Asked publican to cater soup&sandwitches for 60. No price agreed, invoiced for €1k!

J

jackswift

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A friend of mine asked a publican to cater for 60 people.

He said that he would supply soup and sandwiches so my friend agreed but never settled on a price as she knew the publican and reckoned that it would be around €300.

All went well until my friend went to pay the publican, he handed her a bill for €995!

Does my friend have any comeback?
 
Of course he has. Blame himself for not asking the price instead of assuming it. Why should he blame anybody else for his stupidity.
 
That works out at €16.5833333 per head. Something wrong there if the 60 were catered for. At most I would expect to pay €10 per head and at least €6. Any chance tea and coffee were offered. If so add €1 - €2 per head.
Is this a regular service and if so what is normally charged.
Perhaps he had to get some one in to do it if its not done normally and that is what they charged.
Never assume a price is the bottom line.
 
Obviously she should never drink there again, but otherwise, no comeback.
 
j26 said:
Obviously she should never drink there again, but otherwise, no comeback.
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She didn't pay the bill yet and has already disputed it. The publican said that the original bill was higher and that he brought it down to that as his best price.
 
She probably should have asked but we all make those mistakes.We used a bar here in Cork for my mother in laws funeral a few months back. We asked for a price for soup and sandwiches , The cost was 7.00 euro per head. We obviously did not know how many people would be there so the manager suggested a carvery lunch at 10.00 euro per head. We were given a bill of 500.000 euro so 50 carvery lunches were served. If we opted for the soup and sandwiches then obviously it would have been priced at 350.00 euro, In your friends case 420.00 euro. Niceoneteds calculations of 16.50 euro per head seems off the wall. I would ask for an itemised bill if only for the sake of it.
 
Your friend has no comeback because she didn't agree a price in advance and the pub can charge her whatever.

To make it easier on her why doens't she do the calculations, how much is soup, a sandwich and tea and a beverage (if that is what everybody had ) and see how that compares to 16.5 Euro.

Just curious why did she not ask a price in advance?
 
She knows the publican well and goes drinking there once a week, so I guess she assumed that he wouldn't rip her off.
 
jackswift said:
She knows the publican well and goes drinking there once a week, so I guess she assumed that he wouldn't rip her off.
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Sounds like he is taking advantage of the fact that as a regular customer she may not want to upset the apple cart by complaining.
 
mercman said:
Of course he has. Blame himself for not asking the price instead of assuming it. Why should he blame anybody else for his stupidity.
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Yes. Read the Terms and Conditions. Just like when you are handing over a life policy to a bank or similar for a loan.
 
Oscaresque said:
Sounds like he is taking advantage of the fact that as a regular customer she may not want to upset the apple cart by complaining.
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Wait a second we do not know that he is taking advantage as there was no prior agreement as to price and we do not know what was supplied. It's very easy to cry foul afterward. If the publican overcharged then the OP has a choice and that is to never frequent the premises again. Personally I find it hard to believe that a publican would overcharge for a single event knowing that they risked losing further custom.

OP thinks it should have cost five euro a head. I'm not sure on the price of soup, sandwiches and tea could anyone give me a head's up on this.
 
Has your friend got a breakdown of the bill? How does the price per item compare with the bar menu price?
 
Like I said earlier soup and sandwiches and nothing else supplied. If you think that charging €16.58 a head for soup and sandwiches isn't taking advantage you would want to have a serious rethink.

They are going to give an itemized bill so that should be interesting.
 
There's probably drink included - Some cute hoors probably stuck drinks on the non existent tab.
 
You'd need to know the full story before you can make a judgement on this.

If it was a pub taht normally served food, then the price is escessive as the materials, staff & facilities are there already. Proper cost should be no more than €400, though many places will these days will provide this free or at nominal cost.

However if it is a pub that doesn't have a bar food menu and doesn't do food normally, then the pub has to get in the plates, bowls, cutlery, extra staff, etc etc and €995 for this would not be out of reason.
 
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