Unpleasant Dining Experience

[Cornus]

Following is a post that I made at another forum...I'm so PO'd that I just wanted to share it here too...

____________

Over the years we've enjoyed many dinners and lunches at Casa Giuseppe in Iselin. In fact, I've often recommended this restaurant to people looking for a place in the Woodbridge area. Tonight's experience was an all time low and we will NEVER return.

Earlier this year I read about a promotion (perhaps it was at this forum) by restaurant.com. For a reduced price, $25.00 certificates could be purchased and printed directly from one's own computer. Since we often go to this restaurant, I purchased four certificates and planned on using one tonight with our party of five.

Having never used one of these certificates before, I let the waiter know before we placed our order that we had this certificate. He was unfamiliar with it and eventually the owner of Casa Giuseppe's came over to tell us that they hadn't dealt with this company since the previous September. He also said that these were copies (they were printed directly from my computer) and intimated that I was trying to pull off some kind of scam! When I explained how I purchased them, he said that he thought they were bogus and could be bought on ebay for $1.00. I assured him this was not the case...that I had bought them on line and printed the purchased certificates.

They did honor the $25.00 certificate on the bill but this exchange caused a most unpleasant beginning to what should have been a fun pre-Christmas dinner with family.

Any thoughts or similar experiences with these restaurant certificates that can be purchased on line? BTW, I contacted restaurant.com, before posting this, to report this incident. The customer rep said that I would be reimbursed for the three unused certificates since I have no intention of ever wanting to return to this restaurant.

Over the years we've spent several thousand $$$$ at this restaurant, so they are ultimately the losers...we will never be returning.

[tommy]

these certificates are validated via phone (by the restaurant, who has presumably entered into an agreement with restaurant.com) with the unique numbers that are printed on the coupon. those coupons can be printed over and over again (and yeah, that's the point), but once the unique number is called in by the restaurant, they are void. any arguments that a coupon is a "copy" is just plain stupid on the restaurant's part, and a sympton of a complete lack of understanding of the technology and the idea.

as an example of how a similar simple process works, on a massive level: ticketmaster, who is probably the biggest ticket provider on the planet, uses a similar approach: they email you your ticket, you print it out (as many times as you want obviously - i print out several and put them in various pockets to make sure i don't lose them) and when you go to the show, they scan the bar code (unique number), and the ticket becomes immediately unusable. (makes it hard to sell an extra ticket to random people, unfortunately, but is probably putting a huge dent in the scalping industry, which is just as well)

one would think the manager would have understood the process. shame on the restaurant if they didn't understand. i'm tempted to contact them to ask exactly what they were thinking when they went into the agreement with restaurant.com. the coupons have a clear policy printed on them.

print out this post and present it to the manager. have him email me if he's still confused.

[=Mark]

I went to a Cake concert at the Starland Ballroom a couple weeks ago using the self printed ticketmaster tickets. What frosts my pumkin is the $12 or so various "handling fees" for an item that is essentially totally automated. I can understand the need to make a few bucks off the process, but 50% of the cost of the actual tickets borders on extortion. Of course when pressed, I have no doubt that the reaason for the excessive fees charged will ultimately be "Because they Can."

[menton1]

It's not the customer's job to educate the restaurant manager. IMHO, I think they knew exactly what they were doing, and were trying to get out of honoring a coupon that they knew was valid. Their stupidity is in not realizing that by saving $25 they were costing themselves a loyal repeat customer...

[Curlz]

What frosts my pumkin is the $12 or so various "handling fees" for an item that is essentially totally automated.  I can understand the need to make a few bucks off the process, but 50% of the cost of the actual tickets borders on extortion.  Of course when pressed, I have no doubt that the reaason for the excessive fees charged will ultimately be "Because they Can."   

←

Precisely why I refer to the company as Ticketbastard.

[EDS33]

This is how that promotion is supposed to work. Every day Restaurant.com auctions one gift certificate for the restaurant. There is supposed to be a link to ebay where you bid for it and at a certain time, the bidding is over and someone wins and they can print the certificate, but it is valid only for that evening, and there is only one winner every day. I don't know how you were able to print mutilple certificates, but it sounds like the restuarant didn't know how the program works.

[tommy]

i'm not sure that's the complete picture. you can buy them directly from restaurant.com, print as many copies as you'd like, and use them within the time noted on the coupon, which is a year in my experience.

example of the terms:

http://restaurant.com/microsite-gc.asp?rid...qty=4&nav=terms

interesting point:

" The issuing of restaurant credit is at the sole discretion of the merchant unless otherwise required by law."

Edited December 24, 2004 by tommy (log)

[Cornus]

Update: Restaurant.com sent me an email saying that they would credit me for the three unused certificates.

Perhaps my original post was not clear...I purchased four $25.00 certificates directly from r.com back in April and printed them with four sequential ID numbers. When I tried to use one for the first time last week, the owner said that he had not dealt with r.com since the previous September and that they had no right selling certificates to his restaurant. Of course, I was unaware of this when I planned on using the certificate (and when I purchased them), and my main problem was with the manner in which the owner chose to deal with this, and me, a frequent customer. He implied, in no uncertain terms, that I was attempting to pull some kind of scam by presenting this certificate. That's the main reason why I will never return to this restaurant.

[markabauman]

As a variation on a theme- has anything like this ever happened to anyone? Went to a restaurant to which I had received a gift certificate. After the certificate had been purchased, the restaurant had been sold to new owners. The name of the restaurant and the menu basically remained the same. When we tried to present the certificate, they insisted that they would not honor it, since it had been issued prior to their ownership. It wasn't worth making a big scene over their "policy", but I let them know that not honoring the value of the certificate would cost them many times its value in the long run.

[menton1]

As a variation on a theme- has anything like this ever happened to anyone? Went to a restaurant to which I had received a gift certificate. After the certificate had been purchased, the restaurant had been sold to new owners. The name of the restaurant and the menu basically remained the same. When we tried to present the certificate, they insisted that they would not honor it, since it had been issued prior to their ownership. It wasn't worth making a big scene over their "policy", but I let them know that not honoring the value of the certificate would cost them many times its value in the long run.

←

Could you please provide the name of this restaurant so that we can all stay away?

[Curlz]

Now that makes just ZERO sense to me from a business standpoint. You've got someone in your store/restaurant--why would a new owner turn away the opportunity to show a customer what they're all about?!? I don't care how they got the gift certificate--they've got it, and you now own the business. When you've got a captive audience...

Yeesh.

[Rosie]

Casa Giuseppe in Iselin

[markabauman]

That's the whole point-even if accepting the former owners' certificate "costs" them something- just from the point of view of creating good will as the new owners would return their investment many times over, just as much as their dumb move has cost them- not just from me, but from others who heard about it. By the way, the restaurant is located in upstate NY.

[scarlet knight]

We went to scalini fideli in Chatham about 5 years ago. We forgot to bring a gift certificate that we intended to bring. I asked the maitre d' if he would take an imprint of my credit card and hold onto it until I brought the gift certificate the next day. Then we could adjust the bill to credit us for the gift certificate. He said no, I would just have to pay the bill. We've never been back, but we've spent thousands at other restaurants in Chatham and Madison.

[Pan]

So they lost your business, but I wouldn't have even asked in that circumstance. You leave the certificate home, oh well, would be my attitude. I find it hard to blame them, especially as I'm guessing it was your first time there. If you were a regular customer they trusted, that would be different. One time, I went to Frutti di Mare, a local restaurant in the East Village where I've been a customer for probably about 20 years, but less and less now that I have so many more appealing options. Anyway, though, one time, I forgot their no-credit-card policy and didn't bring enough cash to cover the bill. I apologized profusely and said I would go to the nearest bank, get money, and return to pay the check. They didn't make a big deal about it, I went and got the money, and I returned and paid the check. But they had known me for years. Had I been a first-time customer, they might have been considerably edgier about letting me leave the premises before paying.

By contrast, Cornus had the certificate in his hand and they tried to get out of honoring it. That's quite different from your request for a rain-check.

[scarlet knight]

We were there at least two times before, although I am sure that they did not know us. The restaurant business is a hospitality business. We are happy to revisit restaurants where the food, service or decor is a little lacking if we are treated well.

If I did not return the next day with the gift certificate, the restaurant would just run my credit card. We live nearby and I pass it on my way to work. I don't think that I was asking for a big incovenience from them. If they don't want to give me a break, there are plenty of other places to eat.

Edited December 26, 2004 by scarlet knight (log)