Motherhood Maternity and the $50 Restaurant Certificates

lilbit923

I had gotten no Christmas shopping done till this past weekend. Not even candy for the kids stockings. Geez I am so far behind. So while SS and DH were finishing the nursery (so stinking excited about that) I needed a holiday dress for DH's office Christmas party and might as well get some holiday shopping done too.

Went to Motherhood Maternity after seeing a dark magenta dress I thought would be cute. Turns out it was and I saw a placard in the store that advised if you spent $75 then you'd earn a $50 restaurant certificate. Sounds good to me. Might be useful for a last night out with DH since we are scheduled for our c-section in 2 weeks.

So I bought a set of PJ's, maternity spanx and 2 dresses. Got the coupon and code to get my meal certificate...seemed simple enough. I hadn't looked in to it till I got to work today.

I entered my redeemable code from my receipt, entered my zipcode, city and state and I'm thinking...sweet! A nice dinner with DH. Yeah, not so much. Everything I have seen that would be ok to pick has a catch. Everything. The certificate is for $50. If I use the whole thing at one of the restaurants then the total bill has to be at least $100. If you half the certificate to $25 then the total bill has to be around $35-$50. Give me a break! You think you're getting a good deal and it's upsetting when you learn it's not even close.

Has anyone else noticed this crap too?

To me, that's not a good deal if it's still going to cost us to go out to eat. We can do that by ourselves and surely don't need a certificate to help us along.

shkdo0701

That is a crappy deal... I wold be pissed!!!

lilbit923

shkdo0701:

That is a crappy deal... I wold be pissed!!!

Isn't it? I was ticked when I kept reviewing areas around Houston to see if there was a better "deal" for the certificate and they are all the same. It's never "free" like the certificate says....it will always cost you something. Well, to me? That's no bargain at all.

MrsHK

Yup, someone posted a warning recently about it. Although I use restaurant.com frequently for ourselves. They are not gift certificates to me, really just coupons. It's important to read the fine print, but really I think this one is just all out misrepresentation.

I find some great deals on restaurant.com otherwise though. You can generally search for other coupon codes and get $25 or $50 for as little as $3 sometimes. Still yes you have a minimum purchase, but when you add it up it can make for a good coupon. Like I said, coupon, not gift certificate. Otherwise, yes I'm irritated by gifts that cost us money to use.

pdxjenn

I knew when I saw this advertised that it couldn't be without a catch. I friggin hate Motherhood Maternity.

lilbit923

MrsHK:

Yup, someone posted a warning recently about it. Although I use restaurant.com frequently for ourselves. They are not gift certificates to me, really just coupons. It's important to read the fine print, but really I think this one is just all out misrepresentation.

I find some great deals on restaurant.com otherwise though. You can generally search for other coupon codes and get $25 or $50 for as little as $3 sometimes. Still yes you have a minimum purchase, but when you add it up it can make for a good coupon. Like I said, coupon, not gift certificate. Otherwise, yes I'm irritated by gifts that cost us money to use.

I agree with you. There is a distinction between coupon and certificate. You'd expect a coupon to cost you something. You expect a certificate to be a way where it doesn't. I've already emailed Motherhood Maternity and explained how their "new and exciting" promotion sucks ass.

At the end of my pregnancy I'd like to have a nice dinner out with DH. Not that we don't go out or can't afford it, but I excited to show him that we'd actually have a dinner out that wouldn't cost us anything. A last date before Emma arrives, if you will. Aside from the complications we've faced during this pregnancy we are both ecstatic and excited to meet our new daughter. I thought this would be a nice thing for us to do. We still might, but we'll go ahead and pay for it ourselves vs using this crap. Unreal.

Luciddream328

Everything from restaurant.com is like that.  A while ago they were selling $50 certificates for like a dollar so I said, why not, and bought 5.

Yeah, total bill must be over $100, not including alcohol!  Not that I'm drinking alcohol these days anyway, but still.  How am I supposed to get up to $100 at a chicken wings place?  I guess we'll have to get some people together and all go.  Ugh. Never again. 

TDM

I have received restaurants.com gift certificates in the past so I was aware of how they work. And while I agree they should advertise it better, we specifically asked one of the CSR's there to explain it to us in full just to make sure it was what we thought it was.

Motherhood had so many sales going on I would have spent the $75 regardless...maternity clothes add up quick!

AFWife1229

Yep. This happened with a gift certificate my DH got with his Coke Reward points. It wasn't a huge deal for us, but I can see how it can be annoying.

MrsHub

TDM:

I would have spent the $75 regardless...maternity clothes add up quick!

I am bummed this is the case. DH just redeemed $25 of the $50, let's see how this works out when we get to the restauraunt. 

 

MrsHK

MrsHub:

TDM:

I would have spent the $75 regardless...maternity clothes add up quick!

I am bummed this is the case. DH just redeemed $25 of the $50, let's see how this works out when we get to the restauraunt. 

 

Just read the certificate you bought. It should say it pretty clearly there. 

MrsHub

MrsHK:

MrsHub:

TDM:

I would have spent the $75 regardless...maternity clothes add up quick!

I am bummed this is the case. DH just redeemed $25 of the $50, let's see how this works out when we get to the restauraunt. 

 

Just read the certificate you bought. It should say it pretty clearly there. 

 

Thanks, I will