Restaurant.com

I have been using Restaurant.com for years. Sure every once in a while the
Restaurant goes out of business and you must then exchange your certificate for
A different one that is in business. Rarely, happens to me. It appears from reading
The negative reviews that people don't understand how the certificates work. If you
Purchase a $25.00 certificate (often for $5.00) you may use that certificate at one
Of the participating restaurants on the website. Each certificate clearly indicates that
To utilize the certificate there is a certain amount that must be spent. Usually, on a $25.00
Cert. You must spend 40-50.00 dollar and only use at that restaurant once a month. The trick
Is to find a restaurant that you like or frequent. I see nothing wrong with the spending limit
Since my check for my wife and I always exceeds the spending limit and it is very nice to
See the check with a $25.00 deduction on the balance. In N. J. some of the very best restaurants
Participate. Buy the certificate, print it, and read the conditions as to spending and any other
Possible limitations. It is a great savings and I probably buy 25 certificates or more annually. If I am going to an unfamiliar restaurant I usually call to make sure they are still participating before
I leave or make a reservation. On those rare occasions where the restaurant is no longer participating you can exchange your certificate on Restaurant.com. Learn how to use the site
And you will appreciate getting $25.00 off your check each time you dine out.

Restaurants listed may not owner purchased discounts. It was embracing to ask for discount and waiter tell you, sorry we don't owner restaurant.com discount

The worst. Very difficult to use. You must find an approved restaurant listed on their website first, purchase the gift certificate, print out the certificate and then bring it to the restaurant. Every restaurant requires you to spend a certain amount of money to use the gift certificate. Usually, the certificate saves you half. For instance, the gift certificate may be for $25, but you have to spend $50 at the restaurant to use it.

I have received two $100 Restaurant.com gift cards as gifts (I'm sure it's because no one wants to deal with them). I have used $30 on one of them 4 years ago and will likely not bother using it ever again, it was such a pain.

I have been trying to contact customer service for days now to find out which one of my gift cards is the unused one so I can give it away as a gift, but there is no way to look up that information on the website. I did receive an email in response to my inquiry, but it was automated and did not answer my question.

Thankfully, I've never used any of my own money for these useless gift cards. Just don't bother wasting your time on these.

I've had mixed experiences. Though I thoroughly read the terms and conditions, my last experience was bad. After emailing and phoning restaurant.com to double-check that this specific restaurant participated in their program, I bought a certificate, only to find out after the meal that the restaurant would not accept the certificate. It turns out that the establishment's owner was in a lawsuit with restaurant.com. Not only was it embarrassing, I ended up spending unexpected extra money.

I believe that Restaurant.com should take down any restaurant with which it is legally wrangling. The consumer ends up being the one hurt. And the restaurant gets in a pickle, too. As far as I'm concerned, since I adhered to all the terms and double-checked with restaurant.com on the restaurant's participation and since they did not remove the restaurant from their site after complaints and a lawsuit began, the management at restaurant.com is at fault…especially if they refuse to reimburse my out-of-pocket meal costs (from what I've heard, that won't happen).

If I were to ever buy a certificate from them again, I'd certainly phone the restaurant beforehand. However, in my location, most of the restaurants appear to be on the low end, so that is not likely to happen. The restaurant in the lawsuit is more upscale.

RE: restaurant.com
I am very dissatisfied with the treatment and obvious "bait and switch" tactics I've received from Restaurant.com and some of the establishments they promote. Recently I purchased a $50 (cost $8) certificate for Al's Seafood, Baltimore MD. We had our meal (min. $75), presented the cert. And the waitress handed it back saying, "It is not valid on steamed crabs". When I asked her to show me where it said that she actually said, "It used to say that". Then she went on to say that "you are supposed to present certificate before ordering". When I asked her to show me where it said that she said, "it used to say that". She blamed restaurant.com for the inconsistency. And I had no recourse but to pay the full bill ($86 + tip). When we returned home I called restaurant.com and they said they have been receiving multiple of complaints about the situation with Al's Seafood... But they would not stand behind their representation of Al's and just offered a refund of the certificate ($8) plus another $4)! So I overpaid $50, got mistreated by both establishments,,, and got back $4 for the experience. Never Again! My advice... Stay away from both of the these fugazi places.

I had purchased Restaurant.com certificates many times through the years, but have found them not to be a reputable company in the last year especially when after purchasing certificates finding out the Restaurants do not participate in the program anymore when trying to redeem them. I contacted Restaurant.com by email for they do not provide a phone number staffed by a human being, instead receiving a generic response not even answering my questions. I feel totally SCAMMED for I had 4 pages on my account of unredeemed certificates 6 months ago and when I looked today over 80% of them are gone with them giving me no explanation of where they are! They are SCAMMERS! DO NOT PURCHASE CERTIFICATES!

I first thought this was great. Used several gift certificates at different restaurants in St. Augustine, FL. Then a local place popped up on their site so i purchased two $25 cards. Tried to use one the next day and was told that the restaurant did not authorize restaurant.com to offer this card and that they were not honoring them. CALL THE RESTAURANT BEFORE PURCHASING THE CARD. For all of the one star reviews that i have read. READ THE ENTIRE PAGE PEOPLE. IT IS AS SIMPLE AS FOLLOWING THE DIRECTIONS.

Restaurant.com has NO customer service! I had two restaurant certificates that I tried to exchange and the credit appeared then disappeared bevore I cpuld exchange them for another restaurant and they are nowhere to be found. Basically the site stole $35.00 from
Me and I cannot get any help. I have sent numerous emails and I rceive the same automated response telling me how to redeen exchamges. I already k ow now to redeem exchanges but they do no ho or their end. They stole my mo ey and have no i tention of refunding me. I will never purchase from this so called company again.

Bought 2 certificates, and when I went to use them restaurant (Xtreme Salads) said they were under new ownership and new owner doesn't honor them. I called restaurant.com and asked for refund, and they said they don't do refunds, but I can exchange for a different certificate. Picked 2 certificates at a place pretty far from my house (choices were very limited), drove there, and place was out of business. The waste of my time was frustrating to say the least! Called restaurant.com and demanded a refund this time! They put me on the phone with Alex, an unapologetic "supervisor" who stood firm on the "no refund" fine print. I told him I'd be writing negative reviews. His lack of interest was apparent. I can't believe restaurant.com is still in business! And on top of everything else, both Xtreme Salads and Firewheel Coffee are still listed and being sold on their website, even after I reported the fact that one is not complying and the other is out of business! They are knowingly selling an unusable product, which is fraud. It really should be illegal! Buyer beware!