Consumer advice: Sue Phillips from the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lincoln explains what to you do when you go to eat out and receive poor service or food.
— Sue Phillips from the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lincoln is back with a new series on consumer issues. This week she advises on what to do when you receive poor service and food in a restaurant.
It’s Friday night and you decide to celebrate the start of the weekend by joining your friends for a meal at a restaurant in town.
The table is booked for 7pm but at 7.45pm you are still waiting to be seated. Eventually you are shown to your table by a surly waiter and proceed to make yourselves comfortable.
However your waiter disappears, other members of staff are running around looking stressed and nobody seems to want to take your drinks order.
The evening goes from bad to worse. After a further delay, when the food finally does arrive, it’s cold and looks distinctly unappetising.
When you eat out in a restaurant, the law says the food must be safe, of satisfactory condition and match its description. A chicken and vegetable pie must have chicken in it!
What to do next
Even if you are hungry, stop eating the food – your complaint will be less successful if you have already eaten most of it by the time you complain.
Ask the waiter or waitress for either a different dish off the menu or a replacement of the same, or you can ask for the cost of the rejected meal to be deducted from the bill.
If you are still unhappy, ask to see the restaurant manager
If the bill arrives and you have been charged for the rejected meal, you can choose to pay the bill but deduct the amount of the rejected meal. If you have a replacement meal or different dish, you will have to pay for it.
If you do make a deduction, leave your name and contact details with the restaurant. If they feel you owe them money, they may decide to chase you for payment but the police will not get involved because you have not done anything wrong.
Alternatively pay the bill in full but write on it that you are paying under protest.
You can write a formal letter of complaint to the restaurant manager later asking for a refund of the money you are disputing. Give the restaurant two weeks to respond, but if you hear nothing from them within this time, you could consider pursuing the matter in court.
According to consumer law, a service should be carried out with reasonable care, skill and in a reasonable time.
What to do next
Complain to the waiter or waitress there and then, explaining that you are unhappy with the service. If they are unable to resolve the problem, ask to see the restaurant manager.
As a gesture of goodwill the restaurant may offer you complimentary drinks or agree to reduce the bill; however you cannot refuse to pay the bill.
If a service charge has been added to the bill, you do not have to pay it if you are unhappy with the service, even if the restaurant says it is compulsory.
If you still feel aggrieved by the standard of service, you could write a letter of complaint to the restaurant manager afterwards.
Tips, service charge and cover charge – what do they mean?
A cover charge is a fixed charge per customer – you usually have to pay it. The menu must state that there is a cover charge.
A service charge is based on a percentage of the bill and can be added by a business. If a restaurant says you must pay a service charge and this is made clear to you before you agree to have the meal (it usually says so on the menu), it becomes part of the agreement between the restaurant and customer and you will be liable to pay.
If a restaurant does not make the service charge part of an agreement in this way, it is up to you whether or not you pay it.
You can choose whether or not to give a tip as a reward for the standard of service you received.
— If you would like information or advice about any consumer issue, contact the Citizens Advice Service Consumer helpline on 08454 04 05 06. The lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am – 5pm.
Sue Phillips works at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lincoln.
A dramatic video shows a car engulfed in flames in the car park at Lincoln County Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
An on-call crew from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue attended the scene on Greetwell Road shortly before 5pm on Tuesday, April 13.
The crew used one hose reel to extinguish the fire and fortunately no casualties were reported.
The car is probably a write-off. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Dramatic pictures from the scene show the severe damage that was caused to the front of the car.
Fall in county infections but a Boston spike
There have been 50 new coronavirus cases and three COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — compared to 58 cases and no deaths this time last week.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 26 new cases in Lincolnshire, 19 in North Lincolnshire and five in North East Lincolnshire.
On Tuesday, three deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, none in North East Lincolnshire and -1 in North Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England has reported two new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust hospitals.
On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,472 to 4,375,814, while deaths rose by 23 to 127,123.
In local news, people aged over 45 can now book their COVID vaccinations on the NHS website after the government reached its target of offering a first dose to the nine most vulnerable groups.
There were recently some technical difficulties for people accessing the NHS website, but vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the issues have been fixed – book a vaccine online here and find out if you are eligible.
Over the weekend, Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate has fallen, with a spike in Boston only.
Similarly, the England average has also seen a drop in infections, but still remains nearly half Greater Lincolnshire’s rates.
Lincoln has dropped by more than half over the weekend and now has one of the smallest rates in the UK, with just 9.1 per 100,000 of the population infected with COVID-19.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s COVID-19 infection rates up to April 12:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Apr 5 to Apr 12. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
In national news, Boris Johnson has warned that the reduction in coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths “has not been achieved” by the rollout of COVID vaccines.
The prime minister, speaking the day after the latest easing of lockdown restrictions, instead said it was the national shutdown that had been “overwhelmingly important” in driving down COVID rates.
England is giving out its first doses of the Moderna jab, the third COVID-19 vaccine in the nation’s rollout.
It will be available at 21 sites, included the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Sheffield Arena.
Along with the Pfizer jab, it offers an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under-30s, after concerns about a possible link to very rare blood clots.
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
58,772 cases (up 50)
2,184 deaths (up three)
of which 1,302 hospital deaths (up two)
4,375,814 UK cases, 127,123 deaths
There will be another Kill The Bill protest in Lincoln next week, rallying against a new government bill that diminishes protesting rights.
Protests have been rife across the country since the government’s proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was first discussed, with scenes turning violent in Bristol.
Over two hundred people peacefully took part in the city’s first march at Speakers’ Corner on April 3, including Extinction Rebellion activists and Socialist and Labour supporters.
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Now, after a post started doing the rounds on social media, another protest has apparently been scheduled for 2pm on Monday, April 17 at the same location on Lincoln High Street, as part of a national day of action.
A poster promoting a second event has been shared across social media platforms.
Protests are lawful once again after the government eased lockdown restrictions on March 29, but organisers are required to submit a risk assessment prior to any event.
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Organisers of the last protest were in close communication with police to make the event safe, and The Lincolnite has asked Lincolnshire Police if they have been made aware of another protest, but are yet to receive a reply.
Whatsapp
