Gourmet society - [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

estel_2

halibut2209 wrote: »

estel,

If was in customer service, I also wouldn't be inclined to assist anyone with your agressive and theatening attitude

To be fair halibut you weren't privvy to the phone conversation I had with them first. I called with a really simple enquiry about restaurants near to where I live and it was their attitude that resulted in me then sending the first email.

Perhaps in retrospect my email is rather confrontational, but the sting could have been taken out of it if they had been just a bit helpful on the phone, and, to be frank, if they weren't lying about their restaurant numbers in the first place.

sawan82

I've been following this thread since I posted, and there's such extremes of views.

I have a GS card, and I've had it since about October 2009. It was renewed automatically last year, and my credit card was charged accordingly. It said in the letter accompanying my new card and guide to send it all back if I didn't want it to renew. I mean, I'm always worrying about things going missing in the post when they have any value, so I always return/send things with Recorded or Special delivery. I kept my membership anyway.

I've used it a few times, enough to recover the cost, and any savings above cost I personally view as a bonus. I've always used it without any problems. The restaurant in the Holiday Inn Leamington Spa (can't remember what it's called - sorry!). The Water Margin in the o2 (I do recommend their buffet - only 20% off with the card as opposed to the 25% off a la carte, but I like the variety), and a couple of restaurants local to where I live.

Most of the places I've used it, the offer has been 25% off the total bill. But as they're places I'd eat anyway, again, I just view it as a bonus. I'm not keen on bogof on courses. Much prefer 25% off total bill or 50% off food.

I understand the issues some people are having, but if you're not sure then don't buy.

And just because I'm being positive, please don't assume I work for them!! I don't I work in a family business which has nothing to do with food. Fortunately as otherwise I'd need to lose even more weight, unfortunately, as a meal is even tastier when you're saving money :rotfl:

btw, if anybody cares, my new card isn't an 'open-up' one like my old one. It's just credit-card sized with empty boxes on the back for restaurants to write in their numbers if it's a usage limited restaurant. And all the places I've been to are unlimited usage anyway. So anyone in the area, I'd recommend Ferrari's in Bromley. Their pasta and fish are delicious

crystalmemo

emmalc78 wrote: »

Hi All

Secondly, no we don't show the offers that the restaurants run until you buy. This is to protect the restaurants. We tell them (and it's true) that only our members can see their special offer, that way they don't upset their customers. Once you buy you can then pick the restaurant you want to go to. Also we say "2 for 1" as that is the main offer we run. It doesn't matter if it's just on main courses, it's still 2 for 1 meals, so we aren't misleading anyone. duckbrfc, you seem to have all the answers, maybe you should start your own diners club and see how you get on??!!!!

I don't see the problem of showing the offers as tastelondon is showing all the restaurant's offers and what is it included in the offers (eg whether you can get discount on the starters, mains and desserts) on there website.

I just want to say DON'T ASSUME CUSTOMERS ARE STUPID. I was about to purchase a GS card but stopped by this thread. Your attitude is not very nice to a potential customer as what you have said are all "YES WE NEED TO EARN MONEY. OFCAUSE WE DO THIS AND THAT. IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH ME THEN YOU COME AND DO THE BUSINESS". I wonder how GS trained you and what did they teach you to do. I am scared if I got a GS card and unfortunately come across some problems. How will GS's CS response me?

After reading all the comments in this thread. I will definitely AVOID this company. Thanks people who shared their experiences so I can decided.

alypen

Thanks to everyone for their contributions: it's made interesting reading. I was considering signing up for the GS free trial, to see how they differed from tastecard, until I realised that I'd still have to give them my card details anyway, then I started looking at the t&cs and got a bit concerned about their insistance on debiting you for 1 year's membership, and then the next - I'm very wary about getting caught out by one of those continuous debit authorities or whatever they're called.

What's really put me off, though, is 2 things:

a) the layout of the t&cs: with right-justified text, virtually no line spacing, short on punctuation and nothing in the way of bold/underline/italics to make things clearer, they are poorly set out and very difficult to read, whether deliberately intended or not;

b) ever heard the term "pig in a poke"? You click through several pages on the website which seem to suggest that you can find out an individual restaurant's offers, only to end up with a "sorry, we aren't going to tell you"-type message. Frustrating, especially since I'm often eating on my own before meeting up with friends who are coming from all parts of London later and so 2-4-1 isn't necessarily a good option, and of course it gives me no opportunity to assess whether it's worth spending money on if I do take up the offer and forget to cancel it.

In their defence, though, the t&cs and/or FAQs which I've just read do say pretty clearly that you must return the card in good time before the end of the trial period if you don't want to get charged, and that they will continue to charge your card if you don't tell them to stop.