waiting for restaurant to take payment - how long reasonable

tir21

went to a well know restaurant chain last night. had a piece of paper with two tesco voucher codes. one code was for £10 another for £20

when i asked for the bill i indicated i wanted to use the £10 code- so the £30 meal would come to £20.

the bill came and instead of saying 30-10 =20 to pay it said £21-10 = £11 to pay

i thought i was in luck and kept my mouth shut.

so then i said i would pay the balance on card and the waitress went away to get the card reader. After 5 minutes she came back looking a bit flustered and said could she have the bill back. After a 10 minute wait i approached her at the till saying we had waited quite a while and that due to an engagement we could not be late for - we would be leaving in 2 minutes.

both she and the manager heard me say this and did not protest. I went back to my table waited 3 minutes and then left.

i found out today that without my authorisation they used the £20 voucer code to pay the balance i wanted to pay on card

i think this episode raises some interesting questions

1) was i under any obligation to inform them that they had brought me the wrong bill and they were asking me to pay less than the food costed

2) how long is it reasonable to wait for a restaurant to take payment (i waited 17 minutes in total)

3) were they entitled to take payment with a voucher code that i had not authorised them to use

thanks

Toxteth_OGrady

A £30 meal paid for with a £20 voucher - sounds like you got a good deal to me.

dacouch

If you dispute a restaurant bill you should leave your contact details if you leave the premises

dalesrider

tir21 wrote: »

1) was i under any obligation to inform them that they had brought me the wrong bill and they were asking me to pay less than the food costed

2) how long is it reasonable to wait for a restaurant to take payment (i waited 17 minutes in total)

3) were they entitled to take payment with a voucher code that i had not authorised them to use

thanks

1. Not sure legally. But morally. YES.

2. How long is a piece of string. In effect I would say till they close.

3. YES. Clearly they must have already had the voucher codes, so by giving them these. you are giving authorisation to take payment.
As it is you are £10 up. They could have used both of them and still be within their rights.

Idiophreak

tir21 wrote: »

1) was i under any obligation to inform them that they had brought me the wrong bill and they were asking me to pay less than the food costed

Yes. It's called moral obligation. What goes around comes around. You might have been paid up and out of there in 5 minutes had you pointed out to the waitress where she'd gone wrong.

tir21 wrote: »

2) how long is it reasonable to wait for a restaurant to take payment (i waited 17 minutes in total)

I give them 5 minutes, after that I subtract a pound of tip for each minute that passes. When the tip runs out, I start making a fuss.

tir21

tox

no - they had already taken the £10 voucer into account

they applied the other £20 voucher after i had left

tir21

dalesrider wrote: »

1. Not sure legally. But morally. YES.

but where is the morality in this restaurant charging me £3 for ten chips?

2. How long is a piece of string. In effect I would say till they close.

so if you went in at midday and they close at 11pm - you would expect someone to wait 11 hours in order to pay?

3. YES. Clearly they must have already had the voucher codes, so by giving them these. you are giving authorisation to take payment.

i gave them the printout with both codes on - but only gave authorisation for them to use the £10 code

As it is you are £10 up. They could have used both of them and still be within their rights.

they did use both of them - the £10 one with my authorisation and the £20 one without my authorisation after id left

tir21

Idiophreak wrote: »

Yes. It's called moral obligation.

i was thinking more in terms of what the law says

What goes around comes around.

is that a scientific fact ?

You might have been paid up and out of there in 5 minutes had you pointed out to the waitress where she'd gone wrong.

but its not my responsibility to work out what i owe them. I cant see any problem in paying them what they ask me to pay

the prices they charge for coke and chips i should imagine they still would have made a profit

frugal_mike

tir21 wrote: »

1) was i under any obligation to inform them that they had brought me the wrong bill and they were asking me to pay less than the food costed

2) how long is it reasonable to wait for a restaurant to take payment (i waited 17 minutes in total)

3) were they entitled to take payment with a voucher code that i had not authorised them to use

thanks

1) Legally, I imagine no obligation. You have no authority to set their prices, and they can charge what they want. Morally, a big obligation as I imagine the waitress would have got in a fair bit of trouble for that. It's not an easy job and I doubt the pay is much, I wouldn't want them to lose out for the sake of £10 saving to me that I'm not entitled to.

3) Probably the same entitlement you had to leave without paying or leaving your contact details, even if they were messing you around ;-)

arcon5

Legally you owed them money and decided to leave both without paying and without offering your personal details.

I'd say this could in fact be classified as 'theft', thus being a criminal matter. It is however highly unlikely the police would get involved.

From a civil perspective, the time you waited doesn't excuse you from meeting your obligations in the contract - to pay the required amount. They can pursue you for this and for not providing your details possibly also the costs in tracing you. If you did provide your details they are highly unlikely to be able to reclaim any costs of theirs unless you acted unreasonably by refusing payment within a reasonable time of it being requested.

Toxteth_OGrady

tir21 wrote: »

tox

no - they had already taken the £10 voucer into account

they applied the other £20 voucher after i had left

Right, so you knowingly ordered a meal for £30 and you ended up paying £30 (in vouchers) - I still don't see what the issue is.