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?

@Poppylicious1 not sure if I have misread but did they comp one beer but charge you for the 3 soft drinks and one other beer that they spilled and you were unable to drink?
I've worked in the restaurant industry most of my life and any table sitting wearing soggy, sticky clothes and shoes would have been given at least one free round of drinks (after of course not charging for the spilled undrinkable drinks)
As for dry cleaning, it may be something the manager laughed at but if I was in my nice trainers that now stunk of beer I would be really annoyed. Trainers can easily get ruined in a washer and a sink soak might not get the stink out. And an expensive wool coat isn't something you want to throw in the washer either.

Manager was out of order, they should have replaced all the drinks for free but if it was me I would not have made my mother who is also in her 80s sit around in wet clothes.
I think YABU to think they would pay the dry cleaning bill. Bit of a piss take.

I was in a restaurant and the waitress dropped a drink over me. She completely panicked and apologised right away whilst calling her manager over. I was thankfully wearing light clothes and sat outside in the sun.

The manager replaced the drinks and took 10% off of my overall bill. I didn’t complain for them to offer this, I told them both it was genuinely ok and having been a waitress before she’d just done the very thing I had nightmares about so not to worry and we all had a laugh about how I was just saying how warm I was so the ice cold drink was more refreshing than expected 😂

I think the biggest gripe I would have with your situation is the manager laughing! Now that would get my back up!

I'd consider to have already made a complaint, which had been unsatisfactorily answered.

I would write a few negative reviews on trip advisor and google and not go back.

Pretty poor from the restaurant IMO, yes accidents happen, but, I presume two of your party were pretty miserable sitting through a whole meal with wet clothing.... It's called hospitality for a reason. Most places I know would have taken a relatively small hit to maintain their reputation.

They replaced the drinks.
do you get all your jeans and trainers regularly dry cleaned ?
Ywbu.Hope it didn't ruin the celebrations.

I’ve a wool coat. As do most people. Beer can generally be sponged off at rhe level you describe.

op, it seems you over played it go get some money off , the manager told you to do one, and now you’re on here doing rhe same thing. Over playing it.

let it go now.

I wouldn't get into the whole dry cleaning thing, that seems a bit precious.

But presumably a couple of ppl, on a birthday night out, had to sit in wet, beery smelling clothes?

I would crack on and enjoy my night....but yes, I would be expecting not to be charged for "the drinks", not just one beer, especially as that is what the server said. The manager sounds rude and unprofessional. I wouldn't argue the point any further but I would vote with my feet and not return.

The point is that OP was told they would not be charged for drinks, then they were and the manager was rude and unhelpful, then deleted her comment on Facebook and blocked her.

That is all worthy of an honest review on Google and TA. A really minor incident escalated because of the restaurants actions.

Did they mean they wouldn't charge you for the replacement drinks? I'm guessing that's what they meant and there was a miscommunication.

20 + years in hospitality here

Drinks should have been replaced and entire round comp'd

Plus a discount off the bill for the inconvenience and an offer to pay for dry cleaning if required.

I wouldn't be paying for the drinks they spilled. If they spilled them at the bar before they got to you they wouldn't charge you for them so why would they charge you for spilling them on you!!!

I wouldn't expect anything else though. I would expect to pay for the replacement drinks.

Which bit wasn’t clear?

I would have expected one round free. It's the inconvenience of being in wet clothes for the remainder of the meal.

Did you pay the service fee? How much was that?

Leave a poor service Google review - they can't remove that. The manager sounds petty if they went to the trouble of blocking you on Facebook!

I’d have refused to pay the bill until they removed the drinks from it. Dumps like that thrive on people being too shy or embarrassed to dig their heels in.

Yanbu

A free round of drinks is the very least I would expect. I would also deduct the service charge, and expect to be offered the dry cleaning bill to be met (although given it was only soft drinks and beer, unless I was wearing something that was dry clean only, I probably wouldn't follow p on this). I would write to the General Manager and say all of this, also pointing out that you are dealing with the restaurant directly in order to allow them to make it right rather than posting your issues on Tripadvisor. Industry insiders are always harping on about customers who complain on Tripadvisor rather than letting them know and sort it, so you are following professional advice here. As others have said, a very short-sighted restaurant manager. If you don't get a better apology, put it all on TA. They hate that!

If they said they wouldn't charge for the drinks you were right to complain if they tried to charge you for them!

They made you pay for the spilled drinks (minus one beer) and the new drinks? Or do you mean they just made you pay for the new drinks (minus one beer)?

I would expect to not pay for the spilled drinks, but I would expect to pay for the new drinks. Them knocking the cost of a beer off was a nice gesture.

They charged you for spilt drinks?

It really sounds like you have jumped on this incident gleefully expecting to get some huge freebie over a spilt drink. Spilt drinks happen, there is no need to blow it out of proportion.

If they spilled my drinks I'd expect them to replace them and to say sorry.

I've never dry cleaned anything in my life.

The problem with this is more their attitude than anything else. I wouldn't expect a discount, but I would expect them to say sorry and not laugh.

Christ, no wonder there’s so much poor customer service out there. People acting like spilling drinks all over diners is no big deal in a restaurant; comments that a single free beer was a “nice gesture”. Are you really prepared to settle for that little?

No they charged for the replacement they brought over. They didn't charge for the split ones.

So, all of you experienced your drinks being spilled but only one of you got compensated with a free drink! That’s crap customer service. Why only give one member of your group a free drink and not the rest of you?

Two members of your group had been wet by the spilled drinks, were either one of them a recipient of the free beer or were they drinking soft drinks and were charged for their drinks?

And this after staff told you that this round of replacement drinks would be free.

What an absolutely crappy manager. I feel sorry for the staff working for him.

YADNBU to complain and I would not be dining there again unless it was under new management.

They should have replaced all spilt drinks with fresh ones and deducted a percentage of the bill for the inconvenience of having to sit there in wet clothes. The cost of all the drinks would seem fair. Of course accidents happen, but when you're providing a service that should be a pleasant experience, you need to compensate your customers if you've in any way spoiled that, even inadvertently.