Refusing to pay restaurant bill

mountainofdebt

Well all I can say is I hope you didn't really want to go back there because if I was the manager, I would be full every time you rang up to make a reservation

custardy

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


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

you can,but should provide contact details

Taadaa

I think that not paying was a very mean spirited thing to do - even worse if the restaurant was a local one rather than a chain.

You felt pressured by the rest of the group to refuse to pay? Well of course, they clearly realise you are susceptible to peer pressure and it saved them having to do anything themselves and kept themselves in pocket at the expense of someone else.

If I was the restaurant manager, I woul refuse you entry forthwith.

gas4you

I recently had a meal out with about 8 of us.

My partner only chose the carvery option. The meat served to her was unable to be cut, let alone eaten.

When the table was cleared the waiter, who also was the duty manager at the time, started to ask if everything was ok, saw her plate and said ' obviously the meat was not ok'.

I quietly said to him that the meat was awful and could not be cut. He immediately replied that he would refund the meal.

He then came back and asked us if we wanted any extra drinks and some dessert. Half of us said yes and ordered them.

When he brought them over he added that the desserts and drinks were also free.

I replied by thanking him, but also saying that there was no need for him to do this as he had refunded the meal in question, but he insisted as a goodwill gesture.

I was more than pleased. I will always complain if a meal is not right, but as said, I always try to do it quietly, or to one side.

prowla

I've had a number of times I've been dissatisfied with a meal:

• About 15 years ago I had a meal and the meat wasn't cooked; I complained and they offered to re-heat it but I told them it had put me off. When the bill came it still had the item on it and I told them that there was no way I was paying for it. it turned into a bit of an argument, and I did not pay for it and have never been back.
• We went to a chicken place and the chicken hadn't been cooked through so we sent it back and got another. I think that we had a reduction from the bill, but I've never been back.
• We found a hair in a takeaway meal a while back (embedded in a foo-yung); I spoke with the manager who offered me some money off our next visit, but I've never gone back there.
• I had a burger in a hotel a couple of months back, and the chips were disgustingly full of grease (I think the oil wasn't up to temperature when they cooked them). I complained and the hotel removed the meal from the bill.

I think that the restauranteur taking responsibility and reducing or waiving the bill is really the correct way to go about things; of the above, I would go back to the burger hotel but not the others.

arcon5

prowla wrote: »

I think that the restauranteur taking responsibility and reducing or waiving the bill is really the correct way to go about things; of the above, I would go back to the burger hotel but not the others.

Yes, for the meal affected. Not for every other meal that was perfectly fine.

cattie

Wow, you were definitely way out of line to refuse to pay for any of the meals. Did it make you feel big and powerful to refuse to pay for any of the food? Feed your ego a bit?

The restaurant served one meal with an easily identifiable addition, which obviously came from a pot brush. A simple mistake that could happen anywhere. No doubt the manager would have been more than willing to negotiate a reduction of the bill, but you in one fell swoop, managed to drastically reduce or eliminate any profit they might have hoped to make that night.

Let's hope you don't meet too many people with attitudes as harsh as your own during your life.

prowla

arcon5 wrote: »

Yes, for the meal affected. Not for every other meal that was perfectly fine.

You eat out because you want to share an occasion and enjoy other people's company.

The restaurant is more than just the place that plonks the food on the table; they are the hosts to your occasion, and it is their job to deliver that too.

arcon5

prowla wrote: »

You eat out because you want to share an occasion and enjoy other people's company.

The restaurant is more than just the place that plonks the food on the table; they are the hosts to your occasion, and it is their job to deliver that too.

One persons meal was compromised, this is not cause to consider the whole occasion ruined. And definitely not cause to demanding the whole parties meal free of charge. What if it was a part of 100 people and a childs meal had a hair in? Would you also think it reasonable to demand the whole bill waived.

prowla

arcon5 wrote: »

One persons meal was compromised, this is not cause to consider the whole occasion ruined. And definitely not cause to demanding the whole parties meal free of charge. What if it was a part of 100 people and a childs meal had a hair in? Would you also think it reasonable to demand the whole bill waived.

I already said that I think that 50% would have been appropriate.

(If the offending item had caused injury, it would have been appropriate to sue the restaurant.)