Gourmet society - [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

Freddie_Snowbits

gordikin wrote: »

How did they manage to get your card details for a free trial? Did they have a list of participating restaurants on their website? Did you read their T&C's?

They send in the heavies and pin them to the floor while grabbing their purse or wallet. Simple.

Use Freddie's rule of thumb. Is it free? Why do you want my card details.

Or wait long enough until it becomes free, as with SKY HD!

sandybrag

Is it legal to record a phone conversation like this?

bobtastic

I too have just received the letter saying they want full payment.

I had completely forgot I signed up to this. I've never used it as most of the discount offered in my area is available directly through the restaraunt anyway.

For example: Cafe Rouge, Pizza Express, Strada......all offer 2-for-1 / 50% off via the newsletter.
Paying £39.95 for something you can get for free doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, they said "there's nothing you can do, we don't 'do' refunds. All the information about cancelling the trial was written in the welcome pack".

What they say is quite right, it does say I should have cancelled. However, I threw that book out ages ago.

Although the website does say the offer refunds if you're not happy with the service - Trial customers are not included in this.

I guess the way they make their money is by hoping people will forget to cancel.

RadoJo

I think that the old adage is appropriate here - there's no such thing as a free lunch. The reason they offer the free trial is in the hope that people will sign up for their service, and having offered three months of their discounts they want to make it easier to sign up than to not sign up. What company would give away their service for free without any attempt to retain the business of the person using it - it just doesn't make sense? I'm surprised that there are so many people who think that a company will make money by giving them stuff without anticipating that they will need to follow the instructions to cancel the subsequent payment.

SheepLady_2

I have tried to book with some restaurants and they're not keeping to their agreements as set out with this 'Gourmet Society'.

We've paid good money in order to get preferential prices and it appears the restaurants can just do as they please.

We have to stick to the rules - why dont they?

This is a farce and never again will I join - they take our money and dont keep an eye on the restaurants.

Without the paying public, this 'Gourmet Society' will be no more...

Anybody else had these problems?

angelizz

Smartie24 wrote: »

I got my Gourmet Society card when this site advertised that you could get it for £1 for 6 months and I thought it looked like a great deal. Mine expires in November this year. I used it for the first time in Cafe Rouge last week for dinner for 4, had an excellent experience, no quibbles with the deal, and saved £40 off a £100 bill! I came on this site today to write a good review of it from a satisfied customer and then found these posts!

I must say that I wouldn't have remembered that I needed to return the card, so thanks to the posters above, I will be returning it by Recorded Delivery, and asking them to remove my details from their database well before my expiry date. Still not sure why I need to return the card though, as it clearly states on it that it expires in November, however the Recorded Delivery cost will be nothing compared to what I saved in Cafe Rouge, and I might make a few more trips there to milk it all I can before I have to send it back (no limits on visits to Cafe Rouge).

So although I think the deal is sound, and have found the card to work in the particular restaurant I visited, I will do everything I can to try and make sure I am not charged for renewal. Having saved so much in one restaurant visit, I was actually going to pay to renew, but having now read the posts about their insecure data storage I think I will find other ways to save instead.

Smartie24 - the offer that Gourmet Society ran on here didn't require credit card details so don't bother sending your card back. MSE ensured that there was nothing to cancel (I applied for one myself). It is the usual trials that GS do, and their annual memberships, not to mention the other plethora of problems, that people seem to have issues with. To be honest I'm surprised your use of the card went ok, although in a large brand like Cafe Rouge I'm sure they would all be briefed. On the 2 occassions I tried to use mine I had no luck whatsoever - "sorry we don't do that anymore" and "no, no, you can't use it tonight" were the responses I got (on a Thursday!)
To be honest there are much better companies and much better offers out there, IMO. Free sites such as toptable are good, but have limited choice, then there are obviously deals on here all the time (with a new deal finder page which Ive found really useful) and if you are going to buy a card like GS you'd be much better advised buying a tastelondon card. I got one for £49.95 a while back, but MSE feature a free trial they do, and I've seen posts on here for £30. Having now had both cards (tastelondon for over a year, GS for 5 months) there is absolutely no comparison between them. To be honest though, since the recession, I'm not sure I'd pay up front for any card - restaurants seem to be giving their food away anyway.

Smartie24

Thanks funtimefranky, but the terms from their own website don't really satisfy me that they actually comply with them and store card details safely. Also not sure of the terms of my trial as I didn't keep the welcome letter, so I will be phoning them up to check, although I'm sure Angelizz is correct about the deal through MSE. If people have paid up and then had problems with the deal in restaurants then they are right to come on here and share their experiences. I'm glad that you haven't had any problems using your card.

angelizz wrote: »

Smartie24 - the offer that Gourmet Society ran on here didn't require credit card details so don't bother sending your card back. MSE ensured that there was nothing to cancel (I applied for one myself). It is the usual trials that GS do, and their annual memberships, not to mention the other plethora of problems, that people seem to have issues with.

Thanks Angelizz, I did have to provide credit card details as I had to pay £1, but I think this was to kgb deals rather than to Gourmet Society themselves. I won't be getting a tastelondon card as I don't live in London but you are right that there are so many deals around at the moment to get people into restaurants that I don't think it's worth getting a card at all.

I do think that automatically renewing membership without any communication is a sneaky tactic by Gourmet Society and not morally sound, even if it does say that they will do this in the small print.

bunster

Funtimefranky - are you for real? You first post to the site and you post the terms and conditions from Gourmet Society in full!

2 things:
1) These terms and conditions WERE NOT on their (your?) website when I signed up a year ago. They have been added very recently, no doubt following mine and other people's complaints about there not being any
2) These ts and cs are a disgrace. Talk about small print. The mention of the renewal comes on line 118 on a 130 line document. Obviously they are simply trying to hide this from their customers. Hoodwinking people into signing for a subscription is no way to run a business, if you ask me, and there are going to be some very, very angry people out there.

So, to summarise; the trials seem to upset people, the renewals seem to upset people, the product itself upsets people, and the customer service of the company itself upsets people!

AVOID

NeverInDebt

You also :spam: forums 4 posts all same web site

Gkirk wrote: »

For all the people who have had trouble with the gourmet society, and live in Manchester why not try a Key for the City card.

they are able to get you discounts in loads of restaraunts around greater manchester and not only restaraunts but entertainments venues, spas, hair salons, hotels, car/limo hire and much more

You can save 50% off the total bill for up to 4 people per bill, this accounts to massive savings over the year.

i saved £60 the first time I used my card with my 3 friends.

www .getlost

funtimefranky

bunster wrote: »

Funtimefranky - are you for real? You first post to the site and you post the terms and conditions from Gourmet Society in full!

2 things:
1) These terms and conditions WERE NOT on their (your?) website when I signed up a year ago. They have been added very recently, no doubt following mine and other people's complaints about there not being any
2) These ts and cs are a disgrace. Talk about small print. The mention of the renewal comes on line 118 on a 130 line document. Obviously they are simply trying to hide this from their customers. Hoodwinking people into signing for a subscription is no way to run a business, if you ask me, and there are going to be some very, very angry people out there.

So, to summarise; the trials seem to upset people, the renewals seem to upset people, the product itself upsets people, and the customer service of the company itself upsets people!

AVOID

Yes Bunster, I am for real. I'm just a happy member of the Gourmet Society. I joined up and have really enjoyed using my membership, saved lots of money, and eaten at loads of great places. Thanks to the Gourmet Society I've discovered lots of places that I never would have found or thought about going to.

For those of you wanting to buy a membership, I found a great price for annual membership of just £27.95 by using the promotional code NTU. Great deal :beer: