What to do? ripped off in a restaurant?

Question

so my fam went to lunch at greene turtle yesterday. there were nine of us and my parents paid as soon as the bill came out without really looking at it. i know, silly, but everyone wanted to pay and were arguing about it so my parents just handed over there credit card. later when i went to my parents for dinner my mom told me that my lunch cost $28 when in the menu it was printed $18. then she told me that she and my dad were charged $20 when there meals were $17. and i don't know what the prices were of everyone elses food, but that's already $22 we were overcharged. i am so mad about this. what should we do? has this ever happened to anyone else???

Answer 1

You say "I am so mad about this" which infers that you assume you were deliberately overcharged. Let me tell you - as someone who has worked in restaurants, from fine dining to chains, for over 30 years, that I have never met a server who would put his or her job on the line by deliberately overcharging a guest. There ARE, however, several other reasons why the bill may have been wrong. It's possible, as one other poster mentioned, that dinner prices - which are often higher - were mistakenly applied. It's possible that extras, or "upgrades", were ordered without the guest realizing that those extras would have an upcharge (for example, if a guest requests that the potatoes be replaced with asparagus, there is going to be an upcharge). Whatever the reason may have been, I assure you that you were not deliberately scammed by the server. It's just not worth it to a server to risk being fired just to try and make an extra couple of bucks off a check - which is almost always reviewed by the person paying it, anyway. The overcharges on the bill your parents paid WILL be refunded to you by the restaurant (assuming the charges are erroneous, and probably even if they aren't). Simply take the bill back to the restaurant and speak to the manager. Call first to get the manager's name, and when they will be in. There isn't a restaurant anywhere that wants an unhappy customer. Restaurant managers are RABID about wanting to keep customers happy. I'm sure there is a very simple explanation as to why the bill was wrong, and I guarantee you it had nothing to do with trying to deliberately "rip you off". This is a quick and easy fix.

Has this ever happened to anyone else, you ask? Sure, all the time, in every single type of business that sells something to the public. Computer errors, misringing something, etc., happens all the time. Always easy to fix, never had a problem getting a manager to refund the overcharge. Calm down and go get your parent's money back, it's not as sinister as you imagine it to be!

Answer 2

Yes, you usually have to tell them on the spot to get it fixed. you can call them if you have the reciept, but your chance of getting the money back decline after you leave the restauraunt. Try calling anyway and talk to the manager and they may try to resolve it by giving you some coupons, a formal apology or free meal next time.

Answer 3

go and talk to manger if you get no where then contact onwer.

Answer 4

Call the Restaurant and ask for the manager.  Tell him/her what items you had and what you were charged.  Explain why you did not catch it at the time.  They will probably refund the difference to your parents credit card.  (Tell your parents to have it handy when you call)

The restaurant will issue a partial refund.  I have had this happen a few times and they are usually very accommodating,  I had one restaurant refund the difference and they asked for my address so they could apologize and they sent me a gift certificate for $50.00!

If the manager does not do it.  Report them to the Better Business Bureau and the BBB can probably get the refund because otherwise they will get a bad report from the BBB!

https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetSta...

Do not be angry because this could happen as a result of many things.  Just last night I was given the wrong check that was twice the amount of ours.  It was a simple mistake that we could easily see what happened.  They drank the same drinks we did and ordered the same food and they were at the next table!  The difference there were five of them!  Of course it was corrected immediately but it shows how it could just be an innocent mistake.  

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Contact the restaurant manager immediately, but be reasonable rather than angry.  For a party that large, restaurants routinely add the gratuity automatically.  This may be the case.  If not, the manager will more than likely go out of his/her way to make it right because they want your repeat business.

Answer 6

It has happened to me before.  Just go back to the restaurant and talk to the manager about it.  They are usually willing to correct the problem, and sometimes even offer a free meal to keep your business.  Good Luck!

Answer 7

There might not be anything to do because it has already happened. I guess you could try and call the place. But next time if any doubt go right up to one of the managers.

Answer 8

complain to the manager.

Answer 9

Contact your local Better Business Bureau and see if the restaurant has other complaints. File your complaint with them. Whatever the reason for this they should be reported. This could be an errant employee who plans on clearing the till of the overage at the end of the night. A responsible owner manager, should refund the overage, no questions asked. Also, be cautious of servers who take your charge card away. They can swipe the card and get all of your information without your knowledge, then later use the information to charge things to you. You won't even know when it happened. Be careful, and remember we live in a world that is designed to rip you off. Trust no one....................especially the government.

Answer 10

is that $20 and $28 total or just the meal? does that price possibly include drinks, or did anyone make substitutions (some places charge for meal changes) or did anyone order a soup or salad in addition to the meal? if not, i would take it back to the restaurant and show the over charges on the bill! they should make it up to you!

Answer 11

Having worked as a waitress I can tell you that the manager is the one you need talk to.Most, if not all, managers will bend over backwards to make sure you are a satisfied, happy consumer.

Like our supervisor taught us..."One unhappy guest will tell a minimum of 10 people about his bad experience, and we don't want even one person leaving here unhappy"

Go for it and Good Luck.

Answer 12

Take your receipt back and talk to the manager and get a refund.

Answer 13

do you have an itemized receipt? possibilities of the extra charges could be: drinks, an appetizer or dessert (did any of your nine-person party order them?), gratuity, charges for substitutions or splitting an item......

it could genuinely be a mistake though. don't be shy about calling and asking to speak to a manager (or just walking in --bring the receipt with you). no need to be angry or upset. calmly tell them you think you were overcharged, and they should be happy to sort things out for you. :)

Answer 14

If you have a copy of the bill and the credit card receipt, bring it back to the restaurant and talk to the manager. If not, since it was so recent, they should still have a copy of everything and can go over the items of your order.

Maybe you were charged dinner prices instead of lunch prices. You might get a refund or a gift card to the restaurant. Don't get irate and start off yelling or slinging insults. Just speak in a reasonable manner. The manager will be more receptive and if you ever go there again, there will not be any awkwardness. And next time, no matter where you go, look at the bill before you pay. It's the restaurants fault for making a mistake, but it could have been caught if your parents only looked at the bill.

Answer 15

My husband and I have had this type of situation happen at least 8 or so times.  First off, do you know 100% for sure there were overcharges? Also, does the restaurant have a WEBSITE you can check the prices on such as Applebee's does for instance? I would suggest going to the restaurant YOURSELF, BEFORE TALKING TO A MANAGER and ASK for the menu(whatever one you had a lunch or a dinner) and COMPARE YOURSELF. If you find you were charged incorrectly speak to a MANAGER.  This should still be a LESSON LEARNED to VERIFY YOUR CHECK.  Your SERVER was 100% responsible for checking over your bill BEFORE they handed it to you all, because that person is charging you, NOT the manager, NOT the restaurant, YOUR SERVER is MAKING THE TIP TO do things CORRECTLY, no matter if it's the food or your check, it should be CHECKED OVER by YOUR SERVER since they want YOUR MONEY when it comes tip time.  I would ask the manager for a comp to get your tip COMPLETELY back if you were overcharged, because not only did the restaurant make money, but your SERVER did from the HIGHER CHECK AMOUNT as well as the manager didn't train their servers to check over things they hand to their customers.  MAKE DARN SURE TO CHECK A MENU *BEFORE* YOU MAKE AN ISSUE ABOUT THIS, because you will feel pretty stupid if you see you were wrong.

Answer 16

Never had an experience of being charged more then the menu price, but there are frequent errors in what we ordered and what the ticket says. Your folks should have brought that to the manager's attention and not paid it until it was corrected.

You could write a letter to the manager, giving the details of the discrepancy you do know about and request that he at least reimburse your folks for that amount. If you can identify in some way your bill ie: time you ate, who your waitress was and how you paid, he could probably find it in the computer and check everything. Most managers will at least reimburse to make you happy and come back again. Make sure you use a nice tone and tell him how good the food was, etc.

Good luck...

Answer 17

take your receipt to the restaurant and talk to a manager, sounds like theyre up to something

Answer 18

who cares.....

Answer 19

you need to go to the restaurant - talk to the manager and demand a refund.  If he refuses, then tell him you will not be visiting his restaurant again, and you will be telling all your friends about your treatment.  that should get the refund

Answer 20

You could take the receipt  back to the restaurant. Usually they are pretty good about accommodating mistakes because they want people back. The worst that could happen is they are not cooperative, in which cased...don't go back!