Were we right to walk out?

ThumbRemote

marliepanda wrote: »

I've been to Chiquitos (who I'm assuming this is) a few times and they do often seem very busy.

I solved this 'wait' by walking up to the till (my local one has two till areas) with my card and someone took my payment within minutes. I have never sat for 55 minutes waiting for someone to take my payment! Ridiculous notion!

You don't have to sit and wait for someone to take your payment. OP clearly just thought they were entitled to a freebie. How unusual!

They did wait at the till.

shezzone wrote: »

My daughter went and found a member of staff to bring us the bill. We waited a further 20 minutes for a member of staff to come and take the payment. When they didn't come we waited 5 minutes at the till. Several staff members walked past. We were waiting to leave by this time. We all stood and waited by the till and still several staff members were dashing by on other jobs. Having caught the eye of several through this time and being ignored we decided to leave.
In the end we left. We couldn't pay.

ThumbRemote

daytona0 wrote: »

Why are people so venomous towards some person who believes, rightly or wrongly, that OP has stolen food/drink items because they walked out without paying and (until the family member going back was mentioned) seemed to imply that they were excluded from paying?

I don't understand the people on this forum sometimes! OP is the only person in the wrong, so have a go at them!! That gettingtheresometime has never done what OP has done (to our knowledge), and they may have some practical ways of solving the waiting around issue (opening their mouth, collaring a staff member, handing over cash and walking out, handing your address/leaving a note).

Quite why BoP is beyond criticism is also beyond me, but that's another matter.

Venomous, gosh.

I was replying to a blanket statement that said "Not paying for food eaten ( regardless of how long waited/ poor service) = theft"

My point is that every single person would have some sort of threshold at which they would end up leaving (well, unless people genuinely would wait indefinitely, in which case I'd question their sanity). So by that logic we are all potentially thieves, and it's rather hypocritical to have a go at the OP for doing the same.

marliepanda

Sorry but I do not believe for a second they say there for 55 minutes.

Like I said I go to the till and ask, using my voice, and my payment gets taken.

Anyone who sits in silence, moaning for nearly an hour instead of just asking at the till (or even the bar area which is often quieter, or the little reception desk as you enter) is ridiculous! 55 minutes is also far long enough to leave contact details and a small note explaining that you had to rush off... 55 minutes later.

Op did not make enough effort to pay. End of

daytona0

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Venomous, gosh.

I was replying to a blanket statement that said "Not paying for food eaten ( regardless of how long waited/ poor service) = theft"

My point is that every single person would have some sort of threshold at which they would end up leaving (well, unless people genuinely would wait indefinitely, in which case I'd question their sanity). So by that logic we are all potentially thieves, and it's rather hypocritical to have a go at the OP for doing the same.

I know your point! And it makes sense.

My point is that you haven't criticised OP or BoP for walking out on a restaurant! That's the only potential crime here! Why are they seemingly above criticism?

ThumbRemote

marliepanda wrote: »

Sorry but I do not believe for a second they say there for 55 minutes.

Like I said I go to the till and ask, using my voice, and my payment gets taken.

Anyone who sits in silence, moaning for nearly an hour instead of just asking at the till (or even the bar area which is often quieter, or the little reception desk as you enter) is ridiculous! 55 minutes is also far long enough to leave contact details and a small note explaining that you had to rush off... 55 minutes later.

Op did not make enough effort to pay. End of

Strategy - when someone picks up on your mistake, change tack a bit and pretend you were saying something different, then try to muddy the waters by accusing the OP of lying.

It would work better though if they'd actually said what you're accusing them of lying about. They didn't sit for 55 minutes waiting to pay. They waited to get the bill. Once they got the bill they waited again to pay. Then they waited at the till.

I also like the way you have decided that every branch of the chain is exactly the same as the one you've been in. And because this hasn't happened to you in a branch you've visited, it couldn't possibly happen to anyone else in any other branch.

naedanger

daytona0 wrote: »

Why are people so venomous towards some person who believes, rightly or wrongly, that OP has stolen food/drink items because they walked out without paying and (until the family member going back was mentioned) seemed to imply that they were excluded from paying?

I don't understand the people on this forum sometimes! OP is the only person in the wrong, so have a go at them!! That gettingtheresometime has never done what OP has done (to our knowledge), and they may have some practical ways of solving the waiting around issue (opening their mouth, collaring a staff member, handing over cash and walking out, handing your address/leaving a note).

Quite why BoP is beyond criticism is also beyond me, but that's another matter.

There is nothing venomous in the post you have quoted.

If you accuse someone of theft then surely you cannot complain about being challenged (in a non abusive manner) to justify the accusation?

And suppose you wrongly accuse someone of theft. Do you really think that you would have done nothing wrong?

ThumbRemote

daytona0 wrote: »

I know your point! And it makes sense.

My point is that you haven't criticised OP or BoP for walking out on a restaurant! That's the only potential crime here! Why are they seemingly above criticism?

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Every person has a threshold at which they would walk out. I'm not going to accuse others of theft just because their threshold is slightly different to mine.

There are too many people who seem to think it's completely black and white, when it's actually all shades of grey.

And for the record I've walked out of an Indian restaurant when they hadn't taken our food order after an acceptable time. Other customers had come in, been seated and ordered. We'd asked to order, they still didn't come. We'd finished the drinks we got on initially being seated, and didn't pay for them. I wasn't willing to wait around any longer, I had a small child wanting some food, and I was mightily !!!!ed off at being ignored.

discat11

I sympathise with the OP, however they did make the choice to not pay for the goods/service accepted and used.

Unless the restaurant terms state otherwise (i.e. allow payment at a specified/unspecified later time) then payment is required before leaving the premises.

If you leave the premises without paying then by strict liability you have proven 'intent' surely?
i.e. how would the meal had been paid for after leaving and does the restaurant allow customers to do that?
It doesn't matter if a user of said goods/service intends from the outset of the use of the goods/services to 'permanently deprive', just that they make a decision not to pay/fulfil their legal obligations under the contract of sale thus permanently depriving at that point.

It may have been better to have left a slip of paper on the table with your contact details for an invoice to be raised rather than simply walking off.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

daytona0 wrote: »

Quite why BoP is beyond criticism is also beyond me, but that's another matter.

I hope not.

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

Who on that occasion was wrong.

The Gendarmerie attended because the publican initiated a disturbance at his pub. He called the Gendarmerie. The Gendarmerie defused the situation by telling the landlord it was not the first time they had been called to his establishment in recent times about payment methods for food.
On this occasion, the Gendarmerie acted politely to diffuse the situation.

Fosterdog

I really don't get the bit about catching the eyes of several members of staff, instead of just standing there waiting to be noticed and catching someone's eye why didn't any of the party simply stop one of them to ask as they were passing?

Nowhere near enough was done in this situation to actually sort it out.

I also highly doubt the time actually waiting, people always exaggerate waiting times in situations like this. Just last week a customer started performing and complaining that she had been waiting for over 20 minutes to be served, despite the fact our store had only opened 10 minutes ago and she had walked through the door about 3 minutes before complaining. The 20 minutes quickly escalated to 40 minutes waiting by the time a manager spoke to her just 2 minutes later and 5 minutes after she entered the shop. Sadly this is not even a one off and people make similar complaints about waiting on a daily basis.