The danger of using discounts!

tejsmith

If this isn't in the right place, please could somebody move it - it just seemed the right place to warn about the danger of discounts!

With the dawn of a new age of discounts, such as group buying, restaurant cards and vouchers, it is easier than ever to eat out. However, you don't generally expect the police to have to get involved. Last night 5 of us visited Connoissours Indian Tandoori in Norfolk Place near Paddington station, using a myrestaurantcard. The website states that the discount is 50% on food and we phoned up to check they were still accepting the card. As they were, we made the booking and trundled along to the restaurant. We had a nice 2 course meal with decent service, but when we asked for the bill, it came with no discount. We've experienced this before when restaurants forget, so we just called the waiter over and showed him the card. After a few misunderstandings (such as him wanting to use it as a credit card), he took the bill away and returned it to us - with the price of 2 main meals taken off. This obviously still wasn't right, but we gave him the benefit of the doubt and explained that the offer was 50%. This was when things started to get a bit hairy. He argued with us for about 15 minutes that it was 2 for 1, not 50%, even when we showed him the website, so we decided to leave our names and details as we are legally allowed to do, and not pay at that time until it was resolved. This didn't go down very well with the waiter, who started threatening us, telling us he wouldn't let us leave, telling us to 'just try to leave' and we wouldn't get out. More men came up from the kitchen and as we were the only people in the restaurant (I now see why), with a child, we were beginning to get worried and quite frankly, scared. We offered to pay the 50% we were meant to pay but this offer was firmly rejected. My boyfriend stood up to leave and the waiter yelled at him and grabbed his bag off him, telling him he wasn't allowed to leave. I managed to get out of the restaurant and ran to the police station along the Edgware Road, where they were incredibly helpful and sent police round immediately. The waiter had utterly no respect for the police, yelling at them in the same way he had us, but eventually he accepted the 50% (after changes of the bill when the police noticed he hadn't taken 50% off all of the food). All in all, we were unlawfully detained and threatened for over an hour and were all extremely shaken afterwards, as can be expected. My boyfriend's family missed their last train and had to incur extra costs for travelling back today and the car park fees at the other end where they had left their car. We're also worried as we realised we'd left our details on the back of the receipt. This experience should not ever have happened, but we have no idea where to complain to - we're pretty sure the restaurant won't be replying to our letter of complaint. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

ailuro2

if it's a well known restaurant you've not been to before you can check it out on review sites first, in much the same way as most people would use tripadvisor to check out what other people think of a hotel.

There are plenty of review sites out there, just google the restaurant's name with "review" and it should appear...

ailuro2

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/565020/restaurant/London/Indian-Connoisseurs-Paddington

Aah, I see you've found the review sites already.;)

Stardust

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d1089276-r102574415-Connoisseurs_Indian_Tandoori-London_England.html At least you've left your warning there as well.

tejsmith

We were out already unfortunately, so just wanted somewhere close to where we were, rather stupidly assumed that a restaurant on discount scheme would have been checked out by the company - won't be making that mistake again!

joerugby

Not sure which card you were using but the Tastecard offer for this restaurant is max 4 people, and no discounts available on a Saturday night. This is clear on the website

tejsmith

We were using a myrestaurantcard which is available all week at this restaurant and has no maximum diners.

holidaysforme

What a shocking experience.:( First of all, i would get in touch with My restaurant card ,outlining exactly what happened,- just like you have here.
At the same time write a letter of complaint to the Restaurant, asking them for an explanation, and for some sort of redress/compensation for your experience.
I'm not sure you would get anything, but it's worth a try.;)
I've heard of various experiences like this in connection with some of the other discount restaurant cards,- mainly Taste, but usually to do with disputes over the service charge.
Why on earth do restaurants sign up to these cards/discounts and then try to dispute the terms and conditions when it is clearly written in black and white in front of them:mad:
Are they stupid enough to think that we are not aware of what these T&C are, and we will happily pay full price.:eek:
This particular restaurant/waiter sounds absolutely awful, and must have left you shaken,- and not to mention angry. i know it would me.
I use restaurant tokens, Groupon, Taste and Gourmet Card fairly regularly, and on the whole have had positive experiences.
Don't let this bad experience put you off using your card. I haven't got a my restaurant card so don't know anything about it, but i do have a Gourmet card , and i have had a free 28 day Taste card which has just
expired. I used it twice without encountering any problems. I hope this was an aberration and not the norm for this particular discount scheme.
Do get in touch with both the Restaurant and with the discount provider and let them know what has happened.

geri1965_2

Good grief. What shocking reviews that place has got! It should be closed down!

holidaysforme

Yes they are grim.

esuhl

Wow! I've just read some of the reviews on Trip Advisor and I certainly won't be visiting Connoisseurs Indian Tandoori any time soon.

Well done on standing your ground and refusing to be intimidated by the staff. MSE is well-indexed by search engines, and your comments here and all the poor reviews on the review sites will cost the restaurant far more than the amount that they were (allegedly) trying to fraudulently claim from you.