Help? FOOD POISONING! Japanese Restaurant, sushi.

[J0hnny]

I have a friend that owns a nice Japanese Restaurant. Their restaurant passed all health inspections and does not have any records of food poisoning.

A family of 4 who came in 3 weeks ago claims to have been food poisoned. This was their order:

Eel roll (cooked)
California Roll (no fish)
and some alcoholic drinks (most of the cost of the bill)

They claim to have been food poisoned and contacted the restaurant by email demanding some action.

Other customers who ate on the same day (regulars) were contacted and no one had any problems. Today the owner received a dispute claim from the credit card company and the customer is refusing to pay.

What should the owner do next? They have never had a problem like this before.

 

[DBL]

apologize and issue a refund? Is it really worth pursuing any other course of action?

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: DBL
apologize and issue a refund? Is it really worth pursuing any other course of action?

Get a lawyer consultation stat. Don't do the above, it may qualify as admitting liability.

 

[IGBT]

..admit it.it's your restaurant.

 

[J0hnny]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: DBL
apologize and issue a refund? Is it really worth pursuing any other course of action?

Get a lawyer consultation stat. Don't do the above, it may qualify as admitting liability.

Oh, and the owner is more worried about reputation than anything else.

 

[BooGiMaN]

i guess there are two possible ways to go with this...

like someone said apologize refund and do not allow them back in the restaurant if you dont want them back

or if they sound like people that would take you to court over this if you fight it then they need to get in contact with a lawyer explain the situation and ask for advice on how to proceed...im sure he can send them a letter asking for proof, medical records etc.

 

[rudder]

Sounds like some cheapwad wants free alcohol. Did they go to the doctor? They should be able to tell what kind of bacteria it was, if any.

It would be easiest to just refund the meal. But on principle I would pay a lawyer just to demand medical records and other proof. That is why I do not own a restaurant. I hate seeing weasels pull this kind of crap.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: J0hnny
I have a friend that owns a nice Japanese Restaurant. Their restaurant passed all health inspections and does not have any records of food poisoning.

A family of 4 who came in 3 weeks ago claims to have been food poisoned. This was their order:

Eel roll (cooked)
California Roll (no fish)
and some alcoholic drinks (most of the cost of the bill)

They claim to have been food poisoned and contacted the restaurant by email demanding some action.

Other customers who ate on the same day (regulars) were contacted and no one had any problems. Today the owner received a dispute claim from the credit card company and the customer is refusing to pay.

What should the owner do next? They have never had a problem like this before.

LOL if i were the restrauranteur i would go to court and make it publicized because there is no way in hell someone gets food poisoning from eel and california roll. it was probably off their dirty bacteria infested dish they ate a home meal from.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: DBL
apologize and issue a refund? Is it really worth pursuing any other course of action?

Get a lawyer consultation stat. Don't do the above, it may qualify as admitting liability.

I guess what I wrote was too vague. I meant aplogize by saying something along the lines of "I'm sorry that you felt you had bad experience and we would be happy to issue a refund."

That does not admit fault.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: J0hnny
I have a friend that owns a nice Japanese Restaurant. Their restaurant passed all health inspections and does not have any records of food poisoning.

A family of 4 who came in 3 weeks ago claims to have been food poisoned. This was their order:

Eel roll (cooked)
California Roll (no fish)
and some alcoholic drinks (most of the cost of the bill)

They claim to have been food poisoned and contacted the restaurant by email demanding some action.

Other customers who ate on the same day (regulars) were contacted and no one had any problems. Today the owner received a dispute claim from the credit card company and the customer is refusing to pay.

What should the owner do next? They have never had a problem like this before.

LOL if i were the restrauranteur i would go to court and make it publicized because there is no way in hell someone gets food poisoning from eel and california roll. it was probably off their dirty bacteria infested dish they ate a home meal from.

Why couldn?t you get food poisoning from an eel roll or a California roll? The fact that there is no raw fish does not mean much. I'd say the better reason is that nobody else got sick.

What owner in their right mind would want to publicize a case of alleged food poisoning in their establishment? Bad idea.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: J0hnny
I have a friend that owns a nice Japanese Restaurant. Their restaurant passed all health inspections and does not have any records of food poisoning.

A family of 4 who came in 3 weeks ago claims to have been food poisoned. This was their order:

Eel roll (cooked)
California Roll (no fish)
and some alcoholic drinks (most of the cost of the bill)

They claim to have been food poisoned and contacted the restaurant by email demanding some action.

Other customers who ate on the same day (regulars) were contacted and no one had any problems. Today the owner received a dispute claim from the credit card company and the customer is refusing to pay.

What should the owner do next? They have never had a problem like this before.

LOL if i were the restrauranteur i would go to court and make it publicized because there is no way in hell someone gets food poisoning from eel and california roll. it was probably off their dirty bacteria infested dish they ate a home meal from.

Why couldn?t you get food poisoning from an eel roll or a California roll? The fact that there is no raw fish does not mean much. I'd say the better reason is that nobody else got sick.

What owner in their right mind would want to publicize a case of alleged food poisoning in their establishment? Bad idea.

Yes, I agree. I guess I was trying to drive the point these people are probably noobs and assumed because they had sushi and got sick, they can get something free out of it without knowing (I'm speculating) they had a cooked dish and a non-fish dish.

 

[Savij]

Ask them for a doctor's report on what bacteria caused it?

 

[Baked]

If you owned the restaurant, how do you defend yourself?

Natural selection.

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: DBL
apologize and issue a refund? Is it really worth pursuing any other course of action?

Why would you want to admit liability and ruin your business?! For a small business, that's suicide what you described.

EDIT: To clarrify, as the OP stated, if the reputation is everything to their business then the owner needs to determine if they are 100% confident that they couldn't have gotten food poisoning from them. I would then proceed to vigorously, and I cannot emphasize it enough, and utterly obliterate the people that I have now determined are trying to scam me. As per someones suggestion, go to the doctor and find out what bacteria caused it and lawyer up, stat.

 

[Captante]

The source of food poisening is extremely difficult to prove unless a sample of the contaminated food is obtained & a doctor is consulted right away, so being sued successfully isn't likely to happen... if the restaurant owner is most concerned about his reputation he should do as has been suggested already & offer a refund or at least don't contest the disputed charge & just let it go.

Edit: Interestingly, despite eating Sushi & raw shellfish hundreds of times, the only thing I've gotten sick from has been undercooked chicken... from what I've read, salad is actually one of the most likely things to make you sick food-wise, not because of the salad itself of course, but because of stuff that gets on it during preparation.

 

[iroast]

Keep all records in a safe place.

 

[xospec1alk]

theres no way to prove how/where you get food poisoning. usually it doesn't show up immediately, and usually, its not from where you ate last....

but to save face, hell refund the cash.

 

[silverpig]

Say you require a stool sample from everyone and hand them one of the empty "to go" containers from the restaurant.

 

[dethman]

if noone else got sick the guy has no case. just refund the money and be done with it.

 

[GasX]

Write them a letter saying that you would glady refund their money for the meal as you would not expect anyone to have to pay for a meal that MIGHT have been tainted. Request a copy of the medical report for "your insurance company's files". You either made the problem go away or it is legitimate enough that you should suck it up.

 

[Amused]

Get a lawyer. He will ask for medical proof of the food poisoning. This includes lab tests confirming the diagnosis.

Without that, they have nothing on you.

9 times out of 10 this will stop these attempts at free meals.

BTW, if this is the first time it's happened to you 'friend' he's lucky.

 

[0roo0roo]

people are n00bs and assume the last thing they ate poisoned them, sometimes it takes longer than that for it to really kick in. some can take as long as 72 hours, so u can see how people dont really know wtf got them sick. they can't prove sh*t

 

[dirtboy]

This is not legal advice or investment advice.

Your 'friends' should really consider if they want to go to court. Their losses could be much higher. It may be easier for them to consult their attorney and perhaps offer a refund, so long as the family signs a letter agreeing not to sue or deflame the business.

Because frivolous lawsuits are rampant, and there's no way to say this family didn't get food poisoning from bacteria that touched what they ate, I would encourage the owners of the restraunt to look into asset protecting what they have to prevent it from being easily taken.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

refund the costs of the sushi, but not the alcohol.

 

[J0hnny]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
refund the costs of the sushi, but not the alcohol.

Good point. Duly noted.