A family have slammed a 'heartless' pub after they charged them £200 for cancelling a meal due to a serious medical emergency. Jamie Kitching and his wife, Amy had booked a table for dinner at The Black Horse in Little Weighton for her birthday where they had enjoyed dining at in the past, Hull Live reports.
However, earlier that day Amy received the heart breaking news that a close relative who was due to be at the meal had collapsed and was taken to hospital. She rushed to be at his bedside and Jamie made sure to notify the restaurant of the last minute change of plans but he was told he'd be charged £25 per head if they didn't attend.
The family have called out the restaurant on their 'disgusting behaviour' after they didn't allow them to reschedule their plans, adding that they would not have spent a total of £200 on dinner even if they had attended. However, The Black Horse's manager, Micaela Clegg has confirmed she was aware of the situation and is not backing down on her decision as she said it's either the pub's loss or theirs.
Explaining how the situation unfolded, Jamie, a teacher, said: "My wife and her family rushed to the hospital and received the horrible news that her family member had fractured his skull and had a bleed on the brain. Contacting the restaurant was far from our priority, but I made sure to get in touch early in the morning to give them as much notice as possible that we wouldn't be able to make our 12pm booking.
"I received an email back shortly after telling me that we would be charged £25 a head if we didn't show up, which would come to £200. This was way over what we would have spent had we attended, because the Sunday lunches only cost around £15, plus one drink, bringing it to £18 a head at most.
"While my wife was in the hospital, having just received the horrendous news, she received a notification that £200 had been taken from her account. The Black Horse didn't put the money on hold to give us a chance to find a resolution or reschedule the meal, and added unnecessary stress to our situation."
Micaela Clegg said she was aware that Amy's family member had been transported to hospital but she didn't know the full 'severity of his injuries' at this stage. She said: "We take credit/debit card details to secure ourselves against late cancellations and the terms of this policy (which are the standard ones offered by the reservations system used by the majority of restaurants) are stated in the confirmation email sent to Amy when she made the booking.
"At this stage food had been prepared and staff were booked to cater for the party." In an email to Jamie, she wrote: "Unfortunately, because we are fully booked today and I have turned away other bookings in favour of yours the cancellation charge will still apply unless I can resell the table.
"I will release the table now then if you decide you would still like to come let me know but that would be your best option to avoid charges." However, she was unable to resell the table so she processed the £200 no show charge without going back to her emails during a busy shift.
During this time, the Kitching family were furious when they noticed the hefty charge being taken out of their bank account and were appalled they had not been given a chance to rearrange their plans.
Jamie then wrote back an angry email to Micaela, challenging her decision which was written without 'aggression or malice but made it clear he was furious with the 'disgusting customer service'. The manager said she had considered offering a credit against a future booking as a good will gesture but decided against it when she was unhappy with Jamie's response to her.
Jamie reveals he reached out to the pub over the next few weeks in an attempt to reach an amicable resolution or compromise but received no further correspondence. He claims his father also rang up the eatery and was essentially told that either the pub loses out or they lose out so no money would be refunded.
Mr Kitching continued: "It felt like a huge kick in the teeth to not even receive a response when we had gone through such a hard time. We were also capable of sending proof of serious illness if they were adamant they needed it.
"We just felt a sense of anger and helplessness over the situation. I know restaurants are struggling but the customer service was so callous and cold with something so severe- I have never seen anything like it before.
"I was more than happy to compromise on a cancellation fee, even though our absence couldn't be avoided, but £200 was ridiculous. There are businesses desperate for custom and and wouldn't be so heartless, so we would encourage people to go to places like that instead."
Micaela added that although she appreciates the situation was 'highly stressful' for the family she felt 'backed into a corner' and didn't want to be forced into refunding the charge. She argued: "If this were theatre or concert tickets would anyone expect a refund under these circumstances and should restauranteurs be restricted from running their business as 'businesses' for fear of this sort of reprisal?"
The Kitching family claim they had not pre-ordered any meals or paid a deposit and had just passed over their card details in the event of a late cancellation. They said the booking had been confirmed just the day before, prior to the family emergency.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
