€20 booking fee for restaurant

anewme

Purple Mountain wrote: »

I read that as Two Cocks

I'd pay a bigger deposit to go there!

Masala

anewme wrote: »

How are you being scammed?

If you pay a deposit for 4 and 3 show up, then its correct that only 30 is credited. They would probably let you off with those numbers though. But where do you draw the line...if you book for six and 3 show up or if 10 and 3 show up, is it a scam if they dont allow the deposit be used for the 3.

A small restaurant like that cant afford that.

Jeez.... if I arrived there and spent (with Wine) over €200++ on a dirty Tuesday night in mid January for 3 of us and they tried to stiff me for that €10 I would be well pissed off! I wouldn't be darkening their door again!!

Darc19

Masala wrote: »

Query.... what if you book for say 4 and gave €40 deposit. If only 3 could make it on the night.. will the €40 be deducted or only €30!!

My curiosity is wanting me to go there and eat ... but don't want to get caught on 'small print'!!!! I HATE being scammed!!!

Restaurants hate being scammed by people who book a table for 4 and just 3 turn up.

Running a restaurant is difficult. You need to ensure that you have the right amount of food and staff to provide a level of choice and care for your customers.

No shows means food waste and staff being paid for standing around doing little.

That cost eventually is paid by customers that do turn up or causes a place to close.


So the only scammer is the customer booking seats and not filling those seats.

the_pen_turner

Masala wrote: »

Jeez.... if I arrived there and spent (with Wine) over €200++ on a dirty Tuesday night in mid January for 3 of us and they tried to stiff me for that €10 I would be well pissed off! I wouldn't be darkening their door again!!

while i agree with you and think tha the resturant would probably let you off that doesnt mean you would be scammed. they would be perfectly entitled to keep that 10 euro for the person that didnt show up

anewme

Masala wrote: »

Jeez.... if I arrived there and spent (with Wine) over €200++ on a dirty Tuesday night in mid January for 3 of us and they tried to stiff me for that €10 I would be well pissed off! I wouldn't be darkening their door again!!

Its not a scam though, is it?

As I said above, where do you draw the line.

They have wine pairing evenings, or tasting menus mid week usually, and it can often be quite hard to book, even mid week.

I tried to book mid week last year and there was a waiting list for the tasting menu.

If every table had 1 no show on an evening, that's a big loss for a small restaurant.

Masala

anewme wrote: »

Its not a scam though, is it?

As I said above, where do you draw the line.

They have wine pairing evenings, or tasting menus mid week usually, and it can often be quite hard to book, even mid week.

I tried to book mid week last year and there was a waiting list for the tasting menu.

If every table had 1 no show on an evening, that's a big loss for a small restaurant.

...... I do agree! I don't mean to be facetious and tear a hole in the argument. The least I can do is get the number right on the night.... I would be more angry at my guests who didn't bother to show up rather than blame the restaurant!! There would be no more arrangements made on my credit card going forward!!

anewme

Masala wrote: »

...... I do agree! I don't mean to be facetious and tear a hole in the argument. The least I can do is get the number right on the night.... I would be more angry at my guests who didn't bother to show up rather than blame the restaurant!! There would be no more arrangements made on my credit card going forward!!

I suppose things happen and sometimes people get ill, which can't be helped, but there are too many pisstakers, which ruin it for everyone.

My local beautician has started taking deposits, shes a young Mum self employed and one day she had 4 no shows, she was in tears. That's 4 hours no income and only 3 hours income, all of the regulars are totally behind her to take the deposits.

DavyD_83

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Is this sneaky viral marketing?
I don't think anybody bought that it was a fee that wouldn't cone of the bill, but a lot of people were willing to jump to the restaurant's defence.

I for one have now looked up the restaurant (that I didn't know existed before) and really want to go ASAP.

To be fair to the OP, I had a look at the restaurant on my phone and it states €10 booking fee when booking, and I couldn't see where the T&Cs are on the booking page. It could be clearer that it's a deposit on the page itself (because who actually reads every T&C?).

SteM

Masala wrote: »

Jeez.... if I arrived there and spent (with Wine) over €200++ on a dirty Tuesday night in mid January for 3 of us and they tried to stiff me for that €10 I would be well pissed off! I wouldn't be darkening their door again!!

Read this is the style of Harry Enfield's Angry Frank character.

'Oi, Two Cook.... NO!'

Ardent

I hear another phenomenon is that some folks block the booking deposit card transaction after their no-show. Assholes.

Masala

Ardent wrote: »

I hear another phenomenon is that some folks block the booking deposit card transaction after their no-show. Assholes.

.... that's BAD FORM!!!

I reckon they also park in Disabled Parking spaces !

Ginger83

Ardent wrote: »

I hear another phenomenon is that some folks block the booking deposit card transaction after their no-show. Assholes.

how

VG31

Ginger83 wrote: »

how

Easy to do with the likes of Revolut, especially if you have virtual or disposable virtual cards.

Graham

Are you assuming the booking fee is only pre-authed and not charged at time of booking?

Diceicle

AS someone who follows Two Cooks on FB, I can understand why they brought this in (at least for the December period it seems) - multiple posts on FB about late cancellations for tables of 4 or 6.
More restaurants should do it.

Quantum Erasure

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Because restaurants don't charge fees just to book a table however plenty of restaurants now require a deposit.
...

how about if they called it a service charge, or something similar

pburns

worded wrote: »

Mate runs a Business and says ppl sometines book different places and then let the group decide where to go ... so Group will it be Indian or Italian etc ?

Horrible thing to do to a restaurant but no shows are not unusual

I work in UI & I've used opentable. It's great...buts it's kinda overshot the mark in putting the user first & ****ing over the business owner! It's a bit too loose...

Maybe a star-rating so persistent no-shows can be identified?

uck51js9zml2yt

I don't see the problem with a deposit in the case of a no show.
Height of ignorance to book something and not bother to phone to cancel and allow them re sell the table

Sleeper12

Quantum Erasure wrote:

how about if they called it a service charge, or something similar

But they don't do it. They have no interest in trying to change a fee to book a meal. It's a deposit. No more & no less.

It's becoming commonplace and not just restaurants. My business is shower repair. The big companies like Triton and Mira take a 70 euro call out fee from your card at the time of making a call out appointment. If you aren't home they still get paid.