I agree with Machine. Let's not make the assumption here that it is always the restaurant getting screwed by the customer, therefore they need to protect themselves.

I haven't sent back very many bottles, but out of those that I did, I've had more than one dufus "wine person" or manager try to browbeat me into accepting it by saying it was this or that or the other thing and was "just fine" when it obviously wasn't even close to fine.

Also, I guarantee that for every customer who sends back a good bottle, there is at least another one other customer who silently chokes down a bad one.

Sorry, but if I pay 2X, 3X 4X the price, I expect the restaurant to stand behind the bottle. There is no excuse to do otherwise, and I would look to go elsewhere with my dining dollars, because, quite frankly, when I see this policy posted, I would lose all faith in their WHOLE wine program.

quote:

Originally posted by sydthesquid:
I agree with Machine. Let's not make the assumption here that it is always the restaurant getting screwed by the customer, therefore they need to protect themselves.

I haven't sent back very many bottles, but out of those that I did, I've had more than one dufus "wine person" or manager try to browbeat me into accepting it by saying it was this or that or the other thing and was "just fine" when it obviously wasn't even close to fine.

Also, I guarantee that for every customer who sends back a good bottle, there is at least another one other customer who silently chokes down a bad one.

Sorry, but if I pay 2X, 3X 4X the price, I expect the restaurant to stand behind the bottle. There is no excuse to do otherwise, and I would look to go elsewhere with my dining dollars, because, quite frankly, when I see this policy posted, I would lose all faith in their WHOLE wine program.

"Dufus wine person" is exactly the problem. The vast majority of restaurants are lacking somewhere in their wine programs. They want to charge the mark-up of a proper program, and mimic them as much as possible, but they fail. How many have someone on staff who can detect and identify the various flaws reliably? I bet some of these outrageous policies are because they know they aren't qualified, but are trying to cover themselves somehow. Or they're just over their heads. Ignorance or cynicism.

Restaurants need to draw a line, but if they're clueless, they don't know where.

Also, it's not hard to imagine that a restaurant with a poorly thought up list, questionable provenance, improperly stored, served warm, etc. would have more returns. In a slippery slope of stupidity, they then grasp at straws, addressing a symptom shortsightedly, while failing to address the problem and unknowingly losing customers.