Curious - what were my rights here?

Piggywinkle

Hi all,

Me, my husband and my 5 year old booked to go to a bowling alley last week. When we turned up, the place was a hellhole, but we thought, ho-hum! We're here, let's just get on with it.

We paid up, and went to start our game, but the lane we were on didn't work (and looked like it hadn't for a good long while). When I went to tell the one member of staff, she said that they don't offer refunds (before I'd even asked for one! I just wanted the lane sorted).

While I was chatting to her, another lady was having the same problem. This lady had taken her three children out and had paid more than £60 for her booking. The lane had been out of action for 30 minutes and she wanted her money back as no one had come to look at it after she had complained numerous times and now her kids wanted to leave.

I went and told my husband what had gone on and he wasn't best pleased as my daughter then started crying as she was disappointed.

We finally got the manager who was trying to fob us off with the 'no refunds' policy that was pinned to the front counter. Make a long story short, I made an enormous scene, threatened to call the police and trading standards and the manager then gave us a refund 'off his own back.' I thanked him and we left.

Looking at TripAdvisor, it seems this is all too common with the particular company that runs this and other bowling alleys - selling lanes that aren't working and then refusing refunds. Is this in any way legal?

marcarm

While I agree that would be annoying, the time to do your research on tripadvisor would be before you book anything, and calling the police in your situation would have had no effect as they would not get involved at all, so your threat was unfounded.

If everyone did the research beforehand, no one would visit and they would soon go out of business, or have to do the repairs that puts everyone off.

naedanger

Piggywinkle wrote: »

Hi all,

Me, my husband and my 5 year old booked to go to a bowling alley last week. When we turned up, the place was a hellhole, but we thought, ho-hum! We're here, let's just get on with it.

We paid up, and went to start our game, but the lane we were on didn't work (and looked like it hadn't for a good long while). When I went to tell the one member of staff, she said that they don't offer refunds (before I'd even asked for one! I just wanted the lane sorted).

While I was chatting to her, another lady was having the same problem. This lady had taken her three children out and had paid more than £60 for her booking. The lane had been out of action for 30 minutes and she wanted her money back as no one had come to look at it after she had complained numerous times and now her kids wanted to leave.

I went and told my husband what had gone on and he wasn't best pleased as my daughter then started crying as she was disappointed.

We finally got the manager who was trying to fob us off with the 'no refunds' policy that was pinned to the front counter. Make a long story short, I made an enormous scene, threatened to call the police and trading standards and the manager then gave us a refund 'off his own back.' I thanked him and we left.

Looking at TripAdvisor, it seems this is all too common with the particular company that runs this and other bowling alleys - selling lanes that aren't working and then refusing refunds. Is this in any way legal?

My view, based on what you have said, is you were legally entitled to a refund as you were not provided with the service you were promised, and you made clear your legitimate concerns early on and the company did nothing to address them. However it would be considered a civil matter so not a matter for the police.

What you did was probably the best practical approach but if the police had been called and turned up then they might just have insisted that you leave without a refund. In which case I believe your means of getting redress would be via the civil courts e.g. by making a small claim against the company.

Piggywinkle

marcarm wrote: »

While I agree that would be annoying, the time to do your research on tripadvisor would be before you book anything, and calling the police in your situation would have had no effect as they would not get involved at all, so your threat was unfounded.

If everyone did the research beforehand, no one would visit and they would soon go out of business, or have to do the repairs that puts everyone off.

In my naivete, I only thought tripadvisor was for accommodation and restaurants, now I know better

I wasn't actually going to call the police, but I was adamant that I was going to get my refund by hook or by crook.

Piggywinkle

naedanger wrote: »

My view, based on what you have said, is you were legally entitled to a refund as you were not provided with the service you were promised, and you made clear your legitimate concerns early on and the company did nothing to address them. However it would be considered a civil matter so not a matter for the police.

What you did was probably the best practical approach but if the police had been called and turned up then they might just have insisted that you leave without a refund. In which case I believe your means of getting redress would be via the civil courts e.g. by making a small claim against the company.

Thanks - as I've said to another poster, realistically, I wouldn't have called the police. I just really wanted my money back. After it had happened, I was curious as to if they were legally entitled to refuse me a refund hence posting here.