TerraFin Station - reviews only please

Hope you guys are getting your tickets, talked to the owner and he said they are filling up fast:hurray::hurray::hurray:

 

My wife and I had reservations at the Angus Barn for our first wedding anniversary, however, we have changed our minds and don't want to drive that far on a Sunday night (January 2nd is the date). We are already taking a trip to Mexico in the next few weeks, so we just wanted to have a nice dinner. We decided to make reservations here Sunday night for a nice local dinner. Any suggestions on entrees/food?

 

Ok, I see all the positive thoughts on TerraFin, I hate to be the party blower, but we decided to try it for the first time. And well, we bought a coupon offline from Restaurnt.com, it cost me a little change, so we go to dinner, and I mention to the waitress (who was wonderful) that we had a coupon etc...so she must have told the manager on duty, He comes over & tells us that we cannot use our cipon because they already had 10 other couples use them previously. So what does my coupon, that I paid for off a site you advertise on, matter with people i dont know using their coupons????:nopity:

He went on to give us some lame excuses and continued to say the coupons wer hurting their business & they dont make money off them yada-yada.
So is this my problem that I am using a coupon that you put on a site to advertise your business? it dosen't say any dates or restrictions that I cannot use it? :beathorse: So we deemed that we would not eat there, nor be coming back....So he said use your coupon, but we are ending all coupons yada-yada--(thats not my concern, my concern was I bought this to use to try at your business,that your business is offering)

So we order,the food comes out, then comes out the Chef (owner) & he starts on the coupon, & how he is cancelling business w/Restaurnat.com, and he dosent make money & they dont like coupons, etc... But that is not our problem, the problem is you dont offer something, and people buy in on it & you decide to not honor it because you made a bad decision on your marketing.:iagree: personally did not enjoy their food, nor thought it was worth the prices. I would rather drive into Raleigh for the same prices & eat really good.
We will not be going back needless to say, and i'm sure their business won't par very long. :cheers:

 

That's interesting. I bought several coupons thru Restuarant.com for them. So far I've only used one, but I still have about 4 left. I'm going to call them and verify the policy, because I am not going to be a happy camper if I can't use them.

On the other hand, Restuarant.com will allow you to choose another coupon if the merchant stops taking them...

I'll let you know what I find out....

 

Ok, well I just called and spoke to Nathan. Here's what he told me in a nutshell....

They are losing their shirts on these things, and have asked Restuarant.com to cancel their membership, which hasn't been done.

He said they will honor any coupon that's been purchased, but that they will not be using the service going forward.

He was very nice, and very willing to speak with me. Apparently, they get absolutely NO compensation from R.com, and still have to discount a meal $25 when folks come in with these things.

 

That's basically the same thing he told us a while back, but that with some customers they don't lose out so bad, but that they were losing their shirts to people who come in order $30 worth of food and have the $25 coupon and then low and behold people tip on the balance of $5.

I know that Kobe in Clayton was experiencing the same thing and stopped taking the coupons altogether.

 

yeah and didn't Marco's go through the same thing too a couple years ago?

 

I hope they reconsider. I definitely see this as hurthing their business. As repeat customer who purchased several certificates, I'm very turned off by them changing their minds. As a business person, they should read the fine print and do some research before signing on with a company like Restaurant.com. You hear similar things with businesses that sell Groupons. But in my opinion, it doesn't change the fact that they should still honor the coupons at their face value.

 

Its a min. purchase of $35 to use the $25 coupon. Per a previous conversation at TF, they feel they were misled by restaurant.com's salesperson and were told that the average restaurant gets 10/month redeemed, and they were having 10/night. Not anyones problem, I know.... but TerraFin has been trying to cancel this contract since right around Thanksgiving. I remember only because my mom was here visiting when we were talking about there talking about them with one of the owners.

Kobe quit taking them and claims "they" were scammed, I called restaurant.com and the woman I spoke with was very willing to cancel the certificates I had purchased and issue me two $25 vouchers to redeem at other restaurants that take them. In Kobes instance, I don't think they fully understood the marketing concept and contract they entered into.

I personally don't buy the restaurant.com gift certificates until they get down to $2 for a $25 one. If we all recall Marco's did the same thing, except he was offering only to take off the value of what you paid. IE... if you paid $10 for the $25 gift certificate, he'd give you the $10 off and that was it.

 

Guess I better go ahead and use mine then. I bought several before Christmas and gave to my kids to use....and I have one myself.

 

Note to self....don't buy coupons from restaurant.com :x

 

Heck, I better use mine also. QUICK.
Good thing I only bought ONE
BUT it was only $2

 

Isn't the point of restaurant.com to get people in the door?? It's a marketing tool, restaurant owners, quit complaining!! Guess what marketing costs money….shock. Giving people who buy these coupons a bad experience in your establishment is what is hurting you.

And no I have no ties to these coupons....just a deep understanding of marketing

 

Actually if people followed the guidelines listed on most of these coupons I don't think there would be much of an issue either.

Quite a few complaints here about the restaurants.com site. including this one from an owner's standpoint.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/restaurantcom-c329961.html

 

:iagree: if the customers would read the small print and abide by the rules a lot of misunderstandings would be avoided.

 

We like TF very much. Have never purchased one of these coupons.
Restaurants.com now has TF $25 gift cards for $17.50. Min purchase $35 and 18% gratuity added on before $25 discount.
Maybe they are paying TF some of the $17.50 now. Not much of a deal especially if you are going to get the 3rd degree when you dine at TF!

 

None of the restaurants on that site see any of the money from the certificates.

 

Did I misunderstand or did he tell us that they actually just had their rates raised to $17.50/ea? So that means we as the consumer are paying restaurant.com for the certificate, and the restaurant by contract is also paying restaurant.com for selling them?

 

I have no idea what the restaurant pays but right now on www.restaurant.com TF coupons indicate:
$25 Gift Certificate | Your Price $17.50
ACT FAST! ONLY 2 Certificates Left!

 

Just an update from TerraFin, got this email yesterday.... they're working on some new ideas....

*******************************************************

Hi everyone! We hope this email finds you well. We just wanted to let you know that we will be kicking off the Superbowl on Sunday, February 6th with some of Chef Nathan's creations to honor Green Bay and Pittsburgh. (I'm thinking cheddar cheese HAS to be involved somehow...)

We are working on a new menu that will include fried seafood plates, new sandwiches and much more. Sunday brunch is also in the works so stay tuned for more information!

We also wanted to address a recent issue that came to our attention regarding restaurant.com vouchers. We feel that we were completely misled by this company and therefore are in the process of removing ourselves from their website and all affiliations with them. We will still continue to validate any vouchers you have already purchased, just as we have always done in the past.

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you soon at TerraFin Station!

PS- don't forget Valentine's Day on Monday, February 14th! We are already taking reservations... 919-773-2220