Outback Steakhouse Buy GC Get Free GC "deal" small print

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We went out to Outback Steakhouse tonight. On the way in I saw a sign on the door that basically said if you buy a $100 GC they will give you a $20 GC for free. So dh and I talked about it and decided to do just that and keep both GC since that amount would cover (or almost cover) 3 trips to Outback thoughout 2012.

When the bill and GC came there was a printed out slip indicating the $100 GC had been activated but not one for the $20. So I asked about it - I was then told the $20 GC is ONLY good for one month basically early Jan to early Feb. Since we were going to be out of town for much of that time (and I wanted the flexibility to use the GC whenever we wanted to) we gave them both GC back and had them cancel that transaction.

All is fine with us but wanted to let you all know (if you don't already) that the $20 GC isn't good for the whole year and is really quite limited. There was nothing in writing (on the table or on the door) to indicate this so FYI.

I was really surprised by the limited timeframe. We've never purchased GC from Outback before (so maybe this isn't news to anyone) but we have gotten this sort of GC deal from other restaurants (more along the line of buy $20 worth get $5 worth free but same sort of idea and they didn't have a time limit other than you couldn't use the $5 until the start of the year).

 

[Yoshi]

Thanks for the warning, I am not a fan of those buy a gc get a gc deal free promotions at restaurants since the free gc usually isn't a real gc and is considered a promotional card and can't be used with other offers or coupons.

 

[Sadie22]

I'll have to check out any signage at our local restaurant. The flyer I received with my Sunday paper states "This is a promotional card. THIS IS NOT A GIFT CARD." There is a photograph of the $20 bonus card which states valid 1/1/12-2/10/12 right next to that message, and on the other side of the flyer is a coupon for $5 off two entrees through 12/15/11.

I think Outback may have done the buy $100 in gift cards, get a free $20 gift card in the past, so this is something different to be offering a limited-time-only bonus card/coupon, but I could be wrong. We haven't done this in the past and I've regretted it when the family has gone there around New Year's anyway. Since Outback is my go-to celebration restaurant, I think I'll purchase this offer this year. If nothing else, we can use the bonus card to celebrate Valentine's Day early.

 

[seasheller]

Last year the Applebee's "free" gift card was also limited to Jan.-Feb. Don't remember the exact date. We went there two days after it expired in Feb. but they were willing to accept the card for payment on the bill.

 

[akcire]

The offer was exactly the same last year. I know because I did some corporate purchasing last year and purchased $2000 in gift cards. This translated into $400 in bonus cards for me. I met most of my friends and neighbors one night and we paid for most everything with the bonus cards.

 

[walkdmc]

We had a similar experience after buying GCs at the Bonefish Grill a couple of years ago. The "bonus" GC was far too restrictive for us to fall for that again.

I've seen a few restaurants offering a GC with the purchase of a GC. I wonder how many of those are like the Outback's deal?

 

[bkangell1979]

This has been pretty normal for most restaurants the last few years.

What we typically do is before our meal.... go up to the bar and purchase a gift card.... then we use the regular gift card to pay for our meal (we were going to spend that money anyway).... so basically we end up with a promotional card for free. We typically do this a couple of times during December and it gives us some free promotional cards to use in January when cash flow tends to be tighter.

Also, another good tip is signing up online for restaurant e-mail lists. Most of them offer free or buy one get one free meals within 2 weeks of your birthday. In my area, this includes, Applebees, Ruby Tuesdays (free entree), TGI Fridays, Dairy Queen (free blizzard), Red Robin (free burger), Chilis (free desert), Cold Stone Creamery, Texas Roadhouse (free appetizer), and I am sure a few others that I have forgotten.

 

[Tiger926]

Sorry, you didn't know the program details before your purchase, as pretty much all restaurants do that.

They are giving you a free gift card, and so the stipulation is that you have to use it within a very short time period.

We don't buy any of those due to that fact - if we were to give the free gift card as a gift, then it puts too much pressure on the recepient to use it or lose it, and if we kept it for ourselves, it's the same issue.

I just noticed this same deal at several restaurants as of late, and the program details are clearly laid out on the huge posters or tablecards in the restaurant, so not sure about Outback? Maybe you can email corporate about the lack of posted details?

Good luck in using your gift card, Tiger

 

[scrapquitler]

0When the bill and GC came there was a printed out slip indicating the $100 GC had been activated but not one for the $20. So I asked about it - I was then told the $20 GC is ONLY good for one month basically early Jan to early Feb. Since we were going to be out of town for much of that time (and I wanted the flexibility to use the GC whenever we wanted to) we gave them both GC back and had them cancel that transaction.

All is fine with us but wanted to let you all know (if you don't already) that the $20 GC isn't good for the whole year and is really quite limited. There was nothing in writing (on the table or on the door) to indicate this so FYI.

I was really surprised by the limited timeframe. We've never purchased GC from Outback before (so maybe this isn't news to anyone) but we have gotten this sort of GC deal from other restaurants (more along the line of buy $20 worth get $5 worth free but same sort of idea and they didn't have a time limit other than you couldn't use the $5 until the start of the year).

I've purchased GC from several different restaurants over the years with this sort of "Buy $100 get $20" or whatever deals. There's almost always a limitation on the bonus gift card. Sometimes it's that bonus gift cards cannot be combined (if you have two of the $20 bonus gift cards, you can only use one of them per visit) and sometimes it's a limited time offer, where you can only use them for one month, or after a certain date. Instead of being like a 'real' gift card, they are more like a coupon.

I've got no problem with that, and everywhere I've purchased them has always been upfront and explained the caveat at the time of purchase.

 

[minniecarousel]

When Chili's has that promotion, it's the same deal. The bonus one is good for a limited time after the holidays.

 

[shortbun]

common thing but a great way to get free winter lunches out of your
Christmas gifts OR get a discount on a few dinners.

 

[andrews_dad]

Bob Evans had that deal last Xmas. Bonus card expired Feb 1 or something

 

[rparmfamily]

We did a deal thru PF Chang's and got gift vouchers which were good all year.