View Full Version : Crap service
I need some advice from the experts......
Went out for a meal tonight in a party of 9. Booked for 8 but got there at 8:15, no big deal as there was plenty of space all night. We ordered our food and it finally arrived at 9.30. It's not as if we asked for complicated dishes, it was 8 steaks and 1 chicken. They were soooo slow.
I complained to the manager whose response was "Well these things happen". He couldn't really care less although he offered a half-hearted apology a few times. He seemed to think we were exaggerating and when I asked if this was so, then why were we complaining, he accused us of being "a family of complainers". He also implied it was partly our fault because when you book for 8, you should get there at 7:30. Has anyone else ever heard of that??
The thing is, we've been there before and the service has always been pretty dreary but never as bad tonight. He asked why, if the place is so bad why we keep coming back. I replied we've never been kept waiting that long before and the food is actually nice. He replied "Yes I know it's nice and you do too".
I then told him about my working on a radio station and will tell the listeners about that place on sunday night, he said he'll sue me if I do that.
What I need to know is, legally what can I actually say? I have 9 witnesses to say how bad the service was but he reckons he has 16 witness to say it wasn't, even though we counted 21 people there, which included my party of 9.
Just tell the story as it happened Russ. No-one can sue you for that. :)
The food was good but the service was poor.
I need some advice from the experts......[snip]
I then told him about my working on a radio station and will tell the listeners about that place on sunday night, he said he'll sue me if I do that.
What I need to know is, legally what can I actually say? I have 9 witnesses to say how bad the service was but he reckons he has 16 witness to say it wasn't, even though we counted 21 people there, which included my party of 9.
Well I'm not an expert, but the first thing I'd have done is, if there was a service charge on the bill, refused to pay it!
As to what you can say, the main thing to avoid is anything that can be called defamation which is a tricky subject see http://www.swarb.co.uk/ which has a bunch of links on defamation etc (it's not very well laid out, but look down the "Law Bytes" column or do a "search in page")
A defamatory meaning is one that, in the circumstances of publication, would be likely to make reasonable and respectable people think less of the Plaintiff (Robertson QC 'Media Law')
The page http://www.swarb.co.uk/lawb/defDefamatory.html has more info which concludes: "In other words, yes, words can be both defamatory and true." which is not exactly confidence building!!
PS Doesn't the radio station have a legal advisor?
Yes but she doesn't work on weekends :disturbd:
On Talksport the other morning Alan Brazil and Mike Parry were moaning about poor service in 1st class on Virgin Trains and saying how they would never travel with them again.
It was a true life experience and therefore justifiable airtime IMO. :)
Charlie_Bubble
13-02-2004, 23:07
Go back tonight at 3am and burn the place down! :)
Charlie_Bubble
13-02-2004, 23:15
That'll learn 'im!!!
Scarlett
13-02-2004, 23:24
Um.......no.
If it's any help, I recall reading about the telegraph ( I think it was that paper) restaraunt writer getting sued by the owner for a very bad review...
Actually its not much help but I'd suggest trying to get a formal interview with the manager and you DJ bloke with him on one side and a member of you party on the other and put the questions to him on tape. If he refuses then get oyu DJ friend to interview the perrson and state that you asked the restaraunt to comment onn it but they refused. Make sure that the questions bring out the good and the bad and then they will have to prove that what you said was bad is simply not true rather than trying to claim that you were biased about it. Even better, arrange for a plant group to go to said resteraunt who have no knowledge of what is going on and get them to asses it independantly of you. Finally, get ask the local rag to review the place explaining the reason why. i.e. threat of sue.
If you have witness's to the threat to Sue, then bring them into it as well, I'm sure that counts as intimidation thratening to sue if you say you'll tell people about how bad the service was.
Tell you what if he tries to sue, buy him a new playpen and some toys and offer it to him in settlement. :D
Yes but she doesn't work on weekends :disturbd:
You could wait till next weekend. It'll still have the same effect, but won't be as obvious, and you can speak to the legal advisor during the week.
Just out of interest? Was this a 'chain restaurant' or just a local one?
If it is the first, you could consider complaining to the main branch/head office, whom (I would think) would not be happy at the manager's behaviour.
If it's the second, I wouldn't take his sueing comments too serious (but maybe still speak to the legal advisor?)
Edit: how can his 16 witnesses be witnesses about the service at your table? Unless they were waiting for their food for an hour as well ;)
It was a local restaurant, and I don't know if he will or will not sue, I just want to get my point across that he refused to take ownership of the matter.
That'll learn 'im!!!
Idiot :rolleyes:
It was a local restaurant, and I don't know if he will or will not sue, I just want to get my point across that he refused to take ownership of the matter.
I'd say wait till after the weekend. If you speak to the legal advisor, and he/she says it's ok, your back is covered, and you can mention it next weekend. If the restaurant bloke sues, he will sue the station rather than you. And since you took it up with the legal advisor, the station can't blame you, so the station and the restaurant can battle it out together.
Russ, you have quite happily posted the story here in the public domain without fear of legal action etc. What is different about recounting the story to people through a different medium? :confused:
Flubflow
14-02-2004, 00:00
Present the same case to the restaurant owner as you intend to present to the public and give him the oppurtunity to comment. BBC Watchdog do that every week and seem to get away with it OK.
squiggs1982
14-02-2004, 00:24
Can't really speak for you southerners, but in Scots law, you would have the defence of veritas - that is, what you're saying is true. However, like I say, I can't speak for English law, plus it's 12.30 and I've been drinking since one this afternoon! I'm off to bed! :)
P.S. Do be careful, because it would be the radio station that would be sued and not you. This might not go down too well with the employers! Best check it out with the sober legal lady!
Russ, you have quite happily posted the story here in the public domain without fear of legal action etc.
Err, not quite, since he hasn't *named* the restaurant.
AIUI if he wanted to he could say *anything* on the air about bad restaurant service in general and being kept waiting for ages etc, but as that site I posted mentions, when it will actually cause a listener to form a bad opinion of another person or a business, you run the risk of being guilty of defamation.
Russ
My initial reaction would be that you were taking a fast food mentality into an establishment that is more traditional.
A booking for 8pm would imply that you arrive in good time to enable your main course orders to be actioned within the welcome/aperatif/starters process to be served in a timely fashion as part of a leisurely meal.
If you arrived at 8.15, skipped starters, and ordered main courses only, then its easy to account for the delay you described whilst things were processed and cooked to order.
It would appear the establishment is not unhappy to lose your party's custom - but was sufficiently incensed to be threatened by media exposure which could be construed as one sided.
I think you are entitled to state your view of your experience in any format, but again the other party is entitled to a right of reply in law, should this format be in the public domain. One for your Editor/Producer, perhaps?
If you arrived at 8.15, skipped starters, and ordered main courses only, then its easy to account for the delay you described whilst things were processed and cooked to order.
An hour and a quarter??? For 8 steaks? Should have taken them 20 minutes tops, considering the amount of other people on the place at the time.
I handle things differently.I would just never go there again and pass the word around to family,friends and aquaintances.
If you had just mentioned it in passing on the radio without having hassled the manager you would probably got away with it.Now he will be listening out and will be ready to be in attack mode.
They were probably short in the kitchen or something daft like a member of staff called in ill or someone screwed your order up and you nearly got 8 chickens and 1 steak. It's just the guy didn't tell you the real reason and that he's been running round like a headless steak (sorry couldn't put the chicken pun in!) all night?
If it's a place you like and the service/food is normally good just write to the head office if it was a chain either that or just take it with a pinch of salt and if the service is bad next time they lose your custom.
By far the worst service I've ever received was from NTL (2 different regions), their complete ineptitude astounded me on more than one occasion, closely followed by Ebuyer, I'm sure I've posted my experiences with them elsewhere, then Citylink, who should change their slogan from "Urgent Deadline Deliveries" to "We'll deliver if we can be arsed, maybe", then Amazon, who are normally pretty good but if you ever have to deal with their customer service people you might as well forget it, no phone number and constant "canned" responses to emails, it took 3 weeks to get a refund for an item that never turned up. And let's not forget Singlepoint, who actually probably exceed NTL in their complete lack of customer service skills, 8 times now I've requested an invoice to cancel my account, 8 times they claim to have sent it and I've yet to see one of them, they take unauthorised amounts from bank accounts via direct debit, they register incorrect information about people with credit reference agencies (according to Experian I'm 5 months late with a payment for them when I've never had a payment later than a couple of days), every single month they used to put 2-3 admin charges on my account which entailed a lengthy wait in a queue then a conversation with someone who's clearly not competant enough to pick up a phone let alone deal with a customer ... I finally paid my outstanding amount to clear my contract over the phone and hopefully they've a) taken the right amount and b) it'll actually dawn on them to cancel it.
Tell the story as it happened and give your opinion - as long as what you say is true then you have nothing to worry about.
He won't sue you - it would cost him money, he would lose (as long as you told the truth) and just be more bad publicity for him.
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