Charged £5 for damaging table mat

Grumpysally

Today a friend, my 3 year old daughter and I had lunch in a cafe in our local town. When I wasn't looking my daughter put some small stickers on her table mat. When I removed them they took a small amount of the top surface off the mat. When the waitress cleared the table at the end of the meal she made a great fuss about this, and the fact that a couple of stickers I hadn't noticed were stuck on the table but hadn't caused any damage.
When my friend went to pay the bill he was charged an extra five pounds because they would have to replace the whole set.They told him it was inaproprate to let a child behave in this way.
I'd left the cafe by then and was waiting outside. when he joined me and told me what had happened I went back in and demanded the set of table mats seening as I'd just paid a fiver for the damn thing. Several of them had gouges on them which I pointed out were not caused by DD which the waitress conceeded weren't and said some one had caused that damage on saturday and they'd dealt with the matter in the same way ( so thats £10 theyve made recently) I was furious. All the mats are slightly damaged they are not the good qualitly melamine coated ones, they look like they've been scratched with knives and forks over a period of time. I told them that their attitude stunk and I'd not be coming again. They basically said good ridance. ( that included the manager)
Just after we'd left we were approached by a chap who turned out to have been in the cafe (which thinks it's a restraunt) at the same time. He congratulated me.
I'm still furious, Im considering approaching the local newspaper to name and shame. They may be interseted if it's a quiet news week.
Do I have any recourse? I dont mind paying for damage caused, for example the price of one mat, or if DD had broken some ornament, but surely profit margins have wear and tear built in. Would they have charged us if we'd knocked over a glass and it broke?
Frustrated and fuming.
I shan't name and shame them here,yet, but may PM if anyone local wants to know. ( if thats allowed )
Alison :mad:

tipsychick

What a complete cheek! I would be furious too, if I were you.

Don't suppose your friend paid by cheque? You could then cancel it and send another minus the £5.00!

Why not get onto your local trading standards office? They deal with that kind of thing I think.

I'd give the local papers a go too. Perhaps they'll be successful in locating the other poor sod who paid a fiver for the same table mat!

jenniferpa

I would definitely at least write a letter to the local paper. Bearing in mind some of the the drivel that every local paper prints, I would think they would be glad of a different human interest story. I agree with you - place mats should be able to stand up to wear and tear - those don't sound as if they would stand up to a hot plate.

Jennifer

KatieKins

Definitely write to the local paper! and tell a lot of people. Nobody is going to risk taking their kids in to a place like that for fear of being charged for the tiniest mark/scratch etc

IvanOpinion

I can't believe they are charging for this? Surely it is just wear and tear .. OK so stickers should not have been put on them but big deal. The only issue I have though is that for £5 it would waste even more money for me to follow it up ... name and shame on this board .. thats what it is all about.

Ivan

aliasojo

OMG! Ivan agrees!

(Sorry....couldn't resist. ) :rotfl:

Feel free to post the name of the cafe, I should think it deserves some free publicity after that. It's a shame it has to be bad publicity though.

I wonder how much they make out of this little 'sideline' every month? :rolleyes:

beverleyhills

That's sheer daylight robbery. I would have thought that any damage could be counted as depreciation in the year end accounts. I will stand corrected as I'm not very worldly wise.

bh

jockettuk

did you get the mat you had paid for, sure i would have told them if i paid for it i will take it home..

did the cafe give out the stickers etc as some do to keep kids quiet if so they taken the mick even more..

Grumpysally

jockettuk wrote:

did you get the mat you had paid for, sure i would have told them if i paid for it i will take it home..

did the cafe give out the stickers etc as some do to keep kids quiet if so they taken the mick even more..

I got a set of four, all of which had some amount of wear and tear damage on them and one a great big gouge where some one had gone at it with a knife or fork. Definitely not caused by DD that one. Ive kept them all just incase I do go to the Examiner with my story as I think a photo of the offending 'damage' would go down well.

No the stickers weren't given out by them, I'm sure they would condisider such a thing below them. ( so the kids get bored and damage the place mats instead.)

Surely any cafe owner with any sense would provide hard wearing properly laminated and hygeinic place mats.
Alternatively put up a sign barring small children unless they were capable of sitting at a table with their arms folded.
A

PS. I agree with Ivan about the cost of chasing it up I have no intention of throwing money away on a principle. However am considering routes that cost me nothing but cause emabarrassment to other party.
I am also aware that 'revenge is a dish best served cold' so not going to rush into anything. Probably once Ive calmed down will write it off to a bad experience, but will let others know by word of mouth.
To add a note of balance. The food there is very nice. Shame about the side order of attitude.

Lorian

Is this a chain or a single shop?

jackieb

Obviously they can be choosy with who they want to be their customers. :rolleyes:

Let us know how you get on. They deserve to be named and shamed. Your daughter is 3 for pity's sake!