it is also notable that it is 48 hours for some of the restaurants for others it is a full 7 days and you cannot even change table sizes with 72 hours.
Restaurant refuses to refund money after a death
- Thread starter BowdonUK
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it is also notable that it is 48 hours for some of the restaurants for others it is a full 7 days and you cannot even change table sizes with 72 hours.
Whilst it isn't exact. It gives a clear indication of of being flexible even at his flagship restaurant. Combined with if you see him review and test restaurants, it is obvious how these people will have been treated. Not like this. These people aren't taking the mick. Something very unexpected has happened.
It isn't clear they knew the dad was "dying" - they knew the father of one of the guests for the NYE event was in hospital following an accident so they refunded both that person and his partner.
The friends could have gone still and or invited two others to celebrate NYE with them. The restaurant also tried to find replacements.
It doesn't give an indication of anything unless you're comparing it to the regular policy for this restaurant - have you done that? What is the policy for the restaurant in the OP for a normal non-event booking as that's what you're comparing for Gordon's restaurant.
Its seems a bit irrelevant as we're not taking about an ordinary any day of the week booking but a pre paid booking, paid in advance for an event.
I know you keep dropping this because it serves your argument. But it was a birthday celebration as well. Also 2 people dropping out of a party of 5 isn't as simple as you explain. What if it was 2 out of 4? or 2 out of 3?
It's also worth repeating they did not want a refund. Charge them £660 and bring them in on a cheaper day, preferably when you wouldn't be full anyway.
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Because if it was just a Birthday then it would have been a regular night and they probably wouldn't have pre-paid in the first place - it was also NYE and NYE was the significant issue here -pre paid event, extra staff etc..
It was a party of 6 not 5 - are you telling me that 4 other people absolutely can't celebrate NYE because their friend's dad is in hospital?
That's stretching it a bit tbh... the restaurant refunding the guy and his partner because his father has had an accident is a nice gesture - refunding the NYE tickets for 4 friends too is just getting silly...
I see you've not come back with the restaurants usual terms and conditions after going out of your way to cherry pick some from Gordon Ramseys' - why is that?
Ref the above - a quick google reveals why you didn't come back on this:
They actually have a more generous policy than Gordon! So much for that argument:
https://www.fordwicharms.co.uk
As per before - you conflated different things by throwing in that spurious comparison - namely a regular cancellation policy with a special event that had been pre-paid.
They actually have a more generous policy than Gordon! So much for that argument:
https://www.fordwicharms.co.uk
As per before - you conflated different things by throwing in that spurious comparison - namely a regular cancellation policy with a special event that had been pre-paid.
It is a party of 6, so yes that's my mistake. Not sure it changes my point too much as dropping from 6 to 4 is still significant.
I also didn't originally being up the T&Cs from Gordon Ramsay restaurants. It was someone else who was trying to show how strict (incorrectly) they were.
My argument wasn't originally based on T&Cs anyway, but predicting how others would treat them.
No one is saying the party are legally entitled to the money they have paid. But it just isn't the way other restaurants will treat them and with good reason. They deserve the bad publicity and I can't see how anyone can complain about that. Many people including me will judge them on it.
Also rather than running to the press it all escalated from this review
https://www.facebook.com/martin.ogrady/posts/10162872006470162?hc_location=ufi
I also didn't originally being up the T&Cs from Gordon Ramsay restaurants. It was someone else who was trying to show how strict (incorrectly) they were.
My argument wasn't originally based on T&Cs anyway, but predicting how others would treat them.
No one is saying the party are legally entitled to the money they have paid. But it just isn't the way other restaurants will treat them and with good reason. They deserve the bad publicity and I can't see how anyone can complain about that. Many people including me will judge them on it.
Also rather than running to the press it all escalated from this review
https://www.facebook.com/martin.ogrady/posts/10162872006470162?hc_location=ufi
A few (I'd suspect minority of) people who see the story might have a dim view of it for emotive reasons but meh...
Reading between the lines, they claim they'd already had a bad experience there before - I do wonder who actually made the booking given it was one of the other 4 who called the restaurant.
I mean from the POV of the restaurant - someone phones up and says they want to cancel an entire booking for 6 people, pre-paid, for NYE because their friend has a relative in hospital and can't make it now... it's a bit of a reach. They've refunded the actual group members concerned, that seems reasonable - the restaurant is taking a hit on that and it is a good will gesture for something that is nothing to do with them... to feel entitled to have the entire group refunded because one person has a relative in hospital is just silly.
Woah you have absolutely no way of knowing just how strict Gordon Ramseys restaurants are on the T&Cs they state.
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A tough one this, I can quite understand the restaurant refusing to refund the sum paid up-front, they don't operate on an unlimited budget and a New Year's Eve tasting menu dinner is going to be a wee bit out of the ordinary.
However, they are probably going to suffer from the bad publicity and in this social media obsessed world perhaps they should have seen that coming.
As to Martin O'Grady, you would think that he might have other things on his mind at this time
However, they are probably going to suffer from the bad publicity and in this social media obsessed world perhaps they should have seen that coming.
As to Martin O'Grady, you would think that he might have other things on his mind at this time
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Man of Honour
I know somebody whose husband died and she couldn't get her money back until the room had been booked by somebody else.
Sadly it wasn't.
Thats what travel insurance is for tbh... I mean that's why some companies ask medical questions not just about you but about any dependents, close family etc...
Soldato
Yes, but you have to wait for the owner to die.
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So long as you claimed the refund in person - no worries
But would the travel insurance pay out not just for you, whose father had died, but also all your friends who now didn't want to go as well?
Man of Honour
If one of my friend's dads died a couple days before I was having dinner with him, I think it would be.....difficult for me to still go to the dinner with our other friends.
If the dinner was non-refundable, I'd suggest the rest of my group split the cost and supported our friend. Or given the tickets away to anyone I could. I'd be obviously frustrated if the restaurant wouldn't refund the money, and maybe in the heat of the moment go to a paper too, who can possibly say?!
I've also been in the reverse situation (ish), being a service provider and chasing an overdue invoice only to be told the partner had passed away. I wrote it off and passed on my condolences.
I also own a pub, and *some* people are inconsiderate and will book a large group then not show up (even if paying a deposit), so given the chance to respond to a genuine cancellation and an awful situation - I would take it and pass on my condolences.
Many businesses are inefficient in terms of their spend in so many ways (aside from filling all covers / using all space fully), so I think it's churlish and mean-spirited to lack empathy in this situation. Unless they've never, ever wasted a few hundred quid on their legal fees or insurance, or paid a bit too much tax, or overspent on their kitchen equipment, etc......
I also find that businesses which rely on T&Cs are either too large to need to care, or too short-sighted to realise that to survive as a small business you have to treat every customer as an investment and an asset, and above that a human. It is maybe a bit idealist to say that, but it worked for the last business I built.
If the dinner was non-refundable, I'd suggest the rest of my group split the cost and supported our friend. Or given the tickets away to anyone I could. I'd be obviously frustrated if the restaurant wouldn't refund the money, and maybe in the heat of the moment go to a paper too, who can possibly say?!
I've also been in the reverse situation (ish), being a service provider and chasing an overdue invoice only to be told the partner had passed away. I wrote it off and passed on my condolences.
I also own a pub, and *some* people are inconsiderate and will book a large group then not show up (even if paying a deposit), so given the chance to respond to a genuine cancellation and an awful situation - I would take it and pass on my condolences.
Many businesses are inefficient in terms of their spend in so many ways (aside from filling all covers / using all space fully), so I think it's churlish and mean-spirited to lack empathy in this situation. Unless they've never, ever wasted a few hundred quid on their legal fees or insurance, or paid a bit too much tax, or overspent on their kitchen equipment, etc......
I also find that businesses which rely on T&Cs are either too large to need to care, or too short-sighted to realise that to survive as a small business you have to treat every customer as an investment and an asset, and above that a human. It is maybe a bit idealist to say that, but it worked for the last business I built.