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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Lost my deposit-AIBU?

231 replies

Outofpocket2022 · 12/03/2022 12:28

Not sure if AIBU to feel a bit annoyed by all of this….
My family and all live in different parts of the country, and although we all visit each other’s different houses etc at various points we try to get all together once a year for a meal out-generally on Mother’s Day.

We booked a restaurant (not a chain-small family owned type place) midway between all of us for Mother’s Day in 2020 but the pandemic happened and it got cancelled. We’d paid a pretty substantial deposit of £70, and the restaurant got in touch to offer either a full refund or that if we still wanted to visit then they would issue a voucher for the sum of the deposit plus a % extra per person as a thank you.
We accepted the voucher (perhaps foolishly in hindsight) and didn’t think anything more of it. Mother’s day 2021 came around and lockdown was still in place so we didn’t book anything.

Fast forward to 2022 and I booked the same restaurant again for Mother’s Day. They emailed asking for a deposit so we got back in touch to explain about the voucher.

Problem is, the voucher has expired.

I’m really annoyed with myself that I didn’t check in advance and also that I didn’t get back in touch with them perhaps the same time last year. But everything was still shut and it didn’t really cross my mind. The restaurant isn’t somewhere we’d pass so wouldn’t have been on the radar for us to visit earlier. I got back in contact with them via email to explain the circumstances and asked if they would be able to reconsider letting us use our part of the deposit (not the extra % they added on for goodwill) and it was a flat no. The response was from the owner rather than other staff so I’m pretty sure it’s the final answer. They said that everyone else who was issue a voucher has used it and they were a small business who had been impacted by Covid and they hoped we understood.

It’s not their fault that the voucher had expired-that’s 100% on us and we should have checked. But £70 is a lot of money to us and it feels a little bit snakey if I’m honest. Especially as they’d asked for our support in the early part of the pandemic by having a voucher issues rather than taking the refund.

So yeh, feeling a bit peeved but would be good to hear others opinions-AIBU?

OP posts:
JellybeansJelly · 12/03/2022 13:01

Hmm I’m with the restaurant on this. You had a voucher given to you two years ago, it expired a year ago, and then you call them now to try and use it? If it was a month or so off, I would think the restaurant can be a bit more understanding, but an entire year is taking the piss a bit.

Original poster
Outofpocket2022 · 12/03/2022 13:01

@PenguinLove1 I'd like to consider myself a pretty reasonable person most of the time so I won't be leaving an 'abusive' review!

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 12/03/2022 13:01

I think they should have honoured your deposit. They've got your £70 and they were the ones who cancelled your original booking.

Thewindwhispers · 12/03/2022 13:02

Yanbu, you showed them goodwill by not demanding cash refund and they’re refusing to show you the same goodwill. £70 is nothing to them.

LaurieFairyCake · 12/03/2022 13:02

If there's no terms and conditions in it how are you supposed to know that it expired ????

I think that's dreadful and unreasonable

JellybeansJelly · 12/03/2022 13:03

@Easterbunnyiswindowshopping

Go somewhere else. Upload a review and mention why you chose there not plan A. Very sly imo. Even Vue extended our owed tickets by 12 months. So 2 years from issue!!
What’s sly about it? It had an expiry date that OP missed.
AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 12/03/2022 13:04

@BankingOnChange

But £70 is a lot of money to us and it feels a little bit snakey if I’m honest

It's not. They're a business who exist to make a profit...it's likely that they needed the certainty of an expiry date without having the voucher hanging over them forever more. Yabu.

Would it be hanging over them? They've taken money for nothing, it"s totally understandable that it might not have been possible to use it before now.

Do you have a local paper sad face you could put a photo of on their trip advisor?

TrooBloo · 12/03/2022 13:05

Yabu.

Original poster
Outofpocket2022 · 12/03/2022 13:05

@LaurieFairyCake the expiry date was on the main voucher! So it was absolutely us that missed it-another family member had the voucher so our fault. I guess I'd just been hoping for a bit of flexibility from them so we could still go there for a meal (where we'd spend some more money obviously!)

OP posts:
ImInStealthMode · 12/03/2022 13:06

It's not the restaurant's fault they're not local to you, they've been open for many months since March 2020 and you've had ample opportunity to use the voucher.

If you were planning to use the voucher on a random Tuesday night in February they may have been more open to extending it given the additional spend they'd receive on top, but for one of the busiest days of the year I can see why they're not.

YABU not to have checked for expiry, it's rare they ever last over a year.

twilightermummy · 12/03/2022 13:07

I think they’re being very short sighted. As a large group, they’re likely to make more money by you attending. Also, with people having to tighten their belts, the hospitality industry may suffer again.

I’d leave a review about this tbh and let potential customers make their own minds up.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 12/03/2022 13:07

You paid for a service that the restaurant was not able to deliver, they gave you a voucher that you were unable to use and now they have kept your money?

Fuck 'em.

I'd post a bad review personally.

Yeah, small businesses are having it had but so are a lot of individuals.

Nelliephant1 · 12/03/2022 13:08

I fully understand where you're coming from and in normal circumstances they may well have honoured it but they're probably lucky still to be in business and your deposit may well have made a huge difference to them. It's been tough going for everyone I'm afraid.

Dotdotdotdashdashdashdotdotdot · 12/03/2022 13:09

@Wonnle

It's a bit off really given you couldn't use the voucher for most of the 12 months , slag them on (anti) social media that normally does the trick
Oh yes, slag them off on SM & ruin a small struggling businesses reputation for not using the voucher before it expired. Hmm
diddl · 12/03/2022 13:10

@Thewindwhispers

Yanbu, you showed them goodwill by not demanding cash refund and they’re refusing to show you the same goodwill. £70 is nothing to them.
I can't help thinking that also.

2yrs is a long time-but not so much if it's for an event that only happens once a year!

Shame that they won't budge at all.

donquixotedelamancha · 12/03/2022 13:11

please dont give them abuse on social media as a pp said because you made a mistake, thats some horrible advice and basically tryibg to bully them into changing their terms and conditions to avoid bad press.

It's not abuse to complain factually. It's a public service to put honest reviews rather than just empty positivity. If they are being perfectly fair then such a complaint wouldn't harm them at all.

Persally I think there behaviour is a fairly poor show. I don't think there is any harm in asking them to honour the voucher or in stating publically if they don't.

Turningpurple · 12/03/2022 13:12

It may be a large group but g8cen ita mothers day, the 1st one that everything open in 2 years....they will still be busy.

Its not a case of let op come or have an empty table.

So the 'will they are missing out argument' doesn't really work.

TigerLilyTail · 12/03/2022 13:16

@Thewindwhispers

Yanbu, you showed them goodwill by not demanding cash refund and they’re refusing to show you the same goodwill. £70 is nothing to them.
I read it as the OP cancelled the booking due to covid and the restaurant offered them the deposit as a voucher as a goodwill gesture. If the restaurant cancelled, then of course they should have been refunded the full amount, but I think 2 years is a really long time to expect the restaurant to honor a voucher for. They can't be expected to hold these thing indefinitely.

I understand the disappointment but I would still use the restaurant. I don't think they have done anything wrong.

C152 · 12/03/2022 13:16

I feel YABU here. The restaurant initially offered you a refund or a voucher, and you chose the voucher. I would be annoyed to have lost the deposit as well but, as you admit, you didn't check the expiry date and you didn't follow up with them for 2 years. The restaurant haven't been sly at all, and their response seems reasonable to me.

Funkyslippers · 12/03/2022 13:18

There is no law that says a company has to honour a voucher that's expired. There may be one protecting a customer who has an in date gift card but that's all

BeHappy91818 · 12/03/2022 13:19

Yabu. It was 2 years ago and places have been opened for ages and on and off. You could of used it anytime.

ImInStealthMode · 12/03/2022 13:19

@twilightermummy

I think they’re being very short sighted. As a large group, they’re likely to make more money by you attending. Also, with people having to tighten their belts, the hospitality industry may suffer again.

I’d leave a review about this tbh and let potential customers make their own minds up.

First 'open' Mothers Day in 2 years. Any restaurant worth its salt will be able to fill 4 or 5 times over with people who don't have expired vouchers.

All they'd be doing by accepting OPs voucher is themselves out of £70. They don't have her deposit sitting in a drawer waiting for her, it will have been accounted for back in 2020s year end.

If I read a poor review from someone annoyed they couldn't use an old voucher I'd completely disregard it in my decision as to whether or not to use that business myself.

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 12/03/2022 13:19

Hospitality has taken a battering - no question. But a lot of people have over the last two years.

£70 might be a little portion of what you would have spent at your gathering (not sure if it is posh/expensive or how many there are of you) and I think it is short sighted of them.

DarleneSnell · 12/03/2022 13:20

@Viviennemary

I think they should have honoured your deposit. They've got your £70 and they were the ones who cancelled your original booking.

Agree with this. It wasn't some kind of prize/goodwill voucher - you paid £70 and when they cancelled the booking you accepted their preference of a voucher rather than demand money back at the time. Yes you should have been more "on it" but the truth is they've now had £70 and you have nothing.

I have every sympathy with hospitality which has borne a disproportionate burden of the pandemic - but this is dishonorable of them.

Momicrone · 12/03/2022 13:20

It's pretty mean of the restaurant, a pandemic is not a normal circumstance

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