Advice please - tricky situation with restaurant

[hairbearbunches]

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.

It doesn't look like a proper waxed coat in OP's picture.

You may have tried this already but another option here for getting the stain out.

Oh seeing pic that is bad and v obviously a knife.
Unless th y hav cctv which I doubt they will p n up to I think you'd have to forget it and move on.
I'd be raging

Oh my god, ignore the bullshit about the dog, whether you're a snob how much is reasonable to spend on a coat. None of that is relevant to the actual bloody issue!

Your property was damaged and I would carry on pushing the restaurant to either find a specialist way to get the stain out or replace the coat.

It's not a Barbour type wax. There is a fine wax on it. It's never been washed, only been worn a handful of times.

Some of the replies are pathetic. There are plenty of upmarket places where you can take dogs. Not sure why people have to be so snide.

OP, it's the restaurants fault. I'd sent another firmer letter. Keep it short and factual and don't threaten to write bad reviews. You could then take them to the small claims court.

Are you thinking the upmarket eatery has special high def cameras trained on the back of every chair from all angles constantl recording ?

I know MN is obsessed with GDPR but what on earth has that got to do with anything?

Don’t listen to the posters who are missing the point being arseholes I think you’re right to be upset and should take it higher up the chain. At the very least you should have your meal refunded as a gesture of goodwill.

That looks to me like something was spilled down it rather than a knife imprint. So the cutlery dropping away from where you were may be true, but beside the point. WTF are these comments - of course they should rectify this, people seem to come on here just to be arseholes these days. I’d be pushing them harder, or try social media. But maybe drop the “knife imprint” because that’s not what it looks like. Ultimately if they want to play hard ball it’s your word against theirs, but def send a firmer email back.

Yes it was an accident but the restaurant should be offering a gesture of good will.

The fact that your dog became interested in the greasy sleeve at the end of the meal and not before you entered the restaurant indicates that the sleeve became greasy while you were in the restaurant, and not before. Also, your dog's interest and attempt to lick it indicates that it is a food-based stain and not a mineral or synthetic grease stain such as WD40 etc.

It’s worth another try but please still be polite etc and not arsey. But ultimately it’s your word against hers and I don’t think you will get anyway. Forget about the cost of the coat - its money that was gone th else Ind you bought it. One thought - could the coat be dyed?

Why the fuck has someone mentioned GDPR 😂

I'd definitely email again and maybe mention small claims.

As an aside I've got grease marks out of clothes with bicarbonate of soda rubbed in with washing up liquid plenty of times. Such a life saver!

How dare you have an expensive coat. How dare you go to upmarket restaurants. How dare you have a dog. Christ, some of the people dripping with jealousy on here...

Of course you should pursue it. In the circumstances you have described and the marks left, the restaurant is culpable and you should get recompense. If the waitress has to pay. So be it.

I would be furious and pushing back at restaurant. That is awful behaviour. Something similar happened to a colleague when a waiter spilt oil from a dish onto her pale leather jacket. It got badly stained. They gave her her pizza for free, which I thought was inadequate but she accepted that gracefully,
In your case, I'd be threatening legal action.

This.

That is terrible. I'd get a quote for specialist cleaning and send it to them.

How can a dirty knife briefly brushing against something create a mark like this?
Agree it looks like oils been pouted here!

I'd keep trying! And if they refuse to do anything to make amends, I'd take to their social media and leave negative reviews recounting your experience. The restaurant can afford to pay at least something towards a new coat, or possibly offer vouchers as a token of apology.

You should have pinned the manager down on the night and shown them. I take it the waitress was young ? Understandable reaction from her, but of course not fair. Chalk it up to experience if your coat is really ruined your have nothing to lose by chucking it the washing machine non bio cold wash.. I’ve done this before and they have always been fine! Good luck

Waitress was in her 40s. Very elegant and charming, until I showed her the coat. She didn’t acknowledge us as we left the restaurant either, which I thought was petty.

Oh that is disappointing! I assumed she must have been really young - for sure she realised !

This.
Does @hairbearbunches expect a minimum wage waiter to pay for her posh coat?

I’d point out that the entire table witnessed it, leave a review of your experience and move on. They don’t want to own up so your right to respond is as above.

Your friend has class.

I worked in an upmarket restaurant once and split something down the back of someone’s jacket and the restaurant paid for it to be dry cleaned. I think they should have offered some kind of apology and solution, even if it didn’t work. I’d try again but it doesn’t sound like they are willing to admit fault.