Unsolicited Goods maybe?

Peej255

I recently paid for a event in a hotel in Dublin where I had requested 21 bottles of wine to be served during the dinner and after party. All food and wine was paid for before the event, and the details of which wine and how many of each kind were detailed in the pro-forma.
I gave my credit card details when we signed the initial agreement, which I think is standard.
A week after the event a large ~€800 charge appeared on my credit card from the venue without notification. When I called them they sent me the receipts from that night and I discover that they actually served 41 bottles of wine during the dinner. They agreed to refund the money to my card while they try to find out why there was a discrepancy in what I was asked for and what I was charged.

Could I be held accountable for this €800 worth of wine that I didn't ask for?

Bepolite

I actually can't answer your question but it reminded me of a situation where we went to a shindig in a Pub in Bray. The person running the event had phones the pub and said we've a number of people showing up (around 40 I think) is that okay? The pub, of course, said that's fine and we'll supply some finger food as you're bringing so many people - happy days.

The end of the evening rocks around and a bill shows up. The host explained that the pub had offered the food (which was very nice but took the form of finger food; cocktail sausages, chicken wings et al) as we were a large party. It appeared, and this is more conjuncture on my part, that we ended up getting the 'charged for' finger food and not the 'free for large parties' finger food.

One or two legal professionals in the party said, simply pay towards it at which point everyone pitched in and said pub's door was not darkened again. Now whether that was because no one could be arsed arguing I'll have to leave for other posters, but I'm sure if there was a sound and straight forward legal position it would have been trotted out. What will probably go in your favour is I assume you have receipts and/or a written contract?

Peej255

Bepolite wrote: »

I actually can't answer your question but it reminded me of a situation where we went to a shindig in a Pub in Bray. The person running the event had phones the pub and said we've a number of people showing up (around 40 I think) is that okay? The pub, of course, said that's fine and we'll supply some finger food as you're bringing so many people - happy days.

The end of the evening rocks around and a bill shows up. The host explained that the pub had offered the food (which was very nice but took the form of finger food; cocktail sausages, chicken wings et al) as we were a large party. It appeared, and this is more conjuncture on my part, that we ended up getting the 'charged for' finger food and not the 'free for large parties' finger food.

One or two legal professionals in the party said, simply pay towards it at which point everyone pitched in and said pub's door was not darkened again. Now whether that was because no one could be arsed arguing I'll have to leave for other posters, but I'm sure if there was a sound and straight forward legal position it would have been trotted out. What will probably go in your favour is I assume you have receipts and/or a written contract?

I would say that if you thought you were receiving free food, and you had no way to know the difference, then you probably weren't obliged to pay. But it would certainly be some hassle.

I have all the receipts, and the agreement concerning what I wanted served. The pre-paid amount is only an "estimated total", but I assume this is only for minor variations in prices on the day. There was no provision for anyone else to order more wine. And any drinks outside of the dinner service drinks were meant to be taken from the "open bar" tab.

Five Lamps

Clearly your guests consumed the wine and twice what you thought they might.

Would you have been happy if the hotel pulled the plug after 21 bottles?

Was there anything in the agreement that would allow more booze to be served. Even so, the manager should have given you a tap on the shoulder saying your tab is exhausted do you want to buy more

I get the impression that the limits weren't clearly defined.

OU812

I'd be looking for proof that there were an extra 20 bottles served - not sure how they'd prove it, but surely the obligation would be on their part to do so.

If they can prove it I'd be willing to pay for half the amount as it's clearly their fault.

Peej255

The limits were extremely clearly defined.
There were to be 21 bottles served with dinner.(For 41 people, 1/2 per person is already a lot.)
Anyone who wanted to order a different drink could do so, and it would come off the bar tab.
I was meant to get notified every 500e about the bar tab, and then as it was about to run out I had the option of putting more on it, if I decided not to put any more money on the tab the bar would just be a paid bar after that.
There was a lot of extra wine on the night as people have pointed out to me, and they were still bringing out bottles well after the dinner and into the dancing stage of the evening.

Bepolite

Peej255 wrote: »

The limits were extremely clearly defined.
There were to be 21 bottles served with dinner.(For 41 people, 1/2 per person is already a lot.)
Anyone who wanted to order a different drink could do so, and it would come off the bar tab.
I was meant to get notified every 500e about the bar tab, and then as it was about to run out I had the option of putting more on it, if I decided not to put any more money on the tab the bar would just be a paid bar after that.
There was a lot of extra wine on the night as people have pointed out to me, and they were still bringing out bottles well after the dinner and into the dancing stage of the evening.

Those numbers seem awfully coincidental - 41 bottles of wine, 41 guests - I think someone at the hotel has made a booboo and transposed some numbers.

dubscottie

This sound like the roaming charges with mobiles when abroad!

They are supposed to inform you when you have reached your limit but don't and end up with a massive bill.

As long as your initial agreement was on paper (or e-mail for that matter) and said 21 bottles and dinner only, I would imagine that you are under no obligation to pay for the extra drink.

Did you specify 750ml bottles? (standard size)

They could have served (or charged for) 41x35 mil bottles.. It would make them more money? What is on the receipts..

Quick sums tells me that they may have been serving 750ml bottles but charging for 350ml ones..

41x350ml bottles is about the same as 21x750ml bottles but a hell of a lot more expensive!

Peej255

The pro-forma specifies the wine type, quantity (as in x10), price(@32e), and total price(@320).