I-dine vs. restaurant.com
 

Am I the only one that has switched recently from I-dine to purchasing discounted gift certificates from restaurant.com?

While restaurant.com has far fewer participating locations, you can save up to 50% by dining at those that do, and there is no fee, unlike with I-dine Prime (other than the 50 cent service charge per order). I used to be happy as a clam getting I-dine's FF miles, but given the state of the airlines' finances, I would now rather save money up front than get miles that I may not be able to access.

How does restaurant.com work? Do you buy a gift certificate and then use that at a restaurant, and have you ever had any trouble with restaurants accepting them?

I have purchased probably 40+ restaurant.com certificates off EBAY. The typical cert amount is $25, some $10 or $50. Some restaurants will see bidding to within 80% of the cert, but I buy ones to restaurants I wish to try only if they win for a max of 50% of cert value.

Many many restaurants listed are just so-so IMO and you have to wonder if they are good, why do they have to give away certs at a discount. But every once in awhile I find some gems such as Printer’s Row or Black Ram in Chicago. I recently snagged two certs from restaurants that I’m excited to try, one is Nine and the other MK.

EBAY makes it very easy to search for certs via your state as there are not that many restaurants participating (perhaps 50-60 per state) so it is easy to search for ones you may be interested in.

I have only had one problem where a cert was not accepted by the restaurant. I had the manager sign and date the cert for proof that I had tried to redeem it. I then simply sent an email to restaurant.com with the cert number and explained what happened. The next day I received an email from customer service stating they were very sorry and to please name a restaurant that they offer certs for and I would receive another certificate. Again w/in one day of my choice I received my new cert. EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE.

You can also buy the gift certificates directly from restaurant.com.

Yes, but it is only a 50% savings usually.
Why not try EBAY and see if there is a restaurant that you are interested in?

I've bid successfully on EBAY for 75% savings.

[This message has been edited by Sweet Willie (edited 04-05-2003).]

How do you go about doing it? Do you search restaurant.com and find a place that sounds good and then do a keyword search on E-bay, or do you do something else?

As stated, first of all many restaurants listed at restaurant.com are not worthwhile even with the cert.

Once on EBAY, I'll get to the gift certificate section and search for where I'm interested, (chicago, des plaines) if nothing I want comes up in the search I broaden the search by using "IL".

Many restuarants run cycles of auctions on EBAY, a local favorite of my the Black Ram in Des Plaines, used to run an auction every day for 2 weeks. It allows you to see the going price for that restaurant.

I revisited restaurant.com and found that many restaurants listed do not offer any certificates.

I see the very severe limitations under the " TERMS AND CONDITIONS":
* Valid for parties of 2 or more unless otherwise stated.
* Limit one (1) redemption per customer per month per restaurant.
* Only one gift certificate can be used per party, even if the party is seated at separate tables and/or receives more than one check.

So, say the bill is $75, we redeem $25 giftcert (cost ~ $10 on Ebay). In such case the savings are $15 off $75 - the same as Idine prime 20% off !
Granted, if bill is lower, one saves more, but that goes the other way too; and how often do you know what's your bill going to be?
And, with Idine you choose $$ off or miles, you could double-dip with coupons or other discount programs; if you hate the place - you turn around and go elsewhere. With restaurant.com you're stuck - use it or lose it.
Where's the beef?

neophyte makes a good point about the ability to double-dip with a coupon and i-dine. But, it is rare for me to have a coupon.

In my original post I noted that miles are just not that attractive to me anymore, so the free i-dine program is loosing its appeal. Sure, there's i-dine prime, but that has a fee, which means you have to eat out a lot before you come out ahead.

Again - did anyone was able to use more than one certificate per visit ?

If not - how is it better than Entertainment coupons ? Buy the way - these a are available for free at http://www.mastercard.com under the "Special offers" - just register your MC

clarification: what do you mean by Entertainment? The Entertainment book?

If so, it is better than the book because the book only has one coupon per restaurant. At restaurant.com one is able to get as many coupons to a particular restaurant they wish.

First, here's a first class thread on the topic:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mess...threadid=96169
It does answer all my questions above.

Second - Sweet Willie, I believe I've found something food-related you don't know about http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...um/biggrin.gif

Just follow my Mastercard instructions above, register your email #1 and your MC #1 and print any of Entertainment book coupons for FREE. Drawbacks: you can print only one coupon per restaraunt per year, coupons expire in 2-3 weeks.
However - register email #2, MC #2 - and keep going till you run out of mastercards.


[This message has been edited by neophyte (edited 04-25-2003).]

neophyte, there is much I don't know about food, however as Bill Murray in Stripes said, "But we are willing to learn!" http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

edited to add: thanks for the tip, but many Entertainment restaurants, I find are mediocre, you?

[This message has been edited by Sweet Willie (edited 04-26-2003).]