mikes web log

Here is a nice state of affairs. It was my wife’s 50th on Thursday – lots of presents and nice phone calls and then a special dinner on Friday. Where – Simpson’s of course – one of the only Michelin Star restaurants in Birmingham. Booked it in November just to make sure. Great meal. There was seven of us. You are welcomed with a glass of champagne and then before even the first course you get two of chef specials. You could see that some of our guests could not believe what they were tasting. The food was absolutely excellent. No pressure to finish, great waiters and if you were bored  you could viewthe kitchens and its organised chaos.

Then coffee. A great coffee – it would taste even better with a Cointreau so I order one. The rest of the evening is great some excellent petit fours arrive, which we greatly enjoyed. No Cointreau. The bill arrives and I notice, just before the taxi arrives, that I have been charged and paid for the Cointreau (£6.50). I comment on this and the head waiter indicates that it will be refunded to my credit card account.

The following day I had one of those calls from the credit card company. These are the ones that they do to check on unusual expenditure. I am in full support of them. “We noticed a £550 bill at Simpson’s last night” “Absolutely correct” was my reply “And wasn’t there a £6.50 refund” “No there was a further £6.50 charge” was the reply.

A phone call to Simpson’s resulted in a muttered apology and that they would look into it. Wow. Since then (48hrs) nothing. Lets see if the apology comes a little later.