Complaint Review: thevipcard - getyourvip

We have had a VIP card for 2 years now.  We use it mostly at Sequoia Brewing and Grill in Fresno,

where we dine frequently.  They have always accepted the card, as have other restaurants.



They also sell the card, but have run out this year, so I'm shopping on-line.



Sequioa Brewing is into the program as a fundraiser for the Starr A Starr foundation,  which is

involved in research on childhood illness and death.

I am a merchant & a VIP card owner in my area & am glad to be a part of it. It is a wonderful marketing / fundraising tool for schools, school teams, non-profits & churches. It is not a scam, otherwise Disneyland & The Make A Wish Foundation would not be part of it.

What I suspect happened in your embarrasing encounter was that the employee who denied your card, was unaware that his or her employer agreed to be part of the program. This can happen when a number of employees are involved in numerous locations of the business & the owner has not relayed the information to them, or they have not read posted company memos regarding it.

My suggestion would be to call the VIP corporate office (877-727-1010) which in turn can contact the distributor who signed up the businesses you were denied at. That person can then look up the contract that was signed, contact the business & straighten everything out.

It really is a win-win program for all. You should go on line to TheVipCard.com to check out all the advantages - especially to your community.

I use my VIP Card ALL of the time and LOVE it!  I am not sure what happened to the person who says the VIP Card is a bad deal, but it sounds like they need to complain to the business/restaurant they visited and not blame the VIP Card.  I am from the hometown of the VIP Card, and they are always involved in the community and have a stellar reputation.

I am familiar with this process and have had the same experience with a denial of a discount at a restaurant. It wasn't embarrassing but I couldn't speak to the manager at the time. At no point did I feel I was being ripped off but thought it was more likely just a communication breakdown.

Later I emailed VIP and the rep for that area called me and explained that sometimes there is a time lag between the original business sign up and the fundraiser that sells the cards and that the business often forgets the discount. A few weeks later the family dinner was at the same restaurant and the VIP card was honored.

My reason for writing is to ask the original poster to retract her complaint based on whatever new information she learned rather than have this Ripoff Report dangling here in cyberspace forever. Or at least, post a follow-up to the original complaint. There are enough REAL rip-offs out there that it's a shame to have a legitimate company smeared over a misunderstanding.

I wanted to respond to the Mrs. Thurstan from Ladera Ranch Ca. who claimed that The VIP Card is a Rip-off. The VIP Card is a Family Discount Card that saves the average family $50-$100 per month. Many non profit organizations such as Church's, Schools, Universities, Cancer Societies, and Club Teams have used the VIP Card as a fundraising tool, and have raised more money than they thought possible. The way it works is the VIP Card sells for $20 and the non profit organization selling the VIP Card keeps $10. and collects the money sold from the VIP Card and at the end of the fundraiser, "usually 2 weeks" they send the VIP Card Half of the money raised for the fundraiser. The Value of the VIP Card is in the Vendors or business's on the www.thevipcard.com website. A VIP Card representative personally goes in or speaks to the owner or decision making manager of each and every business that's on the website. We explain to the manager/owners that they receive free advertising and in return will need to offer VIP Card holders a discount. Upon agreing to offer the VIP discount, we leave a sticker and a stand-up VIP Card acceptance advertisement. Beachfire Restuarant has seen more business than in prior months because of the many new VIP Card holders. The owners of the restaurant are grateful for the free advertising and the new residual customers.    From time to time, a business owner/manager forgets to tell its employees the new VIP Card discount which is completely out of our control. Whenever a VIP Business denies a VIP Card holder, we immediately call the business owner a remind them of the VIP Card discount they signed up for. 99% of the time the business owner/manager expresses how they forgot to tell employees and we call the person denied the ViP Discount and usually offer them a gift card or free VIP Cards. As an independant contractor for The VIP Card, our main objective is to give businesse's more exposure and help raise money for non profit organizations with honesty and integrity. I love the VIP Card Team.

Dear Cindy,

I apologize for your recent experience with the three vendors who were unable to process your VIP Card discount. All of the vendors listed on our Web site sign a written agreement promising to provide their discount to our card holders for the calendar year printed on the card. We do not sign up a business without the owner or other authorized person's consent and written promise to honor The VIP Card.

Unfortunately, we do not have control over whether or not that business chooses to inform or train their employees on the correct procedure for processing transactions with The VIP Card. I'm confident that this is most certainly the case in your situation. And your frustration is warranted, to be sure.

However, I wish that instead of posting a complaint on this forum, you would have first given us the opportunity to assist you. We value every participating business and card-holder that supports their community through the purchase of The VIP Card.

If you are unsatisfied with the card please contact our office at 877-727-1010 - or through the contact form on our Web site - so that we can make this right. We would also appreciate knowing which businesses you had difficulty with so that we can address this situation properly.

I would kindly ask, though, that you reconsider your opinion of our company. The VIP Card is valid at over 7,000 business locations nationwide and we provide the best opportunity available for struggling schools and other non-profits to raise money to keep their programs afloat through numerous budget cut-backs and difficult economic times.

Again, I am truly sorry for your unfavorable experience with The VIP Card and hope that we are able to work this out with you directly.

Sincerely,

The VIP Card