Refusing to pay restaurant bill

JayHS357

A few years ago we all went out for a lovely family pub meal, there were 10 of us, and we all got our food and drinks and having a merry time. But at the end of me eating my chosen "home made Ale Pie" I found what looked like a pubic hair? in the bottom of the dish. I did not know what to do but I informed the manager in case I was not the only one in the future and she offered us all free deserts and a round of drinks. to which we were all ok with.
I did not ask for it but would also not decline the open offer.
looking back i wish i had refused to pay the entire bill as you simply do not know what else was in any of the other meals.

just because were are british, does not mean "to not complain" it is up to the person and the place to come up with what is a suitable deal or refund or offer.

I am told that it is our right to walk away if we are not happy with the meal or service if this found offensive.

transient

Lip_Stick wrote: »

I guess if the OP bowed to pressure, then the restaurant manager did too. If he was that bothered about the customer paying a percentage, then he should have done more about it.

I dont think he was ina position to t be honest, that is 8-10people, same amount of mouths, it only has t be mentioned a few times from them all for it to have got to 1000's of people and if it is in a small area then that is the end of that restaurant

malchish

A restaurant meal value consists of 1)cost of food ingredients 2) cost of labour 3) value of experience
In this case 1) food ingredients were eaten and can be paid for 2) labour was substandard (fiber left) 3) experience was ruined.
How much to pay? ...

ellay864

JayHS357 wrote: »

A few years ago we all went out for a lovely family pub meal, there were 10 of us, and we all got our food and drinks and having a merry time. But at the end of me eating my chosen "home made Ale Pie" I found what looked like a pubic hair? in the bottom of the dish. I did not know what to do but I informed the manager in case I was not the only one in the future and she offered us all free deserts and a round of drinks. to which we were all ok with.
I did not ask for it but would also not decline the open offer.
looking back i wish i had refused to pay the entire bill as you simply do not know what else was in any of the other meals.

just because were are british, does not mean "to not complain" it is up to the person and the place to come up with what is a suitable deal or refund or offer.

I am told that it is our right to walk away if we are not happy with the meal or service if this found offensive.

How can you refuse to pay for what seemed a perfectly acceptable meal? By that logic we should all refuse to pay for any meal as there might have been something but we just hadn't been aware of it!

redpete

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.

You still haven't said whether everyone else finished their meals that they refused to pay for.

mo786uk

To clarify the law on this

Under the SUpply of Goods and Services Act 1982 a restaurant provides a service like any other and if they haven't provided that service satisfactorily then you can withold payment. The restaurant could obviously sue you for the money but it might not be worth it.

Entireley seperate from the above is the Fraud Act 2006. If you go into the restaurant with then intention of saying the food is crap and not having to pay for it then you likely commit an offence under the named Act. The 'false representation' would be made at the time you say you are not paying for the food because of X reason (if your statement was knowingly dishonset).

Guifre

Although it's always worth knowing your rights, I can't help thinking that many people are missing the point here. I'll declare my 15 years as a restaurant manager at this point, so you can judge my post in light of this.

Restaurants make little money out of you if you visit once. The company's and staff's interests are best served if you enjoy your visit, leave happy, and come back regularly. Any manager worth their salt will do whatever is feasible to ensure you enjoy your meal and the dining experience, as will any good waiter/waitress.

If the staff and the manager don't care how good your visit is, don't go back, and tell your friends not to go either. This will be obvious - if staff are disinterested and management don't work on the shop floor/resolve issues reasonably/engage with customers/treat staff well - avoid that restaurant and maybe even the whole chain (if it's a chain, it's probably one where the shareholders are more important than the staff or the customers, and best avoided).

Equally, customers have responsibilities too (I'm not talking about the law, I'm talking about social exchanges in general).

Don't be rude to the staff. Obvious, that one, but it happens a fair bit (well, not that much, but you remember it for a long, long time if someone comes into your workplace and behaves disrespectfully, don't you?). Maybe those people should try it in a bank or on a plane if they want to gauge whether it's a decent behavioural policy or not. Just because you might get away with it in a restaurant, doesn't mean it's ok. You are a guest, and should both be treated, and behave, as such.

Any compromise in this unspoken contract of mutual respect, on either side, makes the situation pretty much untenable. People who think they can treat restaurant staff like idiots, and waiting staff that don't love looking after customers properly, are equally damaging but fortunately quite rare.

So no, you shouldn't try to gain an advantage out of an issue that arises in a restaurant. You should make staff aware immediately. There are no excuses for not doing so, except that you are trying to take advantage of the situation. Any good waiter/waitress and/or manager (if needed) wants to resolve the situation quickly, efficiently and without fuss.

A quick replacement product and apology resolves almost all situations. Sometimes it necessarily takes too long to replace something, or a customer has been put off, and a good manager will become personally involved, and perhaps provide the meal free and/or offer some free drinks (for example).

In extreme circumstances it could be that the meal is ruined for everyone. This really is unlikely - I mean, off the top of my head I can't think of a hypothetical situation, but it could happen, and a good manager will think on their feet, and do their best to limit the damage so that the best is made of a bad situation, and the guests will at least consider coming back in the future, perhaps for a half-price meal.

This last category most certainly does not include a small foreign object in one meal (as in this thread). Nor does it include starters taking half an hour on a busy night or waiting an hour for a table when the place is full. Mistakes and issues occur, by accident or unavoidably, and both parties get one chance to behave reasonably, and with respect, when they do.

In short, good staff (99% of those you will encounter, unless you're really bad at choosing places to eat) plus reasonable customers who enjoy eating out, and interacting with staff in an exchange of mutual respect (again, 99%), tends to equal happy customers and attentive, happy staff.

And one last thing - not leaving a tip for the waiter/waitress because of something the chef or manager did or failed to do, is like blaming the cleaner for the prices.

Takeaway_Addict

Guifre wrote: »

And one last thing - not leaving a tip for the waiter/waitress because of something the chef or manager did or failed to do, is like blaming the cleaner for the prices.

I disagree, a tip is left on the whole experience, not on just how the waiting staff do. Especially as most times the tips are split anyway with the chef/kitchen staff.

mrsrwallace

I worked a long time ago in the hospitality trade and the tips were most definitely not shared between the entire staff. Only the front of house staff received their share of tips whilst us mere mortals in the kitchen were left with the dirty work

Takeaway_Addict

mrsrwallace wrote: »

I worked a long time ago in the hospitality trade and the tips were most definitely not shared between the entire staff. Only the front of house staff received their share of tips whilst us mere mortals in the kitchen were left with the dirty work

You must have been unlucky then because the places I have been or where my friends worked did share their tips around.