Four of us came to your restaurant yesterday (Sept. 24th) for dinner. We had a gift certificate for $85.00 that was given to us April. There was no expiration date on the certificate which I know is not required. Before leaving for your restaurant we checked your website and there is no information regarding the expiration of gift certificates. We called for reservations and asked if the certificate would be honored. We were told yes, We drove 30 mins to have dinner and we surrendered the certificate promptly after being seated. The gentleman who seated us was very politely and said he needed to check with the owner about the certificate. Mr. Ottaviano came to our table and told us he would not honor the $85.00 gift certificate and offered us the value at $42.50. He then told us that gift certificates always expire after one year and all restaurants follow this policy and that it is posted on the restaurants website. When asked if the $85.00 was going to be sent Pennsylvania Department of the Treasury as unclaimed property he said Oh, that is just a technicality that we do not worry about. He then stated that customers just do not understand how these things work. At that point we decided to leave and the final insult came when Mr. Ottaviano tried to keep the gift certificate which we did get back.
Needless to say we were all disjointed. As a business owner I was very surprised at the negative position Mr. Ottaviano took and as a restaurant owner his lack of understanding of how to properly accommodate four costumers on their 1st visit to his restaurant. I was even more surprised by his condescending attitude and making us feel belittled. Mr. Ottaviano has already pocketed the $85.00 and I do know how these things work. I will be filing a consumer complaint at the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection, reporting him to the Better Business Bureau, filing a claim for the value of the gift certificate at the Pennsylvania Department of the Treasury, and I am also considering handing the matter over to my Attorney.in addition, I have printed out your website and it will be sent with the claim to show that an expiration policy for gift certificates is not posted on the website as stated by Mr. Ottaviano.
After owning 6 restaurants it is clear Mr. Ottaviano does not know the law governing this issue and I would high recommend him to read up on the matter (http://www.attorneygeneral. Gov/consumers. Aspx? Id=280) and also do understand the power of negative customer reviews.
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