Review Time
DO NOT RESPOND TO THEIR RESERVATION TEXTS YOU WILL BE CHARGEDThey charge you. OpenTable say it's not them, it's the phone company, that may be so, but customers should be informed that their number is a premium rate number and responding will incur a fee.I messaged them, and this is the rubbish they responded with:"I see you wrote in about being charged for responding to your reservation confirmation via text. OpenTable does not charge diners or restaurants for SMS confirmation reminders, however, text message rates may apply depending on your SMS plan"The best thing to do here is to check with their mobile phone carrier. The charge may say "OpenTable" as the text was placed through our system, but the fees are placed by the carrier.I responded:"Untrue. If you reply to the text message that's when the cost is incurred, as OpenTable invites people to reply, but nowhere does it say that the return text can incur costs. Most reputable organisations would say something along the lines of "please note your operator may charge you"They responded:"We are not the ones who charge you and I am sorry about the charge being incurred, but you will need to speak to your phone carrier about the charge as we are not the ones who issue the charge"I responded:If I see a restaurant using opentable, I am actively going to avoid them.Basically, OpenTable is not transparent about their costs. Caveat Emptor!
I was issued a gift certificate that is a money order from RBC for $26 for using their service for booking reservations for a few years. I have tried to redeem the gift certificate a few times at different and supposedly it is accepted at any OpenTable partner restaurant but i have been denied. I contacted their support and their solution was to "call ahead." This company is making big commission and service fees from the restaurants but giving nothing back to the customer.
Yes, I got ripped off too. I had booked directly with the restaurant, like many of the other reviewers.The text caught me at a busy spot and I was worried I'd lose the booking if I didn't respond. My phone even warned me I'd be charged but I thought "it's only a text, surely not" wrong! Premium number, how is that even allowed?What a nasty business model.
Rip off merchants ! Premium rate to confirm a restaurant booking ! Fortunately I have my spending cap set to zero so they didn’t make any money out of me but I had the hassle of emailing the restaurant direct ! Will think again about using restaurants who use these con artists.
I have investigated this issue of OpenTable using a Premium Rate phone line to send booking details and ask for booking status conformations. You will be charged if you respond to their booking reminders or send the STOP to opt out of their reminder service. Open Table claim they don't get the fee but BT who charge me £0.13 per SMS Text, insist they pay the money to OpenTable. The Phone Paid Service Authority who are supposed to regulate this confirm OpenTable does use a premium rate line and should warn customers that they will be charged.
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