Should I ask for a refund or is this offer sufficient?

[story]

So.
I went to a high end pizza place a week ago and the pizza was extremely rubbish. I ate most of one slice, hoping the next bite would be the portal to enjoyment, realised it wasn’t getting any better and decided to quit. I told the wait staff I wasn’t enjoying it and wouldn’t be eating any more, and asked for the bill. I was willing to pay for drinks and service, and I expected some kind of discount for the pizza.

I was charged full price. I queried this and was told there was no discount, I had to pay full price. The waitresses were both quite young and seemed unclear about how to handle my complaint, they didn’t even ask me what was wrong with the pizza. I asked if it was house policy to charge full price, they didn’t know. I asked if I might be able to talk to the manager but there was no manager on duty. So I paid and left.

If this had been a high street joint I would have taken it on the chin but this was a £17 pizza in a place that claims to be a cut above the rest. All the blurb on their website is about how fantastic is, how much care is taken about the origin of their ingredients, how much pride they take in their food etc.

I wrote to the company and explained everything and asked what their policy was. After almost a week of no response I finally got an email yesterday offering me two free pizzas for me and a guest at the same restaurant.

It irks me a bit that I’ve not been offered a refund, and I’m expected to go back to the same restaurant in order to get any mind of recompense.


Should I just accept the offer?
Would you ask for a refund? Is it worth the effort?
Am I being a Karen/Darren?

 

[Guineveretoo]

I would ask for a refund, personally.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I would ask for a refund, personally.

Me too. Otherwise I'd be worried they'd do something unpleasant to the free pizza when you next go.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If the food was horrible and you sent it back, you should really have refused to pay for it there and then. It's good to have cash on you in restaurants in case this kind of thing happens. Pay for the drinks and leave.

 

[8ball]

Alternatively...

One pizza has led to an offer of two.
If the replacement pizzas are equally lacklustre, then you can demand the same deal again as recompense, with 4 pizzas this time.

Once the pattern is established you should be able to bring down their business in 12 further iterations, (32,767 pizzas in total, with 16,384 on your final visit).

 

[moochedit]

I wouldn't expect to get a refund if i bought something to eat and i just didn't like it. If there was something actually wrong with it like a dead fly on it or mould thats a different matter. Or if it was the wrong pizza. E.g. i ordered peporani and got ham.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I wouldn't expect to get a refund if i bought something to eat and i just didn't like it. If there was something actually wrong with it like a dead fly on it or mould thats a different matter. Or if it was the wrong pizza. E.g. i ordered peporani and got ham.

A decent restaurant wouldn't charge you for a meal you sent back because it was horrible. And they'd be out there trying to find out what the problem was.

I'd leave a scathing review if I were you, story. This probably isn't the first person this has happened to.

 

[8ball]

I'd leave a scathing review if I were you, story. This probably isn't the first person this has happened to.

Stop them before they mediocre-pizza another innocent victim!

 

[Silas Loom]

I’m not sure there is any such thing as a high end pizza place or that, if there were, pizzas would cost only £17.

 

[editor]

I can see why you're pissed off and why you'd want a refund, but two free pizzas does seem an OK - if not super generous - offer to me.

 

[Winot]

There's no magic right or wrong answer here. They are a business that seems to have fucked up. Whether you choose their offer or not is up to you. It's not like you have any legal rights if they continue to refuse to give you what you want.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I’m not sure there is any such thing as a high end pizza place or that, if there were, pizzas would cost only £17.

The Green Room?

They don't only do pizza, but pizza features prominently, with ingredients including 'torn basil' and 'house chorizo'.

 

[WouldBe]

I can see why you're pissed off and why you'd want a refund, but two free pizzas does seem an OK - if not super generous - offer to me.

Not if they're both horrible.

I'd ask for a refund.

 

[Silas Loom]

The Green Room?

They don't only do pizza, but pizza features prominently, with ingredients including 'torn basil' and 'house chorizo'.

Medium-end with unconvincing upper-medium pretensions.

 

[8ball]

The Green Room?

They don't only do pizza, but pizza features prominently, with ingredients including 'torn basil' and 'house chorizo'.

They must have fun writing these menus.

".. drizzled in a ponderous late capitalist menstruation of artisanal truffle oil and garnished with lovingly-traumatised oregano..."

 

[nogojones]

So.
I went to a high end pizza place a week ago and the pizza was extremely rubbish. I ate most of one slice, hoping the next bite would be the portal to enjoyment, realised it wasn’t getting any better and decided to quit. I told the wait staff I wasn’t enjoying it and wouldn’t be eating any more, and asked for the bill. I was willing to pay for drinks and service, and I expected some kind of discount for the pizza.

I was charged full price. I queried this and was told there was no discount, I had to pay full price. The waitresses were both quite young and seemed unclear about how to handle my complaint, they didn’t even ask me what was wrong with the pizza. I asked if it was house policy to charge full price, they didn’t know. I asked if I might be able to talk to the manager but there was no manager on duty. So I paid and left.

If this had been a high street joint I would have taken it on the chin but this was a £17 pizza in a place that claims to be a cut above the rest. All the blurb on their website is about how fantastic is, how much care is taken about the origin of their ingredients, how much pride they take in their food etc.

I wrote to the company and explained everything and asked what their policy was. After almost a week of no response I finally got an email yesterday offering me two free pizzas for me and a guest at the same restaurant.

It irks me a bit that I’ve not been offered a refund, and I’m expected to go back to the same restaurant in order to get any mind of recompense.


Should I just accept the offer?
Would you ask for a refund? Is it worth the effort?
Am I being a Karen/Darren?

I'd suck it up and vote with my feet. I would be unlikely to use the two free pizzas as they're probably just as minging and I don't really like pizza anyway. But I'm sure there's a couple of homeless people nearby who would benefit from them.

 

[editor]

Not if they're both horrible.

I'd ask for a refund.

I know the place really well and I know that some people have enjoyed pizzas from there. I used to really like them too but noticed the dip in quality a while ago (and I also split up with an Italian girlfriend who demanded pizza every Sunday so haven't been back since).

 

[JimW]

Torn Basil was my burlesque name.

 

[Looby]

I’d ask for a refund but do agree it’s better to request it’s taken off the bill at the time.

As an aside, the Karen thing really doesn’t need to be encouraged.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

I would-

• Email them back refusing their offer
• Ask for a refund on the basis of 'why on earth would I want two of your awful pizzas?'
• Complain that the fact there was no manager there is why you're in this mess
• Reiterate about the crap staff not knowing what to do being poor, are they trained, etc
• Threaten asking your card company to do a chargeback
• Email various newspaper/radio/TV consumer rights do gooders
• Leave poor, but honest and factual, reviews

If the above didn't work, DM me about phase 2 of the campaign

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Torn Basil was my burlesque name.

Ouch

 

[Spymaster]

So.
I went to a high end pizza place a week ago and the pizza was extremely rubbish. I ate most of one slice, hoping the next bite would be the portal to enjoyment, realised it wasn’t getting any better and decided to quit. I told the wait staff I wasn’t enjoying it and wouldn’t be eating any more, and asked for the bill. I was willing to pay for drinks and service, and I expected some kind of discount for the pizza.

I was charged full price. I queried this and was told there was no discount, I had to pay full price. The waitresses were both quite young and seemed unclear about how to handle my complaint, they didn’t even ask me what was wrong with the pizza. I asked if it was house policy to charge full price, they didn’t know. I asked if I might be able to talk to the manager but there was no manager on duty. So I paid and left.

If this had been a high street joint I would have taken it on the chin but this was a £17 pizza in a place that claims to be a cut above the rest. All the blurb on their website is about how fantastic is, how much care is taken about the origin of their ingredients, how much pride they take in their food etc.

I wrote to the company and explained everything and asked what their policy was. After almost a week of no response I finally got an email yesterday offering me two free pizzas for me and a guest at the same restaurant.

It irks me a bit that I’ve not been offered a refund, and I’m expected to go back to the same restaurant in order to get any mind of recompense.


Should I just accept the offer?
Would you ask for a refund? Is it worth the effort?
Am I being a Karen/Darren?

Your mistake was paying for it in the first place. You should've taken it off the bill and paid what was left. If the waiters get upset and there's no manager around, give them your name and contact details and leave.

They've got your money now and getting a refund would be a shitload of hassle for the sake of 17 quid.

Take them up on the 2 freebies.

 

[8ball]

Am I being a Karen/Darren?

I didn't know a male Karen was a Darren.

I figured he'd more likely be a Phil.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Take them up on the 2 freebies.

yeah, realistically, this is what I would do now. I'd get them as takeaways if possible.

 

[story]

If the food was horrible and you sent it back, you should really have refused to pay for it there and then. It's good to have cash on you in restaurants in case this kind of thing happens. Pay for the drinks and leave.

I’d ask for a refund but do agree it’s better to request it’s taken off the bill at the time.

As an aside, the Karen thing really doesn’t need to be encouraged.

I agree that the Karen thing is not good. tbh I put it in there in order to save anyone else the trouble of making a crap joke about it in a reply.


My intention was to deal with it at the time but in the absence of a manager and the presence of two very young and increasingly unsure waitresses I decided not to press my point and cause them distress or stress. Had I refused to pay or insisted on paying what I thought it was worth, there was a risk of the dreaded “causing a scene”. So I decided to deal with it via email or phone call.

 

[story]

I wouldn't expect to get a refund if i bought something to eat and i just didn't like it. If there was something actually wrong with it like a dead fly on it or mould thats a different matter. Or if it was the wrong pizza. E.g. i ordered peporani and got ham.

It depends on the nature of the restaurant imo. Like I said, if it was a pizza joint I’d have taken it on the chin. Because they use a lot of superlarives and descriptions and adjectives in the blurb and the pizza was really really not good, I think they weren’t giving me what I was paying for. If that was shoes or anything else, I’d expect a refund.

 

[story]

A decent restaurant wouldn't charge you for a meal you sent back because it was horrible. And they'd be out there trying to find out what the problem was.

I'd leave a scathing review if I were you, story. This probably isn't the first person this has happened to.

I started to write the scathing review, I even opened Trust Pilot at the table while I was waiting and waiting for a waitress to notice I’d stopped eating (“Is everything alright with your meal?” being a standard question these days….)

I saw that they’d had pretty good reviews historically and several bad reviews recently.

It was when I was charged full price that I decided to delay the review and try to get a refund. I can still write the bad review and also say that they addressed my concerns.

Nearly 20 quid for ending up vexed and disappointed

 

[Santino]

Torn Basil was my burlesque name.

I was Spicy Sausage.

 

[story]

Stop them before they mediocre-pizza another innocent victim!

It‘s an important issue and needs to be dealt with!

 

[story]

I would-

• Email them back refusing their offer
• Ask for a refund on the basis of 'why on earth would I want two of your awful pizzas?'
• Complain that the fact there was no manager there is why you're in this mess
• Reiterate about the crap staff not knowing what to do being poor, are they trained, etc
• Threaten asking your card company to do a chargeback
• Email various newspaper/radio/TV consumer rights do gooders
• Leave poor, but honest and factual, reviews

If the above didn't work, DM me about phase 2 of the campaign

This is probably what I would do if I had the time the energy and the stomach for it.
And not much else going on in my life
And if there wasn’t a hole in the world down which everything important and good is flowing away