Hi erudites,
My friend is a manager at a child birthday party function organiser. There was a parent who booked a child birthday for 16 people today, and the price was set to be 200$ over the phone.
When the party arrived, the employee on roster didn't count the number of people which was in fact 22. Only when the party finished did the employee realised that there were more people than stated over the phone. He recalculated the price and told the parent that they would have to now pay 50$ extra at 250$. However, the parents were outraged and outright refused on the basis that the extra 6 people were brought in by a friend of the parent's child (a.k.a the birthday boy), which they did not invite. I.e. another classmate decided to call his own friends to this party. The employee went inside the staffroom to inform the manager but when he came back out the parents (and of course all the children) had already left.
Will there be any form redress? Legally, under the Australian Consumer Law, who is at fault? On one hand, should the employee have done a headcount before the party began, and hence not telling the parents of the extra charge means he implicitly accepted 22 people at the stipulated price? on the other hand, should the onus be on the parent as a reasonable person would know that bringing more guests than stated would obviously incur higher prices, which is based on a per person basis?
My friend is a manager at a child birthday party function organiser. There was a parent who booked a child birthday for 16 people today, and the price was set to be 200$ over the phone.
When the party arrived, the employee on roster didn't count the number of people which was in fact 22. Only when the party finished did the employee realised that there were more people than stated over the phone. He recalculated the price and told the parent that they would have to now pay 50$ extra at 250$. However, the parents were outraged and outright refused on the basis that the extra 6 people were brought in by a friend of the parent's child (a.k.a the birthday boy), which they did not invite. I.e. another classmate decided to call his own friends to this party. The employee went inside the staffroom to inform the manager but when he came back out the parents (and of course all the children) had already left.
Will there be any form redress? Legally, under the Australian Consumer Law, who is at fault? On one hand, should the employee have done a headcount before the party began, and hence not telling the parents of the extra charge means he implicitly accepted 22 people at the stipulated price? on the other hand, should the onus be on the parent as a reasonable person would know that bringing more guests than stated would obviously incur higher prices, which is based on a per person basis?