Rude customers

[Cyclone]

The police were right, it is a civil matter. Essentially, a meal out is a contract between the customer and restaurant and and disagreements can only be settled in the civil courts. However, in your situation the customers refusal to pay amounts to fraud, which is criminal. The police should have actually acted. The Times reviewer, AA Gill, talked about it a while back:

 

It's a civil disagreement if they leave details, but if they just do a runner it's theft.

 

Edit - who resurrected the thread from 2009?

[mossdog]

My neighbour is a plumber and after giving an estimate to a customer in Fulwood was asked by the customer “ I suppose you are charging me more because I live in Fulwood.? The plumber replied that the price was the same for everyone. It’s funny because the plumber lives in a luxurious house in a good area. Well I mean plumbers and electricians are very well off because of the shortage of qualified tradesmen aren’t they ? Just thought it would deflate the customers ego if she could see where the plumber lived !

.......it may be because there is a shortage of qualified "quality" tradespeople, that there are people passing themselves off as tradespeople and charging prices that do not relate to their level of skill and knowledge.The public should be very wary!........I qualified as a time served tradesman with Advanced City and Guilds in my trade and went on to employ scores of trades people in my own business! When I lived for many years in Fulwood I had a number of disputes with tradespeople of one sort or another who mistakenly thought I was just another quick buck Joe Public person to be ripped off!

Having said that I also met some superb trades people who knew their job and charged a price commensurate with their skill level which I was more than happy to pay and note their number for future reference!.......no one wants to lose a good trades person!

[max]

Edit - who resurrected the thread from 2009?

 

Simple, look at the first post since 2009.