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.

I know the debate was not about extra change ontop of large tips but I guess I wanted to stress that in case my (or others') theory is at all true, then certainly, tipping something extra is also nice to do. So if hiding the costs WAS necessary here, why not pass this off to the bar keep's pocket?

If the bill was $25 and I left say, 5bucks and then even a few cents more, then that is great for them at the bahhh (to sound like Cliff Clavin, also from Boston) and me, the mile-earner. The total idine purchase is $30+change which may, if someone were wondering, "look better."

Anyway, you may be right: The idine management may never have a way to KNOW about certs vs non certs. Let's also hope not. BUT they told me "NO." They must want to TRY to say no to people so the masses do not somehow abuse the program.

How is the buying of certs abuse? I do not yet know, nor would I care to know at this point, because like most people, I actually eat. I chose where I eat but often times it DOES have to do with idining. In fact I think I am hungry right now and it's just past lunch time...

+++
This part below is just theory talk so please entertain a thought as to WHY someone may worry about this stuff:

Maybe idine only wants to try to promote the use of the restaurants for eating and not just some guy coming in to each one of them to buy tons of certs for some other alternative gain. Such a person may never really care to experience the place or its atmosphere, etc. That also brings in more customers, which both the place and idine wish to see.

Again, I do not yet know how such a person would then benefit from the certs bought other than just getting miles, because they still have a huge $ value that can be later used. (say, $600 worth of $10 or $25 certs bought at 5 idine places in a few months time to get tons of miles).

Maybe people like this do something with them or even try to send them back to the corporate head quarters of some rest/bar chain to try to get back money? THAT might actually work, but who knows! (I have suggested similar schemes in here before but did not try any of these). I am not doing that with idine, nor are any of this thread's posters, I imagine.
+++

Idine says "no," but there is no way for them to really know.
Similarly, BofA MAY say "NO" to the you-know-whats, but that too is still a legit. 'purchase' and so no one really knows or cares what you bought using their money making marketing scheme...

As i said, I am hungry now.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif



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

Enjoy your lunch....
Hope you get few miles as well :-)
See YA!

Christ almighty, if you earned miles by the word you would be set for life. Do everybody a favor and show some restraint.

Cactuspete, will you kindly lay off please? Thank you.

Now, tell me what part of that info I put in there (to be thorough + helpful, btw) was NOT good info or mile speak???

Man oh Man - it never ends!

AND, what in YOUR post has anything to do with earning ANYTHING but a RAZZ on me again?
OK?!?!?!??!?

stop!
MM

Consider it constructive criticism. I stand by my original post.

Why help me with the CCrit then?

Are you my copy editor or something? Do I get paid (or get miles) for this?

Why should it matter how long something is if it has helpful info in it? AND IT DID!
Honestly. Do we have a server space problem?

Many threads or messages involving promos ARE long by nature. Some have hundreds of tiny posts with NOT ENOUGH info in them each. Many ideas or theories do get big. I am not the only one and yet...

Anyway, I will NOT defend my nature because it harms NONE (until you try to get me upset for no reason but possibly for some online momentary glory).

Why cant you just be normal or nice about this stuff?

If what I say IS too much for you to fathom, do not read it. It is there to help others. I highlight and praise others. Do you?

And, if you (or anyone) have a prob with me or anyone, email me off line. I do NOT have probs with people but apparently, I am in a minority!

I will not get into a pissing match about this stuff but sure dont appreciate this! Moderator may chime in here but hopefully to either stop this extra-razzing from going on in the first place (which changed my happy smile into a sad one) or scold YOU for using the lord's name in vain, etc... perhpas.

Where's YOUR email address on here anyway?
I stand by MY post.

Sincere thank you's.
(you could also just say NOTHING, you know--unless you have something NICE to say, right?!)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I am sorry for the actions of people like CP who got me like this. I will try to go forward without being pissed off now.

you can appologize and we will be DONE with it and in return I will try to make you happy. Your call/

BACK TO MILES TALK!!!!!!!!! That is what it is about!-not picking on someone or taking sides.

Perhaps MM should reincarnate himself as Half-Marathon Man or 10K Man, thus yielding much shorter posts. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif (Just kidding MM: I don't have any problem with your posts. There are lots of wordy people here...)

The simple reason that iDine states that gift certs don't earn miles is because they are a quick way to circumvent the restricted-days rules in place at certain restaurants. You want to have a nice dinner on Saturday night at an iDine place that only awards points on Mondays? No problem: buy a $100 cert on Monday, use it on Saturday, earn 1000 miles!

As for doing other things besides eating at the restaurant with the certs, that's not a concern for iDine or the restaurant because they've already been paid. Donate the certs to a charity auction, give 'em away as a gift, sell 'em on eBay (where the same guy who pays $50 for 1000 AA miles might buy your $20 cert for $80), or whatever. It's not relevant. Having said that, I imagine that 90% of the cert-buying is to eat at the restaurant a few days later on a day that otherwise wouldn't earn miles. That would explain why iDine isn't keen on the idea.

Res ipsa loquitur.

pinniped,
ha ha
I was considering changing my running to shorter distances (better on the legs) but then, you see, I would have to be called SPRINT MAN and someone in here would think that my name was instead a mile-earning gig involving telephone long distance and maybe suggest that I am in the wrong part of this FT forum./ ho ho ho. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Anyway, your thoughts make sense and I am not worried about my idinables. None of us should be, therefore. I will continue to buy and use both meals and certs as I normally have.

CactusP, Thanks, that's much better http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif... But, know this:

Ya, dat is vaar, maar allen als je latijns spreekt!

Tot Zeins!

-Back to more friendly mile-ing now, eh? Good. We like pinniped's...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Parsing pennies........
I was really enjoying this thread because I find it interesting where I currently am in my mile-gathering; and I have to say the post by cactuspete was distracting and unfair. I earn plenty of "buttmiles" and many many inventive miles, thanks to Flyertalk and all who are constructive here.


BTW - just for my own edification, when you are "rounding up" a tip, do you take the time to add pennies, or do the 20% no-brainer math and just fill in the TOTAL line to an EVEN number?
I admit I am a bit strict numerically....but after a great cabernet or two I'd rather not have to fill in the "tip" only the TOTAL. I welcome all responses....

[This message has been edited by LISAA (edited 12-13-2002).]

Taking this advice one step further ... gift certs are an excellent way to make sure you always get points.

For example, most restaurants that don't award points every day don't give points on the weekends. So just buy certs on the weekdays and use them on the weekends. And you won't have a problem if you visit the same restaurant several times a month - just buy small-denomination certs on a weekday at the start of the month.

I have to agree with the "rounding-off" responses - a "rounded-off" bill earns points just like any other bill. In fact, since you can earn an exact amount of miles, iDine is one of the best ways to top off FF accounts. If you need 1,000 miles for an award, you can buy a $100 cert (10 miles per dollar spent) and know that your account will be topped off exactly.

Since iDine participates with most of the major airlines, it's the easiest way to remain active in FF accounts. You don't have to bother flying - just have a meal credited to accounts once every three years.

What's are the jockeying around and what if-ing for?

You WILL get miles for gift certificate purchases!

To understand why one needs to understand how idine operates. It's a lousey deal for the restaurateur but here goes.

The restaurateur signs up with idine. All purchases are accounted for and identified through credit card processing equipment reports. Some are connected to FF accounts most are not. Once a month the restaurateur gets his billing in the mail from idine. All purchaes tied to FF acounts are billed back to the restaurateur at a 25% discount (ouch).

On a $50.00 bill idine collects $12.50 from the restaurant, buys you 500 miles for about $5.00, posts them and keeps the $7.50. A nice tidy 60% gross profit.

How do I know? I read the idine contract at one of my very good friends restaurants. He was asking me advice on how to get OUT of it. He found out the hard way how many of his regulars had signed up their cards with idine. It was a huge number. He never advertised it either. It was a quite move on his part to get into the directory.

The point here is idine could care less if you buy gift certs, eat, throw it out for the cats, or donate to charity. The still collect their 25% of the charge and there is no way to differentiate. There is language in the idine contract regarding restrictions. It's there to appease the restaurateur so he'll sign up! They've made it nearly immpossible for the restaurant to prove it's case in those instances.

Please be advised that all numbers included in this post are estimates. We take no responsibility for the accuracy of this accounting! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I thought that usually idine paid restaurants upfront. They give the restaurant say $20,000 that will support $40,000 in future charges through their system. Their pitch is that the restaurants will gain substantal new business. It sounds like they must also offer an alternative plan without the upfront payment at less cost to the restaurant (25% vs. 50% discount).

You are correct. Idine basically gives the owner a loan, that's the only reason the owners sign-up. The post before about the owner looking for the way out, is missing a very important fact, "the owner took the money without readng the details in the contract", thus 'sorry about his luck'. How do I know all this? I have 2 friends(2 restaurants) that are in the program. The 'loan' helped them open the place, and they realize that it's an expensive loan, but one that they would never get from a bank.

Idine has multiple programs.

With the cash advance program, the pay the restaurant up front. With the revenue management program, it's as-you-go.

Either way, it seems that it's not in idine's best short term interest to enforce the gift cert rules. I'd guess the rules are only in place to protect the restaurants, not to protect idine.

More here:
http://www.idine.freshcustomers.com/how.html

If that is what you normally do then it might not be a problem. The round numbers might clue idine in that your only buying certs.

MeWantMoreMiles

Interesting, all the places in my area offer the same number of points everyday of the week. You should always check to be sure the place is still on the idine list though!!!!

MeWantMoreMiles

I have never rounded the check up with the tip. I make my idine purchases odd numbers, that is what I do, if you want to do it differently, fine. It was just a suggestion, take it as a suggestion.

We should not have any problems buying certs with idine unless someone goes and blabs the whole thing to a reporter..... Nawwwwwwww, who would do such a thing??????

Why do you even bother replying?

I don't mean it to be rude, but the fact is you do ramble on at times.

Honestly, I kinda got a kick out of what cactus said.

As I have said many times....

I do not see it "written" anywhere that you cannot buy certs when using the idine program. They can "say" anything they want on the phone, but until I see it written by them I will continue to do it.

If you are hosting a large dinner/party at an Idine restaurant and expect the tab to be more than $600, go to the restaurant the month before and buy gift certificates for the amount of the excess. That way you get miles for the GCs the month before and for the $600 charges for the dinner/party. Gets around the 6000 mile maximum.

LisaA said she was liking the thread because of its tips on idining but did not appreciate the mean digs (thanks LisaA).

Even though I made a point to make peace with him by indicating that I agree with an earlier post in here, MeWantMoreMiles says to me that I just ramble on and that he/it loves what CactusPete said to me. What a buzz-kill, huh?

So, now when I see that name:
"Mewantmoremiles..."

I start t think, "Hmmm, that sounds a bit like a grammatically incorrect run-on in itself, don’t you think?"

yes it does. No bother responding to this class act anymore!

Good dig, mate, but I think your attempt to get a laugh here is just a stab at temporary recognition on the FT because you can’t go big-time. Careful: I may have to call the New York Times or something and get them to run a story on how some people are so into this miles game that they are down right jerks about it to their fellow award earner.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsdown.gif

This weekend I idined with clients (that I can get reimbursed for) for $300 in one place and $250 in another. The 5,500 miles will go onto--you guessed it:

Alaska Airlines (so you don’t need BofA debit cards all the time to get miles on that airline).

In the end, I find idine to be one of the better programs out there for earnings of any size on any major.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifMM



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

Relax. Nobody is disputing you.

I'm just pointing out why they would take a "don't buy certs" position when asked. It is well established that you CAN buy certs and that nobody will know the difference.

with UAL, at least, you can redeem 10,000 MP miles for a $50 dining cert or 15,000 MP miles for a $100 dining cert.

Now that's a deal!
ha.

Want a 'churn' I'll never do? Use the MP Visa to BUY thousands of certs and get miles, and then use the miles to get these above meals.
Now you've got tons of certs too, and a free meal generated out of that.

:MM