International Diner’s Club
Not to be confused with Discover card’s Diner’s Club International, International Diner’s Club (IDC) is local and is not a credit card. A co-worker asked me if I had used IDC and I had never even heard of it! He loves it for his family of 5 and has used it for years to rack up savings while eating out and I am wasting no time in signing up!
The basic concept is that you pay a $40 membership fee, get mailed a card or cards that you have to take with you when you dine and get two for one dining (of equal or lesser value of course). All restaurants are valid for dinner, most for lunch and some for breakfast.
With close to 50 restaurants participating in Roanoke, Salem, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Radford and Moneta and multiple visits available per restaurant, $40 seems like a nominal fee for half off dining. The return policy is 15 days for a full refund (could be a little longer in my opinion, but not too shabby). The big disclaimer is that the list can change as restaurants decide to participate or go out of business, so call to check if one restaurant sis a deal breaker for you before signing up. Check back here tomorrow for a full list of restaurants by city.
Contact number is 800.849.4432 and find IDC online at http://www.idc241dining.com/index.htm
January 12, 2011 - 6:48 AM
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Check with your credit union, they may offer the card at a discount.Ours has it for $35,plus you do not have to wait for it to be sent in the mail.
IDC is a really great deal for those who eat out even as little as once a week. My husband and I go to Subway every Monday, and we made back our membership fee in two months just from going to Subway. I couldn’t even begin to say how much we save in a year this way. There are dozens of local restaurants that participate, as well as museums and the opera. Great deal!!
I LOVE the IDC! It pays for itself SO fast. For example: One visit to Blue 5 in dowtown Roanoke for dinner alone will get you half way to the break-even point since they’re average dinner entree is about $20. For most places you can use the discount up to 12 times a year! It’s crazy how much you can save. You don’t have to even be a frequent “out to dinner” person. Even if you used it just once a month for a year, it’d easily pay for itself. It’s a great deal that’s underutilize. They DO seem to run a full page black and white ad in the paper from time to time, so I’m kind of surprised you’d never heard of it (that’s how I found out and I don’t work there!).
Thanks for sharing about this, Hollie! There is a full page ad with all of the information today in The Roanoke Times on page A7. Check it out!!
John, I’m ashamed to say, I usually don’t read through the paper, the web is my main source for local news and I go to the print version if I know specifically what I want to read.
Nice, nice…
I am VERY disappointed in the International Dining Club. It never fails that there are “stipulations”, “exclusions” and “restrictions”, OR it’s the wrong restaurant location OR they don’t accept it until after 4pm. And yes, I think you could eventually get your money back, but so many of the restaurants are not restaurants we would frequent anyway, so we are just spending where we wouldn’t have spent. This was a Valentines Day gift, and both of us are disgusted with it, and will NOT be purchasing again.
I’m sorry you haven’t had luck with the program, Peggy.
IDC is pretty upfront about the restrictions and exclusions from everything I’ve seen and you can view the restaurant list before you purchase anything, so I’m kind of surprised you purchased it in the first place based on your complaints.
Since all of the restaurants participate during dinner hours and you still have almost a year left on your membership hopefully you’ll still be able to earn your money back. It might be an excuse to try out a couple new places you wouldn’t have otherwise.
It is a good reminder for everyone, though, that there’s always some sort of catch, so make sure it works in your favor before putting money into an offer.
I’m replying to
“Rebecca Holland Says:” posted “March 25th, 2011 at 3:00 pm”
I was considering joining “International Diner’s Club, Ltd.” in the Myrtle Beach, SC area. I contacted IDC’s Email Customer Service, cindy@idc241dining.com, and ask for information regarding what the restrictions were as they say, “*(Some restrictions apply)” under almost every restaurant in their list.
International Diner’s Club. Ltd.’s reply to me was that I could not find out the specific “stipulations”, “exclusions” and “restrictions” until I joined, paid and received my package!!! Even then, from some of the post above, it is unclear and deceptive and you cannot know what you are buying until you buy it and try to use it.
I will not be joining because of this. I can see no practical reason for IDC to NOT spell out the “stipulations”, “exclusions” and “restrictions” on their website unless they hope potential customers will assume the best. I’m old enough to have learned not to assume anything, especially when they resist making it clear to you. I’m glad I did some research before joining the International Dining Club, Ltd..
Wm. McDonald
Anderson, SC