Birthday dinner ruined - restaurant refused eat free offer!

[Heatherstory]

NC’d for this.

Birthday meal out at a local restaurant - they do an offer where the birthday person eats free as long as 1. It’s their actual birthday date and ID is provided to confirm and 2. There’s a minimum party size of 5.

It’s an all you can eat concept where food is brought to the table rather than you go and get it, a great deal as the food is lovely and the offer saves £30.

When we asked for the bill, we mentioned it was my birthday and I said I’d get my ID out of my bag. Someone came over (not the person we asked for the bill) and explained we were not eligible for the offer as only 4 of us had the all you can eat. My 2 year old DD was with us and obviously had a small meal (which we were to pay for).

My DH asked to speak to the manager - the person who came over said that he is the manager and refused to budge. We reluctantly paid.

We’ve checked the offer wording and it’s clearly stated it’s based on 5 dining (doesn’t specify it has to be the all you can eat) which we fulfilled.

It really soured the evening and we will not be returning which is a real shame as it’s a lovely restaurant, but they have been so underhand with this.

Was that just in the offer advert or did you read the Ts and Cs? If not in the Tc and Cs I think you have a point.

However, if I want to make use of an offer, I'll phone in advance if a deal breaker, or at the very least mention it upon arrival BEFORE ordering. I love a good deal so do this all the time!

It seems a little churlish never to return if you like the restaurant.

I don't think you can expect a 2 year old to be included in the body count for the offer.
Flipping it on it's head, would you willingly pay full price for your child to enter, let's say, a theme park, even though she's 2?

You can't have it both ways.

Do let us know. If it's not clear in the Ts and Cs, I think you're right to raise it. Eating out costs a fortune these days, so it's sensible to use offers when available - they should always be clear and transparent in the small print.

Honestly,i would have got over this once I had paid the bill. It's annoying, they shpuld have said specifically what the offer is and you should have checked when booking.

Please pleeeasssse don’t be that person who writes a review that as you say will be suitably worded. What’s the actual point? Got an issue? Email them and tell them to correct the wording, problem solved. I’ve never read a review in the tone I can imagine your husband plans to write it in and not thought they were bellends. The industry is on its knees, for the sake of £30 please don’t be that person. Everything else was good. If you do write one at least be honest and tone down the dramatics. Hopefully by Saturday you’ll have all calmed down 🙄

They should be clear but it's something I like to check at the start if I'm using an offer. Usually offers say to mention it at the beginning.

So you're trying to blackmail the restaurant into giving you something. 🤦‍♀️
I honestly can't believe you even thought about £5 kids meal would actually be part of the 5 dining requirement. In this climate they're better off without cf freeloaders like you're trying to be.

Of Course a 2 year old would not count as part of the 5 minimum. You do realise restaurants and the hospitality industry are struggling, don’t you?
You come across as a free-loader and entitled.
Hope you had a nice birthday. With age, comes wisdom.

Karen, is that you?

They have a business to run and bills to pay. All the staff have mortgages, rent, council tax and utility bills just like you!!!

I mean obviously I can understand why it would make sense to only allow it for 5 adult diners - you could order 4 starters or child portions which together added up to less than the free all you can eat meal.

It's also not clear if it specified
a) if it has to be five adults dining
b) or 5 full price meals (so you could have ordered your toddler DD an adult meal if you'd know and still saved money overall)
c) also does it specify only 1 free meal per 4 paid for meals, or just there have to be 5 people dining - if so technically if you had 5 people whose birthdays were all the same day, they would meet the criteria.

Basically the restaurant screwed up by not explicitly stating their t&cs, they should have honoured it for you and in fact thanked you for alerting them to it.

I don't see why posters are so aghast at leaving a review - surely that's exactly what reviews are for! I don't like it when people say 'yes everything was lovely' at the restaurant and then go home and slag it off online, but you tried to resolve it at the time and they didn't let you, so by all means give an honest account so other people don't make the same mistake.

This^
and I’m another one who wouldn’t consider small child as 5th person for this offer.

This has really made me laugh. Do you actually think a two year-old counts in this sort of deal?

5 people means 5 people unless it is stated otherwise.

You’re taking the piss to expect a €30 discount when one of the meals only cost €5.
You’ve addressed the issue with management and they’re not budging and now your husband is going to post a negative review in the hope to get some form of compensation in the form of a voucher.

I don't have children so a different perspective. Suppose I went for this meal with a friend's or relative's toddler with us. I would assume that the toddler counted as a diner. If the offer was described as a birthday offer, I think the manager was mean to refuse it on 'normal assumption' grounds. Not everyone makes the same assumption, and the restaurant should have spelled it out if they were going to be so legalistic themselves. I don't believe OP was trying to cheat, and yes the sourness will have spoiled the birthday meal.

Of course it would be based on 5 paying for the meals. Not a child portion

um....what? doesn't everyone write 'their own review?'
Who else's review would you possibly be able to write?

'Never been myself but my next door neighbour went here with her family last weekend and she said service was slow....'

This is where the ability for people to post online reviews of things which affect other people’s livelihoods is unfairly weighted towards the complainer. People use them to vent frustration and a perceived grievance and/or, to claw money back in the form of compensation, both of which seem to be your motives.
You suggest you would be trying to warn others, but how much of a factor is this really? It would be different if you used a review to warn others about something that could genuinely be a concern such as food hygiene, but a situation where you feel you have been hard done by to the tune of £30 is hardly the same.
As you acknowledge, restaurants are facing an incredibly hard time to stay afloat these days, so someone posting a review, in the hopes of a voucher, is, in my view, taking unfair aim.

Another one asking did you tell them at the start you were looking to use this offer? They could have told you then based on the booking it wasn’t

that being said a birthday offer based on a booking of 5 people does seem really mean. I've not seen this before. I think this feels a bit unfair

You have a point here. Based on how they behave, surely toddlers aren't people?

I don’t know what the customer thinks will happen when they say “we won’t be coming back!” after making a fuss. The staff are only thinking 🙏

accidentally tagged! Sorry

that being said a birthday offer based on a booking of 5 people does seem really mean. I've not seen this before. I think this feels a bit unfair

Why? If two people eat, should one get the free meal because it's their birthday? Several PPs have pointed out the economics of the offer. Unless you're suggesting that the offer only applies if there are exactly five diners. I'm sure if the OP had taken a party of 12 adults they wouldn't deny her her birthday meal free.

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if the OP's restaurant DID say somewhere on their website that the offer applied to five adults. Even if it's indicated with an asterisk and in very small print. Just because the manager didn't know about it doesn't mean it's not there.

Your posts read like Ignatius J. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces. Bonkers.

Ah well, as long as you win 💪

Why bother to post an AIBU only to go along and complain/write a bad review anyway despite 83% of responders voting that you were being unreasonable?

Why seek the opinion if you're already so sure yourself?

You obviously weren't going to have your mind changed regardless of the poll here?

Not trying to get shitty but just curious, genuinely wondering the point of the post?