Self-isolation rights

georgiapoppy123

Hi everyone. Myself and two friends were recently told to self isolate and had a restaurant booking that evening. We received the notification at 4am that we were in close contact with a positive case and obviously couldn’t go to the booking. We tried to call and email the restaurant with no luck. A week later and I have just been charged £30 for not showing up, however I was following government advice and it would have been illegal for me to come. Do I have any rights here? Any advice on what to do? I’d really appreciate help thank you!

MattMattMattUK

georgiapoppy123 said:

Hi everyone. Myself and two friends were recently told to self isolate and had a restaurant booking that evening. We received the notification at 4am that we were in close contact with a positive case and obviously couldn’t go to the booking. We tried to call and email the restaurant with no luck. A week later and I have just been charged £30 for not showing up, however I was following government advice and it would have been illegal for me to come. Do I have any rights here? Any advice on what to do? I’d really appreciate help thank you!

Not really, it is not the restaurants fault that you could not attend. 

Jeremy535897

It depends on the terms of your contract with the restaurant. The restaurant would have had to make clear its cancellation policy, which presumably set out the basis of the £30 charge, including the method and the time by which a cancellation would have to be made to avoid the charge.

womble12345

What do you mean 'call and email with no luck'?

Why not just say 'well I did send an email to blah@restaurant.com'

Thrugelmir

Many restaurants are struggling to survive. No shows are compounding the problem. Hence the imposition of a charge. Onus was on you to make contact and cancel the booking. Your table could then have been used by somebody else. 

Upsidedownandaround

As above what do you mean by “no luck”?
It seems an unnecessarily vague turn of phrase.
Do you mean no luck in getting in touch with them as no one answered your calls or email or that you had no luck in cancelling without being charged as it was too late to do so?
What did you agree to when you made your booking?

Biscuit49

Had you been able to get in touch with them I am quite sure they wouldn't have charged you under the circumstances. I guess it depends what 'no luck' means. If you tried calling off your mobile and can demonstrate that several attempts were made during their opening hours (so afternoon, early evening, depending on the opening hours) when you would expect someone to be there then I would argue that you did try and id send images of the attempts and ask for it to be refunded.

Likewise if you have an email you can show them then id use that too. If it was simply no email address could be found then that wouldnt be sufficient.

I support restaurants and pubs charging for no shows, but i think provided you give them a call, even if its an hour before, under the circumstances id expect them to not charge, they can at least let the table go to walk ins.

soolin

Biscuit49 said:

Had you been able to get in touch with them I am quite sure they wouldn't have charged you under the circumstances. I guess it depends what 'no luck' means. If you tried calling off your mobile and can demonstrate that several attempts were made during their opening hours (so afternoon, early evening, depending on the opening hours) when you would expect someone to be there then I would argue that you did try and id send images of the attempts and ask for it to be refunded.

Likewise if you have an email you can show them then id use that too. If it was simply no email address could be found then that wouldnt be sufficient.

I support restaurants and pubs charging for no shows, but i think provided you give them a call, even if its an hour before, under the circumstances id expect them to not charge, they can at least let the table go to walk ins.

The opening post sort of suggests that OP was not able to contact the restaurant, and also as above it depends on the  terms they booked under. 

mattyprice4004

No, you were a no-show and were charged accordingly. 

Self isolation is your issue not theirs; you mustn’t have tried very hard to get in touch if you couldn’t reach them all day. 

Pollycat

georgiapoppy123 said:

Hi everyone. Myself and two friends were recently told to self isolate and had a restaurant booking that evening. We received the notification at 4am that we were in close contact with a positive case and obviously couldn’t go to the booking. We tried to call and email the restaurant with no luck. A week later and I have just been charged £30 for not showing up, however I was following government advice and it would have been illegal for me to come. Do I have any rights here? Any advice on what to do? I’d really appreciate help thank you!

Couldn't you find the email address?

Or did your email bounce back?

Upsidedownandaround

The OP hasn't logged back in since straight after making their post so it doesn't sound like they are coming back any time soon to clarify the circumstances of what happened.