Was I wrong to complain

[Poppylicious1]

Last night my family (5 of us) went to a local restaurant for my sons birthday.
Drinks were ordered, including 2 pints of beer and 3 soft drinks and when they were brought over the waitress accidentally spilled the drinks over 2 of my party, wetting their trousers and shoes/trainers.
Staff were most apologetic and cleaned up the mess as best they could, replaced the drinks and informed us that we would not be charged for the drinks.
When the bill came at the end of the meal they had charged for all the drinks with the exception of one pint of beer.
I queried this with the manager who said that he could/would not authorise any further reductions to the bill but could give no real explanation as to why not. He was quite rude and laughed in my face when I was arguing the point. He also laughed when I asked if they would pay for any dry cleaning saying no they wouldn't as 'it's just beer'.
The bill came to £110 and they deducted £5 off for the beer.
Was I right to complain and expect not to be charged for all the drinks or am I being over dramatic as it was an accident?

Given the £10 involved (? a £5 beer and some soft drinks) I couldn't be bothered to argue it, assuming that the clothes could go in the normal wash and wouldn't need drycleaning. Accidents happen and one beer was free. But I might not go back there again

I would have deducted the service charge, mostly because of the rudeness.

The bill was £110 not £10

Were all of the drinks spilled and would dry cleaning be required? This is crucial for me.

Were all the drinks spilt or just the beer. If it was just a beer that is all I would expect free.
I would not have bothered arguing to be honest even if they charged for all of the drinks. I am guessing the staff member who told you the drinks would be free did not have the actual authority to offer this and I would not want to get them in trouble.
I also would not want to mar my son's birthday by arguing about free drinks.

Yes I know, I mean the ~£10 in question for the price of the drinks.

You didn’t lose out tho? I assume the drinks were replaced?

Did the items of clothes actually need dry cleaning?

This happened to me as a waitress, I was absolutely mortified. I quickly lost all respect for them when they started to harp on about dry cleaning a polo T-shirt and jeans. Accidents happen.

All the drinks were spilled.

I think you were right. Accidents happen but its the way they are dealt with that's important
Refund for drinks=returning customers
Refund 1 drink and laugh at customer complaining=expect to be bad mouthed to their friends
If they could only refund one drink they should have apologised profusely to you baring in mind you were told they would refund them all

But they replaced all the drinks?

I would have done the same

You were given a discount for the discomfort.
You weren't out of pocket.

I wouldn't expect to pay for any of the spilled drinks and I would expect the next round on the house by way of apology. I'd expect to pay in full for the food, any further drinks, and the service charge.

They spilt the drinks, but replaced all of them? I wouldn’t expect a refund for all the drinks. Having been a waitress it’s mortifying when that happens, luckily most people didn’t make a big deal about it and never asked for a refund/cleaning bill to be paid. Accidents happen, hopefully it wasn’t one of those places who deduct the refund from the waitress’s pay - I’ve worked in one of those places unfortunately!

They may have replaced the drinks but I'm assuming some of your party had to sit and eat in wet clothing? If so, they should have done more than just replace the drinks.

That's appalling customer service and I'd be taking it higher and leaving a scathing review. Their handling of it was poor to say the least

What?! You want two rounds of free drinks because of an accident?

do the clothes actually need dry cleaning?

Also as well as were the clothes dry clean only as you stated. How soaked were they?

your story doesn’t match up , the manager said it was just beer. Which is max two drinks. But you’re saying it was all of them.

I think they would expect 1 round free, as the first round isn’t really a free drink if you’re wearing it and not drinking it.

If all the drinks were spilled then they don’t count as free?! I wouldn’t be paying for drinks that we didn’t get.

I’d also have expected the place to offer the replacement round for free. That’s one round of free drinks - not two.

It’s shortsighted to have not given the drinks for free to a party who were willing to stay for food despite 2 people being in wet trousers/shoes.

This sounds like a miscommunication. Was the manager actually aware that all of the drinks were spilled or was he told by staff it was just the beer and then you assumed he knew it was all of the drinks and never actually pointed out that they were all spilled? Because that's how it reads.

Yes, I would have complained and if they refused to give a further discount for all the drinks as promised, I would have not paid the service charge if any and given them a negative review on line.

Yeah I would think one free round of drinks is a fair exchange (actually on the low side) for having to sit in wet sticky clothes for a meal so only essentially giving 1 free drink is a bit shit. Promising a free round then going back on it and then laughing in the customers face is really shit.

Seems very short sighted of the manager - 3 of the drinks were soft drinks so a free "round" would have cost, what, a few quid cost price in total to the pub (given there's a huge mark up on drinks!). Anyone would half a business brain would think a few quid in exchange for satisfied customers who would be more likely to return and not leave bad reviews online/tell friends and family not to go there is a fair trade off, particularly given that, if they hadn't mugged you off, you might have left a tip of roughly that anyway. I really hope you didn't pay any service charge!

If course i realise that accidents happen and was not rude in any way to the waitress, who was most apologetic.
I didn't expect a reduction for the food as that was actually quite nice, but had been told by the waitress that the drinks would not be charged for so fully expected that to be the case.

Two of the party had to sit for the rest of the meal with wet clothing on, including my 82 year old mother. Her bag had been on the floor and didn't realise that the puddle on the floor had spread under the table so when she picked her bag up and put it on her lap, her coat also got wet and that may need dry change

Op are you maybe over playing it a little? Surely your. Mother knows if her clothes are dry clean only. If they are not, it’d just beer it washes out.