Children's meal pricing

Bibendum

Don't know if this belongs on here...

We stayed in a hotal in the UK over the long weekend. Ate at the hotel's restaurant one night. There was a set menu, £20 for 2 courses, £24 for 3 (plus a sneeky 12.5% service charge added).
We realised it was pricey but thought, what the hell, saves going out as we were all tired.
The children, all under12, were with us (the hotel had us in a family room, so I assume it is reasonably used to kids); there was no mention of any children's meal on the menu. So we kind of agreed with the waitress to get them half portions for all.
My 3 yo had a small starter size of spaghetti carbonara and a cheesecake. The other 2 shared the main course.
The dinner was put on the room (but nothing was signed for). At checkout time, OH signed the lot, but I almost fainted when he told me the amount. So I went back and found out that the kids had been charged £15 for the 2 courses and £20 for the 3 courses. + the 12.5% service cahrge.

My question really is, do I have grounds to complain more officially, as there was no pricing available for children and no menu available for them? In particular, I am a bit peeved at being charged £17 for a 3 year old.:mad:

Justie

:eek: blimey yes I'd complain - not sure if there are any legal grounds but there are certainly moral ones. If they're serving half portions as the only option for children then I would expect them to be half price or maybe a little over but certainly not £17 especially for a toddler! With littlies we tend to just ask for an extra plate as there's usually enough food to go round.

hobo28

You certainly have the moral right to complain. Legally I wouldn't have thought you have a right to see money back.

I strongly believe businesses need feedback otherwise how do they know what customers really think?

Justie

this is the kind of thing my OH always spots as he's a receipt checker - we stayed at a posh hotel recently, one where they charge extra for breakfast (more than I'd pay for dinner in most places :eek: ) when it came to checking out they'd also added on charges for coffee as well as the cost of the breakfast - when we queried it it turned out to be because I ordered de-caf coffee that was seen as a bar item not part of the usual breakfast - I'm pregnant and wouldn't drink full-caf coffee!! Thankfully they then took it (and a bit extra) off the bill but it pays to challenge these things at the time.

crispeater

flippin nora!! i'd complain too!
i complained to little chef once when they had no 'toddler menu' available so i asked for a little portion of spaghetti bolognaise.. they changed me adult price when it wasnt even a teaplate full!!
i didnt get anywhere though

Bibendum

Thanks for your replies.
I stayed clear of breakfast there... £10 a head it said, plus I imagine the 12.5% service on top.
It worked out well, as they served from 8.30 which is a bit late for my family.

The reason I thought I might have a proper complaint is that it wasn't written (or said) anywhere. Had I known they were going to charge us lie this I would have ordered a starter and given it to the little one and shared pudding with him. I would have made the other 2 manage with only 1 order. That way I would have saved at least £27...

hilstep2000

When my DD was two years old, we went to a Whitbread place for Sunday Lunch. They had a children's roast meal, but it was for up to 12 years old. Now I thought that asking £5.95 for a two year old was a bit much, so I wrote and suggested that they charged half that for under fives. I pointed out that a twelve year old boy can eat as much as a man, and a two year old certainly wouldn't!:eek:
Not only did I get a letter back saying that they had put my suggestion to the board, and would be introducing it countrywide in their restaurants, but we were given another free meal on the house (wine included!):T
So I think you should complain, I would!

squashy

Wow that seems extortionate! I have to say though, you really should have checked before ordering!

Good luck with the complaint!

Bibendum

squashy wrote: »

Wow that seems extortionate! I have to say though, you really should have checked before ordering!

Good luck with the complaint!

I know!
The point though is that information should be available for you to look at as it would have been a bit difficult to uplift the family half way through the bread rolls...
We have in the past dined in places with no specific children's menu where the charges were not displayed but stayed very reasonable.
I will write, even if my OH is slightly ashamed of me doing so.

helenhugs

I would object to the price of the meal but I would also have requested the service charge be removed. Its optional to pay but a lot of companies add it to the bill so it looks like you have to pay it. If you don't feel the service charge is worth it don't pay it. At least thats what the case used to be.
hugs
Helen

RibAd

hmm.... seems odd that there weren't more accomodating in the first place about there not being a children's menu! and that they didnt come up with the arrangement (Im sure small children would be an obvious). Most good restaurants/hotels would have some sort of children's type menu, even if it's just basic and even if they don't could arrange something off the menu. I've often done that before for vegetarian and special dietary needs family members and there has never been a problem, even for off the menu requests.

I cetainly think bringing it to their attention would be worthwhile, though I dont know if you'd get any compensation or refund on the rest.

Good Luck!