Heated Exchange Over a $250 Restaurant Cancellation Fee (Boston: lawyer, restaurants)

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Based on who she is it seems like any type of attention will suit her. Ugh

Seems true seeing as she was a former Boston sports reporter. Check out youtube...she interviews Celtics players. She looks bored when interviewing them too, like not even engaged when they are answering her questions.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by mike1003

If this restaraunt is this good, there would be a wait list in case of cancellationsSize of restaurant doesn't excuse the poor way that that the owner handled this situation. It will come back to bite her in the a$$

100%. Most “exclusive” hard to get reservations have a lengthy waitlist to draw from in case of cancellations. And most, even the ones that have cancellation fees, are willing to work with customers and make exceptions. I understand why a restaurant would want to limit loss and weed out ghost reservations by having a fee. But I personally would never make a reservation at a place with Table’s policy and her response to the customer would turn me off even if there was no cancellation fee, no thanks. I think she may have done irreparable damage.


Huh? Because I said the cancellation policy is pretty clear? Look, she’s a miserable, nasty narcissist who may have screwed her entire restaurant because she decided to attack a stranger over $250. I would never provide my card info to a place with that type of policy. But… it’s really hard to believe that anyone who goes through the process of booking reservation at Table could somehow be oblivious to how steep the cancellation fee is. It’s repeated on every step of the process. You can’t advance to the booking page without acknowledging it. And then Resy prompts you again on the screen where you enter your credit card info (which is a red flag in and of itself). Is it extremely punitive? Yep. But if it’s a surprise to anyone who goes through with a booking, that’s on them.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

i'd say ending up in the hospital (if it really happened) is a bigger reason than just forgetting.

I think this whole incident is just a sign of the times and how greedy people can be. Back in the day a no show for a reservation was never that big of a deal...now it comes with a $250 fine and angry email exchanges with a restaurant owner.

Will spas and hair salons start doing the same thing or maybe they already do?

Spas and salons have been doing this for a long time.

[newenglandgal123]

The whole communal dining with strangers thing doesn't appeal to me either as others have mentioned. I guess you could meet some really interesting people but it could also turn into dinner from hell too.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

Oh, that wouldn't surprise me at all. But knowing how banks adjudicate these claims--and I've made them myself--I'm going to presume they used the standards and policies implemented, which generally require some documentation and testimony from the customer. Even if he lied, I'm going to say the bank would contact the business for the other half of the story. They might issue a temporary credit until that inquiry is complete, but they would generally follow up. But just because the business has a cancellation policy doesn't necessarily mean the bank is obliged to honor it under all conditions.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is the likeliest scenario - he disputed the charge, provided proof of his medical claim, and the bank approved it because the restaurant’s cancellation policy doesn’t supersede their own policies.

I’m skeptical of the Travel Insurance claim. It usually only covers certain qualifying expenses (usually coded “travel” or something related) and I’ve never known travel insurance claims to involve actively seeking to recoup money from the businesses that have been paid already. If I get sick and miss my flight on Delta, Amex will refund me the fare, but they won’t screw Delta by charging them back for the amount I paid for the ticket. Maybe some credit card travel insurance policies also don’t recognize a restaurant cancellation policy and will issue a chargeback in that instance. But I’d be more surprised about that than if the customer directly disputed the charge.

Either way, it would be tough for the customer to get the bank to charge the restaurant without substantiating their story.

[bostongymjunkie]

I kind of dismissed the whole travel insurance factor from my thinking very early on when I read that the businesses forfeited the money. That's just not travel insurance. He may have initially called and tried to file that type of claim but the bank most likely processed it under what they felt was most appropriate process. And I'm sure he was aware of the conditions when he made the transaction, but most people are not thinking about medical conditions beyond their control when they agree to such terms. And it certainly wouldn't be unusual for thinking to change under circumstances like that where they believe some kind of extenuating circumstances policy comes to play. Most reasonable people would. It's the business here that seems to be acting unreasonably, in my view.

[Riley.]

You can go to Yelp itself and read some of the reviews yourself. Even from well before this story, there are reviews of her and her staff's nastiness.

I wouldn't go there.

[Riley.]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

The whole communal dining with strangers thing doesn't appeal to me either as others have mentioned. I guess you could meet some really interesting people but it could also turn into dinner from hell too.

Me either!! A) sitting too close together gives me the heebie-jeebies and B) can you imagine in Boston?? probably get a bunch of pompous you know whats.
I like to relax and savor a quiet, delicious expensive dinner. This wouldn't be that.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Spas and salons have been doing this for a long time.

Never had anything happen to me then again I don't just not show up for an appt I made. An appt to get your hair done seems a bit different than a dinner reservation IMO.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

I kind of dismissed the whole travel insurance factor from my thinking very early on when I read that the businesses forfeited the money. That's just not travel insurance. He may have initially called and tried to file that type of claim but the bank most likely processed it under what they felt was most appropriate process. And I'm sure he was aware of the conditions when he made the transaction, but most people are not thinking about medical conditions beyond their control when they agree to such terms. And it certainly wouldn't be unusual for thinking to change under circumstances like that where they believe some kind of extenuating circumstances policy comes to play. Most reasonable people would. It's the business here that seems to be acting unreasonably, in my view.

Absolutely. When I go through my pre-vacation checklist, I'm typically not too concerned about a potential medical emergency. And if one did arise, I'd probably seek to recoup as many of my prepaid expenses as possible. I'm willing to bet the average person isn't likely to just shrug off $250 if there are means to recoup that cost via the credit card company. I know I wouldn't. And yes, the restaurant is acting unreasonably. For starters, they have to manually charge the cancellation fee via Resy (Resy doesn't automatically do it). There's an opportunity there to contact the customer and see if an arrangement can be made (i.e. reschedule to another weekend at no cost). I do understand the frustration of the lost revenue from a no-show, but that type of loss isn't entirely preventable. And the public reaction to the shaming of a customer for recouping costs via his credit card is likely to have a greater impact on the restaurant's bottom line than the $250 they're out.