Nepheline

Fell's Point Baltimore restaurant called Twist. We went to this restaurant on the recommendation of a store down the street where we had just purchased an expensive shirt for my partner who was excited about his new shirt and put it on to wear the rest of the day.
We walked down the street to Twist. Their tables are covered with metal, and there is a slit at each corner so the metal can be folded down over the sides of the table top. My partner went to the restroom before we left and when he returned and started to sit back down at the table, a very sharp edge of the metal caught and ripped the sleeve of his brand new shirt. I went up to the service area and asked for the owner and was told he had just left. I told our waitress what had happened and she returned to the table with me, felt the sharp edge and agreed it was too sharp. A male waiter wearing a heavy canvas apron came over and showed us a rip in his apron and told us the same thing had happened to his apron (that is, the same corner of the same table ripped a hole in his apron). I emailed the owner and he promised to replace the shirt. I called the shop where we purchased the shirt and the owner said she had another shirt in the correct size and would set it aside. Despite numerous emails and now several phone calls, the shirt has not been replaced and the owner now refuses to take my calls.
As far as the restaurant's food and service, I wouldn't go back.

Ackislander

You do not, in legal terms, have what is called "standing" to pursue this issue. You were not the injured party; your partner is the injured party and is the one who should pursue this.

If your partner made reasonable requests of the owner a reasonable number of times and didn't do anything that could be considered harassment, your partner should speak to a lawyer about writing a demand letter.

But if you sent "Numerous emails" and made "several phone calls" suggest that the owner may have a better case against you for harassment than your partner does against them for damages. This isn't your ball game, and you may have messed it up for your partner.

Lastly, your final comment on the food and service makes you sound like a nut, especially when two members of staff went out of their way to help you.

NewbE

I don't disagree with Ackislander, especially about going beyond the damage to the shirt to dis the food and service, but: I'd suggest posting this on Yelp and tweeting it as well. Social media tends to get better results than, well, just about anything these days.

SusieQQ

Posting this here does very little good. As suggested post a review on Yelp and Trip Advisor.

Macross

Who wears a new shirt without washing first?

marvelousmouse

Aside from the fact you aren't even the injured party here...I don't really understand the expectation that the owner should replace the shirt at all. Drinks on the house? Sure. Comp your meal? Maybe. Offer to get the shirt repaired? Possibly, but that would have been going above and beyond. Clothing can get caught on anything. It could have just as easily ripped somewhere else (poor design for the table, to be sure, but the table didn't just grab the shirt). The owner did make the mistake of agreeing to it though and then according to you, went back on his word. That would be the only reason your partner has a leg to stand on.

As for never going back, I'm pretty sure the owner is praying that you won't. I agree with the others that your partner can probably bully the restaurant through social media for some kind of recompense. But I'm guessing that your partner has decided to let the matter lie- which is the most sensible reaction. I think there's a pretty good chance such a review could be flagged on Yelp- it sounds so nutty.

NewbE

< I think there's a pretty good chance such a review could be flagged on Yelp>
I don't know about all that, lol. Reading Yelp makes me lose faith in humanity, so I can't see that they would flag this complaint when they let so many remain. I read one in which the writer complained about not getting a free entree or dessert even after he "mentioned" that it was his birthday to every staff member he could find.

I would normally agree that the shirt should be repaired and not replaced, but if the poor guy has the receipt to prove he bought it that very day, that changes things in my mind.

Was there no manager on duty? That person should have dealt with the situation, not a couple of waiters.

marvelousmouse

Lol, Newbe, I can understand losing your faith in humanity there. But I don't know. Lack of free food is just sort of an eye roll situation. Anger that a restaurant won't replace a shirt that no one actively ruined and little mention of the service or food is more wtf territory. If the waiter had spilled red wine or a dish on the shirt I'd expect replacement. But it was a table, and it sucked, but the world is full of sharp edges.

I also think this is not necessarily the whole story- sounds like the OP was a pest (if the owner agreed to replace the shirt in the first place, why the numerous emails?) Just a wild theory- but perhaps the owner talked to the partner and the partner said oh, never mind, my bad. Then the OP is outraged and continues to pursue and the owner felt that if the owner of the shirt wasn't pursuing it, he could ignore the OP. I've seen this with food at a restaurant- someone's dining partner makes a big fuss that the other person doesn't like the food, and the person actually eating the food says it's fine...that's really awkward from a server's perspective. Who do you listen to? If everyone is an adult, it should be the person directly affected.

This is why I don't work in restaurants anymore lol. Customer service is tough anyway but restaurants always seem to to have a higher proportion of special (deranged) snowflakes.

vincenzo32951

a. Give it up. They're not replacing the shirt, and are you going to pay a lawyer to write a demand letter? Cheaper to buy a shirt, IMHO.

b. You have a legit complaint. They had a known hazard that went unaddressed. You have every right to expect them to replace the shirt. Sometimes life isn't fair.

c. Give the restaurant a bad review. But if you mention the shirt, expect you'll get people like marvelous calling you crazy.

NewbE

mm, my pet theory is that the shirt was more expensive than the owner of the restaurant realized. Maybe he was willing to give Nepheline $50, but not $100, or whatever "expensive" meant in the OP.

But yes, god knows restaurant service is its own category of hellishness. Suffice it to say that the customer is not always right!

marvelousmouse

Yeah, that occured to me initially as well. People have very different definitions of expensive, especially when it comes to clothes!

Inakauaidavidababy

Imagine if Malania was grabbed by her husband's little hands and he ripped her pussy blouse which was about 1 grand.

marvelousmouse

Your brain goes to dark places, inakauidavidababy...

By the way, you caused me to snort coffee onto my favorite brewery shirt...I'm gonna have to ask that you replace it

ekscrunchy

The OP should return and elaborate in response to some of the comments above. If he or she wants to pursue, why not make a copy of the receipt and write a nice letter, enclosing the receipt. Address it to the owner.

There is a photo of the offending table on their website:

http://twistfellspoint.com/