False Advertising in a pub.

Absolute Zero

:mad:

I was assigned designated driver last night for a group of my friends. Its no problem to me to have this role because I am not a big drinker way. We went to Billy Byrnes (Mods edit if needs be) where they had a sign up saying designated drivers can claim up to 3 free soft drinks if they download the app and show the barman. I asked the barman there what the story was about this scheme and he went to the boss who promptly talked to him, the barman came back to me saying they are not offering it any more.

Is this a case of false advertising on the part of that pub? Is this scheme just not available any more? or have I been a victim of another greedy pub? Needless to say I wont be going back to Billy Byrnes again despite the place becoming our regular in recent years.

andyman

You won't be going back to Billy Byrnes because they wouldn't give you a couple of free soft drinks?

That's awfully petty imo.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

andyman wrote: »

You won't be going back to Billy Byrnes because they wouldn't give you a couple of free soft drinks?

That's awfully petty imo.

It's not really petty if they have a sign up in the pub advertising an offer that they don't honour. If the offer said '3 free pints of beer for every customer' and they refused to honour it, they wouldn't be long losing most of their custom.

andyman

Dulce Magnificent Returnee wrote: »

It's not really petty if they have a sign up in the pub advertising an offer that they don't honour.

The barman went and asked his boss. Surely the best thing to do is to ask the barman if the OP can speak to his boss to find out the full story? The barman clearly didn't have much of an idea about the offer if he had to go ask someone about it. The problem there lies with management.

To stop going to a very nice pub that had become a regular of the OP over some soft drinks is petty. You've your opinion, I've mine.

Dulce Magnificent Returnee wrote: »

If the offer said '3 free pints of beer for every customer' and they refused to honour it, they wouldn't be long losing most of their custom.

What relevance does this have? No pub will offer 3 pints of free beer to all their customers.

deadybai

no its not false advertisement. don't get why so many people think just because of a mistake that they are entitled to something for free. A bar is a business and the owners are obviously trying to make a living.

This 'advertisement' was probably an old one which they forgot to take down. Why would they even purposely make it a fake advertisement? Its not like their going to gain anything from it.

A false advertisement would be if it said 'closing down sale, all drinks are €2' (invitation to treat). Then you go in the bar and there is no closing down sale and the drinks are normal priced.

As for not going back just because of this, well andyman hit the nail on the head. People need to realise that a family run business (which Byrnes pub is) or any for that matter, are living people that are trying to put food on the table. Then they do something generous for their customers and people are still complaining. To not go back to a pub after a mistake by the staff to take a sign down is really silly.

redtelephone

Anyone know if the sign has been taken down?

redtelephone

Dulce Magnificent Returnee wrote: »

It's not really petty if they have a sign up in the pub advertising an offer that they don't honour. If the offer said '3 free pints of beer for every customer' and they refused to honour it, they wouldn't be long losing most of their custom.

I agree. I think it's misleading to have a sign up if it's out of date, and in my opinion leaving old signs up gives a poor impression of any business. I also think that the sensible thing would have been to apologise to the OP, explain that the sign is out of date, but as a gesture of goodwill and in the interests of good business, to give the OP his free soft drinks. It's hard to see how that would have left anyone having to go without their dinner.
What's that old saying about the customer being always right?

Absolute Zero

redtelephone wrote: »

I agree. I think it's misleading to have a sign up if it's out of date, and in my opinion leaving old signs up gives a poor impression of any business. I also think that the sensible thing would have been to apologise to the OP, explain that the sign is out of date, but as a gesture of goodwill and in the interests of good business, to give the OP his free soft drinks. It's hard to see how that would have left anyone having to go without their dinner.
What's that old saying about the customer being always right?

I totally agree here. If the sign is up they should honor it. Its not a matter of forgetting to take the sign down or not. I did not go into Byrnes with the intention of gaining three free drinks. On this particular bank holiday weekend I was prepared to be the designated driver for a few of my friends, to help them get home safely from the night out. I was prepared to purchase the soft drinks but upon seeing this sign up I believed a designated driver could avail of this offer. For the manager to give his barman what seemed like an one word reply (NO) is just not up to standard for a so called well run business. I dont understand the defenders of Byrnes claiming that I am some what petty for refusing to go back? If this is a well run family business then I am failing to see this in action, the sign was clear as day on the counter and managment clearly knew that the sign was up there, especially as he replied to the barman so quickly about it.

So deadlybai they are clearly false advertising here, if not why would the sign exist? I am beginning to think this is a way of getting a designated driver and his entourage into the pub and then forcing him to purchase soft drinks despite the sign being there (simply by saying the offer is no longer on).

Mr post man is spot on with his analysis. Needless to say my friends were also shocked after this and despite Byrnes being our local now for the past 3 years we will have to look further afield at other pubs in Kilkenny now. It is a decision that we as consumers can make and unfortunately if a pub is not willing to honor what is advertised on its own counters, well then we simply move on.

Absolute Zero

redtelephone wrote: »

Anyone know if the sign has been taken down?

Not sure if it is down as of now, but he put the sign back on the counter after I was told they are no longer doing it. So make of that as you will.

CyberWaste

redtelephone wrote: »

Anyone know if the sign has been taken down?

I was in Billy Byrnes late last night and saw those red coca cola designated drivers cards while waiting to get served, so if this service is not being obliged then they should at least remove the signs off the bar mantle so as that no other customers ask for the free drink.

I highly doubt the OP is the first to ask them for the free soft drink, so you'd have to question why exactly they're leaving those cards on the bar still if they dont give out the free drinks.

redtelephone

CyberWaste wrote: »

I was in Billy Byrnes late last night and saw those red coca cola designated drivers cards while waiting to get served, so if this service is not being obliged then they should at least remove the signs off the bar mantle so as that no other customers ask for the free drink.

I highly doubt the OP is the first to ask them for the free soft drink, so you'd have to question why exactly they're leaving those cards on the bar still if they dont give out the free drinks.

The Consumer Protection Act 2007 Section 43 says "A commercial practice is misleading if it includes the provision of false information in relation to any matter set out in subsection (3) and that information would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make."
And under subsection (3) it says regarding a product, " its availability, including, without limitation, its availability at a particular time or place or at a particular price."

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2007/en/act/pub/0019/sec0043.html#sec43

Kilkennyfella

Absolute Zero wrote: »

:mad:

I was assigned designated driver last night for a group of my friends. Its no problem to me to have this role because I am not a big drinker way. We went to Billy Byrnes (Mods edit if needs be) where they had a sign up saying designated drivers can claim up to 3 free soft drinks if they download the app and show the barman. I asked the barman there what the story was about this scheme and he went to the boss who promptly talked to him, the barman came back to me saying they are not offering it any more.

Is this a case of false advertising on the part of that pub? Is this scheme just not available any more? or have I been a victim of another greedy pub? Needless to say I wont be going back to Billy Byrnes again despite the place becoming our regular in recent years.[/quote

I'm just surprised you managed to get served there in the first place.Slowest bar staff of all time.

BillyByrnes39

Dear Kilkennyfella

Im sorry to hear that you wont be coming back to Billy Byrnes, however, i must respond to your recent comments on boards.ie. I remember evidently a request for a free drink and although i didnt see you i did tell the barman that promotion was finished. You would of most certainly been entitled to if it was last christmas. That is a drinks promotion we do for the Christmas every year with Coka Cola to somehow combat drink driving for the festive season.

Unfortunatlly in this case you picked up an old advertisement from old book shelf by the fire i believe.I cant seem to find it now but if i remember correctly it has a picture of Santa Clause on it and its promoted by Coka Cola. It obviously should of been taken down but to be honest it was never noticed between all the cups, pictures, candles, signs and other memberbilia on the shelves.

I think its great that you and you're friends can go out and enjoy a night out to the generosity of one of your company and i can understand you're aggression to what you thought was false advertising but im afraid you are mistaken. Painting a local business in Kilkenny online as cheats and implying that we try to screw people out of a bottle of coke is very insulting.

Apologies for the confusion. If you ever do decide to come back to Billy Byrnes we'd gladly buy you a drink.

Yours sincerely

Billy Byrnes

Kilkennyfella

Hi,

I am not sure why you are aiming your response at me, i merely quoted what Absolute Zero had posted orignally. My comment was that he did well to get a drink in the first place due to the slowness of the bar staff in your establishment. I also note that you changed the ending of your orginal message. Luckily i kept a copy of the oringal which i have posted below. Why did you change the ending of the message? Was it to save face?


"Dear Kilkennyfella

Im sorry to hear that you wont be coming back to Billy Byrnes, however, i must respond to your recent comments on boards.ie. I remember evidently you're request for a free drink which you would most of certainly been entitled to if it was infact last Christmas. That is a drinks promotion we do for the Christmas every year to somehow combat drink driving for the festive season.

Unfortunatlly in this case you picked up an old advertisement from old book shelf by the fire i believe. It has a picture of Santa Clause on it and its promoted by Coka Cola. A friend of ours here made 2 nice lovely candles of a bus and im assuming that the advertisement was moved back into view when these were placed on the shelf during the week.

PS. I think its great that you and you're friends can go out and enjoy a night out to the generosity of one of your company and i can understand you're aggression to what you thought was false advertising. In this case you are WRONG. Painting a local business in Kilkenny online as cheats and implying that we try to screw people out of a bottle of coke is both insulting and harmful.I do hope you're not the designated driver the next time you go out. It sounds to me that you could probably do with a drink!!!"

BillyByrnes39

Dear Kilkenny fella

I felt it might assume to be too aggressive as obviously angry so it was toned down.. Apologies Kilkenny Fella. i thought it was you're post. We were informed about this today so new to boards.i.e

I

Absolute Zero

BillyByrnes39 wrote: »

Dear Kilkenny fella

I felt it might assume to be too aggressive as obviously angry so it was toned down.. Apologies Kilkenny Fella. i thought it was you're post. We were informed about this today so new to boards.i.e

I

Dear Billy Byrnes,

Your apology is accepted, despite the initial aggressive post and your post somehow insinuating that I called you cheats?

I am glad that you have taken the time to reply in this thread and give your own side of the story. The initial point was that this sign was up on the bar counter and it was in clear view, the fact of the matter is that I saw this sign as we stood at the bar waiting to be served. It was in clear view of all of us, hence the reason I thought this drinks promotion was still available.

If it is merely a case of forgetting to take the sign down then so be it. My opening post may have seemed quite debilitating (from your point of view) but as a customer I felt had a right to ask about this from like minded people on boards.ie, in order to gauge their opinions on the matter. My original post stated that why was this sign up on the bar counter, especially if you had no intentions to honor it.

It was never a major issue anyway. We left after my friends had their drinks, even though had it not happened we would have stayed longer (and had more drinks in your establishment). But the whole situation was a small dampener on an otherwise great establishment all in all.

catbear

Must remember to avoid Billy Byrnes, who'd bother with a place where you'll be accused of being aggressive if you have to make a complaint.

Sky King

In their defense I have never had a problem with Billy Byrnes or their staff, myself. I quite like the place actually.

They probably could have handled this better though. But that's the internet for ya!

Maryhm

I think it's a damn shame that such a great family run & friendly pub like this is being rubbished on this forum. There are so many pubs in Kilkenny that don't come close to Billy's with regard to service and atmosphere. They have put so much effort in the past number of years, organisign movie nights, amazing gigs, food etc... imagination which is lacking so much with the majority of the pubs in the city. I have spoken tourists who are charmed by the staff and personal and attentive service they receive when in Billy's, and it's really genuine. No tweeness here, the people running and working in Billy's are so sound. I have frequented the pub on & off for many years, and I never once came close to feeling ripped off, they don't appear to be in the business of falsely advertising anything? It is what it is....I think they should be proud of themselves! I will be back for definite.

kikel

Great spot, never had a problem with service but rarely there late.

As a blowin to KK I always talk about the place to other publicans outside of KK about what they could learn from this place.

Rantan

+1 in support of billy's - I think its a good pub that has worked hard to be a little imaginative and think a liitle creatively and offer something other than just booze and the usual pub experience..ie the movie night...

on the other hand I think he could have handled this a little better, especially on the night in question as the OP seems genuine in saying thast the advert was clearly in view on the bar counter and not hidden away...in my opinnion when it comes down to a customers word against a retailer over minor issues like this, the business should prob just accept it, appologise offer a free drink and move on(whether they were right or wrong....)

Mo14

Maryhm wrote: »

I think it's a damn shame that such a great family run & friendly pub like this is being rubbished on this forum. There are so many pubs in Kilkenny that don't come close to Billy's with regard to service and atmosphere. They have put so much effort in the past number of years, organisign movie nights, amazing gigs, food etc... imagination which is lacking so much with the majority of the pubs in the city. I have spoken tourists who are charmed by the staff and personal and attentive service they receive when in Billy's, and it's really genuine. No tweeness here, the people running and working in Billy's are so sound. I have frequented the pub on & off for many years, and I never once came close to feeling ripped off, they don't appear to be in the business of falsely advertising anything? It is what it is....I think they should be proud of themselves! I will be back for definite.

Signing up just to praise a business with your only post? Seems legit.

1984baby

I like Billy Byrnes Pub, they did a great job renovating it a few years ago. I don't go out that often anymore but would pop in for 1 or 2 there when I'm out. But I have to agree with a few others on this thread, the service is terrible. They are very slow, more interested in talking to each other and checking their phones. I know a few people who were waiting so long to be served that they ended up buying theirs drinks across in Egans.

godwin

I don't drink at all nor am I from kilkenny , but in solidarity with the OP I refuse to drink in Billy Byrnes.

I'm outraged.

a fat guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP--Oy81Y7o

Sully

Disappointing to see the response from the pub, seemed a bit confrontational but I can see why a business might respond that way if they felt annoyed. But it doesn't look great. Its not the first time a pub (not this pub) has had old advertisements lying about that someone thought was 'current'. So I suppose we as consumers need to just be a bit careful and pubs need to be more careful to ensure old signage is completely out of sight and removed.

But if you are going to come online and tell your side of the story, its always good to remain friendly, approachable, and calm. That's just my personal view, regardless of how irritated and annoyed you may be, sometimes its all just one big misunderstanding

emptybladder

Found this thread because the missus and I are heading to KK for a long weekend next weekend and I was researching pubs amongst other things.

The bad attitude in the response from the Billy Byrnes' manager here has ensured we will *NOT* be visiting that premises.

Captain Havoc

emptybladder wrote: »

Found this thread because the missus and I are heading to KK for a long weekend next weekend and I was researching pubs amongst other things.

The bad attitude in the response from the Billy Byrnes' manager here has ensured we will *NOT* be visiting that premises.

I think it's a pity as it is one of the best pubs in Kilkenny.

Dozen Wicked Words

Heaven forbid people make up their own mind about things, the internet does that for people now apparently.

flutered

Maryhm wrote: »

I think it's a damn shame that such a great family run & friendly pub like this is being rubbished on this forum. There are so many pubs in Kilkenny that don't come close to Billy's with regard to service and atmosphere. They have put so much effort in the past number of years, organisign movie nights, amazing gigs, food etc... imagination which is lacking so much with the majority of the pubs in the city. I have spoken tourists who are charmed by the staff and personal and attentive service they receive when in Billy's, and it's really genuine. No tweeness here, the people running and working in Billy's are so sound. I have frequented the pub on & off for many years, and I never once came close to feeling ripped off, they don't appear to be in the business of falsely advertising anything? It is what it is....I think they should be proud of themselves! I will be back for definite.

have you regestered here to support billy byrnes establishment, to me the pub is not been rubbished, a costumer had a gripe, some disagreed with him, more agreed with him, this thread reminds me of a site in nyc which feedback is left by costumers, one particular pub always attacks the poster, as an outsider the facts of the matter is these promos were on the counter, why were they there eight months after the promo finished, this does not show imagionation a word used in your post.

nellie1980

flutered wrote: »

have you regestered here to support billy byrnes establishment, to me the pub is not been rubbished, a costumer had a gripe, some disagreed with him, more agreed with him, this thread reminds me of a site in nyc which feedback is left by costumers, one particular pub always attacks the poster, as an outsider the facts of the matter is these promos were on the counter, why were they there eight months after the promo finished, this does not show imagionation a word used in your post.

Couldnt agree more Billy's obviously registered under a new name to praise themselves lol, I think this shows this establishment is fairly vague with the truth and therefore i would be in favour of the customer in this instance as the response from the pub has been terrible

Captain Havoc

nellie1980 wrote: »

Couldnt agree more Billy's obviously registered under a new name to praise themselves lol, I think this shows this establishment is fairly vague with the truth and therefore i would be in favour of the customer in this instance as the response from the pub has been terrible

There's nothing to suggest this is what has happened. It was probably a friend or regular customer, which there's nothing wrong with.

nellie1980

Captain Havoc wrote: »

There's nothing to suggest this is what has happened. It was probably a friend or regular customer, which there's nothing wrong with.

Your probably right

Maryhm

God, didn't expect people to be upset that I recently joined and offered my support to Billy's! I have known the family for years, and my post was an honest opinion on the pub. I frequently look through the KK City & County section on Boards as I live in Kilkenny, and had not joined before as I hadn't wanted to respond to any posts before this one, I just felt it was unfair to the pub & couldn't post a response without joining!

PigeonPie

OP fails to get a free drink in an out of date promotion....big deal. Hardly the crime of the century. So what if the pub forgot to take down an out of date advertisement. I'm only a blow-in to Kilkenny but the few times I've been in Billy Byrnes I've found it a great place for a drink and staff always seem lovely to me. I wouldn't be staying away from it now just cos someone didn't get a free drink.

gowley

Captain Havoc wrote: »

There's nothing to suggest this is what has happened. It was probably a friend or regular customer, which there's nothing wrong with.

and they were maybe offered a free drink to post their positive comment.

redtelephone

It amazes me that any business would have 8-month out of date advertising on display. Maybe the regulars are used to it, but It leaves a very poor impression.

gowley

redtelephone wrote: »

It amazes me that any business would have 8-month out of date advertising on display. Maybe the regulars are used to it, but It leaves a very poor impression.

lol. if it was a week out you would understand. but a xmas promo and put back up again after the op was refused.

redtelephone

gowley wrote: »

lol. if it was a week out you would understand. but a xmas promo and put back up again after the op was refused.

Can anybody see a reason for doing that?

Captain Havoc

gowley wrote: »

and they were maybe offered a free drink to post their positive comment.

Maybe but my experienced mod nose senses not.

kikel

People do hold on to Coca Cola stuff.

http://popular.ebay.com/collectibles/coca-cola-memorabilia.htm