Restaurant cancellation policy, even though didn’t cancel

gstar_77

I booked a table, turned up, but given a table by the loo and asked to move to another free table. Restaurant said they couldn’t move me. So I said I would leave. Their policy is for cancellation or no show, but they still charged it. Are they allowed?

Alderbank

gstar_77 said:

 Are they allowed?

Maybe.

If you had said when making the booking, 'I don't want that table by the loo' and they said, 'don't worry, we'll make sure you are not sitting there' then they have breached the contract so can't charge.

If you had set no conditions and just changed your mind when you arrived, they can charge for their reasonable losses.
 Were patrons waiting in the hope of getting a table? If so they haven't really lost anything.

Otherwise you would be liable for their loss of profit which might be the cost of say half a typical bill. They can't charge for the food you didn't consume unless they had prepared something special at your request.

HillStreetBlues

Maybe as well.
The restaurant should be looking to mitigate their loss, So if you were prepared to wait to be moved then the restaurant might not have done this.   

gstar_77

HillStreetBlues said:

Maybe as well.
The restaurant should be looking to mitigate their loss, So if you were prepared to wait to be moved then the restaurant might not have done this.   

This was not offer by restaurant, and there was a spare alternative table available…

Alderbank

...which had already been booked by another patron who had said, 'Make sure we are not sitting next to the loo...'

Olinda99

you should have stayed but just ordered a coffee !

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

A restaurant can charge a reservation fee, this would a small fee to secure a table (dinner for 2 at a standard restaurant is probably somewhere between £50 & £100 these days so let's say a fiver is a fee most would be happy with). 

The restaurant can keep a reservation fee if you don't attend, they can also keep a reservation fee if you do attend, most places knock it off the bill because it's a more customer friendly policy.

The word deposit is often misused, the alterative is an advanced payment for a contract, this would be more common for say Christmas lunch where there is a set menu and you aren't booking a table but are booking x people for a set lunch. 

Alternatively a restaurant could book a table with a condition £x is spent or min of two courses are purchased (although probably rare as it would deter custom)

In an instance where the contract is specific and the customer fails to do what they agreed then a trader can cover their losses, which should be reduced by finding another customer if possible. 

So if this was an open menu with no specific terms attached to booking the table they should only keep a true reservation fee for the exact point made above by Olinda99 that there is no specific agreement and you might only buy a coffee or indeed nothing at all. 

That leads to the questions of:

How much did you pay?
What exactly did you pay for?

DullGreyGuy

HillStreetBlues said:

Maybe as well.
The restaurant should be looking to mitigate their loss, So if you were prepared to wait to be moved then the restaurant might not have done this.   

Guess it depends how fully booked the place is... it seems as it was and so the only real option is that they move someone else to the unwanted table but given the restaurant will be booking X minutes per booking that only really works if you have another table coming free very quickly after the OP arrived else you move a later booking and only give them 45 minutes to order, eat, pay because  then the next booking will be coming in for it. 


Personally dont see much difference between being a no show and being a show who refuses to be seated and leaves without spending anything and so can understand the restaurant treating it the same. 

In central London higher end restaurants there is a growing trend either for minimum spends or pre-payment of the fixed menu price with both being collected at the point of booking. Personally think the approach that many seem to take of booking a few options and on the day simply choosing which you fancy is really wrong and can understand the response from restaurants. Thankfully the twice we've booked a prepaid and had a genuine reason not to be able to attend the restaurants have been reasonable with refunding/applying it as credit to a later booking. 

Was once a very heated argument with the police ultimately called when two guys came in, sat at a table, had 2 diet cokes between them and stayed for about an hour. They weren't happy when presented with the £100 bill as the place had a minimum £50pp spend. 

Undervalued

gstar_77 said:

I booked a table, turned up, but given a table by the loo and asked to move to another free table. Restaurant said they couldn’t move me. So I said I would leave. Their policy is for cancellation or no show, but they still charged it. Are they allowed?

Presumably other customers have found the siting of that table acceptable? How big an area of restaurant do you feel should be left unused near the loo door? 

Not that they have to, did they offer a reason why you couldn't move to the apparently free table? For all you know it may have been booked and the diners had phoned to say they were running a bit late?

So, in a way you did cancel in that you turned down the table and left without ordering any food.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

Personally dont see much difference between being a no show and being a show who refuses to be seated and leaves without spending anything and so can understand the restaurant treating it the same. 

Whilst I agree with you as general view, the CRA states:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/69

If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

If these places want to act in a certain manner to protect their interests they should continue that theme by ensuring their terms are written appropriately (which they may or may not have been in this case).  

HillStreetBlues

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Personally dont see much difference between being a no show and being a show who refuses to be seated and leaves without spending anything and so can understand the restaurant treating it the same. 

Whilst I agree with you as general view, the CRA states:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/69

If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

If these places want to act in a certain manner to protect their interests they should continue that theme by ensuring their terms are written appropriately (which they may or may not have been in this case).  

If OP phoned up to book an never been to the restaurant how would they know the layout. Was the OP told they would be sitting next to the toilet? I very much doubt that the OP is the first person who didn't want to sit there. So the restaurant would know it's a possibility that the table was unsuitable. It sounds like the OP wasn't able to make an informed decision.

My old local pub had a table by the toilets, even when busy it was often empty, people were always told when booking it would be that table.