Coupon confusion continues

January 20, 2012|By John Paul | WSBT-TV Reporter

SOUTH BEND – An attempt to save money is costing a lot of people their patience.

We told you Thursday night at 11 that some Restaurant.com customers couldn't redeem coupons printed from the site at local restaurants. While Restaurant.com said the trouble was isolated, local businesses say that's not the case.

Click. Print. Clip. For Christian Estrup, it's a simple way to save.

"Maybe $10 will get you $20 worth of food," said Estrup.

For some restaurant owners, their experience with Restaurant.com's site brought nothing but headaches.

"It was extremely frustrating," said Carol Meehan.

Meehan is the 'Lady of the House' at Fiddler's Hearth in Downtown South Bend. She saw our story Thursday night about Restaurant.com's coupon confusion at Gino's East. The site sold discount coupons to the pizzeria, but management there wouldn't accept them.

"When I heard the Restaurant.com response that it was a rare thing, it seemed to me like it's business as usual," said Meehan.

She said her experience with the site five years ago is proof

"Clearly it's a glitch they have not fixed," said Meehan.

Meehan said she gave the site 30 days notice the two sides would part ways, than four months later – finally a conclusion – as profits suffered.

"Eventually they got tired of taking our calls and they took us off," said Meehan.

Fiddler's Hearth wasn't the only business to call or email us about their problems. So we asked Restaurant.com about it

A spokeswoman confirmed Fiddler Hearth was removed from the site and a mass refund was given to customers following the cancellation.

“Because of the snowstorm, the partner relations team couldn't address Fiddler's Hearth's claims that it took months to be removed from the site, but we offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, offering exchanges for gift certificates at any time for any reason," said Christin Accomando with Restaurant.com.

Meehan said before you click to pay, call the restaurant first to make sure you're coupon is still valid.

"You can be a victim of it if you don't have a restaurant that is generous enough to honor it," said Meehan.

Since our story aired Thursday, Gino's East is no longer on Restaurant.com’s site and the site will offer refunds to people who bought a gift certificate between December 21 and January 19.

If you bought the gift certificate before December 21, Gino's East will honor the $25 discount.

|

|

|