourable than the critics. May be ordinary folks are less critical, but I do not trust open. Table as they have a built in conflict of interest since they have a business relationship with restaurants. There is no way we can verify that the reviews are legitimate. Moreover, since their reviews tend to dominate the stars ratings provided by google on restaurants one could well imagine the possibility for open. Table to sell their reviewing services. I am not saying they do, but reviewer should be able to prove their independance from the restaurants.

I used to love Opentable. Not so much anymore. They have some sense that they offer such critical services that it requires each login to be done via verification code. Not just to your phone -- oh no -- first to your phone, then to your email. Because we ALL have time to deal with that.

I have been an Opentable customer for many years, using it for both personal and corporate reservations. While it's nice to be able to have a one-stop-shop to source venues, the inventory has gone down, there are too many limits to group sizes for reservations, and again with the ridiculous verification codes. I usually have to pair my searches with Google, Yelp, and Resy. Hoping Opentable can get things back in shape like in its glory days, but for now it seems like the glory days are behind them.