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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Advice please - tricky situation with restaurant

450 replies

hairbearbunches · 11/03/2024 20:30

Any advice on this welcome. I'm not sure what to do next other than chalk it up to a poor experience and move on, but I'm pretty cross about it. Went to a pretty upmarket restaurant last week not far from where we live. Second time I've been. DH has been a few times more with work colleagues. The waitress dropped some cutlery behind my chair as she was clearing away the plates of the table next to us - group of 5 women. Loud noise, nothing more than that or so I thought at the time. As we were leaving, DH went to loo and asked me to take the dog who had been sitting underneath his side of the table the entire meal. I took her lead and she started paying serious interest in my coat which was hanging off the back of the chair. When I looked down, it was covered in grease marks, there was pretty much a perfect imprint of a greasy knife up the left hand side of the sleeve as well as other biggish greasy marks. It was quite obvious what had happened so I went and told the waitress who had dropped the cutlery. She looked a bit rabbit in headlights and I got the distinct impression she knew it was already there and had been hoping we weren't going to notice. The coat is a waxed coat from Toast. I got it in the sale but it still cost £175. It can't be dry cleaned, hand wash cold only. I've tried to get the grease out and made a decent stab of it, but it's not the same coat. There are still stains on it.
Anyway, long story short, I finally got an email back from them tonight saying they'd spoken to the waitress and the knife (singular) she dropped was nowhere my coat and therefore they believe that my coat was already greased up before I got there and the dog licking it has made it worse (the dog licked it once).
What would you do? Put it down to bad luck and accidents happen or pursue it further. I'm pretty hacked off with their dismissive attitude. I walked in to their restaurant with a pristine coat and walked out with it in a right mess and they've made me feel like I'm trying to pull a scam on them.

OP posts:
Youcannotbeseriousreally · 11/03/2024 20:34

You lost me at upmarket restaurant but you’d taken your dog tbh. Why would you do that?

the waitress made a mistake. She’s human. Let it go. If you hadn’t taken your dog the outcome would have been better!

MahMahMahMahCorona · 11/03/2024 20:37

Surely in an upmarket restaurant they take your coat and hang it in their special upmarket coat hanging area thus avoiding any greasy spoon mishaps?

ASighMadeOfStone · 11/03/2024 20:37

TL:DR

Waitress dropped cutlery
Cutlery marked coat
You haven't managed to get stain out

Let It Go. 🎵

(Including the snobbery)

MixingPlaydough · 11/03/2024 20:38

I'd file it under the category of shit happens and whilst it must be incredibly annoying it was an accident.

I'd also see it as a life lesson to not purchase coats which you can't clean, that sounds like a recipe for disaster in all honesty.

QueSyrahSyrah · 11/03/2024 20:40

An upmarket restaurant that does accept dogs but doesn't have a cloakroom? Odd.

What relevance has the next table being 5 Women got?

Can the coat be re-waxed, if that would help?

lifebeginsaftercoffee · 11/03/2024 20:43

What's the point in owning a coat that you can't clean properly? Confused

mdinbc · 11/03/2024 20:45

The fact still exists that your coat received a stain from a mistake of the waitress. I would take a photo of the stain and email back a response. They should at lease apologize and offer a gift certificate or rebate.

Mistakes do happen, but they should own up to it.

hairbearbunches · 11/03/2024 20:46

Ok. I'm getting my arse handed to me on a plate here. I wasn't being snobby. It wasn't a McDonalds is what I was trying to get across.

@CheeseWisely the women aren't as relevant as the number of them. 5 lots of cutlery. I don't know about re waxing, it's not like a barbour coat, but I could ask Toast.

@MixingPlaydough You said it. I'm normally pretty hot on labels. This one slipped through the net 🙁

OP posts:
BreakfastAtMimis · 11/03/2024 20:46

I bet you could find the same coat on Vinted for a fraction of what you originally paid.

Octopuslethargy · 11/03/2024 20:46

When did you last rewax the coat? They need doing regularly or they loose their waterproof.

Read how to rewax a Barbour- you can buy all of the kit needed to do it

Octopuslethargy · 11/03/2024 20:47

lifebeginsaftercoffee · 11/03/2024 20:43

What's the point in owning a coat that you can't clean properly? Confused

You can
You need to rewax regularly but they can also be cleaned and renovated easily at home.

RogueFemale · 11/03/2024 20:47

Toast has a free darning repair service - perhaps they'd be able to help restore the coat?

itsachange2024 · 11/03/2024 20:48

I think it was a mistake to put your boat over the chair - the restaurant should have offered to take it. The second thing though is that it's really annoying to know the waitress dropped the knife on it and they are telling you they didn't - send a photo and ask for compensation

hairbearbunches · 11/03/2024 20:49

mdinbc · 11/03/2024 20:45

The fact still exists that your coat received a stain from a mistake of the waitress. I would take a photo of the stain and email back a response. They should at lease apologize and offer a gift certificate or rebate.

Mistakes do happen, but they should own up to it.

They've had a photo since the same day. It's taken them 4 days to respond. The waitress has basically lied about what happened and they're suggesting my coat was already damaged. If you could see the state of it, you would laugh. I don't know anyone who would think 'fuck it, i'm wearing it anyway' with the stains I've now got on it.

OP posts:
lifebeginsaftercoffee · 11/03/2024 20:49

Octopuslethargy · 11/03/2024 20:47

You can
You need to rewax regularly but they can also be cleaned and renovated easily at home.

OP says it can only be cold washed and can't be dry cleaned. Sounds like way too much faff to me personally.

But then I don't buy anything that can't be chucked in the washing machine, lol.

Octopuslethargy · 11/03/2024 20:51

lifebeginsaftercoffee · 11/03/2024 20:49

OP says it can only be cold washed and can't be dry cleaned. Sounds like way too much faff to me personally.

But then I don't buy anything that can't be chucked in the washing machine, lol.

You need to rewax coats regularly-this protects them from stains and re-waterproofs

But you can buy various renovation products from Barbour - to clean them.

If you cold washed you would have to reproof

RogueFemale · 11/03/2024 20:52

hairbearbunches · 11/03/2024 20:49

They've had a photo since the same day. It's taken them 4 days to respond. The waitress has basically lied about what happened and they're suggesting my coat was already damaged. If you could see the state of it, you would laugh. I don't know anyone who would think 'fuck it, i'm wearing it anyway' with the stains I've now got on it.

In your shoes I'd try another email and arguing harder, - but without much hope of a result as you have no proof.

lifebeginsaftercoffee · 11/03/2024 20:53

Octopuslethargy · 11/03/2024 20:51

You need to rewax coats regularly-this protects them from stains and re-waterproofs

But you can buy various renovation products from Barbour - to clean them.

If you cold washed you would have to reproof

Yep - like I say, far too much faff, lol.

EasyPeelersAreNotTheOnlyFruit · 11/03/2024 20:53

I can't see how dropping a knife on something would leave a clear imprint.

I'd imagine that if you regularly let your dog near your coat that will get it much dirtier than cutlery being dropped on or near it.

MixingPlaydough · 11/03/2024 20:54

hairbearbunches · 11/03/2024 20:49

They've had a photo since the same day. It's taken them 4 days to respond. The waitress has basically lied about what happened and they're suggesting my coat was already damaged. If you could see the state of it, you would laugh. I don't know anyone who would think 'fuck it, i'm wearing it anyway' with the stains I've now got on it.

The trouble is what do you realistically want the outcome to be? Even if she admitted what happened that doesn't help fix the coat and you can't honestly expect her to pay to replace the coat just because she happened to accidentally drop the knife on a coat that can't be washed or cleaned.

So even if she aplologised you'd still be in the same situation?

Minfilia · 11/03/2024 20:54

Have you got a photo of the stains?

It is pretty poor of them, but I’m not sure what you can really do about it.

hairbearbunches · 11/03/2024 20:54

RogueFemale · 11/03/2024 20:52

In your shoes I'd try another email and arguing harder, - but without much hope of a result as you have no proof.

I kind of think I do have some proof. There's a knife shaped grease mark on my coat that can only have come from behind me. Their other suggestion is that I dropped my own knife, but I would have had to throw it over my shoulder to have got anywhere near my sleeve.

OP posts:
Facinguptothisdebt · 11/03/2024 20:55

Let's see the photo then? Otherwise it's hard to judge.

Katrinawaves · 11/03/2024 20:57

Have you tried sponging the stains with diluted fairy liquid and then rinsing until clear? That’s generally my go to for greasy stains on clothing and it works really well. If you can’t get the stains out anyway it’s not going to make things any worse.

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