Restaurant.com

EVERY RESTAURANT ON THE SITE HAS A MINIMUM PURCHASE REQUIREMENT AT LEAST HALF THE VALUE OF THE GIFT CERTIFICATE ITSELF - FOR EACH CERTIFICATE (YOU FIND "THAT" OUT WHEN YOU GET TO THE RESTAURANT). These people should be called out on their bull because they are selling half off coupons! There is no deal. There are no discounts! You pay something like $10 for a $20 gift card at restaurant.com, but the restaurant has a $50 minimum purchase requirement. So you pay $10 + for $20 certificate but have to spend an extra $30 on food (not including tips or taxes) once you get to the restaurant you will actually find that you saved nothing more than pocket lint and pennies while restaurant.com gets away with your money! Money that you could have taken directly to the restaurant without the greedy little
Man in the middle. Furthermore, most of the restaurants that they advertise DON'T EVEN ACCEPT their gift certificates anyway - which screws you out of even more money. And oh... NO REFUNDS, but you are sure welcome to exchange your so-called certificate from the first place that didn't take it for a new one at the next place that will likely refuse it too. If you want coupons to dine out, join mailing lists, facebook fan pages, rewards clubs, etc... I'm sure the small businesses that these crooks claim to support will gladly send you occasional savings as a token of appreciation for your patronage. Also, buy a Sunday paper where you get a crapload of coupons PLUS the news for a buck and change. However... DO NOT GIVE restaurant.com ANY OF YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY!

This is one big scam. These people who run this site are not honest. When you purchase their gift card you are purchasing a set of coupons to certain places, of your choice (so long as it's on their list) to eat. You must abide by the "restaurants terms", but you don't see the restaurants terms until after you purchase the gift certificate. You will see different amounts of gift certificates that the restaurant is offering. I purchased with a 100.00 gift card 1 certificate to a local restaurant. They offered 2 certificates- 1- 10.00, and 1-25.00. This particular restaurants minimum purchase requirement was 37.50. Okay, so I would buy 1-25.00, and 2-10.00 dollar certificates. After purchasing I see the terms. CAN *ONLY USE ONE CERTIFICATE PER PARTY, PER MONTH, PER RESTARURANT EVEN IF THE PARTY IS SEATED AT SEPARATE TABLES AND/OR RECEIVES MORE THAN ONE CHECK.* NOT VALID FOR TAXES, TIPS, MERCHANDISE OR PRIOR BALANCES.* CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER PROMOTIONS, COUPONS, OR SPECIAL OFFERS.
I have not yet tried to use the certificate that I had to print out, so not sure even if the restaurant will even take the "COUPON". Know what you are getting into before you buy and always, always look at the reviews!

I'm so completely disgusted with the restaurant.com SCAM. I have $5 balance on a few certificates but your APP does not allow you to combine certificate numbers to redeem them. The restaurant choices are TERRIBLE and no where near the quality of those you use in your FALSE MARKETING SCAM. WHAT A DISGRACE!

Reading the reviews, it appears NO ONE is satisfied with your company but I figured I would ask if someone can explain why you have set up a system to SCAM people and whether you are taking any steps to correct it. Generally, GOOD COMPANIES respond to customers who have a valid complaint and take steps to correct it and improve, but perhaps you are happier continuing on with your SCAM to defraid your customers.

I have a total of $125 worth of certificates and my first experience attempting to use a certificate was a NIGHTMARE. The restaurant even complained about how AWFUL is has been working with you.

Wishing I could get a refund, as using your certificates is more headache than it's worth.

Sincerely,

A very dissatisfied customer

I had a horrible experience with RDC. I just told another poster privately what to do whe you get scammed, which is what their operation is. I am going to copy/paste my reply as I don't wanna start anew. Basically he said he was conned and could not get his money back. My response:

FYI, the sure do give refunds if you create a social media sh**storm. I did just that and they had refunded my money within a couples hours. Just before I started my media sh**tstorm I contacted my credit card company who refunded me right away, so I had a double refund until I called my CC company and told them that Restaurants.com DID, in fact, refund after I went nuts on twitter! Before that, I went round and round with their corporate office with no luck until I decided to start the twitter attack!

Most restaurants DO NOT even know that they are listed on their site as the agents are desperate for commissions so they ILLEGALLY sign the restaurant up. That is why there is so much confusion.

Another interesting read is the employee rating site. It features past employee reviews of this company and it is VERY telling to say the least. Just search for employee reviews and restaurant.com.

Companies despise bad social media more than anything else!. And for future ref, restaurants.com is a scam. Always remember, you get what you pay for.

Again, MOST of the positives that act like the other bad reviews are crazy ARE FROM RESTAURANTS.COM EMPLOYEES THEMSELVES!

I was so embarrased when i showed my gift certificate from restaurant.com and the staff told me that they do not accept it and it's a fraud!

Restaurant wouldn't accept because they said they were losing too much. No response from customer service. Wasted my money.

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS WITH EACH GIFT CERTIFICATE! & MAKE SURE TO CALCULATE WHAT YOUR SAVINGS WOULD BE!

This site is great as long as you make sure to read the conditions for each certificate, and if you're able to do the math on how much you're really saving.

Here's the gist of this site:
You're buying coupons to use when you dine at a particular restaurant. The caveat is that the coupon can't be used unless the special instructions are met.

Example:
$25 Gift Certificate (purchased@ restaurant.com for $2)
Special Instructions: Minimum purchase of $50.18% Gratuity added prior to discount.

That minimum $50 purchase DOES NOT include your certificate. You must spend that $50 in the restaurant out of pocket.

So, let's do the math:
$50 minimum + $25 certificate = $75 bill
18% gratuity on bill= $13.50
$13.50 gratuity + $50 minimum = $63.50 you spend at the restaurant USING the certificate.
Total savings of about 15% off a $75 bill (note: i didn't even include the $2 spent to buy the certificate)

So... in reality, you're really only saving about 10%-15% with these coupons.

Most of the restaurants have a high minimum purchase, and the more the certificate is, the higher the minimum purchase. Most of them also require at least an 18% gratuity charge.

But sometimes if you're lucky, you can find a restaurant that only requires a $20 minimum purchase to use the gift certificate. Those are usually the ones I go for.

But if you're lucky, you can sometimes find restaurants that have don't have very complicated instructions

If your looking for big deals for not just food but travel and home essentials. This is the go to site for discounts.

They issued certificate for non-existing place or close-out or do not except it. Can't get my money back. Waist of time and money

How is this legal. How can I start my own scam site, and not be in jail. I got raped outta that money

My mother gave me $125 "worth" of these "gift certificates" as a Christmas gift. It's the WORST gift I have EVER receive in my entire life. My poor mother was duped into thinking that these are "same as cash" like what a normal gift certificate should be. These are NOT gift certificates! First, hardly any places accept these things, and if they do, you probably don't want to be eating there! If you are lucky enough to find a place to use one of these sinister things, you have to jump through hoops to use it. I spent one and a half days trying to use it the first time. Extremely frustrating. Log in credentials didn't work, no customer service, etc... When you are finally able to log in, you have to go to the site from your house (not very convenient if you're out in town!), 'convert' a gift card number into a redeemable coupon at a particular restaurant, get a confirmation, then print off the piece of paper for that particular restaurant, then go to the restaurant - which are all out of the way restaurants anyway! It's not like you can use this for a dinner and a movie. You have to plan your entire night around using one of these stupid things. I only used one of the $25 cards and threw the rest in the garbage. I went to a horrible, overpriced and empty Japanese restaurant, they had a minimum purchase of $50 required in order to use a $25 card - and $25 is the max you can use at one time. Therefore, my total was about $60 plus a $15 tip for a grand total of $75... I got $25 off and had to pay $50 out of my own pocket. Not exactly saving money in my book. I was still very hungry when I left the restaurant. These would make a great stocking stuffer if you want to play a mean joke on somebody.

This seems a legitimate business BUT buyer beware.
Pros:
1) I had some extra airline points I was going to lose so I used them to buy $100.00 worth of restaurant.com certificates.

Cons:
1) All the restaurants I saw listed had a minimum consumption so in my case, I bought a $25.00 certificate in ‘La Cigale' but I will be required to spend $37.50. Depending on the restaurant this may end up making you spend more money than you wanted (or eating more than you should). Furthermore, if you choose to then obtain a $50.00 coupon (rather than $25.00) the minimum consumption then jumps to say $70.00. I find this annoying.
A. In some cases the cost and time of printing the certificate was more expensive than the discount received.
2) Read the fine print as there is limitations on how many certificates you can use in one sitting and how many times you can use a coupon in a restaurant per MONTH.
3) There is a tad of bait and switch going on. Once you create the account you no longer have the same options. I explain. If you do not have an account you may find a supper deal to purchase a ‘$25.00 La Cigale' restaurant certificate for $4.00. But once you are a member (so Far) all those cool deals stop. So in a way it is better to go in as a new customer, purchase several deals and then never use the account again unless there is a special that includes you.
4) I found a very limiting list of restaurant. If you live in bigger cities like Miami or West Palm then you have much more options. Most of the restaurants were either very High END or not very healthy (heavy on the carbs).
5) Personally I found the website to be frustrating and confusing to use but you may have a different experience.
6) I tried to call customer support but was never connected. Email to customer support seems to be a better approach unless you like to be placed on wait for a long time.
7) They have an FAQ section but it was not written in a way that I could clearly get my answers or steps needed.

So in all there are some benefits from the opportunity but just be aware of some of the limitations. To trade dead end airlines points it is an option (you are not loosing money) but i believe you get more out of it if you make the purchase directly.

I got a deal via google offers for $100 of credit at restaurant.com and the deal listed tons of chain restaurants that are in my area, so i went ahead and bought it. When you go to redeem the code, you are presented with a much smaller list of places that you can use the offer on. There's only 1 in my town, despite having a lot of the standard chain restaurants. Strike 1 on the scam-o-meter. Ok i thought - maybe i just didn't read carefully enough. I'll just buy a huge certificate to this one restaurant and my friends can pay me cash when we go there. Nope. You have to use your restaurant.com credit to buy multiple $10 gift certificates to specific restaurants. The most you can buy at once is 4. Alright... that's annoying, but fine. I'll buy 4 and then buy 4 more and then buy 2. I buy 4 and there's a disclaimer you have to click to complete the purchase: Minimum purchase, $15. No problem there. Click ok. Then i actually get the certificate and printed on each $10 cert is this further restriction: Only 1 certificate may be redeemed per party per month per restaurant, even if the party is seated at separate tables and/or receives more than one check. WHAT. THE. $#*!? Now i see why you can only purchase certs in $10 denominations. Ok, at least the certs have no expiration date so i guess i can go here once a month for almost a whole goddamn year. I've heard horror stories of restaurants being put out of business by groupon deals, so I understand this restriction - it just needs to be spelled out very clearly before the purchase, not after checkout. Strike 2 on the scam-o-meter. Ok, well i have the credit now - caveat emptor, etc. Might as well get it over with. I go back to buy more certs. Credit balance: $0. WHAT! THE! $#*!?! Open customer service complaint. 5 days go by with no response. I'm about to write it off completely when they give me a certificate for the missing credit. I redeem it (still a $#*!ty deal - no new restaurants), but no problem. Buy 4 more $#*!ty certs. Go to buy 2 more: credit balance: $0. $#*! you restaurant.com. $#*! you. Strike 3 on the scam-o-meter. $#*!ty deal. $#*!ty website. $#*!ty customer service. Avoid this place like the plague.

Recently restaurant.com sent out an offer for $100 restaurant egift card and 2 free movie tickets through www.emoviecashreward.com

1st - trying to get the egift card was an exercise in frustration, though apparently the card is in my account now, so given the number of restaurants that refuse to use restaurant.com, I can only hope I can use it.

2nd - after redeeming the emoviecashreward.com codes, and printing the tickets, the tickets were denied by the (valid AMC) theater.

I was really interested in the free tickets, and any food offer was a bonus... restaurant.com has continued to basically say since the movie ticket codes were 'redeeemed' there is nothing more they can do.

My claim to them is that their business partner denied "payment" on the printed tickets... the theater was willing to accept them, but the system showed they were "denied".

So how is that my problem now? It's restaurant.com and emoviecashreward.com's problem to resolve.

Bottom line: stay away from restaurant.com. Much more hassle than they're worth.

Even redeeming any egift card etc is a hassle.

And you have no recourse once you've given them your money.

---

Followup from the emoviecashreward.com site is that the cashier needed to "type" the code in, and not scan (she did scan then type) and that I had to prepay the difference in the ticket price and the max $12 prior to her trying to validate (she read the instructions and I assume she did try to validate the max $12 that was stated on the paper).

So, who knows? Buyer beware with these sites. I wouldn't recommend using either.

restaurant.com is fraudulent they keep seling this@#$% sertificates and they know many of those restaurants don't take them any more

Did not buy these! Scam! Wish I could rate a 0! I followed directions and now can't get discount. Horrible and will never buy again!

I've read the vast majority of comments regarding Restaurant.com and I wish to take exception with all of the commentators who felt that the discounts provided were inadequate or that they had been swindled. They seem to be incapable of comprehending just exactly what the website provides. They sell EXPOSURE and they sell it for a very nominal fee. Did the restauranteurs benefit from the exposure that the website generated? Evidently, people who would not otherwise have been aware of his restaurant's existence were introduced to it by Restaurant.com. They fulfilled their end of the bargain... no differently than an expensive billboard, an ad in a local newspaper, a radio spot or television commercial. What makes this form of advertisement superior to others is that the proceeds that would have been spent on a media blitz winds up in the pockets of consumers instead of marketeers, publishers and ad agencies. All of the "critics" need to simply recognize that! Ultimately, at the end of the campaign, some of those consumers will never return to the restaurant. Others WILL return if they had a delightful meal and/or felt completely appreciated by the merchant. I have NEVER returned to a restaurant that made me feel inferior for having taken advantage of their promotions, with or without a coupon. I have exchanged numerous certificates as a result of a merchant's indifference or reluctance to accept Restaurant.com's promotions. I had HUNDREDS of dining options, yet I elected to patronize their restaurant... based on their participation with a reputable website that has succeeded in offering value for my hard-earned dollar. The restaurants that overwhelm me with good service and extraordinary food will further benefit from my recommendations to my friends, acquaintances and associates... which is, by far, the most effective advertising a restauranteur could hope for.

Be sure you see the minimum purchase required for the restaurants.
They will not give you your money back!
SCAM

THIS IS THE WROST SITE EVER! THE OPTIONS THAT THEY GIVE YOU ARE HORRIBLE ON TOP OF NOT HAVING ANY GOOD SELECTIONS! I HAVE TO TRAVEL 2O MILES TO GET A GOOD PLACE TO USE MY COUPOND! THE RESTURANT SITE AND PICTURES OF FOOD ARE BAD GOT $200 IN COUPONS WILL JUST THROW AWAY CAUSE ITS A WASTE.AND THEY DONT TELL YOU HOW TO USE THEM ALSO ALOT OF OLACES DONT APPEC THEM! PLEASE DONT US SITE.

Upon reading the existing reviews of Restaurant.com, I felt I had to chime in.

Restaurant.com offers great coupons that get you great discounts at some great restaurants. The single most important thing you need to know is that you need to read the all usage requirements of each coupon ahead of time since they are not all the same. If you do not follow the usage requirements, many restaurants will not accept your coupon but I would say each instance of that is because people are not fully aware of the conditions and usage requirements for the coupon. (Examples of usage requirements include which meal [lunch/dinner], how many entrees required, spending requirements, once a month per restaurant, etc.) Be sure also to mention to your server that you are going to be using a Restaurant.com coupon before you order.

Other thing to know about Restaurant.com coupons is that you should not be paying more than $2-$3 per $25 coupon. There are always sales and coupon codes that allow you to pay those prices. If you sign up for their mailing list they will constantly send you sale notifications (although the frequency of the Restaurant.com email mailings can border on spam so that's something to watch out for).

The times I have used Restaurant.com coupons at restaurants, they have all been excited about them and welcomed the business with open arms. My favorite place to use this coupon is at Strip Steak at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. One time, we booked 2 tables of 2 since we had 4 people and 2 coupons to use (requirement is $50 spent or 2 entrees ordered per $25 coupon, I forget). Strip Steak allowed us to just have a table for 4 and use 2 coupons together as long as we met the requirements for each coupon. It was awfully nice of them and allowed us to have a great meal for a good deal and enjoy everyone's company.

In summary, READ THE REQUIREMENTS and follow them. NEVER PAY TOO MUCH for the coupons. ENJOY THE SAVINGS.

I have never been able to use at a restaurant. My just spins when I try to connect via the restaurant app. What a waste of $100.00.

Maybe, just maybe, if they would reply to an email in a timely manner I'd give them 2 stars. This is just a notch above a scam

Wrote this email to restaurunt.com and it went unanswered of course:
Hi,

So I recently got a 100$ restaurant.com gift card. I was excited when i received it thinking I can use it for places I have never tried before, I was unpleasantly surprised. Your website, is NOT customer friendly or intuitive. It does not blatantly say on the website, and in each restaurant - when the coupon is valid for example I would have to call every restaurant to find out if they accept the cards on the weekends, or holidays etc. Next the reviews aren't easy on the eye or easy to navigate through - why not just put the yelp reviews attached, would go to yelp for each restaurant because it is a trusting source of reviews. And not to mention most of the reviews are bad there are a handful of restaurants that had good ratings from reputable sites like zagat or yelp. Finally, the fact that the minimum purchase in many events HIGHLY exceeds the gift card amount, it makes the site nearly pointless. When you think your getting a gift card your actually getting a coupon, so i should of expected to spend anywhere from 20-100$. After hours on your site trying to find a restaurant with good reviews, it was available to purchase a 10$ gift cared with the minimum purchase being 100$, makes sense. This 100$ may just go to waste.

Some suggestions:

Make the instructions of the purchase, CLEAR, the days it can be used, and if alcohol can be purchased/
Have some quality restaurants involved. If you are passionate that you have a good company, good restaurants should want to get involved.
Make the website more intuitive
Make it clear you can't use 2 gift cards at 1 time in most places, so for example if the minimum purchase is 100$ and there is only 50$ gift cards, DON'T buy two.

Stop making people find out the hard way.

Kind Regards,

Natalie