If a child drops their ice cream, should the shop replace it free of charge?

[LittleRa]

I witnessed this today. At the seaside, at a popular Italian ice cream/gelato store, takeaway window. The family in front of me- mum, dad and two kids. They got their ice creams and as they turned, the dad said to the eldest child about 8yo “don’t spill ice cream on your England shirt” She put her tongue out to lick and licked too hard and the whole scoop fell off onto the ground. Cue tears from the girl and the dad huffing and puffing. He came back to the counter and seemed to be expecting it to be replaced for free. The person behind the til said so sorry she dropped it but we don’t do that, the dad was saying but I’ve just bought it, but she’s literally just dropped it and sighing loudly. In the end he did get his wallet out and pay for a new one though.

YANBU- it’s the parents’ responsibility to monitor the child’s ice cream and if the inevitable should happen, they need to pay to replace it.
YABU- the shop should replace it for free.

As an aside, I got my DD’s hers in a tub with a spoon

@BillyIsMyBunny

I used to work in an ice cream parlour and I would say if the scoop fell off being licked the ice cream was either too hard, the cone too small or the ice cream wasn’t put into the cone effectively and that the shop should replace it. The entire scoop should not fall off just from licking it if the correct cones are used for the size and consistency of the scoops being served. If the scoop falls but the child still had hold of the cone the shop should replace.

If the child dropped the whole thing (Eg: dropped their hold on the cone) that would be different and I’d say the onus would be on the parents to replace.

I totally think they should have replaced the ice cream. I have not worked in an ice cream parlour. But this would be my take.

And i'd still argue that he consumer still has a duty of care to not just grab a bag without checking the bottom isn't going to fall out of it if it is an expensive and easily broken object.

I'd say the shop assistant has a duty to make sure the item is packed securely and safely - triple bagging it if necessary.

I'm not being obtuse either the only difference is the value of the item. The general principle is the same.

And you're correct, the shop may not be obligated to replace it, but good customer service goes a long long way, especially in the days of social media and online reviews.

I like the til operator saying Sorry, but we don’t do that.” It’s nothing personal, its just their policy. And I agree that that’s fair, businesses don’t usually pay for the misfortune if their customers.

On the fence really.

On the one hand it’s not the shop is responsibility or fault that an 8 year old dropped their ice cream…..

However, for the sake of 50p is it worth them huffing about it? If it was my business I’d get the DC a new ice cream as it clearly wasn’t on purpose…. But technically no it wasn’t their fault…. They’re silly though as it’s not worth the negative publicity

No it’s not the shops place to do it,

Any decent human would have done another scoop for a child. Like a PP says, it shouldnt have came off with just a lick anyway.

It would be nice if they did but I can understand the shop's position.

I used to work in a shop and a woman dropped a mirror literally seconds after she bought it. We gave her a refund because she was an absolute bitch about it.

When i lived in Sweden, if you dropped a bottle of wine as you left the shop, so long as the cork was still in it or the screw lid seal un broken, some places would replace it FOC.

If the server pushes down on the ice cream scoop into the cone, it should drop off.

shouldn't

Nah. Once the cone has left the shop's hands they're free of any reponsibility especially as they're not in the market for repeat custom.

Plus if CF dad can afford an England shirt for an eight year old and go on to trumpet it to the masses said child he can cough £1.50 for an extra- lissome tongue malfunction without dropping a beat.

Nah. Once the cone has left the shop's hands they're free of any reponsibility especially as they're not in the market for repeat custom.

Of course they are. Even ice-cream vans rely on word of mouth to stay open. If a place gets a reputation for awful customer service and bad manners, people won't go there.

Yes it would nice as a one off but this probably happens at least once a day with a child if not more times on a busy day in a seaside resort. When you add up all those free replacements… I guess they just have a standard no replacement otherwise where would they draw a line

YANBU.

Let’s say 50 dropped ice creams at a popular resort on a busy day. That’s a sizeable chunk of profit after a terrible 18 months. How is that fair?

No, parents buy another or ask for a tub and spoon if a young child is likely to drop it from a cone.

I don’t know why parents don’t get the tubs instead of cones. So much messer and precarious with cones and children.

Still like others say the ice cream should have been pushed down as a child licking it shouldn’t have pushed the scoop off like that.

I think it is a bit cheap of the shop.

The actual cost of the ice cream is labour and rent, not so much the actual cost of the ice-cream.

tttigress

I think it is a bit cheap of the shop.

“The actual cost of the ice cream is labour and rent, not so much the actual cost of the ice-cream.”

All paid for from the same income, though.

I voted YANBU as it Shouldn't be expected but most places would offer I imagine.

On the question of profit. Refusing to replace a child’s cone could likely result in no repeat business. And if the family had bought ice cream for all of them then an extra cone is still going to be worth the business and the increase likelihood of repeat business.

Of course they are

Of course they're not.

It's a seaside shop in the summer with thousands of potential customers over the season virtually none of whom will have done in depth research on cones.

Can you link to poor reviews of ice cream vans?

@CathyorClaire

Of course they are

Of course they're not.

It's a seaside shop in the summer with thousands of potential customers over the season virtually none of whom will have done in depth research on cones.

Can you link to poor reviews of ice cream vans?

I'm sure I could, but I'm not going to search them out

My point is that bad experiences travel further on social media than good ones. For the sake of 20p or however much it costs out of the thousands of pounds they make each day in the summer - why not just replace the ice cream?

I saw a teenage girl in Costa the other day pick up her drink from the counter (one of those iced things) and somehow it slipped straight through her hands onto the ground. She was obviously really embarrassed and asked for paper towels - the server said no, she would sort it, and got her a new drink which she didn’t charge for.

I thought the whole thing was very nicely handled by both parties - the girl was close to tears initially and the Costa lady was so lovely with her.

@warmfluffytowels I think a lot of places would TBF - but not for an obvious CF. Who would never leave a good review or do anything to benefit the shop anyway

[quote CastawayQueen]@warmfluffytowels I think a lot of places would TBF - but not for an obvious CF. Who would never leave a good review or do anything to benefit the shop anyway[/quote]
As I learnt in retail - people don't leave good reviews but they do leave bad ones

You just have to weigh up what's more important I suppose - 50p loss to your profits, or keeping that 50p and risking being slammed on social media for being cheap and making a small child cry

Who even reads those reviews? Have of them are robos, totally made up. As for the whingers, they just look like chancers trying to get something for free.

And even if you did all that snd the bag broke there’s no way you’d shrug and say ‘no problem, I’ll just pay for another’. Or if you did you’d be mad.

I could hardly be further from the 'high six-figures earner' that 95% of MNetters claim to be, so if I were buying something very special and expensive - in fact anything breakable - I would be very careful with it from the point I took it from the shelf to the point when I had put it somewhere safe at home. Same principle as when doing ordinary shopping - I'll happily drop a bag of potatoes into my shopping bag, but would carefully place the eggs in on the top.