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Restaurant issue.

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Comments

  • #62
    Lisha
    Registered Users Posts: 8,693 ✭✭✭Lisha


    IMHO the real issue is that people were allowed to order food WITHOUT being informed that usual payment methods were not available to the customer .

    All customer should have been informed prior to ordering not at moment of payment.

    Management were wrong here and they feicked off and left staff poorly equipped to deal with the situation.


  • #63
    picturehangup
    Registered Users Posts: 420 ✭✭picturehangup


    Just to clarify one or two things. Some people have not obviously read the entire first post. We do not go there merely once or twice a year. it suits us as we have children who love the cuisine there, and we don't have to drive too far.
    We eat in at least every two weeks and take away at least once.

    Also, we know the proprietors , and they come over to chat to us when we are in, and had simply been on vacation that night. They are amicable, and the chef, who was supposedly in charge that night knows us to the same extent, and has even shared CD's with us as we share usual tastes in music, namely Jazz.

    Hence my frustration. Tricky D has precisely articulated my sentiments on this matter.


  • #64
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    Lisha wrote: »
    IMHO the real issue is that people were allowed to order food WITHOUT being informed that usual payment methods were not available to the customer .

    All customer should have been informed prior to ordering not at moment of payment.

    Management were wrong here and they feicked off and left staff poorly equipped to deal with the situation.

    I think most people are assuming it was a temporary problem, it does happen with technology.

    I don't blame the management at all. It's possible that the interaction between the staff member and guest was handled badly, granted, but I'm still firmly in the camp of "Op Overreacting."


  • #65
    Lisha
    Registered Users Posts: 8,693 ✭✭✭Lisha


    Sofiztikated wrote: »
    I think most people are assuming it was a temporary problem, it does happen with technology.

    I don't blame the management at all. It's possible that the interaction between the staff member and guest was handled badly, granted, but I'm still firmly in the camp of "Op Overreacting."


    Well I don't think it was just a momentary temp issue as managers had left restaurant and left instructions , this makes it sound like an all night issue


  • #66
    Deise Vu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,929 ✭✭✭Deise Vu


    Lisha wrote: »
    Well I don't think it was just a momentary temp issue as managers had left restaurant and left instructions , this makes it sound like an all night issue

    See the third post on this thread. The OP said the machine started 'working' before he left. (his quotes, not mine). That would suggest very much it was a temporary issue.

    I do not know of any businesses which accept cheques from the general public because (a) you cannot trust people and (b) everyone has at least one credit or debit card or carrys cash. It is likely there is a general prohibition in that restaurant on accepting cheques and there was a doubly unfortunate co-incidence that the proprieters were away and the credit card machine went down. These things happen and, like the majority on here, I think OP should have accepted that such is life instead of trying to pressurise some poor unfortunate who is probably on reduced hours and is definitely on miniumum wage, to take responsibility for accepting the cheque.

    I mean 12 years of good experiences and he gets in a strop when the proprieters aren't there to massage his ego.

    Incidentally, lots of people have chequebooks, me included, but who the hell carries them around with them?


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  • #67
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    Lisha wrote: »
    Well I don't think it was just a momentary temp issue as managers had left restaurant and left instructions , this makes it sound like an all night issue

    They don't accept cheques. The CC machine went down. Temporary problem. It happens all the time.

    The machine could have depleted battery. Restaurants fault.
    The line could have went down. Line fault.
    The machine might have been updating rates. I've seen them do this at the most inappropriate moment.
    Machine could have developed a fault reading cards. It happens when grubby cards are used, and the chip reader gets dirty.


    OP: Sorry for doubting your regularity. I'd mention it to the manager/proprietor the next time you see them, I'd say they already know. I wouldn't let it worry me, the staff member simply didn't want to let an open bill walk out the door, as the manager/proprietor may hold them accountable for it. I'd also slip in an apology to the staff member for upsetting them, regardless of whose "fault" it was. It'd only be polite.


  • #68
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    Some of the spin on this thread seems unduly negative and downright hostile in places.

    The OP mentions that they do local fundraising, yet this has been spun sarcastically as a 'celebrity' or one of those 'do you know who I am?' tossers in a negative way.
    Using cheques is antiquated, nobody uses them, worthy of 'a trip to the museum' and called the 'way of the dinosaur', 'fraud-whiskers which get all itchy and twitchy' (in an otherwise positive post), yet the OP's first and usual preference has been the card. Cheques still have a valuable place in many transactions as many a bookkeeper will tell you, including as a backup payment method.
    Some have dismissed the being a regular bit as irrelevant or unknown to floor staff, yet the chef, also the boss on the night knows them well and the proprietors often chats with them.
    Some have plain dismissed the value of being a regular!!! Customer relations 101 disagrees. Regulars should be more valued though appropriately so.
    Management are not at fault despite them not allowing their staff a suitable level of flexibility and discretion. Nope, that's bad management.
    The server gets upset so people assume the OP was rude. A passive statement has been re-interpreted as an active one. The server got upset is now assumed as the OP caused the upset.
    We have only one side of the story, so doubt is implied.
    Overreaction has been assumed, yet this is not known.
    Writing a letter implies the OP looks like a 'nut job'.
    Then the unfounded assumptions of compo culture-ism or 'At a guess I think you were looking for people to say - 'well in this day and age they should be grateful of your custom' yada yada yada.'

    and so on.

    Reading over the OP's posts, I don't see anywhere near enough evidence to support all these negative and sometimes unfair reactions, assumptions and spins. What I do see is a certain negative dynamic that sometimes can happen on forums.


  • #69
    Uriel.
    Registered Users Posts: 8,061 ✭✭✭Uriel.


    weisses wrote: »
    Nobody knows that but yet the OP got roasted for getting the waitress upset

    I don't really care about the op getting roasted for upsetting the waitress, my post related to the poster claiming the waitress was in the wrong job if she gets upset. Nothing more nothing less


  • #70
    chargerman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 152 ✭✭chargerman


    picturehangup wrote: »
    Just to clarify one or two things. Some people have not obviously read the entire first post. We do not go there merely once or twice a year. it suits us as we have children who love the cuisine there, and we don't have to drive too far.
    We eat in at least every two weeks and take away at least once.

    Also, we know the proprietors , and they come over to chat to us when we are in, and had simply been on vacation that night. They are amicable, and the chef, who was supposedly in charge that night knows us to the same extent, and has even shared CD's with us as we share usual tastes in music, namely Jazz.

    Hence my frustration. Tricky D has precisely articulated my sentiments on this matter.
    OP, get off your high horse. The machine went down so what - these machines often go down. And they take several minutes to reboot when plugged in. The trust they put in you to go to the ATM is fantastic. What annoys me is the fact you made the waitress upset, your a big man aren't ya? I bet you went home and typed up your letter straight away. These things happen - grow up. That girl is prob working for min wage , she doesn't need people making her upset. Im a manager of a supermarket and if I ask the staff not to take cheques (which I do), I expect them to follow those instructions for regulars or not. Small businesses just cant take the risk.
    A few months ago, I was in a hair dressers and my cut came to 27.00. When I went to pay, the receptionist told me the machine was down and told me the ATM around the corner was the only way I could get cash. I was so happy that there was a solution. I even offered for her to hang onto my jacket until I returned to pay.
    Anyway, your just a number OP, nothing special, even if you do think your the town hero


  • #71
    Shelflife
    Registered Users Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭Shelflife


    Mountain out of a molehill tbh, Machine went down, first time in all of the ops many visits.

    He is asked to use the local atm and instead offers a cheque, most businesses that deal mainly in cash/card transactions no longer take cheques as they are not worth the paper they are written on usually.

    I find it odd that the op didn't just go to the atm, I find it odd that someone would carry a chq book with them all the time as well.

    Overall in this situation I would have gone to the atm and got the cash, I certainly wouldn't have got the hump because its policy not to take cheques.

    Have a word with the owner if you must but its a bit of an overreaction.


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  • #72
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    Shelflife wrote: »
    ... most businesses that deal mainly in cash/card transactions no longer take cheques as they are not worth the paper they are written on usually....
    I don't tender cheque payments often, but I have never had any one refuse to accept one. And every cheque that I have ever written has been good.

    Recently I was dealing with a local business, spending a four-figure sum. I offered the trader a choice between credit card, debit card, and cheque. He chose the cheque.


  • #73
    Shelflife
    Registered Users Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭Shelflife


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    I don't tender cheque payments often, but I have never had any one refuse to accept one. And every cheque that I have ever written has been good.

    Recently I was dealing with a local business, spending a four-figure sum. I offered the trader a choice between credit card, debit card, and cheque. He chose the cheque.

    Im not saying that they are no longer used, I use them myself, but nowhere near as much as we used to. However most retailers wont take them anymore for day to day transactions.

    Ive never bounced a chq either, but ive received plenty.


  • #74
    ardmacha
    Registered Users Posts: 7,476 ✭✭✭ardmacha


    I imagine this restaurant settles its bills in many cases by cheque.
    The OP should both compain and not return and should tell their friends as well. Treating customers with contempt will only end when customers act.


  • #75
    Sofiztikated
    Registered Users Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Sofiztikated


    ardmacha wrote: »
    I imagine this restaurant settles its bills in many cases by cheque.
    The OP should both compain and not return and should tell their friends as well. Treating customers with contempt will only end when customers act.

    Where are you seeing the contempt bit?


  • #76
    Uriel.
    Registered Users Posts: 8,061 ✭✭✭Uriel.


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    I don't tender cheque payments often, but I have never had any one refuse to accept one. And every cheque that I have ever written has been good.

    Recently I was dealing with a local business, spending a four-figure sum. I offered the trader a choice between credit card, debit card, and cheque. He chose the cheque.

    Cheques are still in use, to a degree. But I see a lot of places with a No Cheques Policy. My own company will not accept cheques unless they are pre-approved a week in advance. We're in an industry where you can do that for some of our customers (not for others though)

    But unless pre-approved (read precleared) we will not accept one. Not even from our long-term regular customers, and I can tell you a lot of our regular customers spend more in a month than the OP probably spent in her 12 years going to the restaurant.

    We also do not accept payment over the phone with credit or debit cards.

    These policies are in place due to painful past experiences and we have to protect our interests.


    As said before in this particular instance the OP just got caught in an unfortunate set of events, but I believe her reaction was over the top


  • #77
    j.mcdrmd
    Registered Users Posts: 191 ✭✭j.mcdrmd


    If the card machines are as unreliable as has been stated here perhaps their use needs to be reconsidered.

    A few posters stated that often it just needs a couple of minutes to reboot the machines. Would that not have been quicker than sending the customer to a cash machine?

    The customer offered an alternative method of payment. It was not the customers problem that the machine was not working and was decent of them to offer an alternative method of payment imo.

    I don't think that accepting a cheque from a regular customer known to the chef for the price of a meal for 2 is taking a risk given the circumstances.

    Both card and cheque payments can be accounted for.


  • #78
    No Pants
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,347 ✭✭✭No Pants


    I know that a business doesn't have to accept a cheque as it's not considered legal tender, but is the business obliged to accept a credit/debit card if offered?


  • #79
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    No Pants wrote: »
    I know that a business doesn't have to accept a cheque as it's not considered legal tender, but is the business obliged to accept a credit/debit card if offered?
    That's not a yes/no question.

    Before a contract is in place, a business is not bound by anything: a shopkeeper can refuse to sell you something even if you tender cash (there are arguable exceptions, but let's not get sidetracked).

    Once a contract is made, people are bound by the terms of that contract. If I went into a restaurant that clearly told me (by signage) that credit or debit cards were accepted and I ordered a meal on that basis, they would not be entitled to demand that I settle in cash. Of course they might ask, and it might suit me, in which case there is no problem. But it might not suit me, in which case they need to co-operate me in resolving matters.


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