To think we shouldn’t have had to pay?

[MamToTeens]

Took DH, 2 DC and BIL out for lunch today. After ordering, it took 10 minutes for the drinks to come (not too long considering, but they were literally cans that we could see from the table). We then had to wait another hour and a half for food! There were 2 cooked meals and 3 sandwiches. The cooked meals were burned and the bread was stale, basically inedible. We are a bit but couldn’t manage much. We were then told that it was cash only, even though it hadn’t been clearly advertised (argument was that it was on the door, which was open so we couldn’t see the sign). It was around £60 for the 5 of us, so I couldn’t afford it with cash. We walked out without paying and they threatened to call the police. Haven’t heard anything yet. AIBU to have refused to pay? And will they be able to do anything when they don’t have names or anything?

Not read all the replies.
YABU, you don't just walk out like that without paying.
Even if you do complain after trying to eat it.
You should have the funds on you to pay.
Leave a not so positive review if you feel so, but don't just swan off without paying.

I doubt police are going to drive over 100 miles just to argue this.

Of course they won't. If they do they will send an officer local to you.

No you shouldn’t have to pay for rubbish, inedible food. But you need to come to an agreement with management about what you might pay instead, not just walk out.

I'm afraid I would have left long before that but since you ate the meal, you do need to pay for it.

New Year’s Eve. You took your family out for a meal. Ordered food and drinks at a restaurant. Ate and drank. Left without paying and have no intention of paying. You ask if you are unreasonable? Is that the question?

OP must be trolling us.

I don’t believe all your drinks totally to a fiver exactly after the wait you’ve said. You complain about the food and get what you couldn’t eat off the bill. CF.

not just theft, teaching your children that it's OK to steal as well.

You should have sent the food back. complained, negotiated a reduction or reduced bill, and asked where nearest ATM was.

I would have returned the food immediately after 1 bite only and said it was inedible and then only paid for the drinks.

Congratulations, OP, you’ve started the year off as a thief. Does that make you feel good?

Your behaviour here was disgraceful. You cannot just walk out without paying, and you know full well £5 does not cover that many people’s drinks.

You really ought to be ashamed of yourself, but considering you quite obviously don’t give a toss you’re now a thief, you probably aren’t going to be.

Poor poor behaviour

I do hope this gets followed up by the police. If the food was inedible, this is something you should have sorted at the time. Not just left a fiver and ran.

You're a scuzzy thief.

Happy New Year.

You OP are a thief. Your DC watched their mother be a thief. Happy new year.

If the food is inedible, you complain and either get the food replaced or get it taken off the bill.

You can't just walk out and not pay. You even say you ate some of the food and not all of it. You're a serious CF.

You did the right thing in the wrong way ultimately.

£5 is more than enough to cover 5 cans of drink at wholesale prices, so the cafe didn't lose out there.

I think you should have just paid for the drinks and left earlier due to the extreme delay in the food arriving. But have been open about what you are doing. Cancel the order and ask for the bill for the drinks.

If you waited for the food to arrive and some of it was inedible, you should have complained and asked for the cost of the inedible meals (at least) to be removed from the bill. Then someone stays, while someone else goes to the cash point to get the money out to pay for the much reduced bill.

With terrible service, inedible food and only taking cash I doubt they will be in business for long though and another person walking out without paying for the food (as they won't be the first or last if they are as poor as the OP says) will be the least of their worries.

"The wait for the food was too long and the food was not acceptable so we are not happy to pay full price, please adjust the bill. Also could you tell me where the nearest cash machine is please?" is what you should have said OP not just walked out, that is theft.

With regards to the police, at our restaurant we have to report any walk outs to the police as we need the crime reference number, we give a description of the thieves and hand over any cct footage, what the police do after that is down to them. I have had to give evidence in court over a walkout before though so don't assume the police won't bother.

I really hope that the server hasn't had to pay for the bill out of their wages, this is common practice in a lot of places and is in the contract when you become a server. Hopefully the manager hasn't enforced it as you complained and they tried to get you to pay but it just depends on the manager, if they are a dick and don't want to lose the money then they will have made the server pay.

YABUVVVU OP and sound like absolute trash.

What an example to your children!! You went about it the wrong way, you could have complained about the food and service and asked for your bill to be adjusted, but you certainly don't just walk out because they asked for cash. As mentioned by many others here, you go find an ATM and pay what you owe.

I do so hope the police turn up on your doorstep in the next few days!

I don’t think you left a fiver for the drinks, I think you said that to back track.

You did the old dine 'n dash. You just did it blatantly, rather than sneaking out. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse...

OP puts in an early move for "Scum of the Year" award 2020!

Abysmal service. Inedible food. And yet so many posters here think the customer should just pay up. This must be in UK.

Once I castigated the owner of a restaurant in that if he had offered the same standard of service and food in his home country as I had just experienced, the business would not have lasted a week. He smiled at me and said, 'True enough, but this is England. People here will put up with all kinds of shit in a restaurant and still pay through the nose.' (He offered me a big reduction on the bill, which I accepted in large part because of his honesty with me.)

No, OP, YANBU. I have never understood why people in UK put up with such awful service and food and still think they have to pay for it. No it is not 'stealing'. You pay for edible food and decent service. You do not have to pay for something you have not received.

As for the police; if, as is very unlikely, the police contact you about this, explain calmly what happened and that nothing criminal occurred (I assume there was no argy-bargy or breach of the peace). Stand your ground -- at worst there may be a civil matter for the restaurant to pursue, if they wish to push the case. If they do, you have a defence in that you did not get what you reasonably expected from a restaurant: edible food, properly served in a reasonable time.

If more people refused to pay for poor service and bad food, eating out in UK would be very much less of the hit-and-miss affair it currently is.

@9toenails nobody's saying OP should pay for shit food. But she should do what you did - actually speak to them and explain why she wasn't paying and reached a compromise.

Not just walk out because SHE didn't have cash to pay in a cash only establishment.

She said she didn't pay because it was cash only. Presumably that means she'd have paid if it wasn't.
They also ate some of the food (even though it was apparently inedible).

@MamToTeens A fiver for the drinks sounds entirely reasonable. I'd have done the same. This is basic contract stuff: you pay for edible food and service. You received neither so you don't fulfil your side of the bargain either.