Restaurant issue.

picturehangup · 29-07-2013 11:33pm #1

Not sure where to go with this, as a relative newbie here.

Mods please move if appropriate.

Was in my favorite local restaurant tonight for dinner where we are fortnightly regulars. Upon receiving the bill, we attempted to pay via visa debit as we usually do. We were informed that the machine was down, I think they said it was 'uncharged', and they asked us to leave the restaurant to retrieve money from the atm up the road. I offered a cheque, and they refused. The proprietors of the establishment were away, but the remainder of the staff knew us. I felt that their refusal of my cheque was a kick in the teeth, and questioning our honesty,as we had been such loyal customers down the years. I felt this was not acceptable treatment, after all, the malfunction of their equipment was their fault. Surely staff in charge should be able to exercise their discretion regarding who they can and can't trust?
I feel I should withdraw my business from this establishment. We were both quite upset by this tonight. A rotten end to a lovely eveningl
Any opinions?

picturehangup

TheDriver · 29-07-2013 11:40pm

I can appreciate their want to not change policy for customers but if you are a regular, then they should trust you.
However was there a sign up on the door when you entered saying card machine down?

picturehangup · 29-07-2013 11:49pm

Hi TheDriver,

Thanks for responding. There was no sign up on the door when we entered the premises.

I would expect them to inform us of the problem prior to ordering.

Funny thing was, the machine started 'working' before we left.

The waitress got very upset when I started questioning her regarding who was in charge. Apparently the chef was, and he knows us really well.
Apparently, they were ordered by the boss not to accept cheques in their absence. What if the atm had also decided to give up the ghost?

Anyway, what bothered me, is that we are VERY regular, and they should have fully trusted our cheque.

dudara · 29-07-2013 11:52pm

Cheques are going the way of the dinosaur, and many businesses don't want the risk/cost of handling them. I personally wouldn't blame any business for not accepting cheques.

My suggestion here - get in touch with the manger and explain to him what happened. If the manager had instructed staff not to accept cheques in his absence, then the staff were hardly going to go against him. You really should let the manager know how this made you feel.

TheDriver · 29-07-2013 11:53pm

then I would try to inform the manager about the embarrassing situation you were put in, felt mistrusted and how being a regular obviously matters for nothing. Also note that they should inform customers in future prior to ordering.
From my experience, that will test the worth of management......

CSSE09 · 29-07-2013 11:55pm

You've said it yourself the staff were ordered not to accept cheques when the boss isn't there. If that's the rule they aren't going to go against it regardless of how much they trust you.

picturehangup · 29-07-2013 11:57pm

Yes, I think I will pen a letter to management. It will clear the air, most certainly.
If it were my business, I would certainly want to know of mishaps in my absence, especially in a small town.

HeidiHeidi · 30-07-2013 12:00am

But was it a mishap?

Not having the credit card machine charged, maybe - but not accepting the cheque seems to be the staff following the directions left to them in the absence of the owner..... you can't exactly blame them for that, surely

I can understand the inconvenience, but I think you're overreacting a bit.....

drunkmonkey · 30-07-2013 12:05am

Staff are to be praised, cheques are deadly, they done the correct thing, penning a letter to the boss will make you look like a nut job, I've got stung with a few cheques and unless I know them and where they live I won't accept a cheque, got stung badly by another business owner and have learned a lesson for life.

picturehangup · 30-07-2013 12:05am

HeidiHeidi,

We have been regulars of this establishment for twelve years, so don't feel we are overreacting at all.

we are also well known fundraisers for various worthy causes in our small town.

HeidiHeidi · 30-07-2013 12:09am

But..... they clearly trusted you enough to let you leave the restaurant to go and get cash, that to me speaks volumes.

If the boss says don't accept cheques, can you blame them for refusing? How does a staff member explain a cheque sitting in the till tomorrow (or wherever)?

ETA - and I don't see where the fundraising comes into this at all!

The Narrator · 30-07-2013 12:10am

Would think personally that you should let it go.

All you are going to do is get the poor girl in trouble for following orders.

Sounds quite harsh to me.

I'm honestly wondering if you said "don't you know who I am?" during this whole thing..

TheDriver · 30-07-2013 12:12am

the girl is working there and was asked who was in charge which apparently was the chef, all she had to do was go get the chef.

Tails142 · 30-07-2013 12:12am

People still have cheques? Haven't seen one in years. Must take a trip to a museum sometime soon.

dudara · 30-07-2013 12:15am

picturehangup wrote: »

HeidiHeidi,

We have been regulars of this establishment for twelve years, so don't feel we are overreacting at all.

we are also well known fundraisers for various worthy causes in our small town.

I know loyalty is important, but you can never know when someone will start to scr*w you over. The waitress did as she was instructed. Surely you also owe the restaurant some loyalty too and cut them some slack for a single incident in 12 years.

renofan · 30-07-2013 12:20am

I'll be blunt and say you are over reacting totally. So what if you went there as often as you did.....the owners were away and staff were under instruction to not accept cheques. Which they did. It doesn't matter if you knew them or not, you are not their boss.

The way things are I wouldn't accept cheques either. Suck it up and put it down to experience. The only thing done wrong was no notice of the card machine being down and this is the only thing I would bring up with the owners. How did you pay in the end??

Rabies · 30-07-2013 12:26am

renofan wrote: »

I'll be blunt and say you are over reacting totally. So what if you went there as often as you did.....the owners were away and staff were under instruction to not accept cheques. Which they did. It doesn't matter if you knew them or not, you are not their boss.

The way things are I wouldn't accept cheques either. Suck it up and put it down to experience. The only thing done wrong was no notice of the card machine being down and this is the only thing I would bring up with the owners. How did you pay in the end??

What he said.

Simple solution for the staff was to bring the charger for the portable machine to the front desk. Easy.
I use them daily. We keep the charger at hand at all times.

boucher · 30-07-2013 12:26am

The owner instructed staff not to accept cheques. The waitress obviously had no discretion and simply did as she was told.

Why on earth would you be upset by this? Nobody uses cheques anymore, they are far too much hassle for businesses to deal with.

You are totally over-reacting here. Feel free to write a letter but I can't see why the owner should do anything with it. Also, it would be such an embarrassing thing to do, it would mean you could never dine in there again as all the staff would find out who you are and think you are a nutjob. You'd hardly want to eat in a restaurant where everyone thought you were a nutjob would you?

They were very decent to allow you go to the ATM and withdraw money like that.

Sofiztikated · 30-07-2013 12:38am

boucher wrote: »

The owner instructed staff not to accept cheques. The waitress obviously had no discretion and simply did as she was told.

Why on earth would you be upset by this? Nobody uses cheques anymore, they are far too much hassle for businesses to deal with.

You are totally over-reacting here. Feel free to write a letter but I can't see why the owner should do anything with it. Also, it would be such an embarrassing thing to do, it would mean you could never dine in there again as all the staff would find out who you are and think you are a nutjob. You'd hardly want to eat in a restaurant where everyone thought you were a nutjob would you?

They were very decent to allow you go to the ATM and withdraw money like that.

Unfortunately, this isn't true. I hate, and I mean HATE, dealing with cheques. They're like an IOU, and there's never any guarantee that there'll be the money there to back them up.

The owner instructed them not to take cheques. They didn't take a cheque. Would you rather they take a cheque, and then be left with an unpaid bill, possibly on that staff members head?
It could have been a couple of different things wrong with the CC machine. When she said wasn't charging, she may have meant that it wasn't charging cards. Maybe the line went down, maybe the machine was faulty.

I've found out the hard way that you cannot trust people, no matter how long they frequent a business, as they are just as likely to screw you over as anyone else.

If it was me, I wouldn't have even given it a second thought. It's happened to me before, and I ran out to the ATM, and was back in a few, and away I went. Yes, it's a slight inconvenience, but undoubtably not the worst thing that happened to me that day.

ebixa82 · 30-07-2013 12:39am

picturehangup wrote: »

I felt this was not acceptable treatment, after all, the malfunction of their equipment was their fault. Surely staff in charge should be able to exercise their discretion regarding who they can and can't trust?
I feel I should withdraw my business from this establishment. We were both quite upset by this tonight. A rotten end to a lovely eveningl
Any opinions?

picturehangup

I feel you should withdraw your business too. Being a waiter/waitress can be taxing enough without having to deal with people who feel a nice night was destroyed because of staff implementing a company policy.

boucher · 30-07-2013 12:46am

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Unfortunately, this isn't true. I hate, and I mean HATE, dealing with cheques. They're like an IOU, and there's never any guarantee that there'll be the money there to back them up.

The owner instructed them not to take cheques. They didn't take a cheque. Would you rather they take a cheque, and then be left with an unpaid bill, possibly on that staff members head?
It could have been a couple of different things wrong with the CC machine. When she said wasn't charging, she may have meant that it wasn't charging cards. Maybe the line went down, maybe the machine was faulty.

I've found out the hard way that you cannot trust people, no matter how long they frequent a business, as they are just as likely to screw you over as anyone else.

If it was me, I wouldn't have even given it a second thought. It's happened to me before, and I ran out to the ATM, and was back in a few, and away I went. Yes, it's a slight inconvenience, but undoubtably not the worst thing that happened to me that day.

Sorry, I mean cheques are rarely ever used but no doubt would be accepted in exceptional circumstances.The fact of the matter is all the OP had to do was stroll down to the ATM. I'm sure the staff would have made sure his partner was taken care of while she waited (a complimentary tea/coffee/dessert.)

The whole incidence reminds me of reading Trip Advisor reviews of a restaurant, the restaurant getting all very positive reviews and then somebody giving a shockingly bad one over some trivial matter, like not accepting cheques for example!

robindch · 30-07-2013 1:13am

picturehangup wrote: »

We were informed that the machine was down, I think they said it was 'uncharged', and they asked us to leave the restaurant to retrieve money from the atm up the road. I offered a cheque, and they refused.

If you were regulars, and if at least some of the staff recognized you, the least they could have done was accepted a check on the understanding you'd fix up with them next time you're in if there was any subsequent hassle with it. If you weren't regulars, or none of the people who know you were there, then they're within normal business practice to refuse a check for more than the value guaranteed by whatever check guarantee card you might have had, or refuse a check altogether if you didn't have a guarantee card. Though if they knew you, then they probably should have accepted a named, chip-enabled debit card as a substitute for a check guarantee card for, perhaps for something like a hundred euro. Depends on how far away the ATM is too -- fifty yards, it's a nice evening and you're young and fit, well, perhaps fair enough with a glass of wine on the house, but I'd be annoyed otherwise. Also, I'd be cheesed off in general terms if the POS device had been dead when you'd come into the restaurant, but hadn't been told that; less problematic if it died while you were there and hadn't been told.

And that's apart from my fraud-whiskers which get all itchy and twitchy -- I develop software for the international payment networks -- when I'm told a POS device has just "gone down" (restaurants have high levels of many kinds of fraud), or a taxi driver's receipt printer has just run out of paper and he's not carrying a spare roll, or I'm told "No, we're old-fashioned down here and don't take dem tings" like happened last weekend in West Cork, when I produced a debit card at a butcher's.

Anyhow, summary: if the staff knew you well and wouldn't take a check, then that's crappy customer service, manager's instructions or not (why couldn't they call him/her to check?). And I'd certainly have a word with the manager next time you're in and I'd be expecting at least a free dessert to repair the unhappiness.

j.mcdrmd · 30-07-2013 1:24am

picturehangup wrote: »

Hi TheDriver,

Thanks for responding. There was no sign up on the door when we entered the premises.

I would expect them to inform us of the problem prior to ordering.

Funny thing was, the machine started 'working' before we left.

The waitress got very upset when I started questioning her regarding who was in charge. Apparently the chef was, and he knows us really well.
Apparently, they were ordered by the boss not to accept cheques in their absence. What if the atm had also decided to give up the ghost?

Anyway, what bothered me, is that we are VERY regular, and they should have fully trusted our cheque.

This has happened to me a few times recently, in shops as well as restaurants, though not in an establishment where I was known.

Funnily enough, when I stood my ground, the machine "started working" on every occasion!

boucher · 30-07-2013 6:45am

picturehangup wrote: »

Funny thing was, 1) the machine started 'working' before we left.

2) The waitress got very upset when I started questioning her regarding who was in charge.
Apparently, they were ordered by the boss not to accept cheques in their absence. 3) What if the atm had also decided to give up the ghost?

1) You put 'working'in brackets? What do you mean by this. That machine temporarily went down, then it started back working again. Such is technology.

2) Did you apologise in anyway for causing the waitress to become "very upset" for carrying out orders?

3) What if the atm didn't work? What does that matter? The fact of the matter is it did work.

picturehangup wrote: »

Yes, I think I will pen a letter to management. It will clear the air, most certainly.
If it were my business, I would certainly want to know of mishaps in my absence, especially in a small town.

The only mishap was that the machine temporarily went down. I work in retail and the credit card machines often go down and we need to call the help line. This can take 15-20 minutes. Perhaps this was all happening at the time you were settling your bill. There was no need to put signs up all over the place for what proved to be a temporary mal function.

picturehangup wrote: »

HeidiHeidi,

1) We have been regulars of this establishment for twelve years, so don't feel we are overreacting at all.

2) we are also well known fundraisers for various worthy causes in our small town.

1) Regulars or not you did over react. Perhaps you see yourself as alot more of a recognisable and valued customer than you actually are?

2) Sorry but what had fund raising got to do with someone not accepting a cheque from you?

To be honest you give off an air of self importance from your posts. Why you feel the need to complain really has me bewildered. What do you hope to gain from this? At the end of the day, the waitress will be seen by her employers as doing the right thing.

You consider yourself a "very regular" customer. Going to a restaurant twice a month is not very regular.

Also, as you stated above, you caused the waitress to become "very upset". This was probably noted by other customers and certainly by other staff. I doubt any decent boss who cares for the well being of their staff will take too kindly to hearing this.

Del2005 · 30-07-2013 7:31am

picturehangup wrote: »

Yes, I think I will pen a letter to management. It will clear the air, most certainly.
If it were my business, I would certainly want to know of mishaps in my absence, especially in a small town.

I think a letter is OTT. If you ever use the restaurant again have a quite word with the manager. Say you where embarrassed by not having you offer of a cheque accepted and would like it if he left the staff a bit more lee way for regular customers. If they're a good manager they'll offer you something complimentary, if they don't you know that it's your own money and you can spend it where you please.

Also apologise to the waitress as she was only doing her job and in this climate I don't think many people are willing to risk loosing it over an issue outside of their control.

Cerco · 30-07-2013 8:26am

You should have given them your contact details with proof of identity and then left. The problem was theirs to resolve. Having refused your offer of alternative payment by then you should have advised them that the problem was theirs. You should not be inconvenienced in any way. I would advise the owners, in writing, of your disgust at the way this was handled. It might be news to them and might highlight other issues.

Glinda · 30-07-2013 8:59am

I don't agree that the OP overreacted. What if someone plans to pay by credit card and doesn't have cash in their account that day (happens a lot of people in the days leading up to payday etc).

If you know the restaurant takes card payments you should be entitled to rely on this. The least they could have done was to inform their customers in advance rather than potentially putting them in the position of not being able to pay their bill. This would be extremely embarrassing, especially for someone who is on a date or has taken a group of friends or family out for a meal.

I wonder what would happen if you had offered a credit/debit card, restaurant refused, offered a cheque, restaurant refused, you can't pay cash, restaurant calls the guards... do they have a leg to stand on?

fred funk }{ · 30-07-2013 9:11am

Sorry OP but your attitude stinks of a "do you not know who I am" type of person. What's the big deal about nipping down the road to the ATM?

boucher · 30-07-2013 9:13am

Glinda wrote: »

I don't agree that the OP

I wonder what would happen if you had offered a credit/debit card, restaurant refused, offered a cheque, restaurant refused, you can't pay cash, restaurant calls the guards... do they have a leg to stand on?

Why bring calling the guards into it? People are getting over excited here. It's a restaurant in a small town. It was obvious that there was an ATM machine not far from the front door.
If the customer refused to go then the owner would of course have to accept the cheque.
Or for all we know the owner might have just said come back and pay the next day.
Remember the owner wasn't on site and had no way of knowing the identity of this highly important and valuable customer.

boucher · 30-07-2013 9:17am

Another important thing is that it's not
as if the restaurant had a no card policy and failed to make this known.

The card system was simply down temporarily which just happened to be when it was this guy's time to pay.

As he has already stated,the machine was back up and running before he even left the place!!

Grumpypants · 30-07-2013 9:25am

Op you have acted appallingly and should go back to apologize to the waitress you upset.

Restaurant issue.

Comments