Restaurant booking

Poppops

Hi

My partner and I should have been attending his works Christmas party on Saturday night. It is held in a restaurant and the price is £40 each. We paid a deposit of £10 each and the remainder a couple of weeks ago.

However my partner was taken into hospital on Saturday and is likely to still be in hospital on the day of the party.

The person who organised the party rang this morning to cancel and was told that even they are not willing to refund us the balance of £60 (obviously we expected to lose the deposit).

Is this reasonable? They have over 5 days notice and were going with a very large party?

I know it can't be helped but as I sit here in hospital waiting for the doctors to come and talk about my partner's condition, I do feel a bit miffed

AJXX

How was it booked, over the phone, did you agree to any specifics?

Not trying to be harsh, but a cancellation is a cancellation, the restaurant is a business and don't care WHY.

The deposit is fair enough, however the actual balance seems wrong.

How was this paid? e.g. cash/card?

bris

They are right in a way but not entirely, they would have to mitigate the loss. The only way to do that is to take off the cost of the ingredients for your meal, this would allow them to make the same profit from you.


Because you are part of a larger party they will lose 2 seats from the booking so it is lost business to them.


If it was a table for 2 they could have rebooked the table so even keeping the deposit would be classed as a penalty but sadly not in this case.

Poppops

It was paid in cash

I fully expected to lose the deposit and even thought maybe 50% but not the full amount.

The restaurant was informed early enough that no food will be wasted, we won't be drinking the glass of prosecco on arrival which was included and there were 68 people going so I don't think it will affect how many staff they have on that night.

It just feels a bit mean. Especially as the party will be held in a separate room and so if the booking had only ever been for 66 people they couldn't have squeezed another table for two in

glentoran99

they have no right to keep all the money, The deposit was agreed and thats all they can keep,

If they still insist on keeping the money I would insist on getting the food boxed up as takeaway for eating at home

JReacher1

will people be paying for drinks etc?

If you get a final bill on the night they'll probably add an optional service charge. I would be tempted to knock the money off that.

Poppops

glentoran99 wrote: »

they have no right to keep all the money, The deposit was agreed and thats all they can keep,

If they still insist on keeping the money I would insist on getting the food boxed up as takeaway for eating at home

This is a really good idea. Assuming that OH is still in hospital I have to pass the restaurant on my way home. Visiting ends at 8pm so an ideal time. Thanks for the suggestion :j

Zandoni

I think it's extremely mean of the restaurant to do this to you, try contacting them again and make sure you speak to the manager.


If you end up losing make sure your colleagues get your meals served up and drink your wine.

somethingcorporate

+1 on the pick up the food and take it to your partner in hospital.

No point in it going to waste if you are paying for it.

Poppops

I will. Thanks very much for the suggestions!

cookie365

If I was the organiser I'd be on the phone to the restaurant manager, wondering aloud if I should be booking future events at a competitor with a more flexible attitude.