dissatisfied customer

JuliePie is exactly right. I was working at Chili's during the time
that they were giving out a $5 "coupon" when you purchased a $25 gift
card (Holiday season of 05.) We were told that they $5 coupon was a
one time use only and I let people know that. Also, when I rang people
up I always made sure to enter the coupon first so they used the whole
thing. I'm sorry that they didn't tell you this when you got the gift
coupon.

Normal gift cards DO get a balance back on them though. But it did
always irk me that there was no where to write the current balance on
them and our receipts were sort of hard to tell what was left on it.
But they do have a number you can call and get the balance and any
Chili's employee can easily look it up for you on their computers.

They did this to me too. I had a $25.00 gift card plus the $5.00 one.
Our bill was $27 something. They ran the $25 gift card through first.
Basically, we paid $30.00 for our $27 bill. We took it off of her tip.

Knisha,

I bought my mom some Chili's gift cards for Christmas this year-she
loves to get Curbside To-Go when she doesn't feel like cooking!
Anyway, when I bought the gift cards at $25 each, they came with the
$5 cards you mention in your letter. The folks at Chili's I purchased
them from let me know that these $5 cards are NOT gift cards, but more
like a $5 coupon as a thank you for purchasing gift cards.
They work just like the "Bonus Bites" cards we have at TGIF. They take
up to $5 off of your purchase, not including alcohol, tax, and
gratuity. There is no change given, because it is a coupon, NOT a gift
certificate.

I hope that helps. I agree this should be printed on the card, but
that is probably why they let me know when I received them. Since you
got the card passed on from someone else, you did not have that
luxury.

I can't speak for anybody else but I like me some good chunky salsa
with my submarines and aircraft carriers.

Mmmm mmmm good.

According to the menu for the Mission Viejo, CA location:

"Bottonless Tostada Chips: Warm & crispy tostada chips with our
flavorful house-made salsa: $2.99."

With tax, the cost of this item would be $3.22 leaving a balance on
the card of $1.78. If you left a 20% tip (65 cents) then the card
would have $1.13 left on it.

So what you (or your fiance) are saying is that you want to go to
Chili's, order one order of the the all-you-can-eat chips and salsa
only to share (no beverages) and walk out with somewhere between $1.78
and $1.13 (depending if you left a tip or not) on your gift card to
use towards your next $3.22 order.

I seriously doubt that Chili's is interested in being "more
accomidating" to a such customers and I don't blame them.

I've seen cheap before but this takes the cake (or in this case, chips
and salsa).

ALL of these letters are named the exact way, which bugs me. I think
they are all fake. If the person swiped the gift card through, the
balance would be put towards the bill. I dont think they'd only put a
certain amount towards it. It sounds to me as though you wanted cash
back or something from the card, which I don't believe any stores do.
There are places called supermarkets you know...

Bad News: Letter isn't written too well
Good News: It has great potential! I see so much room for improvement
and it could be a good letter. Seriously, give it some attention and
I'm sure you can do better!

I would think for two people the bill would be at least five dollars
or over.

For the love of God - - if you are going to keep flooding PFB with
complaint letters, at least learn how to spell and perhaps use a
little punctuation.

If you don't understand that a $5.00 gift card is intended to be used
towards the purchase of food and beverages then you shouldn't be using
one. To expect Chili's (or anyone else) to let you use a $5.00 gift
card on more than one visit is ridiculous.

I had a difficult time deciphering this letter (gee, what a shock).
However, if what the OP says is true, then I don't understand why you
can't use the card more than once if there are funds left on it. I
checked out Chili's website and didn't see anything under their "gift
card terms and conditions" about a one-time usage only.

Perhaps they have a restriction that says if the card goes below a
certain amount then it is automatically expired.

What I'm wondering though is if Knisha used the entire gift card on
one of his previous trips, and doesn't understand that his $5 was
done.

Tell you what. All these businesses you're writing to via PFB will
get their acts together as soon as you get yours: Learn to write in
full sentences, with proper punctuation and grammar, and stop making
stupid abbreviations of every day words.

I could write better than you when I was 5. Grow up.

I don't know how to say this without sounding rude, but it seems like
you were trying to 'eat on the cheap' and those gift cards were
probably designed to get you to actually spend MORE than the card
amount.
I agree that if there's a balance, it should be usable, but...
Did you read the back of the card for restrictions/rules? It may have
been stated there.

Just please tell me that you left a tip at least.

How much do they charge for chips and salsa?

I gotta think that if all you want is chips and salsa, you could find
some at any supermarket, likely at a cheaper price.

If you are going to write all these letters, you need to pay more
attention to spelling and sentence structure.

What is "ships and salsa"?