Is it OK to complain?

dobbiesloan

Is it OK to complain about a free meal?
A group for us went on a freebie, rather than complain on the night and cause a scene I emailed restaurant next day.
Some of my colleges got upset about this claiming "it was free and I have embarrassed them"
Was I right to complain?

marliepanda

It depends, in my opinion.

Why was it free? Why did you complain? What exactly did your complaint say?

For example: if it was free because it was their opening promotional night and you complained service was slow or the waitresses mixed up your drinks orders, then I'd say complaining was unreasonable. If you complained because the food was raw, then maybe not so much.

It really depends. It being free doesn't remove your right to complain but it would perhaps change how I'd complain and change/remove my issues I felt I needed to complain about...

dobbiesloan

Standard of the food, not as described in menu.

marliepanda

Answering one of my three questions isn't going to help me give you an answer.

NineDeuce

No. You should be ashamed of yourself.

DCFC79

dobbiesloan wrote: »

Is it OK to complain about a free meal?
A group for us went on a freebie, rather than complain on the night and cause a scene I emailed restaurant next day.
Some of my colleges got upset about this claiming "it was free and I have embarrassed them"
Was I right to complain?

How have you embarrsed them ?

Is it a regular place your colleagues go to for a meal ?

Based on the info provided I wouldn't have complained about a free meal.

DoaM

Depends on WHY it was free ... if it was in compensation for a prior poor experience then a complaint would be justified - the venue would have yet again let down the customer.

neilmcl

OP, you really need to explain in more detail what this night was all about.

takman

Depending on why the food was free you could give feedback about the meal instead of making it a complaint.

Any decent restaurant would welcome friendly feedback explaining that you thought the food was not at the required standard and why. If you word it in a way that doesn't suggest you want any kind of compensation and you just wanted to inform them of your experience it shouldn't cause any bad feelings or embarrassment for anyone.

But like others have said we don't have enough information to determine which approach is most suitable.

seashore22

dobbiesloan wrote: »

Standard of the food, not as described in menu.

What does that even mean?

We eat out a fair bit and it's almost impossible to tell the quality of the meal by reading the description.

Also drip feeding answers is a bit frustrating to anyone inclined to help you.

Edit - Looking at the op's other posts, I assume they want another freebie. Don't know why I bother sometimes.

peter_the_piper

Email to company should be ok, it'll help them make sure they don't do it again. If someone does not say they are not to know that an error was made. Immaterial whether paid for or free.