A group of tourists from the US were left stunned and angered after turning up at an Edinburgh restaurant they had booked and paid a £250 deposit to – only to discover it no longer exists.
Michaele DeHart had booked the tables months in advance for her family, at a restaurant called No.1 The Grange in the southside of the city and even paid the hefty deposit to secure it.
Looking to celebrate her son's wedding, the party, of around 30, were shocked to discover when they arrived in the city the night before the date to check it out and found a padlock on the door and a local passing by informed them that the restaurant hadn't been open for 'weeks'.
An angry Michaele explained they were forced to then find a last-minute restaurant on the day instead.
She explained that contact with the supposed manager of the restaurant had broken down the closer it got to their booking date and that he had begun to "ghost" them, leaving the family worried.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Michaele said: "My son went on June 18 to check out the restaurant but it appeared closed.
"We arrived in Edinburgh a few days later and also visited but it was still shut. A woman walked by and informed us that it had been closed for a while."
They have struggled to contact the owner ever since to get their deposit money back or even an explanation.
Michaele added: "I have emails confirming the booking from the former manager, but he all of a sudden stopped replying and their Facebook page was removed.
"Once it had been put back up, I responded to their latest post and asked what was happening regarding our booking. He then reached out to say he was no longer in the business, but he would sort it out with the new owners.
"He just said he would pass our details to the new owners and that the booking was still valid, but wouldn't confirm who the new owners were or give us a contact for them."
Michaele said that despite phoning the restaurant on multiple occasions, no one answered the phone, she was eventually informed in writing on July 11 a refund of the £250 would be made by the end of that week.
Edinburgh Live also contacted the former manager who confirmed the business had ceased trading.
He responded: "The customer was made aware of this in sufficient time to re book elsewhere. The customer in question has been contacted and the deposit has been scheduled for payment back to the customer. As you can probably imagine tying up the operations from a business can be a long process hence the delay."
Yet on Wednesday, July 27, Michaele confirmed that she had still not received the payment and the website had been taken down, while the former manager was not replying to her correspondence.
It is understood that the restaurant has now been taken over and will become a Brass Monkey pub, no longer trading under the No.1 name or as a restaurant.
Michaele added: "He is not answering emails and he did not send the money like he said he would. It looks like the restaurant's website has been removed, we may have to chalk this one off as a lesson learned.
"If there was a reason for not paying, I would rather he said. It's not really about the money any more, it's about the integrity. In messages he kept saying he would sort it but didn't. If he had just cancelled we would have understood. I think being back in the states, he knows I can't do much."
On the plus side, Michaele said that her family and friends all ended up dining at the Abbey in the Newington area, who accommodated the party and put on a great event, but the whole situation to get to that point was "frustrating."
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