Restaurant.com

I used restaurants.com to redeem points from another site, so I didn't actually put any money into them. If it wasn't for the fact that my points were stuck I probably wouldn't have used them at all. They do have most of their fine print listed before you purchase the certificates, but it's a little confusing. You can't use for than one certificate at a time, you have to spend a certain amount of money at the restaurant to use the certificate, and they aren't always available for the listed places. I bough two $10 certificates for pizza, but wanted saw I could exchange them if I wanted and I found a place I'd never been and wanted to try. That process was reasonable, but still a bit confusing and the customer service person was helpful enough. Apparently you have to enter new codes from the exchange to get the money back into your account. Anyways, I now had two $10 certificates to two different pizza places. I tried to use one this past weekend and it was mess. First, you can't use the online ordering method, which means asking a million questions over the phone about pizza prices and most of the online specials aren't available. But apparently that isn't a big deal because you can't use them on the specials at all. The certificate itself is a discount so it can't be applied to any other discounts. It does in fact say that in small print on the bottom of the certificate, though I'm not sure where it was listed before I purchased the certificate. But I was determined to use it and eventually, with the help of a couple dedicated employees I got something that I probably could have gotten for about the same price with their current specials. The boron line is these certificates aren't the same as gift cards. They're coupons. Restaurant.com is selling over priced coupons worn all of the restrictions of coupons and none of the ease of gift cards. Don't do it!

Negative stars! Couldn't redeem my certificates was told they were not legitimate. Very disappointed.

I tried to redeem a $100 code today and once I input the code and picked which gift cards I wanted, I was asked to sign up for an account, so I did. Like most places, they asked me for credit card information, which I input, because like other places, there are options to input the promo code before you check out. I clicked to proceed, and my credit card was charged. I already input my promo code but it wasn't applied because I had to create an account! I just spent my entire lunch break talking to customer service and explaining that my intention was never to use my credit card in the first place because I had a code to redeem - the first person HUNG UP ON ME right off the bat. The second person was rude in their tone and denied me a refund. When I finally asked to speak to the supervisor, she told me they STILL WOULD NOT REFUND MY MONEY. I explained that I was not asking for a refund, that they would still get the SAME amount of business and money because of the promo code, that it was an accident, and I called IMMEDIATELY to try to fix it! They STILL would not reverse the charge. This company is willfully ignorant at their customer's expense. They refuse to apply common sense to problems, and absolutely would NOT fix what was OBVIOUSLY a misunderstanding and a mistake! I will NEVER use this business again. What a complete waste of money and time!

I want to file a lawsuit against this company, but I need some help from anyone who had bad experiences dealing with this scamfully company. Either you are a customer who purchased the coupon or a restaurant owner who has disputes with thier program, pleas mail *******@hotmail.com. And if you go to restaurants that no longer accept the coupon but the restaurant.com still sell their coupon please let the owner know about my message and have him or her email me as well, because chances are the owner are taken advantage of and don't have a way to fight back, maybe because it's just a small restaurant and can't pay for a lawyer, or the owner is not educated about legal actions or maybe he/she just scared the restaurant.com because they're a national company. If you did tell the owner, guess what?, you just help a lot of people that miserable from dealing with this company and god will bless you!

If I have enough people with evidences, I'll find a good lawyer to file a class lawsuit against them, have the issue televised and hopefully we can stop this madness.

The reason I do this? I hate greedy people that become big and try to take advantage from small guys(girls) who has no way to fight back. If I ever get the money from winning this, if big enough I'll found a foundation to help people who get taken advantage, if it small I'll donate to a foundation that help people. I promiss! Help me clean up this dirt, please.

Disclosure: I'm a victim of this company, filed a complaint through BBB but I think we should do more than that, restaurant.com won't stop just we do complaints, they need to have a lesson bigtime!

It's a total scam. I am VERY surprised that United Airlines uses them as part of their rewards program.

Paid for certificates for two restaurants several years back. One restaurant went out of business and other I was no longer interested in since you could only use one certif per month and that required a significant purchase on top of the certif value (I failed to read the really small print). I received notice from R.c that I could transfer the value of these certif for another which I did.
I selected a new restaurant, received my certif. and went to the restaurant (my $15.00 certif was to be good for a $30.00 dinner). They only took off the original $15.00 from the bill, this was the $15.00 I had spent for the certif in the beginning!! Where is the savings or discount R.c advertises?? I argued with the restaurant without success. They already charged my card the full amount for the dinner less the $15.00 (which already came out of my pocket)! I contacted R.c to explain and they explained away the entire issue stating I was treated correctly by the restaurant. WHERE IS THE SPECIAL DEAL IN THIS?
I used another certif. for another restaurant but made the mistake of going on the weekend. Again (my fault) I didn't spot the detail on the certif saying the deal was for weekdays. To late. We already ate the dinner and since the weekend rate required an additional spending if $10.00 had no choice but to order additional food in order to benefit from the certif. The end result was that I spent more than planned and at a restaurant Iwould not normally chose (due to the limited selections of restaurants available). Can't seem to win with Resturant.com. There is generally a catch and these "deals" are not really deals.
No more Resturant.com for me.

My husband and I own a small food truck and were contacted by restaurant.com. We have been contacted before by companies similar and some we have accepted, some we have denied. All in a days work. Restaurant.com called us right before our busiest hour of the day (around 12:30pm). My husband stepped out to hear them out... twenty minutes later, I see him still on the phone. Apparently, they would NOT let him off. He told them we were in the middle of service and he was not interested. Finally, he was off the phone. Not even a minute later, they call back. This time, I take the call and ask if I could put them on hold due to the fact I was actively taking care of a customer... would not get off the phone. This will only take thirty seconds, maam. Only thirty seconds. I finally get a little blunt with them and told them that we were not interested and to not call back. Finally. Peace and quit. Until a few hours later (making this the sixth call in one day) they call back. I answer and they immediately start to ask for my husband, saying they were almost done closing the deal... a deal I know was not happening. I was on the phone for another ten minutes telling them no, we did not want their business and to stop calling. The woman on the phone kept asking me Do you know what we offer? Let me speak with Tyler. Are you the wife? Do you understand what we offer? It was EXTREMELY invasive and scammy. Our experience with restaurants.com ended with their phone number being blocked. Small businesses, please beware. Even if they were to completely change everything about this company, they will NEVER get our business.

Tried using this 2x. Both times a failure. Can't upload my certificate to app either. Also told only 5 dollar at 1 time.

Restaurant.com offers some good deals and genuine savings. That said, problems will likely arise if you don't carefully research its site AND each restaurant in which you're interested. Go to the restaurant.com site. Type in the relevant zip code (usually for your home area or a place you will soon visit) or a type of cuisine you prefer. Write down the name and contact information of each restaurant that interests you. Note each restaurant's ostensible restrictions--as listed on restaurant.com--regarding restaurant.com. Make sure you also note a restaurant's telephone number or email or texting address. CONTACT the restaurant: by phone is the fastest and cheapest, if local. Politely ask a SUPERVISOR or someone with equivalent authority about the restaurant's policies regarding restaurant.com. Make SURE you speak to someone of genuine supervisory authority and record that person's first name. Double and triple check with the SUPERVISORY person about any restrictions regarding restaurant.com: $50 minimum purchase? Not valid Friday through Sunday? Not valid for the buffet or combination meals? Separate gratuity still expected? Okay. Record all of this information where you can quickly retrieve it. Make sure you've got all the information you need. NOW, you could still run into problems, but it's far less likely. Say, you're a single person eating alone. You note the $50 minimum purchase. Okay: plan to eat a dinner in AND order some take out you'll really want--say, for lunch and dinner at home tomorrow. GREAT! You've saved some good money on food you really want. But you'll likely feel ripped off, unless you do some research first. (Also, if rather than a card you print up an e-gift card on your home computer, be sure to stick this in a plastic sleeve or in a safe, dry place.) Okay: I understand some of the criticisms of restaurant.com that I've read on this site. My experience with restaurant.com has been fairly positive, but others note some valid concerns here. If you do your research first--and then double check again when you arrive at the restaurant--you're likely to save some good cash at a nice restaurant you genuinely like. That's a big "if"--do the research first and avoid hassles, misinterpretations, and that ugly "ripped off" feeling.

WORSE WEB SITE EVER, NO ONE TO TALK TO, COUPONS ARE NOT ACCEPTED. LOOK GOOD BUT ITS A SCAM... SOMEONE NEEDS TO SHUT THIS JERKS DOWN... BEWARE

. My code is not effective so I can not get restaurant credit. No customer service. Worst site ever

I've used the website several times and had very good experiences in buying from the site. It is easy to navigate and use once the account is established. One slight peave I do have with the site is that it's hard to find restaurants outside major cities. This may be because they do not market enough to establishments in smaller cities and towns. I do only try to buy from the site when the deals are 70-80 % off. Like others have said, they do this regularly and I receive emails notifying me when the "window" is to purchase the coupons at 80% off.

The restaurant offered often do lack a little bit in service (we have had to wait up to 30 minutes for them to process the bill sometimes and take the discount off), but this isn't the fault of the restaurant.com website. It probably explains in good part why the participating eateries are contracting with them. And that really is the key to the negative things I've seen written here about the website. As many others have said: KNOW THE TERMS OF THE CONTRACT THAT THE RESTAURANT HAS ESTABLISHED FOR USING THE DISCOUNT COUPON. If you want an 80% discount, doesn't it make sense you have to follow the rules for the place offering the great deal? They are the one's offering to give up the dinero here. Most of the terms have to do with coming in earlier and/or on days that their business is really slow. Please don't assume you can go in on a Friday or Saturday evening... their busiest times. Another big complaint from not understanding the terms is that you have to spend a minimum amount usually at least $35. Bucks to utilize the coupon. Some restaurants will honor the required 15-25% tips into the amount so you won't have to buy extra items to get to an amount like 35.00, others will not. I always call ahead and clarify this with a restaurant that we haven't been to before.

Bottom line for my family has been, we try a lot of new restaurants this way and except for the poorer service and longer wait times for the restaurant to process the discount coupon we feel like we get a lot of value for the dollars spent.

Very useful site to find a restaurant near your location. The reviews need a little work though.

I have been purchasing restaurant.com certificates for over 2 years now so I thought I could submit a fair review. I would say I've used about 60 restaurant.com certificates over the years.

Every certificate has worked perfectly and all places honored everything that was promised. I only had one restaurant that went out of business before I got to use the certificate but Restaurant.com reimbursed me right away.

The certificates are available seconds after purchase and have all the details you need. The BEST part is they are good for a WHOLE year after purchase. And, before you hit the purchase button the fine print pops up and you have to agree to it before you buy. So that's good.

Whenever I travel I take the zip code and look for restaurants and purchase one for every day. You can save a ton of money on food by doing this.

One HUGE down side is if you are going to purchase a certificate WITH a "gift certificate", some restaurants are not available. Meaning, they have to be purchased using a credit card, not a gift certificate. That's a REAL bummer & a down side to this program. But it is what it is.

Lastly, I highly suggest that you take a look at the companies own website & menu BEFORE purchasing any certificate. Lets face it, some restaurants are struggling & this is a last ditch effort to get the word out & win some new customers. With that said, some of these places might be in a bad section of town, a little run down or might not be your type of place.

You can search by type of food & price. There's always a minimum you have to spend to use it but it still will save you either $10, $25, $50 or $100 on a meal. Check out your local restaurants by using your own zip. You can select within a mile, 5 or 10 miles. So you can increase your search to get more results.

Not all experiences have been good but I'd rather pay less money for ok food than full price. Don't get me wrong, we've had some of the best meals of our lives using restaurant.com certificates.

One BIG suggestion to Restaurant.com website designers: Please add a feature so we can SORT by voucher denominations. I only purchase $25 certificates & it takes extra time searching for these. In addition, don't include restaurants in the results that are OUT of stock. Seems silly to give me a list of potential restaurants and they are ALL OUT of certificates. Make these changes & you will get 5 stars!

I have been using Restaurant.com for the past 10 years. After reading the reviews I believe the issues with the low ratings are related to the perception of what your buying.

This is not a gift certificate but a coupon for a discount on your meal. Before going to the restaurant you need to call ahead and make sure they are still taking the certificates. I do this every time and about 25% of the time they are no longer taking the coupons. I simply go back to the website, restaurant.com, and exchange the certificate for either another restaurant or a credit to be used at a later date.

If your expectation is you purchased a gift certificate similar to paying with cash then I can see your frustration but what did you expect for a $25 off coupon that you paid $1-$5 for depending on the coupon code you used to purchase it. If you paid more than a few dollars you overpaid.

The reason the restaurants are leaving the program is this is a fantastic deal for the consumer but not so much for the restaurant. They do not receive any of the money you spent on the certificate. They simply participate in the program for advertising and get new customers. The restaurants are losing money on these transactions so I always tip well to make sure the server is well taken care of.

The availability of restaurants can be very limited depending on your location. If you are in a competitive area you can always find a few good restaurants that quite good bargains. The trick is to purchase the certificates with a good discount. Today on Cyber Monday they are giving a 90 percent discount so a $25 certificate only costs $1. If I do not use this certificate I can always exchange it at a later date.

The deals are getting skinnier lately. It used to be you would only need to spend $35 for a $25 discount or $75 for a $50 discount. Today the best deal is spending $50 for a $25 discount. This is still a very good deal and makes it possible to dine out on a budget or better yet if you are a road warrior on a limited corporate per-diem you can eat well and stay within your budget.

The bottom line is this is a very good program for the consumer as long as you check with the restaurant first before you go and only buy certificates when they have good discounts with the coupon codes, i. E. never pay more than $4 for a $25 off certificate and when they have deals like today, $1 for $25 certificate you should load up for the year.

Horrible deal for all. No restaurants even close to us were participating. No refunds either.

I decided to exchange some of my credit card points into restaurant.com "money." I have $1000 worth of restaurant gift certificates waiting for me to redeem them sitting in a restaurant.com account.

First the "good" (to be fair): I "bought" and used 2 certificates. I got "deals" on those certificates (I paid $5 for $10 gift certificates). I used them and used them, and everything was great. Also, if a participating restaurant goes out of business or stops participating, you can convert unused certificates to another restaurant (IF there is any other restaurant where you'd consider eating - remember some areas have very limited participating restaurants).

Now for the "bad": In all my recent experiences, Restaurant.com advertises all these great deals and prices, but it is false advertising. They use the old "bait and switch." When I log into my account and get the list of participating restaurants for my geographical location, the site advertises that I can get gift certificates for some of the restaurant at 1/2 price. Bear in mind that I am logged into my account when I get these half-off deals, so it is clearly intended to be applicable for me. However, when I go to check out, the prices aren't half-off as noted, they go back to full price when I get to my cart! I've tried it several times, and I have screen shots showing the difference in prices between those advertised and the price I get at checkout.

And the "worst of the worst": I sent a message to customer service about this problem (attaching the screen shots), and I got an automated email saying I should expect a response within 48 hours. I didn't get a response after 60 hours, so I sent another email. Obviously, I wanted to resolve this while the sale is still on. I got NOTHING back -- they NEVER responded. I can assure you that once I redeem all $1000 of my worthless credits, I will NEVER use this site again.

I rate them as a 1-star because to me, customer service is KEY. Businesses have issues arise, and people make mistakes. All I ask is that there be a procedure to address the problem. Restaurant.com FAILS MISERABLY at their customer service. Like I said, I've used restaurant.com without problems in the past so I know it works (sometimes), BUT I will not do business with a company whose customer service department refuses to even RESPOND to a customer concern. Even though a company may offer great deals when the process works, that means nothing if you can't get help on that one occasions where the company fails! I'd rather pay extra to another business with excellent customer service - at least I know the company is honest, and I know --for sure-- that I'm getting what I pay for. The poor customer service and the false advertising at restaurant.com make clear to me that this company is a 1 out of 5 stars.

I manage a business that signed up with Restaurant.com to help get NEW customers into the business. When we signed up, the representative told us that users could only purchase coupons once a month and that our subscription could be cancelled at any time.

After seven months, we noticed that the same customers were constantly using the coupons (definitely more than once a month), and it was drowning our sales tremendously. We did not have any new customers coming through the doors with these coupons and it was costing us a ton of money (since the business does not see any of the money that consumers pay to purchase these coupons), so we decided to cancel. I called customer service and was told that a supervisor would have to call me back to be able to cancel our subscription. After 4 days with no call back, I called again. And again, they told me that someone would have to call me back. After almost a month of this (I left my work number and my cell in case they called while I was not at work), I finally was able to speak to someone about cancelling our subscription. I was then informed that we were under a year contract and we not allowed to break it! I felt completely tricked since I asked the representative over and over again to make sure that I could cancel this at any time! I had been blatantly lied to. Apparently their policy is that you have to give mailed, written notice that you want to cancel your subscription, and it can only be cancelled 90 days from the date the letter is received! Even after I jumped though all of these hoops and mailed the letter, after 90 days, they were STILL selling coupons for my restaurant and it took ANOTHER 3 weeks for someone to of course, call me back. It wasn't until I called there threatening to sue because they were selling $100 for $4 after the 90 days was WELL up, they finally took our site down.

I have had numerous customers call here, asking if we accept restaurant.com certificates. We do only because we feel like it is not the customer's fault that restaurant.com is dishonest.

As a restaurant manager, I would definitely not recommend that any business sign up with this company. As a consumer, it is a great site to use as long as the restaurant still accepts the coupons. I would definitely call the business first, just to make sure, before purchasing.

This website is little more than a scam. A few things to keep in mind:

1. The "gift certificate" is basically a percentage coupon. You can buy $15 from a restaurant for $6, but then you'll have to spend $22.00. This is the deal I tried to buy. Which isn't a bad deal, but some of the restaurants require you spend quite a LOT to even get to use the certificate, which makes it more a discount, not an actual certificate.

2. Restaurant.com does NOT pay the restaurant any money for what they buy. All of this money is going in their pocket. Yes, the restaurant agrees to it... but you're gypping a restaurant out of money in a way. Which is why pretty crappy restaurants tend to be on the list of choices.

My personal experience: I purchased a gift certificate and was planning to use it this weekend. I paid for it, Paypal immediately let me know that not only was my transaction confirmed, but the payment had already been withdrawn by Restaurant.com, and was not even pending.

I checked my email for my certificate, excited. Nothing. I went on the website, seeing if it was under my account. Nothing. By then, I'm getting worried/confused. Why did Restaurant.com take my money and not send me anything?

I waited for a bit, thinking maybe it took some time. I searched around the internet and their website to see if there was anything saying that you had to wait 48 hours to use the certificate (which is the case with Livingsocial, for example.) NOTHING.

I emailed them, no response. I called them, and of course, the office is closed and says "please check our FAQ" which is useless. Meanwhile, they have my money and I have no certificate. I ended up going to the restaurant anyway without the certificate. It wasn't that awesome, guess that's to be expected.

I opened a Paypal dispute, and I see today that my money was refunded. However, ZERO apology or explanation from Restaurant.com, even though I sent two emails asking for help/guidance. I'm sorry, but if you take a customer's money and then don't offer anything in return, or it's a site glitch or whatever, you RESPOND and say how sorry you are! I have worked in customer service and if we ever did something like this, you bet we would be working hard on apologizing for that BS!

Moral of the story: buggy site that is not much better than a scam.

I purchased 2 dinner and a movie certificates and they seem to be missing.

I WANT MY REFUND OF $110 SINCE I AM NOT GETTING WHAT I BOUGHT! THEY TELL YOU SOMETHING AND THAN THEY TRICK YOU! WITH THE SHIPMENT.

Will not respond to attempts to remove my restaurant from their site.

Had a $100 card from trying out a service. Had it for 1 year and didn't find it any useful.