What do you think would be an appropriate response/rectification to this email?

[intheguf]

Hello,

I’d like to make a complaint. I booked a table for ten people at your establishment for 8pm - Saturday, 18th June. I paid the 50 pound deposit over the phone and I asked the woman how the deposit is paid back, she replied that it would be paid back in vouchers to be spent in your establishment. I’d asked if there was any chance I could get it back in cash as would be simpler for me. She replied that she would ask her manager, which she did whilst I was on the phone, and the manager said that it was fine to pay me back cash.

Turned up on the night, all fine, table was fine etc. Went to the bar and asked about deposit at which point was given vouchers. I explained to the girl behind the bar that I was to get cash. She said she remembered speaking to me on the phone and fetched the manager.

I’m not sure of the managers name, but he was wearing a white shirt and had an ear piece in and I think his name begins with ‘A’ but could be wrong - he stated he was the only manager of your establishment. The manager came over in a really aggressive manner and denied that he had ever agreed to give me my deposit back in cash even though the girl behind the bar confirmed that she had taken the phone call and he had authorised that. I said to the manager that if he didn’t authorise it then he needs to speak to his staff about giving out misinformation. At this point he came close to my face and said ‘what do I need to tell my staff?’ and repeated this several times in a really aggressive manner. I felt very intimidated and uncomfortable to the point I just agreed to take the vouchers as I dislike confrontation and just wanted the situation to be over. I used 30 pounds of the vouchers and am now left with a 20 pound voucher which I won’t get the use out of due to the fact that I won’t be returning to your establishment after this experience.

If your policy is to return deposits via vouchers then that is fair enough, but it should have never been agreed to if that is the case. Your manager made out that I was a liar along with his member of staff that was serving behind the bar. That along with his aggressive mannerisms and the way in which he dealt with a paying customer is totally unacceptable. I left shortly afterwards as I felt so uncomfortable. If cash deposit return hadn’t been agreed then I could have booked elsewhere or worked something out with my group. However, I’ve now been left £50 out of pocket due to this.

It was my 30th birthday and I really just wanted to celebrate with my friends and this really put a dampener on the night. I am so disappointed as I have only ever had great experiences with your establishment but the customer service I received last night is the worst I have ever experienced unfortunately.

Kind regards

Deposits should not be given back in vouchers. I would go anywhere that did this.

Wouldn't

Why are you scamming your customers?? Everyone knows you get your deposit back (it is deducted from the final bill). £50 is steep to book a table where you have to go to the bar, individually, to buy drinks. Surely a deposit would be for someone expecting table service?

If this is the first time you’re replying to a complaint then I assume your DP is the owner and you’re replying on their behalf.

Give the customer her £50 deposit back and change your policy (drinks are added to a tab which is then linked to the food the customers have ordered. That means the table can have their £50 deposit deducted at the end).

@intheguf All the confusion re. vouchers/cash & this weird reservation/payback system aside, I think you're missing the point - the Manager is accused of being very rude & intimidating to the customer. That's the issue I'd be more concerned with, as a Boss. 🤷‍♀️

What a disgraceful policy. It needs changed immediately. It screams of a scam. If you must take a deposit to secure a table for drinks put a credit card hold or change your policy to give the party 15 minutes to show up or it goes to someone else. You know, like most other places do. I live near Edinburgh and even at Christmas bars don’t have this policy you do.

not sure you are still reading or coming back though are you OP.

How on earth is the customer trying to get free drinks???

They paid a deposit, and then more money on drinks.
Give them the deposit back in cash with apologies

It’s all a bit hindsight now, but I would have taken the vouchers at the beginning of the night and said to my party of 10 right I’ll buy the first £50 of drinks with these vouchers and you can all give me the money for them. 1 drink each would have coke to way more than £50 and the complainer would have got her money back with the 1st round.

My take is the writer was happy with the arrangement that they could have a table to sit at, yet be able to order their own drinks and pay individually. I often hear people complain about one bill/tab and having to break it up at the end of the night.

A £50 deposit to secure a table that seats 10 in a busy bar does not sound unreasonable to me.

The whole palaver could have been avoided if the writer had just ‘sold’ the remaining voucher to one of her friends to buy their own drinks. It’s obvious that the vouchers were given to the writer earlier in the evening if she used £30 worth to buy her own drinks.

But given what seems to have happened, I think the OP should refund the remaining voucher, and find out what happened between the manager and the customer on the night.

1. Yes
2. They didn't have a meal, just the table held for drinks
3. They were not able to have a tab, and didn't have a final bill
4. Seems clear the manager is a liar as it has been corroborated by the staff member who took the call
5. I'm not surprised, how can someone this dim own a business (although there are a few put there with family money...)

If the lady who booked is reading, I hope she does a charge back through her credit card as you basically were fraudulent

Your representative said she could have cash returned (or refunded to credit card)

Why would you do that when the venue had agreed a cash refund?

Yikes! What a pickle you find yourself in @intheguf .

You say you request a £50 deposit to hold a table so that if someone reserves a table and subsequently doesn't show, you hold on to that. Ok, that bit I don't have an issue with as a business has to make a living.
However in this case, the group did show up.

So, why was the £50 not turned into a bar tab, straightaway? Any money left on the tab at the end of the night should be returned to the customer in the method it was made in the first place. If that was cash, it is cash. If it was a credit card, it should be even easier.

Why on earth would you introduce vouchers as a method to return a patron's reservation fee? Lots of patrons would visit a place once and only return if they liked it. By using vouchers as a method of 'refund', you're probably sailing close to the wind as you're forcing someone to return to your establishment even if they don't want to or possibly cannot, particularly if they are tourists to the area.

Please use your head when dealing with a matter like this.

The only possible response/rectification to that email is

Dear Customer,

I would like to apologise for the incident that occurred on X date in our establishment.

We have reviewed our refund policy and would like to advise you that the remaining funds of the deposit paid by your credit card have been applied back to the credit card.

Please use the £20 voucher that you currently have, as you see fit.

Please accept our deepest apologies for this unfortunate event and we would like to wish you a very happy 30th birthday.

This is also a worry too.

A poor manager will turn patrons away.

Absolutely this

Where's the DM when you want it?!

Do you think OP is coming back?

Bizarre! Such a simple equation -

Vouchers = can only spend in restaurant.

Returned deposit money = can spend anywhere!

No I don't. I've also got a suspicion that she's in a relationship with the manager, which is why she is so quick to believe him.

Nah. Nowhere with such a shit policy and such a useless owner would still be in business.

Not surprised to see that @intheguf hasn’t returned. Probably because their policy is guff

What an utterly bizarre booking policy. And dreadful behaviour by the staff.

I wonder how the voucher systems works in terms of VAT and tax.

I deal with complaints in my job. Our policy is simple - if we've screwed up or think we've screwed up, we say sorry and try to put it right. In this scenario, something went wrong and it only happened because of the confusing deposit policy. So turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer - apologise, give her £50 and tell her to keep the £20 voucher in the hope she'll be back to visit you another time.

You can then reply to her on trip advisor explaining how you've tried to fix it.

@Squiff70 several of us have said we believe that the person who wrote the original email applied £30 of vouchers only to her own drinks. Ten people can’t even get one drink each in most places for £30.

But in the email, the customer also says that she left shortly after the confrontation, so I'm not convinced that she had time to spend £30 for her own drinks - and if that's the case, her saying that she's £50 out of pocket makes sense.

We don't have the full story to know one way or the other.

You are being so unreasonable.

Surely deposits should be given back in cash/card/ however they were paid.

Otherwise you're basically forcing people to buy vouchers !

I don't believe a word of it.