This kind of stuff drives me nuts!

What’s the point of taking a reservation if you don’t hold the reservation?

I don’t get it!

Neither does this person, and they sounded off on Reddit about their experience.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

They didn’t honor their reservation so…

“A few months ago, I volunteered to plan my MILs 60th birthday and my FILs 64th birthday which was a weekend in wine country.

I had made a reservation for a group of 10 at a new upscale restaurant months beforehand. Because it was also a winery, we arrived 2 hours early and checked in with the restaurant to see if they could seat us earlier.

Despite an empty restaurant, they said they couldn’t, and that was no big deal we understood they could be low staffed, so we went and got some wine and hung out and listened to live music.

Close to our reservation time, I got a text from the restaurant to be seated. It was beginning to rain.

Change of plans…

We walked over to the hostess, she informed us that because it was raining, and because our table was outdoors, that they would not be able to seat us tonight.

As calmly as I could, I explained to them that I have had a reservation for months, I’ve been here for two hours, and I was not told that my reservation was for an outdoor table or subject to rain (there was no indoor/outdoor option).

I explained to them that it was for a 60th and 64th birthday party. I asked if they could split us up between tables, and they just kept saying that there was nothing they could do, and that it wasn’t their fault… because “we can’t control the weather”.

I snapped a little and said sharply “well what you could have done was not reserve out a table to a large party that you could not guarantee”. The manager just shrugged.

We left, and because it was a Saturday at 6:00 p.m. there was no way we were getting a seat at another restaurant, I had to go to the grocery store and cook a full meal for 10 people.

They asked for it…

I emailed the manager to ask them if there was anything they could comp because our experience was so terrible. I got no response after a week so I made multiple Gmail accounts, and left what was a fairly new restaurant TEN different one star reviews.

In the reviews I said that you should never book this restaurant if you have a large party, how they did not try to find us a table at another restaurant, how they had two hours to fix their error, that they booked out a table they could not guarantee, that they didn’t move a table under cover (which there was plenty), provide any comps or otherwise make any attempt to fix their error.

They ended up with a two-star drop in their Google rating because of my reviews. I left one review for every person that did not get a seat.

Several days after I had posted, they reached out offering to comp a meal for my in-laws IF “our group” took the reviews down, which I refused.”

Here’s what folks had to say about this story.

One person shared their own story.

This individual spoke up.

Another reader made a funny comment.

This individual had a tiff with Amazon.

And this person had an interesting take on things.

Play silly games… win silly prizes!

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