Lost my deposit-AIBU?

[Outofpocket2022]

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?

Maybe in retrospect what I should have done is just asked them to transfer the booking to Mother's Day 2021...then move it again to this year when it turned out we were still locked down in 2021!

But they did provide nothing. The £70 was paid to be redeemed against food or drinks at the restaurant. That food or drink was not provided.

The restaurant did not spend a penny on servicing the OP and yet is keeping their £70. Utter nonsense, and should be banned.

I think it’s naughty of them. They basically pocketed your money and that’s the end of it. With one lockdown after another they could have been a bit more understanding. I wouldn’t set foot in there again.

@LondonDadToBe

But they did provide nothing. The £70 was paid to be redeemed against food or drinks at the restaurant. That food or drink was not provided.

The restaurant did not spend a penny on servicing the OP and yet is keeping their £70. Utter nonsense, and should be banned.

Yes, providing an opportunity is not at all like providing a service.

Not unreasonable to be annoyed. They’ve essentially kept your money. Perhaps you should have checked expiry date but they could have honoured it, especially as you wouldn’t have been able to use it there last Mothers’ Day.

Small business is a tough place to be at the minute with costs shooting up. I think its unfortunate for you, but I understand the business owners decision. The expiry date was written on the voucher.

YABU. Yes you did them a favour taking the voucher but it is a bit of a piss take to expect it to be honoured two years on. I suspect they have more than enough bookings for Mothers Day.

@KatherineJaneway

YABU. Yes you did them a favour taking the voucher but it is a bit of a piss take to expect it to be honoured two years on. I suspect they have more than enough bookings for Mothers Day.

Why is it a pisstake? They've had the use of the money for two years instead of one, that's to their benefit not OP's.

OP, did the restaurant tell you that the voucher would expire in a year, or did you only become aware of that after the voucher was issued?

@KatherineJaneway

YABU. Yes you did them a favour taking the voucher but it is a bit of a piss take to expect it to be honoured two years on. I suspect they have more than enough bookings for Mothers Day.

Why would it be unreasonable to use a voucher two years on when we know that there are countries that have a legal requirement that vouchers can be used for five years?

Vouchers are a really good deal for businesses - cash up front with zero costs. Then a proportion of them never get redeemed and so end up being essentially free money. Those that get redeemed eventually allow the business to use the cash in the meantime to save or invest, earning interest or return on investment.

The whole world of vouchers massively favours businesses over consumers. That should be rebalanced with proper protections for consumers.

If the OP had originally bought a voucher then the situation might be different. However, they didn't. They put a deposit down for a meal in a restaurant out of their usual location and for a special meal. The restaurant cancelled and offered them a voucher. They did not seek to purchase a voucher.

Personally, I'd be pursuing this and leaving an honest and negative review.

@YetAnotherSpartacus

If the OP had originally bought a voucher then the situation might be different. However, they didn't. They put a deposit down for a meal in a restaurant out of their usual location and for a special meal. The restaurant cancelled and offered them a voucher. They did not seek to purchase a voucher.

Personally, I'd be pursuing this and leaving an honest and negative review.

The restaurant also offered her a full refund and she declined!

Why would it be unreasonable to use a voucher two years on when we know that there are countries that have a legal requirement that vouchers can be used for five years?

Lol that has got to be the most ridiculous argument ever. Let’s all start following rules from other countries because other countries allow them… Did you know that, unlike England, France allows consumers to return items to stores within 7 days of purchase? I’m going to try and return something to Sports Direct because if I was in France, I would be allowed to return it! 😂😂😂

The restaurant also offered her a full refund and she declined!

They didn't at that tell her that the voucher they offered as an alternative would expire in 12 months, regardless of whether they had been able to provide a mothers day (or even any sunday in March) booking.

The restaurant also offered her a full refund and she declined!

No good deed goes unpunished.

@JellybeansJelly

Why would it be unreasonable to use a voucher two years on when we know that there are countries that have a legal requirement that vouchers can be used for five years?

Lol that has got to be the most ridiculous argument ever. Let’s all start following rules from other countries because other countries allow them… Did you know that, unlike England, France allows consumers to return items to stores within 7 days of purchase? I’m going to try and return something to Sports Direct because if I was in France, I would be allowed to return it! 😂😂😂

I’m not sure why you think learning from the way other countries protect consumers is ridiculous.

The point is that those laws are perfectly sensible and reasonable. So the pearl clutching about the horror of a consumer using a voucher after two years is ridiculous - we know that it is perfectly possible (beneficial in fact) for businesses to have vouchers valid for five years.

The fact that that is not the legal position here is not an argument that it should not be the legal position here.

@Baystard

The restaurant also offered her a full refund and she declined!

They didn't at that tell her that the voucher they offered as an alternative would expire in 12 months, regardless of whether they had been able to provide a mothers day (or even any sunday in March) booking.

She didn't need to use it on Mothers Day, though. It could have been used at any point - it's not the restaurants' fault that she chose to sit on the voucher for two years without checking the T&C's or contacting the restaurant to use or extend it.

She had the choice of a refund and declined in favour of a voucher that she then chose not to use. That's not the restaurants' fault!

@YetAnotherSpartacus

If the OP had originally bought a voucher then the situation might be different. However, they didn't. They put a deposit down for a meal in a restaurant out of their usual location and for a special meal. The restaurant cancelled and offered them a voucher. They did not seek to purchase a voucher.

Personally, I'd be pursuing this and leaving an honest and negative review.

Didn't the restaurant also offer the money back?

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.

Oh yes they did. And they put the expiry date on the voucher. It wasn't open ended. Other people managed to use it.

Would the review say 'we forgot all about this and it expired so we thought we'd downgrade the restaurant for spite?'

No. The review would say that the restaurant pocketed £70 of our money and provided no services in return, applied an unreasonably inflexible term on the voucher and relied on a combination of lack of consumer protection in the UK and customers natural tendency to not check terms and conditions to take £70 that came at no cost whatsoever to the restaurant.

Lawful yes.

But unreasonable and bad treatment of customers - also yes. For all those of you thinking the restaurant were in the right such a review should not matter. For those of us who think they are charlatans who pocketed OPs money and provided nothing in return, it would certainly affect my willingness to support that restaurant.

It’s weird that people would think the OP telling the truth in a review would be ‘spiteful’. If the truth causes harm to a restaurant, it suggests the truthful situation is one they should have avoided.

*‘If you are prepared to reconsider, I will see you on Mother’s Day. If not, cancel my booking.’

If I was manager and I received a message like this from a customer I would cancel the booking for them!!*

I’m still enjoying the irony of you thinking that you come across as very no-nonsense any saying ‘ I would cancel the booking for them!’, as if you were defiantly taking charge, when my exact suggestion was that the OP should tell them to cancel if they won’t honour the voucher…

@LondonDadToBe

No. The review would say that the restaurant pocketed £70 of our money and provided no services in return, applied an unreasonably inflexible term on the voucher and relied on a combination of lack of consumer protection in the UK and customers natural tendency to not check terms and conditions to take £70 that came at no cost whatsoever to the restaurant.

Lawful yes.

But unreasonable and bad treatment of customers - also yes. For all those of you thinking the restaurant were in the right such a review should not matter. For those of us who think they are charlatans who pocketed OPs money and provided nothing in return, it would certainly affect my willingness to support that restaurant.

It’s weird that people would think the OP telling the truth in a review would be ‘spiteful’. If the truth causes harm to a restaurant, it suggests the truthful situation is one they should have avoided.

And the restaurant could quite legitimately respond that they offered OP a refund and she declined, and that she had plenty of time to use the voucher, sell it to someone else or contact the restaurant and ask for an extension, and that she didn't bother to do any of those things.

If I saw a review from a customer complaining that they hadn't bothered to try and redeem their voucher in two years and the restaurant wouldn't let them use it now, I would actually be more likely to side with the restaurant and book them in the future.

A review/complaint online may not do what people on here think it will do.

@WomanStanleyWoman

*‘If you are prepared to reconsider, I will see you on Mother’s Day. If not, cancel my booking.’

If I was manager and I received a message like this from a customer I would cancel the booking for them!!*

I’m still enjoying the irony of you thinking that you come across as very no-nonsense any saying ‘ I would cancel the booking for them!’, as if you were defiantly taking charge, when my exact suggestion was that the OP should tell them to cancel if they won’t honour the voucher…

Yeah, i worded it incorrectly, I'm good at that! I just mean I wouldn't be pushed/bullied into giving something I had said no to previously. The threat as it were would be ignored.

Happy you enjoyed it though

@LondonDadToBe

No. The review would say that the restaurant pocketed £70 of our money and provided no services in return, applied an unreasonably inflexible term on the voucher and relied on a combination of lack of consumer protection in the UK and customers natural tendency to not check terms and conditions to take £70 that came at no cost whatsoever to the restaurant.

Lawful yes.

But unreasonable and bad treatment of customers - also yes. For all those of you thinking the restaurant were in the right such a review should not matter. For those of us who think they are charlatans who pocketed OPs money and provided nothing in return, it would certainly affect my willingness to support that restaurant.

It’s weird that people would think the OP telling the truth in a review would be ‘spiteful’. If the truth causes harm to a restaurant, it suggests the truthful situation is one they should have avoided.

But the restaurant did offer a refund which the OP didn't want. So they extended the voucher for another year during which OP had many dates to use it and didn't. Now it's expired which is not the restaurants fault. So the review would need to say all these things to be factual, but when you put it like this, the restaurant hasn't done anything wrong.

Sure the review should say that the restaurant offered a refund (though ‘offer’ makes it should like the restaurant had discretion not to offer a refund).

At a time when businesses were under massive pressure and consumers were being urged to support small businesses by taking vouchers rather than refunds to keep cash in the business.

The OP did the business a favour by taking the voucher.

Just to repeat the key point that everyone keeps ignoring: the restaurant has not spent a penny on the OP yet. The voucher not being used has not hurt them or cost them a penny. Keeping that money and providing not a shred of service in return for it is entirely unreasonable.

But again, if people here disagree then by your logic an honest review would not hurt the restaurant, so how could it be spiteful?

The only reason it would hurt the business is if enough people agree with me that the restaurant is being unreasonable and would avoid them as a result.

But if the truthful review of your actions causes you to lose business, the fault lies with your actions, not with the review.