Dinner ruined

[Kaftanqween]

I’m away with large family to celebrate a parent’s significant birthday. I booked a meal through a recommended catering company. Chef was due at 3 with meal served at 4.

At 3.15 the chef messaged to say I’m lost. Sorry. He sent me a pin to his location. He was 3 hours from me. I rang the company in a panic. They said he’d gone to the wrong place and they were weird and defensive demanding did I want to go ahead or not. It was awful. We’re in the middle of nowhere in a rented property we’d had a few drinks. I didn’t know what to do. So I said go ahead.

the chef turned his phone off and I really didn’t know if he would even arrive. The company were useless presumably unable to track the chef either. By this time I’d spent nearly 3 hours away from the celebrations.

Anyway at 6 he did arrive and served lacklustre, rushed food at 7. Half the table were missing as they were putting small kids to bed.

This morning I messaged the company and got a random response saying they’d investigate and get back to me in 7 days! I was flabbergasted and wrote a review on trustpilot and insta. Since then it’s been hell. Long, defensive messages, questioning what I’m saying. Also suggesting they won’t consider any recompense until I take my reviews down. Finally a response to my review online calling me abusive and saying I threatened to slander (sic) them all over social media unless I was immediately refunded. Also claiming they contacted me to resolve it early this morning. None of this Is true.

What the hell is wrong with them? why wouldn’t they just offer me a 50% refund or something and we can all move on. Should I take my reviews down? What recourse do I have? Just small claims? Hoping someone can advise.

You should stick to your guns and insist on a 100% refund. It really pisses me off when a company offers money ‘on account’ against a future booking, because they already know you are never going to use them again, therefore the offer is meaningless!

Let them know you have taken the reviews down but reserve the right to publish reviews again if they do not sort the matter to your satisfaction. Which is a FULL refund.

Also, how the hell was the chef 3 HOURS away from the correct location if they had a full post code? That’s total bs from them.

On a wider note, it’s always best to give a company an opportunity to resolve a matter BEFORE writing reviews. In this case, you wrote your reviews in anger, which is never a good idea. I have several times said something like: “Obviously I wouldn’t want to have to write a negative review about this, so I’m giving you the opportunity to suggest a suitable resolution, so that we can settle this amicably.” That usually elicits a positive response.

Are these national house rental and catering companies with big operations, or a local property owner recommending a local catering business?

It seems extremely odd for a catering company to take a job 3 hours away. Something doesn’t add up.

You stated they asked you if you still wanted them to come or not and you choose for them still to come! You could have told them not to come, you had a choice

Yeah but if alcohol had been consumed in earnest and there was no other food what were they supposed to do

It sounds like they were less than 3 hours away and had gone in the wrong direction

@Kaftanqween I'm so sorry they messed up your dad's special birthday.

If time and money permit, could you do another celebration?

If you were factual in your review, id leave it.

Id first look at their refund policy. Id only communicate with them email for a paper trail.
Tells us what their T&Cs say, which i bet isnt if you leave a review we wont refund you when we fuck up

OP, I am so sorry this happened. There are some real arseholes on here, but to have such a special day spoiled is horrible. I would take what is offered but the £150 has to be in cash, not on account. Then I would post a review, but I think the feedback to the accommodation agency is the best thing you could do.

Do you work for the company? Or are you just incapable of reading?

If I had to work out how to feed 18 people a celebratory meal at no notice when we were all in a rural house in a place we were all unfamiliar with, I'd be going 'Waaaaaaaagh' anyway.

They said they would investigate and get back to you, but you couldn’t wait and posted bad reviews in two places and now you’ve fucked up a fucked up situation even more because you’re incapable of keeping your fingers off your phone for more than 5 minutes while you have a little think.

I suggest you heed your own advice, and keep your own fingers off your phone for the 5 minutes it might take you to realise not to post complete bile.

Google food deliveries for the area they were staying

This sounds utterly ridiculous, they 100% should give you a full refund.

I often read The Guardian Consumer Champions and this would be a perfect one to send to them. It’s amazing how quickly companies fold once the press get involved.

I realise your actual point here is to rein in the gung ho - just take them to small claims - posts. Which is a valid point. The stress and effort in pursuing a claim can be more than it's worth.

But just in case you weren't aware, if you win you should be able to add reasonable (modest!) expenses for travel and overnight stay as well as the court fees and some other expenses for the defendant to pay. See: https://www.moneyclaimsuk.co.uk/litigant-in-person-costs-and-expenses.aspx

Awful behaviour.
Definitely a charge back on the credit card, a small claims court action and multiple stinking reviews from different family members.

I had an issue with a company for weeks and put a stinker up on trustpilot. Funny how they responded with a full refund within hours.

I check Trustpilot all the time.
Trustpilot contacted me and asked for my order number so my stinker review could be investigated. They wrote that if I couldn't provide the order number they would take the review down.
It seems very above board.

Take the refund, put the reviews back up with an edit saying that you were coerced into removing them in order to get their customer services to engage with you. As long as its true, you have every right to post them.

Appreciate this. Thank you.

Obviously you don’t live in a rural area. I do. No one delivers here.

They did ask you if you wanted to go ahead or not, ie cancel, you said so in your first post. I wouldn't expect a full refund in those circumstances.

I had bad service, well actually it was no service. Removal firm didn't turn up on moving day despite paying a deposit and them supplying boxes.

I waited a number of weeks for a refund.
It was only when I received the money that I left a review.
It was so scathing and indefensible that they took their review option down on their website 🤣

My advice, keep your powder dry until you have a refund.

The partial refund and money on account offer is a small compensation for all their faults on the day (which they admitted). It doesn’t take away the stress and disappointment. You are still have the right of leaving a review. They sound unprofessional and bullies.

I have nothing to advise on your next step, but your post serves as a useful reminder to everyone that if you plan to leave a less than glowing review on any platform, at least make sure you are at the end of your complaint before doing so, and not the start.

That sounds awful. I'm so sorry you had to deal with such nonsense.

Definitely keep on at them for a refund. The meal was served several hours late. They did not offer to send someone else when the chef was 'lost' three hours away. So you had to continue with the booking as there was no alternative. The fact there's a pub you could've used is not the point.

You did not receive the service, which was a meal served at 4pm. Many guests were unable to enjoy the meal as it was so late. And obviously if it was inadequate in terms of menu or taste then mention that as well.

A full refund is totally deserved. I hope you get it. Frankly I see no problem with the reviews if they were factual. But I see that you should've probably try to let them resolve it before posting.

What happened was very poor service, but you should have waited for them to get back to you before posting terrible review.

Completely unacceptable. I am a caterer/ private chef. In this situation a full refund and a huge apology would be sent!