"As A Paying Customer We Should Not Be Treated This Way"
On September 17th my wife and I went out to eat celebrating 13 years of marriage thinking we were going to a nice restaurant that served great seafood! Being that we both grew up on the coast we were in search of celebrating our anniversary in one of Atlanta's legendary spots Spondivitis hoping our desire to be fulfilled with great taste and a good time.
Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by the waitress and seated to enjoy our meal. Looking forward to a positive evening of dining we ordered 2 drinks and 24 oysters to start our meal. Anyone who knows me and has ever had the pleasure of dining with us know we have a craving for great tasting oysters being that i myself is from southeast Georgia "Home of the fresh out the ocean catches".
After we ordered our drinks were served along with the oysters and immediately when the oysters came out i was like what in the world is this? Covered in botched butter and the look of Velvetta cheese, i chose to give the oysters a try eating only one oyster and immediately informed the waitress this dish was not up to par of my expectation of what i ordered and i don't want it. She immediately informed me that the business had an "all sales are final" policy and i would be forced to pay for the oysters regardless of my dislike of the dish. I responded " I'm not in agreement with that policy and i was willing to pay for drinks and not the oysters!" She informed me and my wife that she needed to speak with her manager and she would be right back.
Upon speaking with the manager, the manager came over and informed us of the policy re entreating that "All sales are final" i told the manager ma'am well technically this was not a sale it was a service and according to the service as a customer i was not pleased with the order. She went back to the policy which was written on the menu informing me that all sales are final and we would have to pay for oysters regardless. As i continue to disagree that this was a service and not a sale because technically i hadn't swiped my credit card to pay for anything.
The manger left and we waited for a while in our seats only to be encountered by the East Point Police Department as if we had committed a crime. At this point, not only my character but my wife felt attacked and defrayed simply because we did not like the food brought out to us and we didn't want the order. We never got up as if we were about to leave nor showed any aggression as if we were bucking the system. The police officer informed us that if we chose not to pay for oysters we would be arrested for theft by taking.
At this point i asked the police officer could we talk outside because of the embrassment of having the police called on us while simply trying to enjoy a meal.
As the police officer and i were talking, my wife was being bullied by a female police officer with a butch like attitude as if she was going to force my wife to do something the whole while while me and the male officer are talking about the situation at hand. The officer i was speaking to totally agreed with my perspective of the story of what happened as we talked. Whole time the female office is continuing to bulky my wife telling her we are about to arrest your husband. Feeling pressured and not wanting to ruin our night my wife paid the tab and Spondivitis chose to bring her a replacement of the oysters we previously ordered. The oysters came out the same way and we were very displeased with the food and chose to leave and left the oysters on the table. Mind you after the incident we did our research and found out a woman died from eating oysters at this location.
As we were walking out another male manager was encountered as he was doing his best to get me locked up telling the police to lock me up for criminal trespassing. How can you request to have someone locked up for criminal trespassing when they came to your restaurant to eat was seated and regardless of the outcome still paid for the food! I informed the male manager "Win today, lose tomorrow!" And me and my wife left peacefully to go enjoy a meal at another location which food was superb and to our expectations!
We requested a report from the East Point Police officer and a card from the manager of Spondvitis name Samantha and chose to fight our battle on another day. Upon doing research, the policy of "All Sales Final" is only applied when a customer swipes their credit card and cannot go back to their card issuer and file a dispute claim. Technically a sale is when you purchase an item you've agreed upon receiving serve from.
Spondivitis use to be a household eatery in Atlanta however the business is falling off big time with the lack of quality customer service and integrity. If you want quality service and customer appreciation for the value of your hard earned money, this is not the place to go because they are hard up for the money and font value their clients. A police officer should have never been called because we were not being rude nor threatening to leave without paying, we simply advised the restaurant that this was not our expectations and we didn't want it. The embarrassment of being confronted by a police when no crime was committed was a bit too much and we plan to take further action to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else. Spondivitis management is horrible and quality customer service is failing at this location by the airport.
ALL Sales Are Final Policy
What is an “All Sales Are Final” Policy? An “all sales are final” policy is a type of sales policy that states that once a customer has purchased a product or service, they are not allowed to return it for a refund or exchange except in limited circumstances or when required by law.
Get em! Thanks for the in depth details of your experience. No need for me to take my hard earned money to an unappreciative establishment like this. Sounds like there's better customer service at my local Red Lobster 🦞! Please spread the word because I am! #No Diddy #No Spondivits!