To think this is a bit of a rip off?

[narra]

Me and my boyfriend booked a table on Thursday night and a pub.
Just the two of us.
We had to pay a £60 deposit to secure our table for 2 hours.
7-9pm
We got there and were informed we don't get the £60 back instead we get it back in the form of a bottle of any of their "house spirit" and unlimited mixers.

I feel a bit ripped off.
Aibu ?

We didn't drink it all no.
Yes we took the bottle with us.
I'm going to pop in today and explain the situation and see what they say.
Then I will leave a bad review on our local page

They didn't pay the bill. The pub just kept the £60 deposit

I'd definitely be demanding my deposit back, and I''d definitely be plastering it on social media, trip adviser, the lot if they refused.

What was the pub called? We'll back you up!

That's crazy. Even crazier that you accepted it.

How bizarre! So they are expecting you to drink half a bottle of spirit with your dinner? That definitely isn't right. not sure if that makes it illegal, but its probably against trading standards if they are not making you aware of that when booking.

@Cocomarine sorry I meant I couldn't have vodka and my boyfriend gin
We had to just have the same

That’d seem a breach of trading standards.0

They said last night it's so they guarantee a £60 earnings for the 2 hours.

I don't want to go all guns blazing incase my boyfriend didn't understand on the phone.
If it was something written down ..I would have felt more comfortable arguing my case.

Theres a massive mark up on spirits in bars and restaurants. The price for a full bottle is whatever their 25ml (ie a normal serving) price is times as many shots as in the bottle. Its heinous.

They are cheeky fuckers and I'd plaster it all over their FB page.

Even if your boyfriend got it wrong and was informed/misheard they are still cheeky fuckers.

Bottles of house spirit are less than £20 and boxes of the post mix for the diet coke are certainly not £40.

Name and shame!

Yes its a rip off and one that will shoot them in the foot once word gets round.

If they're expecting a minimum take of £60 per table per two hour booking they need to be very clear about that when people make the booking and on their FB page.

I know its been hard for hospitality over the last year and they've been plagued by no shows, but deceiving their paying customers is not the way to make up for all that.

Surely he received an email when he paid the deposit?

@MadeForThis

They didn't pay the bill. The pub just kept the £60 deposit

You’ve made me realise that I assumed they went for a meal 🤣 projecting - I never set foot in a pub in the evening just for drinking!

I can understand the “we need a guaranteed £60 spend” situation, but not it being restricted to a particular drink!

I don’t understand how you weren’t surrounded by others all shouting, “WTF?”

£60 from any drinks, yes. Though for a couple, that’s still going some in 2 hours 😳

The ts and cs they mention would be something your boyfriend remembers though - it's very specific. So they either said it to him or they didnt.

Did your boyfriend pay the £60 when he booked, or was it paid when you got to the pub?

If the latter, why didn't you just refuse to pay and walk if being forced to pay £60 for crap vodka and shitty postmix wasn't the night out you were planning?

@narra

They said last night it's so they guarantee a £60 earnings for the 2 hours.

That’s not really a deposit then, it’s more like a minimum spend. That they then insist you spend on a specific thing and anything else you buy doesn’t count towards the minimum spend. I wouldn’t be happy at all.

I would be furious and would have only paid the bill minus £60
I don’t want bottles of spirits, I dont drink them

Definitely bad mouth the place but please also take this as a lesson in assertiveness and maybe look into improving your self confidence in social situations if you feel that could help in a similar situation in future.

This should never happen, it feels like a scam and therefore please don't be too harsh on yourselves but also try and learn from it.

I don't think you've a chance in hell of being refunded after accepting the vodka.

No he paid the £60 over the phone a week ago by debit card.
We were told it's £60 per table for up to 6 people.
So if there was 6 of us it would have been a bottle of spirit between 6 so £10 each

This used to be standard practice in clubs.

@narra

I don't want to go all guns blazing incase my boyfriend didn't understand on the phone. If it was something written down ..I would have felt more comfortable arguing my case.

Why not ring up and pretend you want to book a table and see if they tell you about it

If it was a minimum spend that I could understand. So you could spend in on a meal, nice bottle of champagne etc. But it seems odd that it had to be spirits and mixers. What if you didn’t like them?

@WorraLiberty

Surely he received an email when he paid the deposit?

Ive not been out for a meal since we were allowed to but am planning to in a couple of weeks. Are deposits and emails a thing now?

@idontlikealdi

This used to be standard practice in clubs.

It did, but - in my clubbing days - it was always very clear. You were paying £x for the table, and part of the “package” was some cheap shit version of alcohol to make you feel less ripped off. But you didn’t really feel ripped off as it was really clear that the £x was for the reserved table.

It needs to have been explained properly by the pub.