Refusing to pay restaurant bill

pjbltd

Hi, wow 2 pages of replies in less than a day. To clarify I started the thread because I honestly did not know the correct action. I was being pressured by my guests to not pay for any of the food after the discovery and that is what I chose to do on their advice / peer pressure.

Perelandra

prowla wrote: »

I would have thought that allowing punters into the kitchen could itself lead to possible breaches of H&S.

Back to the OP, I think that a 50% reduction would have been appropriate.

I used to go to a restaurant in Brussels where everyone went through the kitchen to get in to the main dining area... it was a little odd, but the food there was terrific (so if anyone needs a good steak restaurant, send me a PM... )

With the OP- it would've depended to me on the reaction of the restaurant. If there'd been an immediate apology and a fair offer for recompense, then I would've happily accepted, and enjoyed the evening.

If they'd been difficult, I might've taken a harder line.

arcon5

Tina20 wrote: »

While training to be a chef a long while ago, my tutor told us that diners in the restaurant have a right to refuse to pay for the meal.

She said that's because a restaurant should be providing food and atmosphere that you enjoy, and if you didn't enjoy it you don't have to pay!

No idea if she was right, but if she was then you did have a right to refuse payment. Although morally, it's a bit dodgy

Dining in a restaurant is no different to entering any other contract. You expect the meal to be prepared with care and skill and to be of satisfactory quality.

This means free from foreign objects, closely represent the description/photography etc. If this is not the case you would have a case to reject the meal and not pay.

However, if the meal conforms to contract but you don't like it merely because of your individual taste buds, then you have no rights to not pay for the meal.

If the meal is not as it should be though and you continue to eat it all, you would also not have a right to get it free. You would be considered to have accepted it. Unless of course the problem was discovered during the meal in which case you should stop eating straight away.

She also said that every customer has the right to inspect the kitchen of whichever eating establishment they are in. Whether it's the ritz or mc donalds, they have to be willing to show you the kitchen.

Interesting

I don't know of the legalities of this, but I can't imagine it being true on health and safety grounds.

pulliptears

Funnily enough exactly the same thing happened to me a few years ago in a local Chinese. I found a piece of wire which looked a little like a staple, but I assume it was some part of a cleaning implement. I was with a group of 5 people. After finding it I have to say I wasn't keen on eating any more. To that point I'd had starters and half of my main meal plus drinks. The manager waived the costs I'd incurred to that point and we left it at that.

mynameistallulah

pjbltd wrote: »

Hi, wow 2 pages of replies in less than a day. To clarify I started the thread because I honestly did not know the correct action. I was being pressured by my guests to not pay for any of the food after the discovery and that is what I chose to do on their advice / peer pressure.

So now you have had time to think about it you will return and pay a fair price for the food you ate?

real1314

pcombo wrote: »

and what you posting that is suppose to upset me or something, are you the forum police or something nothing better to do with your time than try and bring people down.

stupid person that you are.

maybe you can correct this post down to the last full stop or comma.

You should have used: "try to bring people down". :cool:

paddyrg

mynameistallulah wrote: »

So now you have had time to think about it you will return and pay a fair price for the food you ate?

Make sure you speak to the manager if you do, and explain, and offer to settle up - he/she will be delighted and remember you positively as opposed to spitting in your soup if you ever go there again! Have a friendly chat with a bit of humility and they may even do you a special deal next time (all in the name of just and goodwill of course) - I probably would TBH if I were the manager ;-)

pcombo

real1314 wrote: »

You should have used: "try to bring people down". :cool:

Amazing........

giraffe69

Amazing........

You have already said that you don't care as long as you can be understood or perhaps on occasion misunderstood but you shouldn't assume everyone prefers your approach!

Hermione_Granger

pcombo wrote: »

I have more important things to worry about than losers trying to degrade my posts.

Yet you don't seem to be able to stop reading the thread and replying to the posts do you?