E6.75 for a glass of wine. Rip off?

J

jake108

Guest
I was in the newly renovated bar and restaurant in The Ardenode Hotel last week. A group of us were waiting for dinner and I went to the bar and ordered a club orange and a glass of white wine (Pinot Grigio). I was charged E9.25 for both drinks. E2.50 for the orange and E6.75 for the glass of wine. We all agreed that it was an absolute rip off and voiced our opinion to the bar manager. We then cancelled our table and went elsewhere. I've since spoken to several people who also agree that it is way to much for a glass of wine. (The bottle in question was E30). Isn't an average price E4.50 -E5.50??
 
Re: E6.75 for a glass of wine. Rip off??

As ever....

If the price list said €6.75 (whether one bothered to consult it or not beforehand) then there is no ripoff. A high price perhaps (depends on the wine, premises etc.) but not a ripoff. If you the price list said something else and you were being charged a higher price then it was a ripoff.

Simple really.
 
jake108 said:
I was in the newly renovated bar and restaurant in The Ardenode Hotel last week. A group of us were waiting for dinner and I went to the bar and ordered a club orange and a glass of white wine (Pinot Grigio). I was charged E9.25 for both drinks. E2.50 for the orange and E6.75 for the glass of wine. We all agreed that it was an absolute rip off and voiced our opinion to the bar manager. We then cancelled our table and went elsewhere. I've since spoken to several people who also agree that it is way to much for a glass of wine. (The bottle in question was E30). Isn't an average price E4.50 -E5.50??
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-I would call that a rip-off!
 
a glass of wine in the brehon hotel in killarney is 6.50 It is a 4* hotel but I thought it was expencive because the wine was not a top of the range one but as quoted already if that was the price on the price list you have no argument really.
 
BroadbandKen said:
-I would call that a rip-off!
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How so? I can see that some people might consider it a high price but unless the price charged does not match the price list which can be checked before making a purchase then it's not a ripoff. They could charge €100 for a glass of plonk and as long as they said so up front there is still not ripoff.
 
BroadbandKen said:
That Hotel should really put up it's price
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Do you mean increase or display the price? The latter is a statutory requirement under [broken link removed].
as by your logic once you are told up front the price you cant be ripped off!
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Precisely. If the price is displayed (as required under the legislation) then you can't claim to be ripped off if you decide of your own volition to purchase unless they charge a higher price. If you decide to do so without bothering to check the prices first then that's your own problem. Still no ripoff though.
 
ClubMan said:
How so? I can see that some people might consider it a high price but unless the price charged does not match the price list which can be checked before making a purchase then it's not a ripoff. They could charge €100 for a glass of plonk and as long as they said so up front there is still not ripoff.
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Of course charging that amount for a glass of wine is a rip-off, by any sensible definition, the issue of whether or not you were wise enough to study the price list before ordering the wine is an entirely separate matter. Let's call a spade a spade and a rip-off a rip-off! We all know booze is mark-up heaven for restaurants and hotels, that's where the bulk of their profits come from (that and desserts, apparently!).

Well done for walking out, if a few more followed your example we might be ripped off a little less. And no, my name isn't E Hobbs :)
 
Cowzer said:
Of course charging that amount for a glass of wine is a rip-off, by any sensible definition
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No it's not. It's a ripoff if the price was not displayed as required by law or was in excess of what was displayed.
the issue of whether or not you were wise enough to study the price list before ordering the wine is an entirely separate matter.
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No it's not! Anybody who enters into a contract to buy something without bothering to check the price first can't claim that they were ripped off when they are eventually charged a price that was clearly displayed for them to check in the first place.
Let's call a spade a spade and a rip-off a rip-off!
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That's calling a spade a fork. To call a spade a spade we might call it a high price. Maybe.
We all know booze is mark-up heaven for restaurants and hotels, that's where the bulk of their profits come from (that and desserts, apparently!).
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Totally irrelevant.
Well done for walking out, if a few more followed your example we might be ripped off a little less. And no, my name isn't E Hobbs :)
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I agree. About the walking out bit of the prices were not acceptable to the punter in question. Not about the ripoff bit.
 
jake108 said:
a glass of white wine (Pinot Grigio). ....and E6.75 for the glass of wine. We all agreed that it was an absolute rip off and voiced our opinion to the bar manager.
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Not enough information to say whether it was a rip off (or more accurately, bad value).
 
jdwex said:
Not enough information to say whether it was a rip off (or more accurately, bad value).
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Apologies. When I said rip off I actually meant bad value. Even with the price on the menu I would still call it a rip off (bad value). We called the bar manager over (before even touching the wine) and voiced the fact that we thought it to be a crazy price for a glass of wine. He said he would pass it on to the owner. There were 6 of us booked in for dinner so we put our point across and left..never to return!
 
Just reading back over Clubman's post. My God you really have a bee in your bonnet!! Why get so defensive with everyone? People are allowed an opinion!
 
I think the issue with Clubman's comments is that he defines ripoff as trying to essentially steal money from you by charging more than a listed price whereas the vast majority of people define a ripoff as really bad value - 'Ripoff Ireland' generally refers to unnecessarily high prices, not charging more than list price, 'insurance is a ripoff' generally means that people consider the prices quoted to be unnecessarily high not that the insurance company charges you more than they quote. I'm not sure of the exact dictionary definition (not sure that there is one) but given the general acceptance of it meaning unnecessarily expensive, I think it is a bit pedantic of Clubman to wheel out 'what, you were charged more than the listed price?' every time someone tries to have a discussion of something being expensive.
 
orka said:
I think the issue with Clubman's comments is that he defines ripoff as trying to essentially steal money from you by charging more than a listed price whereas the vast majority of people define a ripoff as really bad value - 'Ripoff Ireland' generally refers to unnecessarily high prices, not charging more than list price, 'insurance is a ripoff' generally means that people consider the prices quoted to be unnecessarily high not that the insurance company charges you more than they quote. I'm not sure of the exact dictionary definition (not sure that there is one) but given the general acceptance of it meaning unnecessarily expensive, I think it is a bit pedantic of Clubman to wheel out 'what, you were charged more than the listed price?' every time someone tries to have a discussion of something being expensive.
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yeah, I agree. In most contexts people use the phrase rip-off to mean 'bad value'. I wouldn't consider a Ryanair flight advertised as costing 1 euro a rip-off, even though I know its really going to cost me at least 20euro when taxes and charges are added. Is that a rip-off (charging above the advertised price), or does the small print and little asterix beside the price let ryanair off the hook? I do consider a pub putting up the price of a pint by 50c on the weekend of a big sporting fixture or concert to be a rip-off, even if they do advertise the price change.
Clubman is correct in the sense that if you think you're getting bad value, its up to you to complain, and to walk away if you're not satisfied -well done to the original poster in this regard.
 
orka said:
I... whereas the vast majority of people define a ripoff as really bad value ...
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Are you sure that this is the case? Have you any evidence ? Its pretty easy in any discussion to cite "the vast majority" in support of one's position - its usually less easy to justify such sweeping statements.

On the face of it, the strong success of the Irish luxury hotels sector in recent years would seem to indicate that places like the Brehon and the Ardenode are well justified in their pricing policies - the bottom line is that people are willing to pay the prices they charge. As the taximan says, you can't get fairer than that.
 
orka said:
I think it is a bit pedantic of Clubman to wheel out 'what, you were charged more than the listed price?' every time someone tries to have a discussion of something being expensive.
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In fairness, Clubman's gripe seems to be about what he sees as inappropriate or careless use of the term "rip off". As far as I can see, the nub of his argument is that there is a big difference between something being expensive and something being a ripoff.
 
To dissect the posters comment in such a riducusly anal way is worrying from an administrator IMO it adds nothing to the discussion and is juvenile. It was oblivious to people the point the poster was making.

Where are you getting your def of Rip-off? What you are describing is stealing IMO.

What % of people in Ireland today check a price list at a bar pre-ordering!

 
Re: E6.75 for a glass of wine. Rip off??

ClubMan said:
As ever....

If the price list said €6.75 (


Simple really.
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it should be but isn't always, i know of a number of venues that the prices are not listed on a wall as they should be by law or in the form of a menu either.

i do agree it was a rather high price, but 3.35 for a diet coke in the four seasons ain't cheap either ( and there was no list of prices in the ballroom, which was open later than the main bar and therefore has a different licence, therefore seperate prices need to be listed )
 
To dissect the posters comment in such a riducusly anal way is worrying from an administrator IMO it adds nothing to the discussion and is juvenile. It was oblivious to people the point the poster was making.
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I think your point stands more chance of distracting people from the OP's main point because of the poor spelling and, I'd imagine, wrong choice of words than ClubMans point!
 
I love these threads. As usual on this kind of topic, I wholeheartedly agree with Clubman regarding the difference between high prices and rip offs.

jdwex said:
Not enough information to say whether it was a rip off (or more accurately, bad value).
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jake108 said:
When I said rip off I actually meant bad value.
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But you can't really say either whether it's good or bad value. You can make such a comment purely for yourself, but that can't be made as a generality.

What might be good value for me, might be expensive for you. If someone is charging €6.95 or whatever in the most opulent surroundings with amazing views of whereever and the best service in the world, it might be excellent value.

If a small hotel in the back of beyonds is slopping out the same wine and throwing it to you at your table while you're looking out the window at the bottle bank, then it's not.

Ron Burgundy said:
but 3.35 for a diet coke in the four seasons ain't cheap either ( and there was no list of prices in the ballroom, which was open later than the main bar and therefore has a different licence, therefore seperate prices need to be listed )
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Did you report these illegal practices to the Office of Director Of Consumer Affairs? No point complaining here if you didn't take it up with the people who can actually do something about it.
 
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