Australian pays $681 for cancellation

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Lorida Quiambao wanted to celebrate her birthday at Navi, a chic restaurant in Melbourne. The woman reserved a table for six.

On Thursday, however, the Australian felt too ill to go to the party on Saturday night, the New York Post writes. And so she decided to cancel the reservation. Since the cancellation was made more than 48 hours in advance, Quiambao didn’t think there would be any problems.

$113.5 cost per person

When she received an e-mail, the woman was shocked. The GPS charged her $681 for the canceled restaurant reservation. “I checked my credit card and they took this amount without even trying to reach me and ask,” the Australian explained on Facebook, where she made her story public.

The fee was so high because the fancy restaurant expects $113.50 per person. Multiplied by the six guests for whom Quiambao had reserved, the calculated total comes to 681 francs.

Yet the woman did not understand at all why she was charged. She had seen on the website that there was a notice period of 48 hours.

After Lorida Quiambao’s contribution, the operator of restaurant Navi had to respond. First, the fee is so high because the restaurant sources all of its food from local farmers and small producers.

“This is theft”

But the much more important reason is: “We only have a table for six people, that’s a quarter of our restaurant,” says the operator. Therefore, for reservations for five or more people, a cancellation period of five days applies.

Despite the navigation operator’s statement, Lorida Quiambao remains certain: “No restaurant or business should charge this type of cancellation fee.”

Under the post, many users agree with her. As someone writes “My partner and I go to many restaurants in Melbourne but we would never book with you”. Another user comments, “I’ve never heard that the cancellation policy depends on the number of tables”. (obf)

Source: Blick