Bill for Pub Meal

ERICS_MUM

rpigott wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies. To clarify a few points: When we first arrived at the pub we opened a tab which absolutely everything throughout the night including all meals and drinks were put on to. Having spoken to the manager over the phone four days later, he said our tab had been split into two receipts (one with the majority of items on and one with some other drinks on). When we paid the bill the amount seemed fair and we certainly did not know that we had been undercharged. We did not walk out of the pub knowing we had underpaid!! The error was made by the bar staff who did not add on the smaller receipt for some drinks we had during the night. This is not our fault.

Despite all this, we will pay up because we are honest people, but the point of my post was to raise the question of how fair this is. I am not trying to find some excuse not to pay, it's our bill, we'll pay it. However if the company wants to maintain a good reputation surely this is not the way to deal with issues such as this. Thanks again for your advice, this is my first post on the site, so apologies if it has come across badly.

You haven't lost out though have you. After you've paid them for the drinks you will be in the same financial position with the bill as you would have been if they'd charged you properly in the first place.

I know they made the mistake but I don't see how that justifies anyone in such a situation benefiting from it while the pub takes the loss.

takman

Twopints wrote: »

Ridiculous. How can the pub prove that? How many days, weeks or years afterwards do you think the pub can phone up and ask for more money? And how much do you think they can ask for?

They have a till receipt generated at a specific time when the drinks were purchased which were not included when it was paid.

They have a receipt showing what was paid for and the total that was paid, which was provided to the OP.

The OP will clearly be able to see that those drinks were missed off the original receipt and that they have not been paid for.

In this country you can take legal action for debts owed within the last 6 years. But obviously the longer it takes them to notice the mistake the less likely they would win in a legal challenge.

I think as long as they contacted them within a month and had proof then i don't see any problem with them asking for the money as it's reasonable for a company to check for outstanding bills at least once a month.

I really don't understand how people are so adamant that the OP shouldn't be paying this bill when it obviously hasn't been paid. There hasn't been any mention by the OP that they didn't actually have these drinks.

unholyangel

Twopints wrote: »

Ridiculous. How can the pub prove that? How many days, weeks or years afterwards do you think the pub can phone up and ask for more money? And how much do you think they can ask for?

As takman says, actions founded on simple contract have a limitation period of 6 years in england and wales and 5 years in scotland.

After 6/5 years (depending whether england or scotland), you would still technically owe them the money, you would just have a "statute barred" defence to any legal claim they brought.

Let me ask you this. If the restaurant had taken more money instead of less, would you still be maintaining that the customer only has a few days at most to reclaim the overpayment? Somehow, I don't think you would.

NeilCr

Many years ago three friends and I went for a meal and drinks at quite a plush establishment. There were two guys and two ladies and the gentlemen had agreed to pick up the tab. We had drinks in the bar and with the meal.

When we got the bill only the food was on it. The ladies were for leaving quickly but we both wanted to raise the matter - amongst the reasons was that the young guy had served us had been very good and we were concerned that he would get into trouble for not doing things right (the drinks were quite a large part of the bill!).

The establishment were grateful and we got a revised bill. Which was fine but it still didn't have the drinks from the bar on it. At that time we took the view that they had had the chance and left after paying the extra. But had they contacted us later we would have paid.

Maybe I am old fashioned but if I know I owe somebody an amount of money then I would want to settle up, however, much after the event it is. As others have said the OP would likely to be taking a different line if it transpired they had overpaid

And again, perhaps, it's just me but I've generally got some idea of what the bill is likely to be - and would notice if it was considerably under - which might be likely with the drinks!

Pollycat

NeilCr wrote: »

Many years ago three friends and I went for a meal and drinks at quite a plush establishment. There were two guys and two ladies and the gentlemen had agreed to pick up the tab. We had drinks in the bar and with the meal.

When we got the bill only the food was on it. The ladies were for leaving quickly but we both wanted to raise the matter - amongst the reasons was that the young guy had served us had been very good and we were concerned that he would get into trouble for not doing things right (the drinks were quite a large part of the bill!).

The establishment were grateful and we got a revised bill. Which was fine but it still didn't have the drinks from the bar on it. At that time we took the view that they had had the chance and left after paying the extra. But had they contacted us later we would have paid.

Maybe I am old fashioned but if I know I owe somebody an amount of money then I would want to settle up, however, much after the event it is. As others have said the OP would likely to be taking a different line if it transpired they had overpaid

And again, perhaps, it's just me but I've generally got some idea of what the bill is likely to be - and would notice if it was considerably under - which might be likely with the drinks!

I agree 100% with this.

We once told a waiter in a taverna in Greece that they'd missed half a litre of wine off our bill.
He was very dismissive, took the bill back, added the wine on & never apologised or thanked us for our honesty.

We left no tip, didn't return during the holiday and left a poor review. The food was not that great and we added the bit about the error in the bill to the review.

glentoran99

takman wrote: »

They have a till receipt generated at a specific time when the drinks were purchased which were not included when it was paid.

They have a receipt showing what was paid for and the total that was paid, which was provided to the OP.

The OP will clearly be able to see that those drinks were missed off the original receipt and that they have not been paid for.

In this country you can take legal action for debts owed within the last 6 years. But obviously the longer it takes them to notice the mistake the less likely they would win in a legal challenge.

I think as long as they contacted them within a month and had proof then i don't see any problem with them asking for the money as it's reasonable for a company to check for outstanding bills at least once a month.

I really don't understand how people are so adamant that the OP shouldn't be paying this bill when it obviously hasn't been paid. There hasn't been any mention by the OP that they didn't actually have these drinks.

If they believed the bill was paid in full then whats changed?




Customer asks for bill, Pays bill, how can they prove that these were the opening posters drinks and not someone elses? Why was their two separate bills??

powerful_Rogue

maisie_cat wrote: »

It would demonstrate how the pub would act if the shoe was on the other foot.

If you paid by card and could show the amount taken was different to that on the receipt, then you get back in touch with the pub.

If you had paid in cash, then the only option to prove this would be if the till was up.

Again, as already pointed out by someone else, your example does not compare to the OP's/

takman

glentoran99 wrote: »

If they believed the bill was paid in full then whats changed?

Customer asks for bill, Pays bill, how can they prove that these were the opening posters drinks and not someone elses? Why was their two separate bills??

That makes no sense, so just because the OP didn't check the bill and assumed it was correct then that means they don't owe the money?

Read the OP again:

rpigott wrote: »

Hi,

Recently visited a pub for a meal, got to the end of the night and asked for the bill. We paid accordingly and to our knowledge all was fine. 4 days later we receive a call from said pub (had my number from the booking reservation we made) telling us that there is another bill we owe them for some drinks that were missed off the bill we paid on the night. Although we do not want to leave the pub out of pocket, we do feel slightly hard done by and would like to ask where we stand as consumers. Obviously we owe them, but it seems very cheeky of them to ring posing the problem several days after. We had no clue and just paid our bill that was given to us at the end of the night. They have made the error, are they not responsible for it?

Thank you.

See this bit in particular:

rpigott wrote: »

We had no clue and just paid our bill that was given to us at the end of the night."

They did not say "We checked our bill to make sure it was correct and paid what we owed".

The OP seems to agree that the drinks were ones that their party had consumed and were missed off the bill. They have even said in their last post that they will be paying it.

sheramber

I have no doubt the OP would have noticed if they had added someone else's drinks to his bill

DCFC79

Just pay what you owe.