Claiming against restaurant for overcharging?

AquaGirl

Without going too much in to detail i had a terrible experience at a restaurant. There's a number of complaints throughout our experience but you'll probably only get a "sorry" at the end of it, though that'd be nice as we haven't even had that. We also ended up being overcharged. Far from being a lot it was loose change. We didn't spot it at the time as due to these errors we were pushed quite late and had somewhere that instead of having a nice walk to we had to dash off to. This isn't an excuse but just an explanation as to why we never checked it thoroughly at the till. The receipt looks a right mess with cancellations all over it due to them not doing various dishes and getting other dishes wrong.

Now i got in touch with them immediately on return. I was pleasant throughout and asked for their price list and said that while i had a number of complaints i wanted to be sure first that i hadn't made a mistake about the pricing as i was willing to accept i had. Turned out i hadn't - they were wrong.
I bullet pointed my issues and then went on to give a more detailed account so if they didn't want to read it they at least had the bullet points to work off. I was looking to see what they'd come back with really and also just venting as i've never had such an experience. They said they'd look in to it and get back to me soon. That was about a month ago. I've sent them 2 emails since asking what the hold up is and they basically just respond by saying they'll handle it.

It's a month on but i'm still raging over the whole thing. I've had orders a little wrong elsewhere before, so a bit of a mistake & then it's been rectified straight away. It's just one of those things. This place was error after error and when i questioned it in the restaurant i was basically told i was wrong, yet my bill amount said otherwise. The whole complaints process and the fact they're taking so long to deal with an issue that is pretty obvious and should not take a month.

That case where the red mist descends and you don't care really what happens between now and the end of it or how much people think you should just leave it and let it be. I know people will try and make out like this is a deal over pence but to me it's the whole thing from start to finish and i want to make them do something since they seem to have thought it's all been a joke throughout.
You hear about people shouting "small claims" all the time but i don't really know anything about it. I've only heard about it and don't know anyone who's used it. Could i take a restaurant to the small claims court over small change? I know it sounds like one of those crazy American court claims but i'm just so angry they're not doing anything that i want to force them to do something if possible. I understand i'll have to pay fees but that these can be claimed back when you win - and with a receipt and their price list it can't really be disputed.

It's a restaurant part of a chain as well if that matters?

powerful_Rogue

It's been over a month, it's loose change as you say. Let it go and enjoy life.

societys_child

. . . and breath . . . ahhhhhhh.


I probably just wouldn't go there again, unless you want to go collect the loose change they owe.






Did you leave a tip?
:rotfl: Oh, Sorry.

AquaGirl

I do understand that's standard response from people but there's different ways to look at something. One way of looking at someone who forever let's it go...



doormat. Now i'm well aware that there'll be a counter to that. Someone will say it's not a doormat it's a relaxed person or something else and we can go back and forth with it. Maybe you can just brush things off easily and not complain about anything in life but this has really peed me off.

Ms_Chocaholic

How much are we talking about? Less than £1
If so I wouldn't bother.

Ms_Chocaholic

If you really want to complain however, get on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, as posts are publicly seen they often get a quicker/better response.

theonlywayisup

What was the overcharge?

George_Michael

AquaGirl wrote: »

Maybe you can just brush things off easily and not complain about anything in life but this has really peed me off.

But ultimately, is it worth stressing yourself out so much that a month later you are still "raging over the whole thing"?
Some battles are worth devoting a lot of time and energy to and some are not and IMO, this sounds like one of the latter.

You can be totally in the right but that won't be much consolation when you stress yourself into an early grave.

AquaGirl

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

If you really want to complain however, get on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, as posts are publicly seen they often get a quicker/better response.

Very good point. Thank you for the advice.

George_Michael wrote: »

But ultimately, is it worth stressing yourself out so much that a month later you are still "raging over the whole thing"?
Some battles are worth devoting a lot of time and energy to and some are not and IMO, this sounds like one of the latter.

You can be totally in the right but that won't be much consolation when you stress yourself into an early grave.

To look at it from another angle, doing nothing and letting it go could 'stress myself' as much as you think battling it will be doing since i wont be happy at having let it go.

Les79

Meh, I think you're barking mad but I'll give you the proper response...


You are more than entitled to take the company to small claims court. You can use this link: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money


It may cost you around £25, which I believe you can get claim back if you win.


You'll need to evidence your actual losses; you sound like you may have sufficient evidence to show you are owed this "loose change" (whether the court laughs at your case or not is debatable). Additionally, you MAY have some case for further losses but that's where it gets tricky to prove and, even if you can, it won't be worth much. You'd be wise to gather any such evidence and maybe professional advice.


Aside from that, you are pretty much relying on any possible goodwill that the company offers you.


And, if you want someone to crunch the numbers, I'll be happy to work out what % chance you'd need to win in order to make a £25 investment to potentially win £25+X (where X=the money you are owed, you'll have to define that value though) a reasonable risk.

Ms_Chocaholic

How much was the overcharge