Things to expect if you’re considering eating in the Chelsea Winebar, Belfast, and planning to to pay by card, rather than cash:
- your card to repeatedly decline
- the staff to seem embarrassed for you, but insist on another card
- your second card to also decline
- the manager who is subsquently called to explain that their machine doesn’t really work very well
- said manager to try to claim that you need to understand that this is out of their control
- said manager to explain that if you don’t have cash or cheque book that he’ll have to escort you to the nearest cash point
- said manager to declare to the audience in the bar that if you don’t accept this, then he’ll prevent you from leaving
- said manager to announce loudly that he’s going to have to call the police if you try to leave without paying
- said manager to completely miss that you actually /have/ tried to pay
- said manager to seem to think that it’s the customer’s problem that their machine doesn’t work
- said manager to lose sight of the fact that it’s rarely a good idea to to accuse anyone (never mind a regular lunch customer for 6 years) of trying to leave without paying, and threatening to call the police on them in a crowded bar
- a subsequent telephone call to your credit card company to reveal that no attempt to take money from your card has even been made.
Businesses which try to pass their operational problems onto their customers – Just Say No!
I have been to the chelsea many times and i am yet to be disapointed. I feel that the incident you described above in one that was more the fault of your bank/credit card company and not that of the establishment. It is obvious from this post that you were not happy with the service you recieved but i feel that this negativity expressed towards the chelsea is uncalled for. I wish to let other persons who may be reading this know that the chelsea wine bar is a fantastic venue with fabulous food and service to match.
Thank-you
I love it when corporate shills clumsily try to ply their wares.
Several more points as a follow-up:
* The events described didn’t happen to me: I merely observed them (although I have had similar experiences there several times)
* This was clearly not a problem with the customer’s bank/credit card, but with the Chelsea’s equipment (as admitted by the manager, and confirmed upon calling the banks in question to discover that no transactions had even been attempted)
* Threatening to kidnap your customers, or trying to extort money with menaces is never a good idea