Celebrity chef objects to $250 charge when sick, calls customer “pathetic”

us news

by melissa koenig

The restaurant’s beef spread quickly.

A celebrity Boston chef has slammed a New Yorker who refused to pay a $250 cancellation fee despite pointing out that he was hospitalized, calling him “pathetic” and “receiving death threats for pursuing him.” There is.”

Big Apple tourism employee Trevor Chauvin DeCaro shared a screenshot of an exchange with TABLE owner Jen Royle. The “outrageous story” had been viewed about 24 million times on X by early Monday afternoon.

He said Royle tracked him down last week, weeks after he was forced to use his credit card insurance to pay a $250 cancellation fee and cancel a reservation for a seven-course prix fixe dinner. It is said that it left a bad aftertaste.

“Hello Trevor. I own the TABLE restaurant in Boston. I would like to personally thank you for ruining my restaurant and staff when I disputed the cancellation fee.” Royle wrote in a message tweeted by a horrified customer.

“I really hope they respect restaurants more in the future, especially small businesses like mine. Pathetic.”

Chauvin-DeCaro later responded to Royle, expressing his “disappointment and shock at the tone and content” of her angry letter.

Comments to the chef that led to an appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s show The Taste: “I’m angry at the serious decision to seek out, find, and directly message these customers.” , I wrote this in a reaction that is currently being talked about.

“The decision to deliver such a scolding and derogatory message to customers is frankly astonishing.”

The tourism official told the Boston Herald that she and her husband were planning to go to Boston to see Madonna at TD Garden and had booked a table at an Italian restaurant.

But while Amtrak trains were experiencing significant delays, he began to feel ill and was told by a telemedicine doctor to go to the emergency room, he said, without elaborating on the exact issue. said.

Chavin DeCaro told the Boston Globe that he spent “the entire next day” (at least 16 hours) at the hospital for treatment and follow-up appointments.

Chavin DeCaro told the Globe that her husband called several companies and hotels to inform them he could not travel, but “everyone else responded without complaining.” Ta.

But even though Chauvin DeCaro’s husband called about six hours before the reservation, TABLE still charged her the full price for the meal, she said.

TABLE’s website states that there are “no exceptions to our cancellation policy” and states: Thank you for your consideration. ”

After being told he would have to pay a $250 cancellation fee ($125 per person), Chauvin DeCaro used his credit card’s travel protection insurance, which included cancellations due to hospitalization.

“They told me they were taking care of it and I never thought about it again,” he told the Herald.

In his initial response to Royle’s DM calling him “pathetic,” Chauvin DeCaro said, “The decision to deal with high cancellation fees was not taken lightly, and of course… It was not my intention to ‘ruin’ the facility or the staff.”

When her husband first called, the staff member told him to “talk to his credit card company if it was ‘too painful,'” he claimed.

He encouraged restaurateurs to “consider a more empathetic and professional approach when dealing with similar situations.”

However, Royle denied in a subsequent message that anyone on his staff received a call that Chauvin DeCaro was having a medical emergency.

“Not one person on my staff ever used the phrase ‘pain in the butt,'” she also wrote, according to a shared screenshot.

“Shame on you. It ends here.”

Royle also posted about the situation on her Instagram and business profile.

“Boohoo. Then call and cancel and explain! Disputing the cancellation fee is a mistake!!!!

“I spoke with more than a dozen business owners today, and they shared their frustration with people walking all over their companies and disputing credit card charges. “This has to stop! The lack of respect and rights is egregious, according to screenshots shared online,” she wrote.

She also told Chauvin DeCaro in a private message that she had referred the matter to the restaurant’s legal team, writing: You will hear from our attorney. ”

Ms Royle’s lawyer, Michael Ford, said she had been “under attack online and now facing death threats”.

“The false statements, the defamatory statements, the death threats, the abuse, it hurts. She doesn’t want to be hurt anymore,” he told the Herald.

When asked why Mr. Royle decided to contact Mr. Chauvin DeCaro directly, Mr. Ford replied: As a woman-run shop, we are doing our best. That’s a challenge. ”

Ford also expressed doubts whether Chauvin DeCaro was ever hospitalized, calling his story “bullshit.”

The restaurant has since made its social media accounts private. The newspaper reached out to Chauvin DeCaro, TABLE and Ford for comment.