‘Stressful’: 27yo reveals restaurant booking that went wrong
A young woman has been left fuming after a brunch booking went completely wrong in December.
Business
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A young woman has been left fuming after turning up for a booking at a popular Bondi restaurant only to find it closed leaving her out-of-pocket $500 and feeling “scammed”.
Lucy Finter, 27, works in PR and booked a girls bottomless brunch for 12 of her friends for 29 December.
Ms Finter said she’s chosen not to name the restaurant because she’s not that “dumb” but she’s amassed over 200,000 views on TikTok by sharing her deposit ordeal.
The 27-year-old said she booked the restaurant, put down a $500 deposit and even got an email confirmation the day before of her booking.
When she turned up, though, the restaurant was “completely shut” and no one was answering the phones.
“I just thought something had gone really wrong or something happened to the owner and they’d get back to me,” she explained.
Ms Finter said brunch wasn’t a complete flop because they found somewhere down the road to dine.
Initially, she wasn’t concerned about the deposit and figured the restaurant would get back to her with a refund.
Ms Finter said she emailed and sent them direct messages on Instagram and was getting no reply.
“I got no response, and they still have my $500, and they aren’t replying,” she said.
She said she left a “messy” review and the only acknowledgment she got from the restaurant was a reply to one of her direct messages on social media asking her to send an email instead, which she’d already done but received no response.
“I don’t care what platform you use to communicate. Give me my $500,” she said.
Ms Finter said that after the TikTok went viral, she was contacted by the owner and told the restaurant was “looking into it.”
She was told she would get a refund immediately, but there has been no refund and radio silence since.
The 27-year-old said that being $500 down over Christmas wasn’t ideal, especially because she now lives in London.
“I was at home visiting family from living abroad, so I definitely missed that $500. I am also thankful I hadn’t asked all my friends to transfer me when I paid the deposit because then they would have been tied up in the mess too,” she told news.com.au.
In the end, Ms Finter filed a dispute with her bank and got the money back.
“I actually also didn’t file a dispute for 10 days in the hope I would get some sort of response or clarification as to why they took my money and did not open. Once filed, it was resolved really quickly,” she said.
Ms Finter said though the whole experience was “stressful” and not something she expected to happen.
“I have never had a business accept a booking, ask for a deposit, completely shut then go radio silent,” she said.
“I think if they hadn’t taken my money, it would have been a different story, but to take $500 and then not respond to me for two weeks is incredibly unprofessional and unfair”.
Originally published as ‘Stressful’: 27yo reveals restaurant booking that went wrong
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