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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to complain pizza express head office?

86 replies

frootloop · 20/12/2007 20:53

tonight my dh and i were enjoying a nice meal out and as we were finishing the head waitress comes over and says to us "my waitress tells me that when you last here you short changed us by about £1.50"
this was very surprising as we are very good at leaving the exact change. we said "are you sure it was us?" and she said "yes, she recognised you because you are pregnant" it had been a good 5-6 weeks since we were last there.

i think it highly likely that someone mistook the coins for a tip and this waitress should have given us the benefit of the doubt that it was a genuine mistake before humiliating us, especially for such a paltry amount.

i hate face to face complaining(i blush like mad) so was i unreasonable to email the head office?

OP posts:
mylittleponey · 20/12/2007 20:54

would complain about this!!!

cornsilk · 20/12/2007 20:55

Yes - cheeky mare!

emkana · 20/12/2007 20:55

I can't believe it that they actually bothered you with this, I would complain.

OComeOLIVEfaithfOIL · 20/12/2007 20:55

give em hell

cheeky feckers

although, when you say "we are very good at leaving the exact change" does that mean you don't leave ANY TIP AT ALL when you eat there?

bad if so imo, you should always tip

but they are very rude, and also how can they prove it?

YuleLoveHekateAtSolstice · 20/12/2007 20:56

No, you weren't unreasonable. How humiliating for you.

A whole £1.50 someone alert Interpol.

The fact that you returned to the scene of the crime would have told anyone with half a brain that, if indeed it WAS you who had underpaid, it was a total accident.

mumzyof2 · 20/12/2007 20:56

Good god, no YANBU! What a twatty thing to do, after 6 weeks, they pull you up over £1.50? Cheeky cow.

lulumama · 20/12/2007 20:56

how ridiculous, surely they should be treating regular customers with care, rather than humiliating you!!

i think you should absolutely email....

ohcomeALYefaithful · 20/12/2007 20:57

You should only tip if you've had good service, which would be ruled out in most PE's I've ever been in.

OComeOLIVEfaithfOIL · 20/12/2007 20:58

oh I always tip

PE v good whenever I go anyway

onepieceoflollipop · 20/12/2007 20:58

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of leaving tips, you certainly won't ever leave a tip in the future at Pizza Express will you!?

Original poster
frootloop · 20/12/2007 20:59

we only tip if we get good service, and at this pizza express we are left for ages with no drinks and have to wait forever to be served and wait ages to get the bill (lazy buggers) so its only here we never tip.

OP posts:
pinetreedog · 20/12/2007 21:01

you're obv a pizza express regular, froot.

I would thank them for their their eagle eyesight, photographic memories and straightforward bluntness by never visiting their restaurant again.

christmosschops30 · 20/12/2007 21:01

'you should always tip' what bollocks, nobody tips me when I go to work and look after them well!!!
I only tip when service has been exceptional or in my fave restaurant where we are treated very well, have a nice table, great service etc.

What a bloody cheek for £1.50, you should complain and say for the sake of the 'alleged' £1.50 theyve just lost a regular customer and plus bad words travel faster than good ones in the food industry

Kathyate6mincepies · 20/12/2007 21:06

There must be other places you can get a good pizza. Pizza Express pizzas are tiny anyway.

Original poster
frootloop · 20/12/2007 21:09

Well, we won't be darkening their doorstep again. we shall transfer our custom to pizza organic instead, they have a real log fire and comfy looking chairs.

OP posts:
FrannyandZooey · 20/12/2007 21:10

tiny? my god they are not tiny

christmosschops30 · 20/12/2007 21:11

mmmmm Dominos BBQ sauce base .....am salivating

Kathyate6mincepies · 20/12/2007 21:12

Last time I went I thought they were small and then there was an article in the paper about them having got smaller and the company denying it
But I haven't been there for several years now (on account of the smallness) so I may be out of date

FrannyandZooey · 20/12/2007 21:19

I ate one today they are not small

and they have a new even larger one

FrannyandZooey · 20/12/2007 21:19

but OP I think they were dreadful to do this to you! I think YANBU

nametaken · 20/12/2007 21:21

Jeez what a flaming cheek - I would have told them to call the chuffing police there and then if they believed I'd committed this terrible crime.

All waiting staff in this country get paid a perfectly reasonable amount even if it is minimum wage so no need to tip anymore unless you feel you wish to.

Nobody tips me and my job is much more worthy than theirs.

Just don't go back - in fact I'd be worried about what they did to my food if they thought I short-changed them.

janeite · 20/12/2007 21:23

Sorry but I'm reading this and thinking about that scene in "Reservoir Dogs" about whether or not you should tip!

I think you are right to complain Frootloop but if the service is always that bad, personally I'd be looking for somewhere else to eat! Hope Head Office give you a suitable reply. I wrote a complaint letter to a restaurant a week ago and haven't heard a thing yet.

foofi · 20/12/2007 21:24

Perhaps you could tell us which Pizza Express it was and we could all avoid it.

Original poster
frootloop · 20/12/2007 21:27

I cant wait to see what the response is to my email(if any) they will probably send us a voucher even though i said we will never go to their restaurant ever again, thats what they did when my parents complained.

im glad everyone agrees with me, i had a nagging feeling that i was being a bit over dramatic about it, but it really annoyed me. £1.50 FFS.

OP posts:
newgirl · 20/12/2007 21:33

do you think it was because you never tip? and that might be why you dont get good service? a cycle? just a thought so you stay friends with pizza organic!