DONT BUY THERE A SCAM!GOT SCAMED TODAY AT PIPPER BAY DELMONT,THEY SAID THEY NEVER GOT INVOLED WITH RESTAURANT.COM

Over the past two years, I have received $300 in Restaurant.com "Gift Cards" from attending various promotional events. In attempting to redeem these cards, I have discovered that they do not function as gift cards in the sense that other gift cards function. And this information was confirmed by one of the customer service operators at Restaurant.com's toll free service number.

If I receive a gift card for a traditional store or restaurant--Lowe's, Target, Staples, Chili's, etc.--or a Visa gift card, the card is good for the value initially indicated on the card, whether it's as low as $5 or as high as $100. I do not need to pay Lowe's or Target or Staples or Chili's any additional amount for goods or services in order to redeem the card, or in the case of a Visa gift card, any additional amount at point of purchase. Further, if my purchase is less than the value of the card--let's say I have a $25 gift card and my purchase totals $18.69--the remaining balance is still available to me on the card; and in the case of individual store cards such as Lowe's or Target, the receipt indicates my remaining balance.

With the "gift cards" at Restaurants.com, the card can ONLY be redeemed through the website. I cannot present the gift card at the point of purchase for redemption. The certificate I receive is then for a multiple of $5, usually $10, $20, or $25. If I have a $50 "gift card" and choose to redeem for one $25 and one $20 gift card, unless I am very lucky and there happens to be some outlet that offers a $5 gift certificate (there are none in my immediate area), I apparently lose the ability to redeem the remaining $5 on the "gift card", as I cannot combine offers according to the terms and conditions of Restaurant.com.

Further, the few participating restaurants only accept the redeemed certificates as part of a much larger purchase. Example: a local pizza restaurant allows me to redeem $15 certificates from my "gift cards". And in presenting these gift cards, I may only redeem on per visit; but I must make a minimum purchase of $30 in order to redeem the certificate! That's not a "gift card"! It's a DISCOUNT card!

Restaurant.com misrepresents itself in issuing these cards labeled with the words "gift cards". And this labeling, which is on the reverse of each card, is clear, in boldface type, in the largest font size on the reverse of the card. Further, in allowing corporations (such as a major timeshare entity) to issue these cards, and instructing their point-of-contact representatives that these are "gift cards", they are causing these corporations to misrepresent themselves, probably without being aware that there is any hint of impropriety.

In the future, if such "gift cards" are offered me at some promotional event, I shal make the representative issuing the cards aware of the facts.

And I am definitely considering contacting an attorney specializing in class-action lawsuits over the mis-representation. If Restaurant.com had called the cards what they actually are, I would have no issue with the cards.

I am only too glad that I did not do the foolish thing, redeeming a portion of one of the cards for $30 in certificates for the restaurant, go and order $30 worth of food, and find out after a friend I had already eaten that I could not pay for the meal in it's entirety with the two certificates.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

Their version...
Restaurant.com
Your Order with Restaurant.com #xxxxxxxxx
It's time to dine! Save today - your deal is ready! View as a webpage RESTAURANT.COM - BEST DEAL. EVERY MEAL. IT'S TIME TO DINE! Your deals are ready in your Account. Use on-the-go

REALITY...
HOG-WASH!!! DISPUTED CHARGES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I attempted to redeem $48 from a $100 GIFT card I was given. I created my new account as site instructed, entered the redemption code as instructed and received confirmation. I then clicked the redeem icon for my gift card, chose the restaurants I was halfway interested in (special sales) and they CHARGED MY CREDIT CARD!!!!! I tried to call these charlatans but they're not available on the weekends so I emailed their "Help" desk so a customer service representative could assist but even their email is an automated response. I immediately called my credit card company and they confirmed Restaurants.com charged my card and the funds are in cyber-limbo until they actually post. I have to wait for that posting to file formal charge disputes.

I am TICKED OFF, why the HECK was I charged for redeeming a gift card?

I started by filing a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau and if the restitution I expect does not happen by FIRST available business day I will escalate complaints to the FBIs online fraud department, the IRS just because, my credit card's attorneys for credit card fraud, and any other acronym company that has a complaint board (SAG {State Attorney General}, the SEC, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND TRADE, etc.)

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WHATSOEVER WITH RESTAURANTS.COM! paste this on all social media and put these flim-flam convicts out of business!!!

My complaint has been received and routed to the following BBB: BBB Chicago & N. Illinois (Chicago, IL) 330 N. Wabash, Ste. 3120 Chicago, IL *******-7621 Phone: *******500 Fax: *******985
Yesterday

***Side note***
THEY ADVERTISE THEIR PRODUCT AS A "GIFT CARD" AND ALL IT REALLY IS IS A GLORIFIED "BUY-ONE-GET-ONE" COUPON!!!! AND THEN IT ONLY WORKS IF THE COMPANY YOU CHOOSE HONORS THIS SNAKE-OIL. Does anyone know of an attorney who will probono (sp?) a class-action suit. Time to fight back sick of being fleeced.

This is a horrible, horrible business.
I received a $50 gift card and had multiple issues with redeeming "deals". The first 2 restaurants I went to trying redeem "deals" said they don't honor restaurant.com and don't know why they are still listed on the website. My third attempt, at a restaurant this weekend, agreed to the restaurant.com deal, then I had issues with the app and website. First, the app I had downloaded was not working at all, flashing on and off, and not recognizing my log in info. I un-installed the app and used the internet on my phone to go through the restaurant.com website. I tried to redeem this restaurant's "deal" ($25 off a $50 check), and first the website wouldn't recognize the code on my gift card. Then the site charged me $10 to redeem the deal, after accepting my gift card's code. Nothing made any sense. I had to pay for it, because I had already spent more money on the check than I wanted to and had been sitting there for 20 minutes after getting the check, trying to get the stupid site to work. The site also redeemed my "deal" twice, without warning, with no way of reversing it.
I emailed *******@restaurant.com and received a generic, unhelpful response. Finally, I called today to speak to a "customer service representative" and experienced THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER. The man I spoke to was raising his voice at me, blaming me for what I did wrong (?), saying "you're the one not letting me help you", just being completely rude and not helpful. I actually asked him if he had any previous customer service experience, because he certainly wasn't acting like it. I asked if I could speak to someone else, to which he responded that I could call back but he would not transfer my call (which I couldn't do as I was calling on my break at work after already waiting 15 minutes to talk to this schmuck). He kept repeating that restaurant.com had a "no refund policy", which also wasn't making sense considering they charged me to use a gift card?! Finally, he placed me on hold for a couple of minutes and then came back on and told me that they will be refunding the $10 charge.
Summary: Here's why I hate this business - restaurants don't honor the "deals", faulty app, faulty website, got charged to use my gift card, terrible customer service. I will be throwing away the gift card that still has $25 on it. It's not even worth it.

Go out of bisiness pls...

Where are the negative stars? STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCAM!

This all started on Oct 1st 2014 when I moved to a new home 80 miles away from my old stomping grounds. At this point in time I logged into my restaurant.com account and attempted to exchange the certificates for restuarants in my old neighborhood with ones in the new area I am living in. After several failed attempts to exchange certificates following the procedures outlined on restuarant.com's help section I chalked it up to the website having a glitch. A week later I came back to try again, still no luck, two weeks later, three weeks later still no luck. So november rolls around I try a couple more times off and on and still nothing. So I utilize the help contact on the restaurant.com website, explain my situation in detail on 11.24.2014, hilghlighting the fact that I had followed the instructions on how to exchange a certificate multiple times and that it was not working. Shortly after I sent the help request I was sent a reply by somebody named Ashley Lanham, the reply was nothing but a carbon copy of the istructions posted on the website on how to exchange certificates. The very same instructions I had followed and had informed the company that I had followed them in an attempt to exchange. I responded to Ashley Lanham on 11.24.2014 explaining all this again and never received anything further. On 11.25.2014 I sent another email to restaurant.com stating everything that had already happened and that the exchange function was not working, I took the time to highlight the fact that I had already tried this multiple times and that it still was not working and even attatched the previous emails. They responded on 11.25.2014 with nothing other than the instructions posted on their site for exchanging certificates. So I logged onto the BBB and found their phone number and contacted them by phone on 11.25.2014 and spoke to a person who called himself Raul. I explained to Raul that I wanted a refund and I was tired of the games his company was playing, I informed him that I needed to speak to a supervisor. Raul told me that his supervisor was not in and that they had a no refund policy, but I should feel free to utilize the website to exchange the certificates. I then told Raul that I did not believe that a business would be in operation with no supervisor, and that I wanted to speak to a supervisor, the boss or the owner of the company as I was certain that he was not the end all be all of company decisions. I was placed on hold. Raul came back on and stated his boss was in a meeting, I then asked Raul why he had told me that there was no supervisor there and then immediately changed it to my boss is in a meeting. He responded with " you never asked for a supervisor, you just told me you wanted to talk to my boss or the owner." Good job Raul, you fail at customer serivce by the way. Raul also refused to provide me with a direct link to a supervisor, said he did not have a phone number, and there was no way for me to speak with them. Raul would also not provide a name of a supervisor. Put on hold again. Raul then informed me that he had talked to his boss and they were waiting to hear from me. I then asked him to transfer me, he said no and that I should email them at *******@resaurant.com. He said again they were waiting for me to contact them, I said ok transfer me then to their phone. At this point in time Raul was kind enough to transfer me to an extension with a pre recorded message stating that restaurant.com was closed and to call back during normal business hours. Strange since I called them during there normal business hours.

Your Desired Resolution:
In my eyes there is nothing this company can do to make this right other that refund me 100%. I have no desire to deal with this company any more as they possess absolutely no customer service skills at all. They blindly relpy to help emails obviously not reading anything their customers are writing. Their customer support phone line operators, in my first hand experience are nothing more than liars and game players. To me this business is now nothing more than a way to scam people out of their hard earned money. Right now my opinion is that they are thieves, and they have stolen from me as they took money for a service they are now not willing to honor.

Great site...

RESTAURANT.COM is a rip off!: I got an invitation via LifeMart, which my company provides as a team member service, to purchase discounted certificates at Restaurant.com last month. I decided to try it out, assuming that because my company sent it, it would be legitimate. I spent over an hour finally identifying 4 restaurants which suited my tastes. Part of the criteria, since I am single and dine alone, was that the minimum purchase had to be reasonable for 1 person. I selected 4 resturants with minum purchase requirements of $22.50 or less. (There were others I would have enjoyed, but the minum purchase was over $30 and there was no way I could eat that much food.) I had at that point done my homework and understood the rules. Shouldn't I have been able to assume the restaurants they sold certificates for were still in business? I guess not. Did they suggest that I check that salient fact? No, they did not.

Well, the first restaurant I attempted to visit was out of business. I called Restaurant.com. They tried to get me to simply exchange the certificate. I explained that I was not interested in any other restaurants, and that I believed that since they sold me a certificate for a business that had closed, they should refund my money. They agreed and refunded the cost of that certificate to me.

Just over a week later, I took a long drive across town and attempted to visit a second restaurant for which I had a certificate. That restaurant also had gone out of business. Being pretty frustrated, I called Restaurant.com about it.

They of course indicated that this rarely happens, but the terms and conditions state that they will do exchanges, but no refunds. I indicated that this is not the first, but the 2nd of 4 certificates they offered for purchase where the restaurant was no longer in business. They refused to make a refund. I called back and got another agent, who also refused to issue a refund. My arguements that I wasn't interested in an exchange went unheeded this time.

BOTTOM LINE: This is a ripp off from an unscrupulous company. What you see is not what you get. I suspect they have no process for removing restaurants from their site, and you have a probability of purchasing certificates that can't be redeemed. Before you buy, check to see if the restaurant you are interested in is actually still in business, and check to see if they will accept the certificate. You will otherwise be left holding the bag. This is only a good deal if you are very flexible, and open to significant trial and error. What an awful experience. How does something like this rarely happen, yet happen to me twice within the space of weeks? If it looks to good to be true, it is. Save your money. Have a good stressless full price meal rather than paying for one you won't get.

I'm surprised of all the negative reviews here. I've been using Restaurant.com for years. I've never had a problem, but I have always understood to read any requirements the restaurant may have. Some used to have a minimum amount to spend for each certificate. It was usually twice as much as the certificate was for. A $50 certificate needed to be used on a $100 minimum bill. But some restaurants would just require 2 entrees. Some would exclude alcohol, some wouldn't. Some would exclude days such as holidays.
It was important to read the rules of that particular restaurant before purchasing. They are all clearly stated BEFORE you purchase.
They've recently changed that though. It seems they only have a minimum requirement, and it's not always double the coupon amount, sometimes it's only 1.5%. So it's an even better deal now. As another poster said, I rarely pay the listed prices. I would use a code to get them 60-90% off the price, or just buy them off ebay or other reputable sites.
As for some restaurants not accepting them anymore. Again, it's important to call the restaurant before going to be sure they still accept it and that it won't be a problem. If the restaurant doesn't accept the coupon anymore, restaurant.com makes it super easy to exchange the coupon! Just go to your account and find the certificate, and to the far right of the certificate name just click exchange. Follow the instructions and pick another restaurant at that time, or later.
These are great when on vacation too. I always check when I go to Florida. There are a lot of great places that participate where we go.
If you aren't willing to put the little bit of time in it takes to ensure your coupons will be accepted, just don't use them. But don't critisize the site because you don't understand how it works. They are right up front with all the rules, you just need to read them.
Also, as for customer service... my first experience with them was a week ago, and they were curteous and friendly. My account was fixed within the hour as they said. And the problem was caused by me, forgetting my password, but never changing the email address from one I no longer had access. And I also had them combine 2 accounts. All done, no problems now!
I give them AAA!

***UPDATED***
I just wrote a review, and now after reading many many more of these horribly negative reviews, I came to the conclusion that a huge majority of these reviews are FAKE. They have been purposely written to trash restaurant.com.
I have been using restaurant.com for YEARS, since 2008. In that time I have only one time had a restaurant no longer accept the coupon. I will usually use my certificates right away though because I know many restaurants only stay in the program a month or two. So if you hold them for months or years, you don't have a big chance of having them accepted. CALL first for any of them. That's all it takes.
Not one place has EVER said they never participated and it's a scam!
NOT ONE IN 6 YEARS!
So all these people claiming scam, and all their certificates are being refused... impossible. I not only use them in my state of Pennsylvania, but also Florida, and the states between here and there. If they were recently purchased they're never refused. For the one "gentleman" claiming he purchased $4,000 of coupons! Really? Geez. Liar Liar.
I really hope people read the positive reviews and realize all you need to do is read the extremely clear conditions of the coupon you are purchasing. It's not a surprise and you don't find out as you're printing them. It's all up front... JUST READ.
If you still feel that paying about $4 to save at least $25 and possibly $50 off your bill, then don't buy it. BTW, if you purchase them from other sites you can get them even cheaper.
It's a great deal! Don't bellieve these fake reviews!

Not a good site.