Is this restaurant taking the mick, or are we just naive?

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

DH had a £100 voucher for a local restaurant.

We went tonight and ate/drank £76 on food and drink.

They initially refused to give us change (fine, I wasn't expecting cash change), or a smaller voucher for what we hadn't spent/ annotation on the original voucher for what we had left.

They did finally give us cash change as a goodwill gesture since we were unaware (doesn't say anything on their website or on the voucher).

Is this normal? They've been paid £100 for the voucher, they were essentially planning on picketing £24 that they'd been paid.

Or should be have forced ourselves to have had another bottle of wine ?🤣

I've never had a restaurant voucher before, but a local bookshop just writes on their vouchers how much you have left to spend if you don't spend it all at once.

[MaybeSmaller]

I would actually say that is fraud quite honestly. A £120 voucher should be £120 from the normal menu, not £120 from a shit "voucher menu" that you never knew about in advance. Proper sharp practice, carnival barker tactics. They need to be sued or given Tripadvisor terrible reviews into oblivion.

[Annalisea]

I’d leave them a bad review personally.

[WasJuliaRight]

@Annalisea

I’d leave them a bad review personally.

What for? They got what they wanted and both had a three course dinner for £76. Really good service and they were given the difference in cash, not even a voucher after they complained. Nothing to give a bad review about. Drop one star explaining how you had to resolve the issue but aside from that they had a good experience.

[EnthENd]

OP is not being unreasonable. Any competent gift card system will roll the balance over. If the restaurant is jury-rigging something because they won't pay for the addon on their till system for professional gift cards, they need to sort something out for the change.

Even if OP did want to tip generously, I bet that at that restaurant, "keep the change" on a gift card will give the waitstaff zero tip.

Creamteaforone got ripped off. Well, whoever bought the voucher did. Very common for so-called "experience gifts". But not the same scenario as OP.

[Creamteaforone]

@MaybeSmaller

This is utterly shit and is why you should NEVER volunteer in advance that you have a voucher. Order whatever the fuck you want, enjoy the heck out of it, then when the bill arrives, then (and only then) offer the voucher as payment. End of.

Not utterly shit as you so politely put it @MaybeSmaller. We had to give the restaurant the voucher code and amount. Not like a normal retail voucher.

[ReeseWitherfork]

@Creamteaforone

Not utterly shit as you so politely put it @MaybeSmaller. We had to give the restaurant the voucher code and amount. Not like a normal retail voucher.

Poster wasn’t saying your story was utterly shit, they believed you, and was saying it was shit behaviour from the restaurant.

[Creamteaforone]

@ReeseWitherfork and @MaybeSmaller, I apologise. I wasn't having a moan but it was absolutely a crap experience. Never again. Such a waste of money. We are never going to return to the restaurant again or use that type of voucher.

[yousaythatbut]

I suppose you could have ordered something extra then asked for a doggy bag to take it home? However, yes, they should give change or a voucher for the difference if their website doesn't specify.

[Seedo]

Judging by your comment, you're American.
This post has pound signs, indicating in all probability English.

Over here, wait staff get a real wage, a tip is just that, a bonus for if the staff go above and beyond their required duties.
It's very common to only leave a tip once every few times you eat out, as most wait staff do the bare minimum. It's not very commonplace to meet a good server and on the rare times you do, you usually leave a pretty generous tip.

We don't really do the % of meal thing here, usually just a flat £5 or £10 note tucked under a plate for the server to find when they clean the table.

[MyrtlethePurpleTurtle]

It's in the Daily Mail now

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12267161/Diner-sparks-debate-restaurant-didnt-offer-change-voucher.html