So, on Friday night we went to IHOP with a bunch of friends and their kiddos, before taking the clan to the mall for Trick or Treating. Jessica, her hubby and her boys, and Lee Ann, her hubby and sweet baby B, plus Tom, C and I all went. Table of 11! We met at 5:30, and we were excited because there were signs ALL OVER that said Kids Eat Free M-F from 4-10. Suh-weet!
It took forever and a day to get all the food, but that is to be expected when you order 10 meals. So, when we are getting ready to leave, we all get our bills. The kids meals are on there. Every. Single. One. On each bill. Each adult had purchased a meal, meeting the Kids Eat Free guidelines. None of our kids is anywhere near the cut off age for kids meals. We were all scratching our heads.
When the waitress came back over, Tom asked her what the deal was. I swear to God, this is what she said: "Oh. Well, we don't ASSUME that you want the free meal. So, you have to ask for it, and then we re-do your bill."
What. the. fuck. This is quite possibly the STUPIDEST policy I have ever heard of in a restaurant. First of all, you have signs plastered all over the restaurant advertising it. There were signs on each of our tables. If you are going to advertise it, of COURSE people want the free meal. Second, who in their right mind turns down a free meal? Um... nobody. Idiots. This is just a really shady thing you are doing, hoping that half your patrons are too busy with their kids to notice they got charged, and end up paying for it. That's really a crappy thing to do.
And lastly, do you have ANY idea how annoying it is to have to have your entire bill re-entered when you have kids who are done eating and ready to go? Thank you SO much for making us wait ANOTHER 10 minutes while our waitress re-calculated all of our bills, while we had cranky, bored kids who were ready to go. They were loud, we were embarrassed and frustrated, and the other patrons sure didn't appreciate it.
If you want to offer a Kids Eat Free special, that's great. I really appreciate it, and it does encourage our family to eat out. But, I do NOT appreciate you having a ridiculous policy such as this. Let me just say that I'll think twice before eating at IHOP again, and maybe go to Village Inn, instead. Asshats.
14 comments:
Hi there! My cousi had this same problem at our IHOP. I went with them because they had a Kids Eat Free special going on. At the end of the meal, they assumed the same thing that your waitress did. I don't understand; we had to argue with them until the manager came by. Finally, they took off their meals.
Anyways, I also wanted to let you know that another reason that my family and I won't be going to IHOP is that the company has been exposed for animal cruelty and food safety issues in its supply chain. For more details, please check out: www.humanesociety.org/ihop.
Thank you and just thought you'd be interested to know this.
Thanks,
Emily Spivak
Shame on you IHOP!!! Grrrr!!! That is complete crap! I hope they get their crap together cause that is ridiculous!
That is ridiculous! Who the heck brings kids to a kids eat free place and expects to pay for the kids?
I personally prefer Village Inn. Chick-fil-A did the same thing to me with their free kids meal Tuesday deal. Why on earth would you NOT assume that I want my kids meal free???
Oh my goodness! That is terrible. It is exactly what you said - them trying to scam people. Everyone wants the meal for free - but plenty of people will not notice. Sorry your experience was so ridiculous.
I always wonder if they leave the check total as is so that the table will know what the proper amount to tip on is (since you should figure tip based on the amount you would have paid, had there been no comp or discount). But if that's the case, why risk an irate customer who is likely to tip less.
Unless it's corporate policy. Which is even more short sighted and counterintuitive.
I know it's not comfy to have your undies in a bunch, but I love it when you get all sassy.
Now how does that policy make any sense?!
You should forward your post (or send an email) to their corporate office...
I agree, write to their head office and complain. Say things like "we assumed IHOP wanted to be a family friendly restaurant, but this seems quite contrary to that" and perhaps mention that you have a blog that has at least 307 followers (or stalkers as you call them *grin*)... Personally we never eat at IHOP any more. Our three strike and you're out policy for bad service hit the line with them a long time ago.
And now we know why that lady works at IHOP.... :)
preach it sister!
Our IHOP here has done stupid things like that before too. We had a coupon for one free adult entree with the purchase of one and 2 drinks. We did that, and we had my son's meal. We didn't expect to get his free because of the free adult meal. When we get our bill the waitress said their rule for the coupon is to take off the cheapest item, ok we figure that'd be mine...wrong they took off my sons! We were so ticked off and they said theres nothing they could do
I've never ate at IHOP, mainly because there's not one locally. However, I completely understand your frustrations. I've noticed something similar at grocery stores. If you don't pay attention to what they're scanning, you're very well likely paying full price for something you thought was on sale.
Wow! Thanks for sharing this Megan. I recently saw an ad for their delicious looking eggnog pankcakes and thought I'd take advantage of the Kid's Eat for Free deal next week. Guess I'm not doing that! This will save me the hassle. I'll just go to Denny's or Village Inn. YOU SUCK IHOP!!
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