Woman furious after restaurant charges her $681 cancellation fee

A Melbourne, Australia woman has taken to social media after being charged $681 for cancelling a restaurant booking more than 48 hours in advance.

Lorida Quiambao had booked a table of six to celebrate her birthday lavishly at Navi, an upscale restaurant in Melbourne, Australia’s Yarraville.

However, on Thursday she felt too sick to attend, so she canceled her booking that would have taken place on Saturday evening.

She was then shocked to receive an email letting her know she’d been charged more than $600 for canceling.

“No restaurant or business should be allowed to charge these kinds of cancellation fees as an offhand thing,” she wrote on Facebook.

Ms. Quiambao called the act “ridiculous.”

She added that the restaurant charged a huge amount to her card without ringing her first.

“I’ve checked my credit card and yes they have charged this amount on without even trying to reach out and discuss,” she wrote.

The fee was so expensive because Navi charged $113 per head for a set menu of people and multiplied that by six for the six-person party that Ms. Quiambao had booked.

The restaurant is pricey because all the food is sourced from local farmers and small producers.

Ms. Quiambao said she was surprised by the fee because on the website, it said 48 hours’ notice was required to cancel a booking.

However, in an email she received from the restaurant manager, they explained she needed to give a minimum of five days’ notice.

The restaurant has since clarified that bookings for fewer than four, only 48 hours are required.

However, for bookings of five and above, it is five days.

Ms Quiambao’s post plenty of restaurant goers riled up.

One person commented: “My partner and I go to many restaurants in Melbourne but we will never make a booking at yours.”

Another: “I’ve never heard of varying cancellation policies based on table numbers.”

“This is robbery,” someone commented.

Chef and owner Julian Hills took to social media to explain that the fee was so high because he had a small business to run.

“We only have one table of six, which is one-quarter of our restaurant. If we fill the table, which we make all efforts to do (including contacting those on our waiting list and sharing on socials), we refund.”

“I’m a small business and can’t afford to take the hit of a quarter of my restaurant missing without ample time to fill.”

The restaurant has taken to social media to try to get the booking filled.