The “fair usage policy” is something we got used to hearing in Lebanon in the technology domain, with data consumption. But guess what? Zomato has started applying it too.

On September 21st, if you consulted your Inbox/Junk folders at around 10PM, Zomato would have sent you a broadcast stating the following:

Dear Member,

Zomato Gold’s journey in the last few months has been nothing short of phenomenal. This couldn’t have been possible without the trust and support of our members and partners, so thank you for making this happen.

While we continue to make the program bigger and better for you, we also want to make Zomato Gold a more sustainable program for our restaurant partners. Therefore, starting 21st September, we are announcing a fair usage policy for Zomato Gold –

  • Gold members will now be able to unlock Gold benefits once a day. You can continue to use your benefits at any time and on any day.

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  • 1 Gold unlock per 2 diners and a maximum of 2 Gold unlocks on a table will be allowed, irrespective of the number of diners and members on the table. Please refer

  • We are adding new restaurant partners and continuously making the program better for you. However, we understand if you do not agree with the updated fair usage policy and, starting 21st September, we will offer zero-hassle pro-rata refunds on the Zomato app. In case of any questions, please feel free to write to us on goldlb@zomato.com or reach out to our chat support team.Thank you for the love you have shown for Zomato Gold. We hope you continue to enjoy your Gold benefits.

Members of the program visiting places with Gold privileges since September 22 are being limited per table and cannot use the option again before 24 hours have passed on their latest use.

As soon as they opened the app in Lebanon, a notification popped up stating the new ‘fair usage policy’ adopted.

I understand what restaurants – who demanded this – are going through and the financial crisis in the country, but all of this should have been expected, studied and worked with accordingly.

I hope we’ll see a compensation just like India got (and Lebanon got accidentally via mail, a previous one just before what can be read above) which stated:

However, what the company should work on in here, is the way they tackle their customers on chat support, especially those who are inquiring about the fair usage policy.

Here’s a preview: