<p>CC’ers must be out in force! The site has crashed and phone calls get the " all circuits are busy now…" recording</p>
<p>O.K…they are back in business…thanks for the great tip, jym</p>
<p>They seems to be having some weird database glitch, but the site is working. I find that these coupons are essentially equal to the “buy one get one free” deals in coupon books in those coupons that come in the mail, etc, except that these have a higher dollar amount. That is, often the buy one get ones will cap out at, say $15 or so. I think I snared the last of the $25 coupons for this month for tonight’s restaurant. Its now showing as sold out this month :)</p>
<p>I must be living under a rock, I had never heard of this. But I am going to check it out. Thanks, all.</p>
<p>I got 21 certificates worth $465 for $19.40. If I use just one, I’ve recouped my outlay. I bought mostly those that I’m familiar with and would have gone to anyway…and a few that I’ve wanted to try out. Yes, certificates have minimum food purchases, but I would have spent the $ on the food anyway, so not seeing a lot of downsides here. Also, if a restaurant goes out of business, let the site know and they will give you credit…</p>
<p>^^^^ Did you get some of the $10 coupons? Do they work at dinnertime?? I just bought 2 more, so have $75 worth of coupons and spent $4. Such fun!</p>
<p>You guys are great. I now have 5 gift certificates to my second favorite Mexican restaurant for a whopping $6.25! I might even share them with my daughter and her boyfriend.</p>
<p>Please be forewarned my friends. </p>
<p>My husband and I bought these on two different occasions in December as gifts. </p>
<p>One month later, my credit card started getting charged $14.95 through Shopping Essentials.</p>
<p>We didn’t sign up for the service, and restaurant.com has told me that they are one of their partners. There is one of those little check marks at the bottom of the page when you are closing your transaction. From what I understand, some people’s info has been retained, even if they didn’t elect this service and the charges begin each month, once a month.</p>
<p>This service won’t cancel our account until we send itemized bank statements listing each transaction. We didn’t catch this till this summer, because we thought it was a different legit charge, and I have been dealing with it, ever since. They tried to research both my hubby and I, and couldn’t figure out how to cancel from Shop Essentials. Then Restaurant.com got involved. Now the bank is involved.</p>
<p>Just watch your account where you bought those certs from. I wish I wouldn’t have bought them, because the amount of time I have spent to deal with this has gone on and on.</p>
<p>Shop Essentials is based in Nebraska and has numerous complaints about this. Google it.</p>
<p>Well, I used a virtual card so hopefully that will stop any problem. I also did not click the link for $10 off with Shop Essentials. AArrrrgh! I hate when I have to worry about this sort of thing. What a pain!</p>
<p>We didn’t use a virtual card, but we didn’t check that box, either. That’s why I didn’t make the connection till way later.</p>
<p>Hmmm… I’ve never had an issue with getting charged for some junk service. But thanks for the heads up-- I’ll keep an eye out for it on my card.
BTW, had an absolutely fun FUN night tonight at the restaurant. It was at a local airport. They made drinks with liquid nitrogen right at the table (great show and great drinks), then 2 cobra and 1 huey helicpoter landed and took off again RIGHT outside our window (the floor shook from the vibration) and they had a musician singing old James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel and Jackson Browne tunes. And the food was great too!! Quite a treat!</p>
<p>Two thoughts after reading this thread:</p>
<ol>
<li> Omigosh I sure have wasted a lot of money not being more clever about deals.</li>
</ol>
<p>and</p>
<ol>
<li>Somebody really needs to tap jym626 to get rid of waste in our government. You’ve got my vote!</li>
</ol>
<p>What is a “virtual card”?</p>
<p>It is a card attached to your credit card that has a unique number for every transaction you use on-line. You can set it for a certain dollar amount and time period. For restaurant.com, I set mine for $10 and 2 months; so that is all the card is good for. We set it up through our credit card’s website and we use it for all internet transactions.</p>
<p>I purchased 4 coupons yesterday for $6.00. We used a $25 last night. Only thing was this - I was thinking that we could just purchase $30 of food (for example) and use the $25 card. We actually were told that we need to purchase 2 complete “dinners”. So, the bill was around $55 and we used the $25 card. So had dinner for $30. Which was still a good deal, but I need to look into it a smidge further. If we had known this, might not have purchased the gift certificate from this particular restaurant - because it is not one of our regular places. We’ll see how it goes with the other certificates.</p>
<p>LOL spideygirl!! I will happily take the job of “coupon/cheapskate czar”! Thanks for the nomination!</p>
<p>In return, here’s another fun website that will, if you register, send you daily deals and specials in your city. Check to see if your city is on the list [Cities</a> on the Cheap Find Your City](<a href=“http://www.citiesonthecheap.com/find-your-city/]Cities”>http://www.citiesonthecheap.com/find-your-city/) If not, you can register for the main site and just see what general deals are available from big chains (eg there’s currently some special that Starbucks is offering on brewers and such, and a deal from Massage Envy, also donating some of their $$ to the Susan Komen breast cancer fund). So you can get daily deals form the big chains, even if not for your individual city. </p>
<p>Eddieodessa,
The restaurant.com deals do tell their restrictions on the coupon when you buy it. Its listed to the right of the page when you first pull up that restaurant (when you select either the $10 or $25 option) and it als has a pop up when you print the coupon, and it’s typed at the top of each coupon when you print it. Some aren’t good on, say a Sat night, and yes, most do require purchase of 2 meals and/or a minimum. But they are still great deals. We ended up spending a lot last night (the restaurant is known for their liquid nitrogen margaritas and martis- they were great!!) It was a very fun evening with lots of entertainment. We always split the coupon with the couple we are with. Only seems right, and they always appreciate it.</p>
<p>So many deals, so little time!! :)</p>
<p>I just bought a $25 gift card for only $1.00. How can you beat that? And I want to buy more… does anyone know when the 90% off ends?</p>
<p>I’m not much of a coupon person (I’m here to learn). </p>
<p>If the rule says $50 minimum, do you have to spend that much BEFORE being able to use the value of your coupon? In other words, you’d need to consume at least $75 worth of product in order to use your $25 coupon? </p>
<p>Or, can your entire bill be $50, and then reduced by 50% with the same coupon? </p>
<p>Lastly, when they say $50 minimum, is that in effect for every coupon? This would mean that I cannot ring up a $50 bill, and use TWO $25 coupons (that I paid $1 for) to pay for it? (That is what I would like to do, of course. 
)</p>
<p>spideygirl…most of certificates state that you order a minimum of $25/50 of FOOD (drinks Don’t count)…they add on the 15-18% gratuity…then you use your $25 certificate and pay the balance. There is limit of 1 per Party, per Month, per Restaurant and can’t be combined with other certificates, coupons or promotions. …so, no, you can’t use two $25 at same time. Not sure if any restaurants would ever sign on to a deal like that—they’d be out of business quickly!
Like jym stated, I tend to view sort of like a two for one…and I only use for those that I normally patronize…and I few that I’d like to try…</p>
<p>Teamfrangela…not sure when it ends, but you can put items in your basket and then put in coupon code. That will indicate whether still in effect—before you confirm or have to pay.</p>