Leaving a restaurant without paying

[anonymousposter]

bazking69 said:

It's theft. It's unacceptable. End of.

I'm fed up of everyone, police included, dismissing 'petty low value theft' as worth writing off. The culprits should be tracked down and prosecuted regardless of value.

Are you prepared to have a big tax hike to pay for that?

[mrmr96]

anonymousposter said:

bazking69 said:

It's theft. It's unacceptable. End of.

I'm fed up of everyone, police included, dismissing 'petty low value theft' as worth writing off. The culprits should be tracked down and prosecuted regardless of value.

Are you prepared to have a big tax hike to pay for that?

I am. Although I'd like to think that the "fines and costs" that the offender pays should offset the cost to an extent.

Edited by mrmr96 on Tuesday 8th September 11:09

[JJCW]

mrmr96 said:

anonymousposter said:

bazking69 said:

It's theft. It's unacceptable. End of.

I'm fed up of everyone, police included, dismissing 'petty low value theft' as worth writing off. The culprits should be tracked down and prosecuted regardless of value.

Are you prepared to have a big tax hike to pay for that?

I am. Although I'd like to think that the "fines and costs" that the offender pays should offset the cost to an extent.

Edited by mrmr96 on Tuesday 8th September 11:09

I think restaurants are in enough trouble without having to endure costs when they suck so much people leave without paying.

[mrmr96]

JJCW said:

mrmr96 said:

anonymousposter said:

bazking69 said:

It's theft. It's unacceptable. End of.

I'm fed up of everyone, police included, dismissing 'petty low value theft' as worth writing off. The culprits should be tracked down and prosecuted regardless of value.

Are you prepared to have a big tax hike to pay for that?

I am. Although I'd like to think that the "fines and costs" that the offender pays should offset the cost to an extent.

Edited by mrmr96 on Tuesday 8th September 11:09

I think restaurants are in enough trouble without having to endure costs when they suck so much people leave without paying.

Sorry if you've misunderstood. I was responding to bazking69's point that petty crime isn't investigated, and anonymousposter's assertion that to police this would require increased taxes. I would be happy to pay more tax to get crime taken care of properly, but I would like the crimals (theives) to have to pay fines and costs so I don't have to pay so much tax. Hope that clears my point up a bit. Cheers.

[parakitaMol.]

I think advertising good food and good service, then not providing either should be a hanging offence.

Hang them.

And witches.

Double hangings. In the town square.

[10 Pence Short]

parakitaMol. said:

I think advertising good food and good service, then not providing either should be a hanging offence.

Hang them.

And witches.

Double hangings. In the town square.

What about wizards? Doesn't sound very good for equality, does it? You can't hang witches and leave the wizards be. It just won't do.

Espcially if they're prone to leaving restaurants without paying. The pointy hatted b*stards.

[Famous Graham]

Road2Ruin said:

If you dont pay for your food and walk out it's theft. A restaurant will always (probably a few exceptions) ask you how your food is sir, this is your time to object if you feel there is a problem. You can also object anytime after, but not when you have finished your meal! You must give the restaurant an oppertunity to correct any mistake. If you eat the food you pay for it.

That's what I don't understand about all these posts about the food being cold, or not to spec (in the case of a steak). You send it back.

You don't scoff it, THEN say "oh it was cold so I'm not paying".

[10 Pence Short]

Famous Graham said:

Road2Ruin said:

If you dont pay for your food and walk out it's theft. A restaurant will always (probably a few exceptions) ask you how your food is sir, this is your time to object if you feel there is a problem. You can also object anytime after, but not when you have finished your meal! You must give the restaurant an oppertunity to correct any mistake. If you eat the food you pay for it.

That's what I don't understand about all these posts about the food being cold, or not to spec (in the case of a steak). You send it back.

You don't scoff it, THEN say "oh it was cold so I'm not paying".

I've eaten in quite a few places where the service is that bad and the staff aren't attending to you. If you want to send the food back, it involves wandering about the place looking for staff.

By the time you've got sorted, the rest of the people in the party have finished eating and you're left there, with your replacement food, looking like some kind of retard eating on their own.

There are occasions where the service has been what it should be and a replacement brought out quickly, but this isn't always the case.

If the food cannot be replaced by something acceptable in a reasonable time frame, I expect not to pay for it.

Having plenty of friends who work in kitchens, I also know what happens to the food sent out to people who've complained. It isn't nice.

[jshell]

10 Pence Short said:

Having plenty of friends who work in kitchens, I also know what happens to the food sent out to people who've complained. It isn't nice.

Precisely why I rarely send food back for a replacement. I'd rather decline the food and decline to pay rather than risk chowing-down on some human detritus.

I still won't just walk out, I'll explain why I'm not paying.

Saying that though, I did risk a replacement in Ramsay's restaurant at the 'London' in NY a few weeks ago when I found a large piece of plastic in my food. I don't think they'd risk messing with the food, though I may be wrong... At least they didn't ask me to pay for it!

[sonic_2k_uk]

If anyone can go to my local pizza hut and not walk out ill be impressed.

Waiting for 15 minutes to be sat when there are only 10 other people in the entire restaurant
25 minutes before being asked what we want to drink/eat
Pizza arriving 40 minutes later BEFORE the drinks!
Pizza missing a topping, waitress refused to take it back and replace and bought out a bowl of warm chicken slices 15 minutes later - which i actually found hilarious.
Wait 25 minutes after finishing before eventually wandering into the kitchens to find all the staff sat about talking, and asked for the bill.
Cock up on bill as a result of missed topping.

And yes i did pay!

Edited by sonic_2k_uk on Tuesday 8th September 12:39

[Rude-boy]

jshell said:

Saying that though, I did risk a replacement in Ramsay's restaurant at the 'London' in NY a few weeks ago when I found a large piece of plastic in my food. I don't think they'd risk messing with the food, though I may be wrong... At least they didn't ask me to pay for it!

There are places you can and places you can't risk it.

There are also ways of asking/complaining.

I have sent a few things back over the years but usually (unless it is inedible) just carry on as normal. I might mention it quietly to the waiter but otherwise I just make a mental note not to order X there again or go back depending on the level of displeasure. There is nothing worse than being at a table with a gobby moaner, except the taste of the chef's special sauce with the custard.

A few weeks back I ordered a steak and, politely as possible, asked if the chef knew the difference between rare and medium/rare. The waiter assured me they did, my steak and that of the others I was with who had steak, proved that the chef only knows well done. I would have been justified in having a moan but given that I wasn't exactly in the Savoy Grill and it wasn't that bad I just warned the waiter so they didn't raise anyone else's expectations in the future.

[matchmaker]

sonic_2k_uk said:

If anyone can go to my local pizza hut and not walk out ill be impressed.

Waiting for 15 minutes to be sat when there are only 10 other people in the entire restaurant
25 minutes before being asked what we want to drink/eat
Pizza arriving 40 minutes later BEFORE the drinks!
Pizza missing a topping, waitress refused to take it back and replace and bought out a bowl of warm chicken slices 15 minutes later - which i actually found hilarious.
Wait 25 minutes after finishing before eventually wandering into the kitchens to find all the staff sat about talking, and asked for the bill.
Cock up on bill as a result of missed topping.

And yes i did pay!

Edited by sonic_2k_uk on Tuesday 8th September 12:39

I checked to see if you lived in Inverness, as my experience in the Inverness Pizza Hut was similar - apart from the fact that we didn't even get our bloody pizzas! After asking several times we got up and left - without paying. We walked past the staff on the way to the door and nobody made any attempt to stop us - basically they couldn't give a fk about doing a half-decent job

Or the Pizza Hut in Glasgow. waited 20 minutes to get our order taken. When I quizzed a passing waitress her reaction was "it's not my section"

So we left.

Don't know why we bother going anyway - their pizzas are ste

[Henry Hawthorne]

At Reading Festival this year I went to Aldi to buy some "Taurus" cider which was £3.99 for 12 cans. I took 24 cans to the till, the cashier only scanned one of the 12 can boxes and so I got 24 cans of cider for £3.99, yippee!

[standfree93]

A mate managed to get away without paying.
Were about to get ready to pay when the waiter came over and just said "Thanks for coming, see you later", so they took advantage and walked out.

[davidjpowell]

We had a meal in a pub in Bristol. A chain, but one that does decent and normally reliable grub. It was a pub that we often called at before leaving the city, so some of the staff recognised us.

A couple of us ordered char-grilled dishes, which were new to the menu, When they arrived they weren't char grilled, but burnt. All you could taste was cremated meat. Manager came along, was an arrogant prick and told me that it should taste like that. We had words, and he did eventually refund the two dishes.

Given his attitude we still were not happy, but he was not prepared to do more, so I did pay the rest of the bill. The Area Manager refunded me a couple of days later though, and he I hope got some education on how to deal with unhappy customers.

Compare with another restaurant, who brought my partners Tuna out undercooked (I know it should be 'rare' but this was raw). Apologised, cooked a fresh dish, and a voucher to come back for a meal on them, with no prompting. Result was we did keep going back. It's all in the way it's dealt with.

[Adam B]

AUDIHenry said:

It means no one will bother calling the police, consulting cameras, or taking witness accounts. Everyone at least once has walked out on a bill here.

speak for yourself, I have certainly complained and not paid for a dish or added tips, but never not paid what I owed

(thanks for the heads up on Wargrave G&D - was thinking of going there recently)

[Ecurie Ecosse]

RecentlyTesco were doing 2 for 1 on blu rays and, as I also had some £10 off vouchers, I was able to pick up a few at good prices.

Once I went to the check out with 4 blu rays and loads of shopping, but the discount didn't come off. The checkout guy said I would have to go to customer services.

The customer services guy proceeded to give me the £9 change I would have got if I'd actually paid for all the stuff (I hadn't handed over any cash at the till).

So, 4 blu rays, £70 worth of shopping
and £9 cash - all for free!

I pointed this out, and then had to sit about for half an hour whilst they rectified it.

[WEHGuy]

M-J-B said:

Years ago when I was out in Spain, rather than paying a bill of £100, I gave the waiter a round £1000 and walked out (very pissed and simply exchange rate confusion!).

As I walked down the street some minutes later I was chased by the waiter who gave me £900 back....

Did you give him a good tip for being so honest?

[zakelwe]

Henry Hawthorne said:

At Reading Festival this year I went to Aldi to buy some "Taurus" cider which was £3.99 for 12 cans. I took 24 cans to the till, the cashier only scanned one of the 12 can boxes and so I got 24 cans of cider for £3.99, yippee!

I once went to Pets at Home and got 2 items worth £2.49 and so paid the young girl £2.50 expecting 1p change. She then proceded to put £5.00 in the till as amount paid and gave me back change of £2.51.

You'd think she would have spotted this as she used the money I gave her to pay me back ...

Andy

[DickyC]

Towards the end of a drink sodden Indian restaurant lads-only-working-away-from-home evening in Rugby years ago, I noticed a look starting to go round the table. Glances at each other, glances at the door.

I tried to intervene, "Hang on, lads, before we..."

It was too late, I was carried in a mass of blokes in a rush for the door and was instantly in a mob of laughing, shrieking fugitives running through quaint Warwickshire streets persued by angry waiters and cleaver weilding kitchen staff.

A primaeval instinct made us split up into smaller groups and when mine was clear of its persuers we stopped for rest in the cemetary; mostly to throw up and recriminate.

"You weren't going to come, were you?" I was accused.

"No."

"Why not?"

"We had a reservation. They've got the phone number of the flat."

The following morning, badly hungover, I answered the door. A weary looking copper was leaning hard on the door frame. "Just go back and pay, all right?"