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.

You have got to be kidding... you really think other restaurants will refuse to give her a booking because of a poor review? Like they keep a list of bad reviewers, and cross reference it every time they take a booking? Now I've heard everything 😂 God I love mumsnet.

Why not state that then - it states based on 5 dining. No other stipulation

Because every other person would use common sense and know it meant 5 adult meals, otherwise you could take 1 adult and 4 toddlers! Why you would think a 2yo toddler would qualify as a head for a free meal is baffling and I’m sure they would have thought it odd to have to point out the obvious to you. That’s why they don’t stipulate.

Actually, as a previous poster pointed out... most do stipulate? And I used a tastecard deal at the weekend that did count a child's meal towards the deal, so why would the OP automatically assume it excludes children?

I'm still wondering what the actual Ts and Cs said. I always check those when getting a deal. We rarely eat out without using a deal actually.

I think they might reply to such a review and say how ridiculous it is.

No one should reasonably assume that a TWO year old would count as part of a dining party of five people, even if it’s not explicitly stated. Sorry but that’s ridiculous and Yabu. It’s not about the dishes you all ate, but what counts as the number of people in the party.

As for “ruining” your birthday - only if you let it.

Kids' meals usually aren't just cheaper because they are smaller, they are cheaper for the same quantity too. (In Pizza Express, I pay £8.50 for 3 courses and 2 drinks for my kid which is probably actually MORE food/drink and takes MORE labour than making my pizza which cost over double, at £17.50. It certainly won't be half!) This is because the profit made on the adult meals is going to cover the cost of the kids' meals and then some.

If somewhere is doing a free meal with a certain number of others, they have worked out that they can have smaller profit margins but make an ok profit doing that set of meals. Clearly they aren't going to be able to cover any of a free meal with a meal that's already having part of it's cost subsidised by the other meals!

I am surprised he didnt offer to discount the child's meal to try and placate you all.

YANBU

I fully disagree with you. It is totally unrealistic to expect a free £30 meal if only one adult is paying full price and there are 3 £5 meals for the children. The food would have to be pretty poor quality for a restaurant to afford that.

Well you clearly knew your child wasn't counted because you state you expected to pay for them separately .so you only ate 4 full price meals and anyone with a brain would have knew that .

Actually, as a previous poster pointed out... most do stipulate?

That’s because they will have come to learn there are many people who lack common sense these days. Bit like the instructions that are now coming with electrical appliances - don’t turn on either your hand inside it, don’t submerge in water, don’t submerge in water turned on etc. It’s an unfortunate fact that things have to go this way nowadays, either due to a population deciding g to turn brain cells off or deciding to be cheeky fucker chancers (who would deliberately put their hand in a blender, turn it on, just so they can sue and get $$, on the basis ‘instructions didn’t tell me not to’ - and yes, this happens).

Putting subjective views and the notion of "common sense" aside, if the offer was made in writing and fails to state that it only applies to five adults, then they're on the hook for it and are in breach of the contract they've made with the consumer if they've refused to fulfil the offer on the basis of terms which they have failed to display.

This is a slightly different scenario, which might provoke a similar level of ridicule from onlookers, but is essentially on a par with it...

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-15149317/Roast-didnt-come-unlimited-Yorkshire-puddings-advertised-demand-refund-DEAN-DUNHAM-replies.html

Completely agree @TwistedWonder - it’s shocking what people working in hospitality have to deal with.

• *@Heatherstory

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.

A, it shouldn't have really soured the evening. Celebrating your birthday with loved ones is what is important and up to the bill, everything great yeah?

B, I never understand people cutting their nose off in spite of their faces. If it's a lovely restaurant and you go often (as you said in another post), why not go back? Mind you, they may now spit in your food if you kicked up a huge fuss!

C, I don't think it was underhand. It does however sound like a mistake by perhaps both the restaurant's information and you for not double checking. I am pretty sure they didn't go out of their way just to spoil your evening.

Lesson in life, can't change what people do or what happens, only how you react to it. Chill out perhaps and enjoy the rest of your b'day, it should just be a mild annoyance.

I think it’s bloody obvious a 2 year old wouldn’t count as a full paying adult.

By your reckoning a Mum and Dad could go, take their three kids under 5, pay full price for Dad, Mum goes free because it’s her birthday and you buy three measly kids meals?? Get real.

Right? 🎂 😭

They're clearly aware that the deal, as offered, is dodgy if they need a manager on hand to regularly intervene and say "Yeah, I know we said "free", but..." while looking sheepish.

You should like a family of cheapskates I'm afraid!
Any negative review in these circumstances would be unreasonable.
As for a voucher, I thought that you were never going to return?

This is pretty unlikely but I did see it happen when I was the manager of a restaurant in my small town.

A lot of local restaurant owners knew each other and noticed one family always had something to complain about or found a reason to ask for money off.

At first it was food was food not cooked to their liking, something didn’t taste right, staff were rude, etc.

It escalated to hair in food, something in the drinks, filthy glasses or something similar that was obviously deliberate and always threats of bad reviews. If they didn’t get compensated enough they would leave dishonest ridiculous reviews all over Google and trip advisor.

The restaurant owner told me to turn down any bookings from them and said other local places were doing the same. It’s a small town and they pretty much blacklisted themselves as word travels quickly.

This is an extreme case and I doubt many people behave like this family, they would 100% have tried what OP did!

I bet there was information somewhere that children weren’t included in the deal and that OP just didn’t spot it. I think she’s left some information out to skew the vote and I imagine that’s why the restaurant didn’t back down.

A couple of pp have said they looked online and couldn’t see anywhere similar that didn’t mention kids were excluded, I imagine that most places have T&Cs

They should have obliged and bended the rules. Probably best to clarify first in this situation, they've lost customer's now.
I wouldn't count a toddler unless paying full price.

A fiver is the equivalent to a soft drink and not even a pint or a glass of wine. When booking an offer always check with the venue if it’s always that important to you.

Tell sad case recently a mother using her phone in the bath, plugged into an extension lead. Tragic.

Yes. Because this behavior is absolutely both, stranger or not 🙄

I'm baffled. How could that sour your evening? A measly 30 quid & a misunderstanding.

Is the offer £30 per person? If so, would that not suggest that the childrens meal/price is not included in this offer?

Why would you not have checked before booking, or even ordering, if them not accepting the offer would have been so ruinous of your birthday?

I guess the mistake the restaurant made is assuming everyone has a modicum of common sense!