Melbourne diner Lorida Quiambao was charged $1,020 by Navi for cancelling booking
Diner is furious after top restaurant charged her $1,020 when she canceled a booking because she was sick – but owner defends the fee
- A dinner was charged over $1,000
- The restaurant defended their policy
A female diner was outraged after a restaurant charged her a whopping $1,020 cancellation fee for her party of six.
Lorida Quiambao, 36, from Melbourne, had booked a table for Saturday at Restaurant Navi in Yarraville, west of Melbourne, for an early birthday party.
But after falling ill, she decided to cancel her booking on Thursday.
On Friday morning, she said she woke up to an email from the restaurant saying she had been charged $1,020 for the cancellation.
“I saw they had charged my card with no additional information,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
Lorida Quiambao was stunned after being charged $1020 for canceling a restaurant reservation
“They could have at least talked to me first to explain.”
Ms Quiambao – a project manager – said she understood why restaurants charged cancellation fees as she had previously worked in the hospitality industry.
“But they charged me the absolute maximum they could get,” she said.
Navi offers a set menu with ingredients sourced from small producers and local farms.
Ms. Quiambao was charged six times for the restaurant’s $170 set menu, as she had booked for six people.
She said she booked Navi after previously having a pleasant dining experience at the restaurant last year.
“I wanted my friends to experience that too. That’s why it’s so frustrating,” she said.
Restaurant Navi (pictured) has defended its cancellation policy
Ms. Quiambao took to social media on Friday to express her frustration over the experience.
She said no restaurant or business should charge such expensive cancellation fees.
“It’s disgusting and not okay, especially in times like this. @restaurantnavi @juleschef this place should be so ashamed of themselves and honestly guys… don’t even risk going here again,” she wrote on Facebook.
Navi chef and owner Julian Hills told Daily Mail Australia that cancellations of bookings for groups of five or more would require “five days’ notice” and that a table of six would take up a quarter of the restaurant’s capacity.
Failure to do so may result in a cancellation/no show fee of the full menu price being charged. Given the current circumstances with COVID19, this is not always feasible, but we do ask for as much notice as possible,” he said.
Mr Hills said preparations for some dishes started four days in advance and orders from some producers required six weeks’ notice.
“So losing 25 percent of bookings for a night means a big financial loss for us when margins are small,” he said.
Ms Quiambao said an email from the restaurant said it requires five days’ notice for cancellations
In another message from the restaurant’s website, Ms. Quiambao was told to give the restaurant 48 hours notice of cancellations
“We offer a dinner menu Friday through Saturday, $170 (with paired drinks $275) and a Saturday matinee menu, $95 (with paired drinks $155).”
Mr Hills said people on the waiting list for a table on Saturday have been texted following Ms Quiambao’s cancellation and that “all efforts to fill the spot (and therefore offer a refund to the patron when/if the table can be filled as advised) were engaged’.
“Customers canceling late will be refunded when we can partially (ie a table of four, even if the reservation was for a table of six) or fully accommodate the cancellation,” he said.
‘When customers call us, we do everything we can to resolve this even faster.’
Mr. Hills said he called Ms. Quiambao to advise her on the restaurant’s policies and processes, but she interrupted him without letting him finish.
Ms. Quiambao said she received a call from Mr. Hills, but she was on her way to the doctor and told him she didn’t have time to talk.
“Since then I have received no correspondence and no response to my email requesting a refund.”