idine and restaurant gift certificate purchase
 

Does idine give you miles for gift certicate purchases made at participating restaurants made with the registered credit card or do they only give credit if you eat there. Planning on purcasing a number of gift certificates and am hoping to get miles for them. Any help with regard to this question would be helpful

I have used idine 3 times, I ate and purchased gift certificates each time and was credited with all the points.

I suggest that you not just go buy gift certificates because it will make the total a round amount. This usually does not happen unless you use the tip to make the total a round number. Also, be sure the place puts everything on one bill and processes it as one charge. I had one place try to run through the meal and then the certs seperate, I had to have them change it.

I would not tell the place that your running the total up by using certs either. They have no idea you are using idine unless you tell them.

I have not read (nor has anyone produced) anything saying that you cannot buy certs and get the points for it. It says you get points for meal, tax, and tip, but does not say no certs.

Good luck.

MeWantMoreMiles

I don't see what the problem would be with that? What would you do if the bill was exactly $50? I round off all my restaurant bills to a nice round number with the tip.



[This message has been edited by andrzej (edited 12-11-2002).]

Sorry, double posting

[This message has been edited by andrzej (edited 12-11-2002).]

[This message has been edited by andrzej (edited 12-11-2002).]

I, too, always round up to an even dollar amount with the tip and have always received the miles. I'm most interested to hear anyone else's experience with certs. Particularly if you've ever received miles for only buying a cert and not dining at all.

I have bought gift certificates by phone from an I-dine participating restaurant and even had them mailed to my house and recieved the miles. No problem, someone will dine there with them and I think that's all that matters.

I bought $50 in Mt. Jacks gift certificates withouth dining there also and received my 500 NW miles as usual.

Is there a link in Idine or elsewhere, where we can find out which restaurants offer Gift Certs? Which restuarnts chains participating in Idine offer certificates in general?

No don't buy the gift certificates on idine. You go to an eligible idine restaurant and buy their gift certificates (if they offer them) as if you were buying them just off the street. If you use your registered credit card it becomes a valid idine transaction, which you'll receive miles/credit back for.

Jeff

There was a restaurant that was leaving the program. On the last day, I bought a $160 worth of gift certificates in $10 and $20 denominations. It posted without a problem.

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Ms.DtG

Just make sure you buy the certificates on a day that awards points at that restaurant.

(This is my one beef about iDine: the ridiculous and ever-changing rules about when you can eat at a restaurant and get miles.)

For example, if you want to get a bunch of certs at a restaurant that doesn't award miles on the third Tuesday of every 31-day month unless there's a full moon and the date is a prime number, don't buy your certificates on that day!

And check the website IMMEDIATELY prior to buying the certificates, because it may have changed!!

As many of the people in here have said, including myself a while back, I have seen all my miles post whether I buy gift certs or not.

I sometimes dine and buy them together in the same purchase. I make sure that it is a restaurant purchase or bar purchase and not something else (say the place has a gift shop in it or something). Most waiters or bartenders will be ok with trying to help you because they may think you are trying to show certain expenses to your boss or something. That is common. Most will not, however, need to know or understand the much newer concept of dining for miles.

I actually agree with the method used by mewantmoremiles (which I was already doing) because, by making the purchase not be a rounded figure that most certs would give you, you can sort of "hide" the fact that you may be purchasing gift certs in this way. I know a dining bill can be a round number in the end if you wish it to be, but why not make it a few cents or dollars off just to be certain that no one starts looking for even figures that otherwise may stick out in the idine system? I always do.

Besides, then I can more easily remember last month's mileage activity when I see that FFP post come in for 341 miles or something as opposed to 250 or 100. Those are not as fun anyway, ya know?... ($34.10 spent on food and other combined = 341 miles)

Now, I too go back and use the certs I buy or send others back to eat and use the certs so it shouldnt really matter in the end. The idine program thus gets what it was set out to accomplish from its customers. But like many programs that we can all find 'holes' in to get more miles, it is best to show that you are doing the thing the marketer intended and not just going for points or miles only.

I suppose if idine were alerted to these things we 'find,' then, like one other big thing that I do out there, it would get messy. I use THAT thing for normal purchases too though, so it will be ok, i think.

Now I aint necessarily one to say, but I too suggest what we all do is eat or buy in odd numbers when idining and not alert them further. They are great in my book anyway. Just keep records, know what deal is when and rack up them points! When there are special promos requiring, say, 3 idines in one month to get extra bonus miles, then that is probably a great time to get the certs you can use to eat later but mile now...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
MM


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If speed is not your thing, distance may as well be. Enjoy and embrace it all!

Marathon Man,

I'm sorry, but what the hell are you guys talking about? Without knowing the figures, my best educated guess is that most people round off the bill when tipping, at least that's what I experienced in my younger days as a bartender. The last thing that Idine would care about is whether you purchased a cert or actually ate at the restaurant. After all, the cert HAS to be used at the restaurant, and if for some reason it's not, I BOLDLY predict that the restaurant would not file any complaints.

[This message has been edited by andrzej (edited 12-12-2002).]

andrzej

actually I called idine and annonymously ASKED them on 2 sep occasions a while back if I could just go BUY gift certs and they said, "NO. It is against program rules."

I used to tend bar and these days with everything in a computer it does not really matter what a bill comes to.

I just think that if idine does not KNOW what you are buying and really has no way to find out, then certainly, if the 2 CS people I called that same week were right about their own company's rules, then why alert them of any other assumed actions by a idining miler?

PS. I usually tip well so a few pennies here and there do not matter. That's all. Can't hurt to be extra careful if it costs no more to do so.

I understand what you are saying, but, again, judging from my past experience most folks DO round off the bill, so I don't see how Idine could ever tell, unless the restaurant tells them, or they have some special code applied to a cert purchase. Obviously that's not the case, although, I'm thinking that if Idine was concerned about that, they would program a new code for cert purchases into the computers, so I still have a hard time believing that they actually care. My last three dining experiences were posted as: $25, 50 and 40.
No questions asked.....
Anyway, Marathon Man, I just like you, since we were both working in the "industry", learned that tipping means a lot to these people, so I do tip well, and no, few pennies would not make a difference, but my debate with you is not about that, it's about the ability for Idine to distinguish between the 'eat' or 'cert', and up to now they didn't have the ability.