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Vent & Praise

Went out for a meal with some friends, and had £15 of ClubCard vouchers which I converted to £60 of Pizza Express vouchers. To try to save some more money I then got some two for one + a free garlic bread vouchers printed out as well.

The ClubCard vouchers said that they can only be used up to a max of 8 people (we had 12), and the vouchers say they cannot be used with ClubCard vouchers - but I thought i'd try anyway and rang a local branch and explained the situation and they said it would be "managers digression", but they'd let it though. I then called another branch, who said the same thing (after checking with a manager) and so I reserved a table with them.

So today I go for the meal - all goes well and then bill comes. Apparently you can't use the two things together and so I have to pay the full price (:rolleyes:) and convieniantly have no recollection of them saying they'd honour both. Lots of arguing ensues, with them then saying that if I paid in full now, they'd refund me if a staff member remembered anything (again - :rolleyes:). From the prompts on the system it seemed that it didn't want to let it through in one transaction.

I got them to call the guy who made the original reservation, and after waiting a suspiciously long time they came back and said they'd do it. They then presented me a bill, and so I set about working out how much each person should pay.

When I looked at the bill I realised i'd only been charged £34.60 - It seems that they'd put all the "free" Pizza's, Garlic Bread and (most of the) drinks on Receipt#1, and I can only assume that the rest of the pizza's and drinks were on Receipt#2 which would of come to at least £60...

£34.60 works out to less than £3.20 per person, so everyone was happy - I almost felt guilty 'till I found they charged £5.95 each for a bottle of beer!

It's a vent that they tried to screw me over, but also praise that their staff seemed to have let a massive cockup through :P
Nothing I say represents any past, present or future employer.
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Comments

  • Jakg wrote: »
    It's a vent that they tried to screw me over, but also praise that their staff seemed to have let a massive cockup through :P

    How did they try to screw you over? You were trying to use the vouchers outside of their T&Cs and got p'd off with them when they tried to question it, and in the end you screwed them over on the bill anyway!
  • Jakg
    Jakg Posts: 2,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    How did they try to screw you over? You were trying to use the vouchers outside of their T&Cs and got p'd off with them when they tried to question it, and in the end you screwed them over on the bill anyway!
    They agreed that it would be ok when I booked the table, and yet when I actually tried to pay the said they wouldn't let me leave until I'd paid the full amount - which imo is bait and switch.

    It's outside of the T&C's - but they said it would be ok to use, and then went back on that.
    Nothing I say represents any past, present or future employer.
  • dmg24
    dmg24 Posts: 33,925 Forumite
    Jakg wrote: »
    They agreed that it would be ok when I booked the table, and yet when I actually tried to pay the said they wouldn't let me leave until I'd paid the full amount - which imo is bait and switch.

    It's outside of the T&C's - but they said it would be ok to use, and then went back on that.

    According to your OP they said it would be at the manager's discretion (not digression!) - they did not appear to say that the manager had agreed!
    Gone ... or have I?
  • Reggie_Rebel
    Reggie_Rebel Posts: 5,036 Forumite
    Live by the sword, die by the sword
    It's taken me years of experience to get this cynical
  • BeenieCat
    BeenieCat Posts: 6,567 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I went to Pizza Express with some vouchers once think they were 2 for 1 vouchers and there was 8 of us. We let them know we were using vouchers when we sat down and they said the vouchers could only be used on a table of 2.

    We said okay, 4 tables of 2 please.

    The bint actually started setting 4 tables til her boss came over and said they'd allow it "this time". What a silly rule :D

    :rotfl:
  • Jakg
    Jakg Posts: 2,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    dmg24 wrote: »
    According to your OP they said it would be at the manager's discretion (not digression!) - they did not appear to say that the manager had agreed!

    Sorry, was tired last night and blindly followed Chrome's suggestions.

    Store #1 said it was managers discretion - but would let it through, Store #2 also said that it would be ok when I booked the table
    Nothing I say represents any past, present or future employer.
  • RadoJo
    RadoJo Posts: 1,828 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Just let me check if this is correct:

    1. You wanted to use clubcard vouchers for a party over the limit of 8 people
    2. You wanted to use a second set of vouchers as well, which stated they weren't valid when used with the clubcard vouchers.

    Did you explain the situation with both sets of vouchers when booking, or were you just checking that you could use the clubcard vouchers for a larger party than expected? Is it possible that they misunderstood that you wanted to use both sets of vouchers and only addressed the issues with one?

    To be honest, I would expect there to be some flexibility in the use of vouchers, but I can also understand why they would not want to let a party of 12 people in who would essentially be paying very little for their food - after all, it's a business and whilst they want to attract customers, there's no point if they don't make any money out of it!
    It sounds like it all worked out ok in the end, but in that situation, it's probably worth confirming again once you arrive that they have understood the situation correctly.
  • Jakg
    Jakg Posts: 2,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    RadoJo wrote: »
    Did you explain the situation with both sets of vouchers when booking, or were you just checking that you could use the clubcard vouchers for a larger party than expected? Is it possible that they misunderstood that you wanted to use both sets of vouchers and only addressed the issues with one?
    Yes - I asked if they would do both over the phone on the same bill and (after checking with the manager) they said it would be ok, even after I mentioned the T&C's excluding this.

    I would of thought there would of been a note written down somewhere but inherently not - note to self - get names in future...

    I understand they wouldn't want to do it - but it's a bit late to tell me that after i've eaten the food and you told me otherwise before I bought it... :rolleyes:
    Nothing I say represents any past, present or future employer.
  • chuckley
    chuckley Posts: 4,405 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    if the till says NO u cant complain. and quite frankly u knew u couldnt use it anyway. so u have no comeback.
  • Jakg
    Jakg Posts: 2,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    chuckley wrote: »
    if the till says NO u cant complain. and quite frankly u knew u couldnt use it anyway. so u have no comeback.
    Except they told me over the phone i would be able to and as such only took a tenner with me.

    Would you be happy if they told you it would be £5 per head and then after eating the meal it wasn't and you had to pay £20 each? Same thing...
    Nothing I say represents any past, present or future employer.
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