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

Deposit should be refunded the same way it was taken. So if they paid by credit card, it has to go back on it. Ask her to bring in her voucher, to be exchanged for cash. Make sure your staff knows about it, so she doesn't have a wasted journey.

It isn't the same thing. You have no legal right to insist on a deposit being returned in the form of vouchers. The customer has a legal right to receive their deposit back via the same means used to make the payment.

What you're doing is forcing people to buy vouchers from you, which is not OK and is very shoddy business practice.

Whether your manager is lying or not, you only have your ridiculous policy to blame for this. You should be placing a preauthorisation on a card and releasing it once the customer arrives for their booking, or processing as a payment if a no show.

Do you have written terms and conditions regarding your deposit system, and did the customer receive them prior to placing the booking?

To reply you apologise for your shit system, your rude staff and ask her to contact you so that you can arrange to return her deposit.

The first thing you should do is thank your lucky stars your customer isn't me.

Because I'd be sueing you. Yup, it would cost me more in court fees than the £20, but I'd be doing it anyway.

And I'd be writing a negative review on every site I can find.

And reporting you to HMRC (are you declaring those deposits as income?) as well as to the ICO for publishing my email here. And maybe the Food Standards Agency for good measure. Okay, those last three may not have legs, but they'd cost me nothing and cause you grief regardless.

Causing you grief would be high on my to do list.

What should you do?

Apologise
Refund the money
Watch your CCTV if you have it
Apologise some more
Work out what to do about your manager, who has at the very least chased away a repeat customer who was bringing all her mates

And be grateful that your complainer seems inclined to be reasonable.

In that case I would use the card as holding details and charge the £50 if the table didn’t turn up because that policy is ridiculous

You apologies & refund them the £20 at least. You have a crap deposit system so look at that. The deposit should just come off the bill total. & I strongly suspect your manager is lying.

Thats the most ridiculous system I've heard of. For one thing a £50 deposit for drinks??? Is that standard or based on the number at the table. Why on earth don't you do what every other normal pub/restaurant does & ask for a card at the time of booking

I cant believe this is the first complaint you've had. You need a far better system. Your current one is appaling

Utterly bizarre to think that you can ask for a £50 cash deposit to secure a table and then effectively refuse to return it except through vouchers that can only be exchanged at your own establishment. I would also think it’s illegal, so I would be thinking about what you can do to appease the customer before she contacts trading standards. Oh, and your manager needs sacking. Another member of staff has confirmed that he OK’d the cash refund so it’s not a case of believing a customer over your manager - and she wasn’t trying to get ‘free drinks’’ she was simply asking for her deposit back. Ridiculous.

That’s not a deposit OP, that’s a minimum payment.

i do hope@intheguf that the reason you’ve not returned to your thread is that you’re so busy apologising to the customer and searching recruitments for a new manger.

I'd be pretty pissed of if I was the customer!!

So the girl behind the bar (a member of your staff) also confirmed that your manager authorised the deposit to be refunded in cash? What does she have to gain from saying this is your manager didn't agree? Your manager is lying to you then, and I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the first time they've lied to you. His behaviour is also unacceptable.

I'd refund the customer the full £50 plus extra voucher (or a complimentary table reservation for a night of her choosing) as a goodwill gesture to hopefully stop the customer from trashing your venue on SM.

Your policy also needs rewording from a deposit to 'a table reservation fee of £50 which will be substituted for vouchers to the value of £50 to be used at the venue upon guest arrival at table' (or something like that) pretty self explanatory and no mishaps in the further. A deposit is generally refunded as paid or deducted from a final bill

Sounds like your manager needs some training in customer services.

Bad news like this travels fast and l would be giving the customer more than £20 in way of an apology

I agree with Motorina!!!
Your manager acted more like a bullying bouncer, and should be demoted to cleaner if you find the customer is telling the truth.
As the female employee backs up the customer, I'd be inclined to believe the customer!

I can’t understand why your first reaction is to doubt the situation to the extent of not appearing to want to fix it, rather than thinking about how badly this could go for you in terms of negative reviews and lost customers.

If a deposit is taken it should only be charged in the event of a no-show or offset against a bill. The latter doesn’t work if people are paying for their own drinks, the complainant’s email seems pretty reasonable and your deposit policy seems unreasonable so for the love of God, refund her and apologise. Then change your policy and perhaps your manager.

Mistakes and miscommunications happen, it’s how you recover from them that matter.

I’m so convinced this is a reverse. OP is the customer and wants to know what she can expect. No way the OP owns the restaurant

Two points:

1. You're seriously pitting your staff member against an aggressive manager? And hoping she'll be brave enough to go over his head to tell you what happened when you've already got an email telling you it happened? When she has to work with this twat day in day out? Seriously? Do you not see the power imbalance puts her in an impossible position here and she might lie or she may well sue you for constructive dismissal after she tells you the truth and gets shit for it from the aggressive manager? I worked with a manager and an incompetent restaurant owner like this. I walked out in the end. I'd been there four weeks and there had been a dead rat in the cellar that whole time. I'd reported it over and over. I still don't know how some owners are taken in by these bigged-up prats of managers who are rude to customers and staff.


2. No one goes to that length to "get some free drinks" are you on glue? She doesn't want drinks. She feels like her milestone has been stolen from her because she CHOSE to spend it at your establishment and you wrecked it for her. Make it right or sell your business to someone who gives half a hoot about customers and understands people!

Exchanging cash for vouchers is perfectly legal and is not money laundering. Gift cards, book tokens, etc are obviously not illegal. Money laundering is when money passes through a business to make it look legitimate e.g. you have a load of cash from drug deals and you also run a nail bar so you "spend it" there so it goes on the books as coming from nail bar customers.
Probably the policy is legal but it's not customer friendly and there was a miscommunication which was the result of poor communication from or between your staff. If you exchange the remaining 20 pounds of vouchers for cash your business is no worse off. Ideally also investigate, apologize and offer a freebie plus retrain your staff

Your manage is lying. And he is being aggressive and threatening to customers.

You have another staff member saying that he did agree to the cash return. And that staff member will have witnessed the aggressive behaviour.

The manage needs to go.

And start giving people thei deposits back in cash. Since you don't do a tab at the bar, it is either a deposit to hold the table which is returned when they show up or it is a minimum spend so they get vouchers instead of cash.

You're calling it a deposit but treating it as a minimum spend.

They showed up. She didnt want to spend £50 and shouldnt need to as you don't have a minimum spend. Return people's deposits in cash.

Sounds like a crazy policy. I would think the only way you could get away with that is if you hand over the £50 vouchers as soon as they arrive so they can use them at the bar as they order drinks that night.

Your response to the email should be to apologise profusely to the customer, refund the £20 to her card, and tell her you are carrying out staff training and changing your deposit system so that cards are only charged if the customer doesn't turn up, or the deposit is taken off the bill, whichever. Her birthday meal was ruined. You need to support your staff but also be fair to this customer.

Did sports direct open a restaurant or something? Nobody wants vouchers. If you have to tie up a deposit in a voucher to get someone to stay in your establishment then it ain't great in there. Give the poor customer a cheque and an apology.

You are running a scam and I’m surprised you think it’s remotely defendable. Shameful.

It's no wonder your customer feels lied to. We all feel lied to reading the original you wrote when you weren't even the customer. Try being honest with people. And why on earth would any decent business owner have to ask advice on mumsnet. Absolute joke

It's obvious from the thread title that the OP is the recipient of the email isn't it? I don't see why posters think this is a reverse or change of story

If you are calling it a deposit then you are misrepresenting the transaction to the customer.

This is actually a sale.

I hope the customer reports you to trading standards.

I don’t understand why the customer, with ten friends, didn’t just pay for the round with her vouchers and then her friends all give her the cash?
Then the vouchers are spent and she has her cash back.