Or was this restaurant useless?

[mslevine86]

Starting to doubt myself a bit so thought I would ask for opinions.
Last night was our anniversary and OH had booked a restaurant, told him to keep where it was a surprise but knew it would probably be one of about three places.
Turned up at said restaurant and it was closed!! Ok surely a mistake made somewhere, rang them no answer, stood outside in the cold. Went on their Facebook page and there was a post from the previous day stating they were shut from Tuesday til Thursday (no reason) my OH has fb but doesn't really use it and clearly hadn't seen the post. I didn't know we were going there and don't follow the place on fb as haven't been before so I didn't see it either. Checked his phone and they had actually tried to call him a week ago, one missed call. Rang voicemail number as no notification that they've left one and there was a message from them to say can you give us a ring please? He was in work at the time and it wasn't saved in his phone so ok he could have checked who had rang him, but could but am I being unreasonable that they should have made more effort to let us know? In this day and age a text even? And if it was something like this rang more than once? He had actually rang them yesterday afternoon to confirm with them as it's a 'fine dining' type of place (tasting menu wine flight etc) and he would have spent quite a bit on the meal and drinks, when we've eaten at these types of places before they normally ring to confirm were still coming. They have a cancellation policy on the website that if the customer cancels with less than 48 hours notice they charge 50 pound per head so although they didn't answer he assumed all was ok.
I was really disappointed as was my OH and commented on their post to tell them we were stood outside and did they think it was acceptable to which I've not yet had a response and I've drafted what I think is a very reasonable message to tell them this in detail as I think we deserve an apology. Luckily we managed to get in at another restaurant after my OH phoned round a few places so it wasn't a wasted journey but it wasn't what he had planned so did put a bit of a downer on the evening.

Thanks teddy. Deathstare they rang last Thursday so not an emergency as they were open over the weekend and the Facebook post did not mention unforeseen circumstances etc

That doesn't mean it's not an emergency. The sister and BIL of a friend of mine used to own a restaurant. When my friend's father was taken very seriously ill (and then died) the sister and BIL had to mainly close the restaurant at very short notice, they cobbled together some staff to keep the busiest days open but apart from that had to shut for two or three weeks. I didn't ask but I suspect they also had a list of bookings a mile long that they had to phone and cancel. And I doubt, in that situation they had time to even work out which customers hadn't responded to the voicemail, let alone call them back repeatedly. And no they didn't plaster the details of their family crisis all over social media!

YABU. Your DH didn't check his voicemail - that's not their fault. And maybe if he had checked his voicemail and got back to them last Thursday maybe they they would have been able to give him different options (eg change the booking to the weekend when they could open) or maybe they didn't know for certain that they would still be shut by last night and were giving him the option to cancel the booking if he didn't want to take the chance.

An example would be if I'd tried to ring him, if it was just the once he might not call me back straight away but if I rang him twice he would assume it was something urgent. Letting a customer down is urgent I think as it stops them turning up at a restaurant to find it closed!

''He had actually rang them yesterday afternoon to confirm with them ..... so although they didn't answer he assumed all was ok.''

Oh gosh. They rang but he didn't bother to check the caller. Then when he rang to confirm he couldn't get an answer at and just assumed all was ok.

Fault's more with DH i'm afraid.

Glad you had a nice meal in the end though OP x

But they don't know he would have answered a second time. He says he would have answered but who knows if he would? And as far as they are concerned they have left a message.

What do you want from your complaint? They can't go back and time and open for you. If you change company policy so they try to ring customers three times rather than once, or take an email address for a second form of contact, or tell people in a voicemail that they will be closed, I suppose it makes a difference.

I suspect that most people would just ring them back after getting the message though.

No I think the onus was on the restaurant to ensure everyone booked in that night was definitely aware of the situation. Leaving one message to say “call us back” is not good enough and someone there should have been aware he had not responded to that message.

They should have had an answerphone message explaining the closure.

I once phoned a luthier with a view to buying a cello we were planning on spending about £4k so had to be a specialist music shop, it was an hour drive away. They had the opening hours on the answerphone so I drove on over, to find they were on holiday and the store was closed. I drove another hour in the other direction to the other luthier within the neighbouring counties.

Deathstare I appreciate what you're saying that they don't have to give a reason but I've just checked the chefs twitter account and he was actually dining at a Michelin star restaurant in London last night with his girlfriend so no not a family emergency.

I would have expected a recorded message on their answer phone rather than just leaving customer calls to ring out.

The chef being out for dinner doesn't mean the owner/manager etc didn't have a personal reason for closing the restaurant.

YANBU

They should have left a message and try to call a couple more times.
Lack of common sense and bad customer service on their part. I have seen little cafes make more effort than that.

The tried to call once. They could've at least said in the message that they'd be closed. Yanbu.

He had a missed call from a number. He then rang that number a few days later and they didn't pick up? Most phones will group numbers so it should have clicked to him the one he was calling, was his missed call.

You had a reservation, they called to cancel it, he ignored the call and didn't phone back when he was asked to. He was unable to confirm it but did nothing more about that, in his mind a missed call was enough of a response to his situation, as it was in theirs. Were you expecting a recorded delivery letter? Carrier Pigeon? Sky writing?

And what was the actual harm, you still got a nice meal out for your anniversary, it just wasn't exactly what he planned. Nobody died, nobody was hurt, nobody went hungry. Decide you won't go back there and move on. What possible resolution are you looking for? A free meal or bottle of cheap wine?

YANBU. They should have left a message saying they needed to cancel your booking, not just a simple call us back.

And they should have called more than once. I don't know how many times is reasonable but I'd have thought at least 3 and then follow with a text if no answer (and a voicemail explaining the actual issue).

Very bad customer service.

I agree that they could have said that they would be closed in the message.

They also could have left a recorded message so that anyone phoning to check as Op's OH did would have heard that.

YANBU imo.

was it a chicken place

He had actually rang them yesterday afternoon to confirm with them as it's a 'fine dining' type of place (tasting menu wine flight etc) and he would have spent quite a bit on the meal and drinks, when we've eaten at these types of places before they normally ring to confirm were still coming.

So when he rang to confirm yesterday did he even get through?

Unless it's a greasy spoon one man band, chef doesn't run a place on his own! It might have been his night off anyway.

was it a chicken place

YANBU. Leaving one voicemail asking you to call back and not explicitly stating your booking had been cancelled is very poor.

If this were me, I think I would write and explained I turned up but also admit I didn't check my messages, but suggest that they did the answerphone thing in future.

I would be very polite and kind if I wanted to use their restaurant again!

I think YABU, they did make an effort to contact you and leave a message asking for a call back. Maybe they should have said in the message it was about a closure, but could have preferred to do that directly speaking to the person rather than in a message. If your DH chose to disregard a missed call as not important and not chase it up, that's not their issue.

I think you’re getting some harsh responses here, OP. If they had said in the message that the booking had to be cancelled it would be a bit different, but they knew they hadn’t communicated the message to you and that you would be standing outside a closed restaurant on the night of your booking. Not good customer service.

It wouldn't have mattered what they said in the voicemail, her h didn't listen to it.