Birthday Bash to Birthday Bomb - The Rest of the Story

"Karen please forward this to your Gmyr Weekly group from me - Karma.

"Wednesday when I had discovered the huge charge in my bank account, I contacted everyone who was there that night to let them know they needed to check their accounts cause I had been overcharged. I contacted Zio's and spoke to the same manager, Brian, who had been there Monday night. He is the same one that has the personality of a snail (if that is possible). He said that I should take my receipt to the restaurant and he would get a credit issued. I took off work, and 45 minutes later I pulled into the empty parking lot. After a brief conversation with Brian, another woman came out to tell me that corporate needed to investigate this and "IF" I was due a refund, they would issue it 5 - 7 days. I guess I lost it. Told the entire restaurant how unhappy our party was, how our experience was the worse experience possible. I left there with the intention of going to my bank and having the charge disputed.

"Now mind you the charge was $225.64. My bill was $52.04. I found out from talking to all the parties that the entire table was $225.64. I didn't feel that I should wait for corporate to determine "IF" I was going to get a refund, so I thought maybe I should just dispute the charge and sort it out later. On the way to the bank, dad called to say maybe I should wait a couple days.

"During my conversation with Dan's mom earlier, she mentioned that Zio's had a website and you could post a complaint. So instead of going to the bank, I posted a very lengthly complaint on the website telling corporate how disgusted I was with my first and last visit to their establishment. I explained that we had been in the restaurant 2-1/2 hours, I had to retrieve our bread because our waitstaff disappeared on us, that our drinks were not refilled, and that the manager had given us a lame excuse when we complained to him. One thing you didn't mention below, about 1-1/2 hours into our wait, dad had called the manager out wondering where our food was and noting that several tables around us had come and gone. His excuse was that they were short handed and the food would be out shortly. Then went back to his office. My final comment on the website was that salt was poured into my wound when I was charged the entire amount for the table and no one was willing to get me a refund even though I had proof of what my charge should have been.

"Exactly 40 minutes after I sent the comment, I received a phone call from corporate. A very nice gentleman by the name of Kevin. He was extremely apologetic. He said he would investigate the charge and would get back to me immediately. He called me an hour later. He never really bluntly stated it, but I got the impression that Brian got an ear full from him. Kevin stated that it was not their policy to charge the gratuity if there had been complaints about the service and that the gratuity should have been removed from the tickets. He stated that it was not their policy to disregard their patrons. He also stated that I should have been given a full refund when I drove all the way to Rio Rancho to get this handled because corporate does not handle the refunds. And the reason I was charged the entire amount, the other cards had been swiped but when the charges were processed that evening, my card being the first card and a debit card "accepted" the entire amount amd the other cards were discarded.

"To make a long story short, he refunded me $200 (I am still waiting for that to hit my account), and he is sending me a gift certificate as an apology from the restaurant service. I found out later that Kevin had also called Dan's mom and had fully refunded her their charge. So because we complained, our meal cost $25.64, and Dan's mom's meal was free. And both of us will be getting a gift certificate.

"I don't know if Dan's sister or dad got charged, because as of yet I had not heard. But I have raised my impression of the restaurant back up to a 7. The food we got was very tasty, the service was very bad. And after my conversation with Kevin, those individuals may be on the unemployment line. So to those who still have a sour taste from our experience. you may want to complain????"