Sahar Lone: conscious buyers and transparent booking policies are equally needed

Would-be customers are being charged for cancelling bookings.

One customer was even pinged $250 for pulling out of a 5-person table.

Consumer NZ Communication and Campaigns Manager Sahar Lone says people must be aware of the contract they enter when booking.

However, she adds businesses must be reasonable and transparent with their policies to avoid controversy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Would be customers are being pinged for booking cancelations for
restaurants and Auckland Dinah was charged two hundred and fifty
bucks for canceling a five person booking at an inner
city restaurant less than twenty four hours before the dinner.
The restaurant says customers must click through the cancelation policy
on their website, but have since refunded The woman out
of good faith. Sahar alone as consumer and z with us. Now, Hey, Saha,

(00:24):
hey Ryan, how's it going good? Thank you? I think
this is fair enough because when I go to the barber,
I sign, you know, I pay actually in advance, and
then if I don't turn up, I get charged because otherwise,
you know, he's sitting there twiddling his thumbs. Thumbs. Same
with restaurants.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, I mean, you are entering into a contract when
you make that booking. So I would caution people to
read the t's and c's. But there's also a responsibility
on the restaurant to make those terms really clear.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Upfront, so before you do the booking, before you click through.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
And that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, is there anything illegal about it?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, I mean those terms have to be reasonable. So
the woman could argue that, you know, they are not
reasonable and make it and make a request to her
bank that they refund.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Them two hundred and fifty dollars for a five person booking.
Does the fee have to be a reasonable fee? Or
can they I mean, could they charge one thousand dollars
for five people if they want to do, it's up
to them.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I mean, that doesn't seem very reasonable, does it. But yeah,
that's probably not up to me to make the call.
But yeah, I think she could argue that that's not
a reasonable charge. And I think of this woman's O case,
she did say that had she known that it was
going to be that amount, she might have made other arrangements.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah. True, So best advice is just read before you sign,
read before you click.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Totally. Yeah, And to your point, you know, I've had
this come up with my hairdresser in the past, and
I've said to him, hey, look I'm going to be
late and told him that quite late, and out of
good faith, he said, oh, it's right this time. And
I've also had the benefit of being able to walk
into my hairdresser when he is available. So I think
there's got to be a little bit of good well,

(02:24):
on both ends.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
You're true, so I appreciate you coming on the show.
So how lone consumer in Z communication and campaigns manager.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
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