ComplaintsforTony's Restaurant

• Initial Complaint

  01/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My son presented me with a gift for a restaurant at Christmas some time back. Tony's St. Louis. $50. Paid in cash by my son. It came off of the gifts.opentable.com website. Due to health/travel restrictions for me, covid shutdowns, and the restaurant relocating, it took me some time to take advantage of the gift. On November 4, 2021, I finally made to the new location in Clayton, MO. I presented the gift and they indicated that they would no longer honor it. The terms on the gift read: No expiration date, service charges, or dormancy fees. I had periodically contacted the restaurant to ch*** on its value and was repeatedly told that it was still good. I assumed based on the “terms” above and the previous contacts with the restaurant that this would be true for the November 4 visit. I was very disappointed, but despite that I decided to have dinner. With tax, tip it cost me $71. Money I had not planned on spending, given the gift I had in hand. I was particularly unhappy as Tony’s has a long reputation of being an excellent restaurant for food and service, and charges high prices for the experience. They make millions each year, but can’t honor a $50 “cash paid for” gift certificate with their brand on it? Not classy, disrespectful to the consumer who paid cash for it, and received nothing in value in return. Disrespectful to the gift owner as well. I don’t know who financially benefited from the gift card. I assume it ended up on Tony’s P/L statement sometime after purchase.

  Business response

  01/25/2022

  In response to the complaint from Mr. ****** ***. We no longer accept ********* gift certificates, per the restaurant owner. We of course want to rectify the matter and have mailed a gift card for $50 to the address provided by Mr. ***. 

   

   

  Customer response

  01/29/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Although I appreciate the gesture made by Mr. *********, it is not what I expected. I have already spent over $70 on my initial visit. I do not wish to try to return to spend another $70+, in essence, $140+ total, to save $50. My expectation was to honor the original visit with a refund. As I have mentioned, my health limits my mobility and ability to travel, so I stay close to home.

  Lastly, I appreciate Mr. *********'s attempts to contact me via text and phone. I had intended to return his call, until I received  a text (Jan11) that was quite insulting, claiming I should have contacted him on the night of the visit. In his words, "I suggest that before you slam Tony's that u talk to the owner first."

  I did speak with him on that evening and he did nothing to make good on the gift certificate then.

  There was more condescension in the tone of his text, that I won't go into here, but I expected more, or at least a refund to compensate me for the original visit when he should have honored the gift. Mr. *********, I am not a CPA, but I have a career in marketing and customer service. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ***

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