Browns Restaurant & Bath. The worst experience of my life
The bank holiday of 26th-29th of August me and my girlfriend enjoyed two days in Bath. Beautiful city and lovely environment. For our lunch on the Saturday 27th we chose your restaurant. The food was nice, and so was the waiter. However, at the moment of payment the nightmare began. First of all, the waitress who had to charge us mistyped the amount we had to pay. From a meal of less than 50 pounds she introduced a figure of 142,35 pounds. The total difference amounted to 96,15 pounds. It had not been the first time that someone mistyped the amount, so we simply asked them to refund us the money. "No, said the waitress" "I'm going to undo the transaction". Usually, a normal reaction once the mistake was evident and we had noticed it, would have been to make the adjustment in the way preferred by the customer. However, in an extremely unpolite mood, she denied that possibility and tried to introduce a cancellation order.

Our concerns were not misled, since the Tuesday 30th of August, when my girlfriend checked her account, the amount charged was the 142,35 pounds. After all this, someone would have been very angry. Besides, my girlfriend was in Spain and could not do the arrangements. In the most polite way I could I called on the 30th saying that we needed the money back. I was asked the credit card number, which I gave, I was also asked the expiry date, which, after checking with my girlfriend, I also gave, and was told that they would try to reimburse our money that day.

The day after, my girlfriend checked her account, and no money had been reimbursed. I just wondered whether that could be a problem of international transactions (that usually take a while). Therefore, I called again the restaurant and asked whether the reimbursement had been done. They told me that the person was not there, and that once he arrived, they would call me back. After leaving work at 19 no called had taken place and, next morning when I arrived, no called was on my phone (actually, it registers all the calls received, which means that no call had been done).

I called again the place. Remember that we had a wrong charge, unpoliteness and two calls already, and thus I was really angry. I just said this was not serious, I wanted our money back. After not letting me talk and interrupting me and treating me like a child, the manager accepted to make the reimbursement in the account and, afterwards, if there was no overcharge, to charge it back. It is an unusual way of proceeding to distrust people in this way. I think nobody who wanted to defraud the restaurant would do all these arrangements for only 96,15 pounds. However, I accepted.

The worst part is that this course of action he said he would take was not tru either (like it was not true that they would make the reimbursement on Tuesday, or call me on Wednsday). Afterwards, I received a call from the manager who said he had no records of a transaction with that credit card number, and that he needed proofs. I asked my girlfriend to send him by fax the receipt we got. However, what if we had no receipt?

It has costed me three arguments, four calls and a fax to get something that should have been done in due time and course. The staff has been unfriendly, unpolite, and has tried to put all kind of obstacles to avoid giving our money back, treating us like if we were mere rogues. Let me tell you that no single rogue would face these inconveniences for simply 96,15 punds. It is not just a matter of money, it has now turned as a matter of principle. I asure you that I will tell every single person I know not to go to this place where you don't certainly know what may happen to your money.

If this is not solved promptly, I'll just go to a consumer association or take myself this restaurant to courts. I am a kind of person who hates arguing, but I can also tell you that this has never happen to me in all the days of my life. I'm sorry to tell you that the experience at your restaurant at Bath has been the worst ever.

David Ramos    [01 Sep 2005 07:57:04]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­David Ramos