Gourmet Traveller Gift Card

I received a gift card as a reward for my hard work on a huge work project. Decided to treat myself and partner to a dinner at one of the 'participating' restaurants and was told at the end of a very expensive meal that the restaurant did not accept Gourmet Traveller gift cards (silly me, I didn't think to check with the restaurant BEFORE we… Read more

booked! Naively assumed if they are listed as participating, that they would honour the gift card that has already been paid for). Learnt my lesson so contacted another 8 restaurants to check if I can redeem my voucher before booking, cannot find one we can travel to! To Gourmet Traveller, update your restaurants list as it is very misleading. To any potential buyer of gift cards, do not waste your money, the recipient will only be left disappointed.

Scam we purchased 2 card went to the restaurant and the cards were not working and the transaction declined out of pocket twice first for buying the cards and second had to pay a big restaurant bill. No answer the call centre number

COMPLETE SCAM – I received one as a gift and tried it at one of the "participating restaurants" in Sydney. But none of them had heard of it and refused to accept it, we tried at least 3 restaurants on the list. From what I read, other customers experienced the same. On top of this, their customer service team is off-shore and took 2 weeks to respond...

Misleading – Literally accepted at six restaurants in the entire state. At the time the digital gift card was received they had a huge catalogue of restaurants on their website. When attempting to use it at one of the venues, they declined to accept it and we paid cash for the meal. After contacting the company about this issue I was advised that the… Read more

restaurant listing was not for participating restaurants but in fact a restaurant 'guide'. Incredibly misleading conduct and going by other reviews here it sounds like an absolute scam.

Thieves – I purchased a gift card for a friend last week. Their website glitched & charged me for 3 cards. I have emailed and called every day since and been put on hold and ignored. They have now stolen several hundred dollars. No gift cards have been issued.

Be wary of their Digital Gift Cards – My partner & I had a digital gift card to use up last November. We went to a restaurant listed on the Gourmet Traveller (GT) website, only to be informed at the end of our lovely meal that the restaurant doesn't accept their digital gift cards and is not affiliated in any way with GT. So we were left in the embarrassing situation of having the… Read more

gift card declined and out-of-pocket for the meal. The restaurant did mention that physical gift cards are fine and accepted.

I raised a complaint with GT and demanded the only acceptable solution would be a replacement physical gift card (as I knew these would be accepted anywhere, unlike their unreliable digital ones). After some back and forth they eventually agreed to my request and sent a replacement physical gift card to me (to their credit).

The restaurant in question has now been removed from their website so not sure if they've finally updated and fixed this problem. But I did notice that others had similar complaints in the past with their digital gift cards not being accepted at various restaurants.

So my advice for those looking to gift or redeem, stick with their physical gift cards as these are more reliable and widely accepted.

Rated 2 stars because they did resolve my issue, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place as they would have been well aware of the issue.

Rip off - don't buy it – I order a $200 card and paid extra $29 for currier delivery to have it in time for a birthday. After 7 days I rang and they never send the card. I cancelled the order as the occasion was passed and I never got a refund for it.

Useless – Checked the balance. Said card unknown. Got an Indian call centre who struggled to find the number. Said it was activated and could use it. Advice: 1. Activate it at time of purchase. 2 Get the restaurant to debit it prior to your meal if you can find one that will accept it . A good chance it wont work. I will be talking to the provider about… Read more

this card where I bought it ( physical card) if I am unable to use it. Tried it a second time at one of the restaurants but made sure we got takeaway in advance. Told the card was declined. never given the card out or given the pin . A totally useless gift card.

Rip off! – I sent a gift card to my son in Melbourne so he could have something to look forward to after lockdown. The card never arrived and GT said it hasn’t been activated. I asked for a new one to be sent to my son or to send me an email copy. I was told it was being escalated! Nothing has happened! I’m now contacting Consumer Affairs! DO NIT BUY FROM THEM!!!,

I think this is a scam – I ordered a $250 gift card which didn't show up. They claimed it had been delivered. The Recipient confirmed it was never received so I asked them to cancel the card and reissue. They ignored the request and sent me an email several days later saying according to their records it had been delivered and therefore my customer service query had… Read more

been resolved.

Now on looking at the reviews below I believe this to be a scam.

I'll be contacting my credit card company to endeavour to reverse the transaction.

Avoid this group at all costs!

Mark

Terrible gift card! Cant redeem anywhere – We were given afew Gourmet traveller gift cards for our wedding. We thought the restaurants listed as partners on their website looked great but EVERYTIME we tried to redeem in person or called ahead to check (because we have been bitten before about 6 attempts) the restaurant would say they dont accept the voucher or are not participating with… Read more

GT. Gourmet traveller needs to update their website more regularly, because it feels like they are flat out lying thay they have all these restaurants on board when its just a waste of money.

Shocking! – Absolute disgrace of a customer service. Tried to refund after accidentally purchasing an additional card and within 15 mins of purchase and they refused to refund. Never again will I use this service.

Don’t waste your money – I have now been given 4 of these cards as gifts and I have never been able to use them. 1. Very limited choice of restaurants. 2. Two restaurants listed on the website said they don’t accept the cards. 3. Two restaurants could not process the cards and said that gourmet Traveller had not activated their eftpos machines. 4. When you raise an issue… Read more

with the provider they just ask you to provided more info even when you have provided the information then you get an email saying they will investigate taking 7-10 days. I am still waiting for an update 3weeks later.

Not good – Received as gift and feel obliged to use it, but its so difficult to find a local restaurant to use it at. Most restaurants listed won't get a meal for two with the $50 credit on it. Its hard to see this as a good card or gift for someone if they have to spend money to use it, which seems to be the case.

Would give zero stars if I could – Can’t use the card. Have been turned away from participating restaurants (so embarrassing) and now the number of participating places is basically zero. Awful customer service, truly the worst experience.

So disappointing! – So few restaurants accept it, time expired before finding a restaurant we wanted to use it at. Bad card and connection to great magazine. Terribly disappoint g that friends wasted money on this.

Customer service team need to get their act together! – Was issued a faulty gift card and was embarrassed at restaurant due to it not working. Had to pay for dinner out of my own money. Have called 4 times and I keep getting “It’s been escalated, We will call you ASAP” Still waiting 3.5 weeks later. Not acceptable! Very poor service!

Don't Buy!!! – My gift card was 3 months out of date and they would not warrant an extension. Despite HUNDREDS of retailers offering extensions. Terrible customer service. Please don't buy from them.

This card is no gift – Be wary if you are buying a Gourmet Traveller card as a gift. The unsuspecting recipient will not be able to simply use it at the overpriced and limited range of restaurants that actually take the card. There is major embarrassment if you try to simply use it as an eftpos card and you will have to use your cash or other credit card to pay for your… Read more

meal. The card apparently has to be activated at time of purchase. Unsuspecting recipients may try to activate it online some time after they have received it as a gift. They will be met with a 'failure to activate' message and a suggestion to contact the retailer from where the card was purchased. Now, in all seriousness, how is the recipient supposed to contact the giver of this card and get them to go back to where they bought the card who knows how many months ago and try to sort out the problem. And how embarrassing for the giver and the recipient of the card.

We were caught out in exactly this way recently when we tried to use the Gourmet Traveller card at one of the listed restaurants. We had not thought to 'activate' it because we've never had to activate a gift card ever. Embarrassment when it came to pay the bill. We tried to activate it online at the restaurant. Got a 'failed to activate' message twice and an unhelpful email telling us we would be contacted in 2 business days by a support officer.

Do your loved ones a favour and save yourself a lot of trouble - don't buy Gourmet Traveller gift cards for them. They are very limited as to where you can use them (most of the participating restaurants are very pricey) and the fuss about activation is just not worth it. A straightforward eftpos card which is automatically activated at time of purchase is a much better gift idea.