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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Or was this restaurant useless?

141 replies

mslevine86 · 22/02/2018 15:10

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.

OP posts:

abilockhart · 22/02/2018 17:01

The restaurant has a webpage that had no mention of the closure on as that's what he went on to to get the number to call them yesterday lunchtime.

mslevine86, surely, he checked the Facebook page not just the website?
After all, this is 2018 - not 1998.

Clem7 · 22/02/2018 17:06

Obviously DH could have been more on the ball, but it is poor customer service. They should have said who was calling in the VM and should have said they were going to be closed. ‘Hi call me back ‘ doesn’t really cut it in the age of cold-call marketing.

deadringer · 22/02/2018 17:07

Are you sure your dh booked at all, maybe he forgot? Anyway mountain and molehill are my thoughts on this tbh.

Clem7 · 22/02/2018 17:08

surely, he checked the Facebook page not just the website?
After all, this is 2018 - not 1998.
I don’t think I’ve ever checked a restaurant’s Facebook page; wouldn’t occur to me to do so.

Bluedoglead · 22/02/2018 17:09

They weren’t useless. They weren’t stellar or on the ball but neither was your OH. 6 and 2 I think.

Clem7 · 22/02/2018 17:12

“Hi this is Restaurant; we’re going to be closed next week’;

“Hi this is Restaurant, please call us back”;

“Hi, I’m calling to let you know we can’t honour the reservation you made”

All fine and would likely get the job done

“Hi call me” is crap.

frasier · 22/02/2018 17:14

It doesn't have t be a death in HIS family. Could have been anyone's family associated with running the place, a health and safety issue, a fire, flood or electrical problem. They might have had to have emergency works, the water turned off. You seem to think that an owner/chef is there every night. They're not. They have staff!

AlwaysPondering · 22/02/2018 17:15

If they left a message but failed to actually say they would be closed then YANBU.

Imo they could have made their intentions for calling very clear in their voicemail.

frasier · 22/02/2018 17:16

Clem7 It made no difference. The guy who made the booking didn't even check his voicemail until he was stood outside the closed place!

RedDogsBeg · 22/02/2018 17:18

They didn't speak to him which in my mind means they didn't make sure he knew it was closed.

The onus was on your dh to return the call.

You seem to expect the restaurant to have phoned you several times until your dh deigned to answer/reply, leave voicemail messages which your dh would ignore, text your dh, leave a message on their answerphone for when your dh finally decided to call and confirm the booking and somehow none of that is you wanting to be seen as a 'special case'. Funnily enough their other customers didn't require such intensive input.

frasier · 22/02/2018 17:19

Seems to me the complaint is "We didn't listen to the message you left or take any notice when no one answered the phone for me to confirm the booking, but we turned up anyway and now think you should have left a longer message saying that the place would be closed even though we still wouldn't have listened to it and still turned up.

RedDogsBeg · 22/02/2018 17:20

Clem7 I imagine the "Hi this is restaurant please call us back" is exactly the message they left.

DeathStare · 22/02/2018 17:23

They should have said who was calling in the VM and should have said they were going to be closed. ‘Hi call me back ‘ doesn’t really cut it in the age of cold-call marketing

I think they did say who it was in the voicemail message, didn't they? Just her DH didn't listen to the message. And when he had a call from an unknown number he didn't either try to work out who it was, or call them back or listen to his voicemail.

frasier · 22/02/2018 17:26

If the unknown number had been googled, all would be revealed. I do this all the time.

Clem7 · 22/02/2018 17:29

RedDogsBeg - maybe I’ve got the wrong end of the stick

Tippz · 22/02/2018 17:29

@mslevine86

YABU. The restaurant tried to get in touch.

Just put it down to experience.

Could you not have done something else? My husband was raving about a restaurant last year, and said he wanted to take me there for tapas and so on, and it was so nice blah blah...

So I said 'cool let's go...'

We drove 18 miles, and the place had closed down. No warning, nothing on the website, nothing. It had been open for about 2 years, and was open the previous week when he passed it on the way to our nearest city.

He was gutted and upset. I didn't mind though. We just drove back to our little town (3 miles away,) and found a place to eat, and had a lovely night. there must have been somewhere else surely....

wheresmyphone · 22/02/2018 17:32

YANBU. They should have left a proper message. They should not expect you to have to chase them back.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 22/02/2018 17:36

I misspoke, when I sad the restaurant had rung to tell the OP’s dh they were shut - my apologies.

However, what I meant to say was that basic customer service is ringing your customers - which they did.

No basic customer service would be locking up the restaurant and not doing anything to let people know.

Could they have left a more informative message? Yes. But they did try to contact the OP’s dh, so it is unfair to accuse them of failing to offer even basic customer service.

DeathStare · 22/02/2018 17:42

RedDogsBeg - maybe I’ve got the wrong end of the stick

Restaurant phoned last week and the OP's DH noticed he had missed a call but didn't recognise the number so he ignored it. He chose not to google the number or call it back.

When they called, the restaurant left a message asking him to call them. OP's DH never got the message because (despite knowing he'd missed a call from an unknown number) he didn't bother checking his voicemail.

The OP's DH then (still without listening to the voicemail) called the restaurant on the day of the booking and got no answer. At this point he didn't think "hmmm that's odd. Let's check their social media"

The restaurant advertised their closure on social media but OP's DH didn't check social media.

As a result of this the OP and her DH had a few minutes of inconvenience after they found themselves outside a closed restaurant and having to identify a different restaurant. But all in all, they had a nice night and had a meal out.

BoomBoomsCousin · 22/02/2018 18:44

The restaurant should also have had a message on its phone service saying they were closed. Then when customers returned the calls the restaurant had cryptically left asking for a call back (a voicemail simply asking for a call back without saying what it is about is plain rude anyway unless it's about something confidential) and were unable to get through, they would have received the important information that the restaurant should have made it a priority to get to them.

frasier · 22/02/2018 19:13

BoomBoomsCousin True, but the OP's DH didn't bother listening to the message until it was too late, so in their case it is a mute point.

Other people perhaps either answered the call or rang back when they got the message (the OP's DH got a call from them "a week" before their reservation).

The OP's complaint seems to be that they didn't know... but they didn't answer the phone so how could they be told?

Also, the OP seems annoyed that the owner went out on a night the restaurant was closed for a birthday celebration. I don't know why.

BoomBoomsCousin · 22/02/2018 19:24

frasier One could just as easily say the OP's OH called the restaurant as he had been asked to, so the fact he didn't listen to the message is a moot point, he still wouldn't have known they had cancelled his reservation.

But the OP didn't ask if her OH was useless (which he was a little) she asked if the restaurant was useless - and they were.

frasier · 22/02/2018 20:32

But he rang a week later when he was stood outside and the place was closed. That was a but too late lol!

BoomBoomsCousin · 22/02/2018 23:04

No, he rang them the day before, which wouldn't have been "a bit late" at all.

RedDogsBeg · 23/02/2018 01:17

No, BoomBoom he rang them to confirm their reservation (having not listened to the VM left a week ago) at lunchtime on the day they were due to eat there that evening, it's clear in the first post the OP made.

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