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I don't think this is unreasonable. Is it?

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  • I don't think this is unreasonable. Is it?

    The husband and I went out for dinner on Valentine's Day. I had a very stressful week and an even more stressful day so I was really looking forward to a nice evening. Fortunately it was. The food was great, the service was great and I had a nice evening. Unfortunately, I woke up with food poisoning the next morning. So did my husband. I'm certain it was the dinner because we had both split an appetizer. He had a little bit of it and had a few symptoms where as I had more and had worse symptoms.

    I called the restaurant and spoke with a manager about it. She was very apologetic about the issue and said they took food poisoning reports very seriously. She asked for my phone number and said that a rep from their insurance would call me shortly. By Tuesday I had not received a call so I called back and spoke to another manager. I explained the situation and he said that I should be getting a call back within 4 to 5 business days. I asked what they were going to do as neither of us were so sick we had to go to the doctor. He said they would ask me questions and make a recommendation based on that. What that means, I haven't the foggiest so I just asked if we could have our meal compensated. He said they'd need to wait until he heard back from the company and they could make a decision based on their recommendations.

    I honestly don't know what to think of this. I'm not out for blood, or vengeance or to get them closed down or claim "emotional damage" equivalent to 10K worth of legal compensation or whatever. The fact of the matter is this. We both got ill after eating a shared dish at their restaurant. It could be that the tomatoes were contaminated before they arrived at the restaurant. It could be that there was cross-contamination that happened in the kitchen due to someone not following protocol. Either way we suffered as a result. It's not unreasonable to ask that we have our food compensated, is it? I'm not even asking for the full bill to be charged back. The food came to about $65 but we paid $76 to include the tip for the server. I want her to keep her tip because she really earned it. I just want the food reimbursed.

    What is this malarkey about an insurance company? I won't name any names but let's just say this place would easily earn back $65 in less than an hour. Even if they were doing this to keep from getting scammed I doubt the majority of people claiming food poisoning are lying. There's always going to be a customer trying to scam a company, but for everyone of them there's more customers that are legitimate. I'd think the price of one meal would be nothing compared to the possible bad PR a place would get from not helping their genuinely wronged customers. So what's the deal? Am I asking too much or what?

  • #2
    I'm thinking they just want to get all the facts first, so they can prevent this happening again, and after that reimburse you. Maybe they are waiting to see if the insurance recommends you get more compensation than the price of the meal. Not all companies are bad; some do earnestly seek to do the right thing. I'd wait a few days and see what happens.
    "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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    • #3
      It can be very difficult to prove that you had food poisoning as opposed to just a stomach bug. So you ate the same appetizer - you were also exposed to the same relatives and friends in previous days, right? Not saying you were wrong, just that it's hard to prove.

      Maybe the restaurant is waiting to see if it gets more compaints. Also, they might worry that if they compensate you for the meal they'll open themselves to liability. You might not want to sue, but they don't know that.

      Just some thoughts.
      Women can do anything men can.
      But we don't because lots of it's disgusting.
      Maxine

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      • #4
        Quoth Crescent Cat View Post
        I'm certain it was the dinner because we had both split an appetizer. He had a little bit of it and had a few symptoms where as I had more and had worse symptoms.
        problem is, the only bacteria/pathogens that cause any sort of symptoms that rapidly would likely require hospitalization(everything else takes days-some can take up to 28 days for symptoms to appear), the ones that cause symptoms in less than 24 hours are:
        Clostridium botulinum
        Clostridium perfringens
        Listeria
        Noroviruses
        Staphylococcus aureus(which is on everyone's skin, if you didn't wash your hands properly(30 seconds under hot water), it's just as easy that the contamination didn't come from the restaurant)

        Microbiology is fun(and my job)

        Everyone always blames the last thing they ate, when it's usually something from several days prior.
        Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

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        • #5
          I keep hearing that food poisoning takes a few days but the two times I had it it was pretty immediate. Both from restaurants, one of which was KFC. 23 years and I haven't eaten there since.
          https://www.youtube.com/user/HedgeTV
          Great YouTube channel check it out!

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          • #6
            Quoth telecom_goddess View Post
            I keep hearing that food poisoning takes a few days but the two times I had it it was pretty immediate. Both from restaurants, one of which was KFC.
            Unless you had the food you ate at the restaurant tested, and had eaten no other food for 72 hours previously, it was 99.999999999% something you ate days before.

            Even If I went to restaurant x, and ordered a totally raw hamburger, even if said meat was horrifically loaded with e. coli, or salmonella, it would still take 24-48 hours for symptoms to show up. Heck, if I chugged a pure culture of salmonella from my job, I'd still have a few days before it hit me. Because the bacteria levels have to hit a certain point before the toxins they create can even be detectable, much less cause any symptoms.

            It's not much different than catching a cold, everything has an incubation period.

            onset of symptoms by causative agent-FDA
            Last edited by BlaqueKatt; 02-25-2013, 10:25 PM.
            Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

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            • #7
              @BlaqueKatt - that link isn't showing up for me (though I'm in UK?).

              http://www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/...eus/index.html Bacillus cereus can actually cause symptoms in as little as 30 minutes and up to 6-15 hours later. It doesn't necessarily need hospitalisation, esp if people are fit and well and pretty resilient beforehand.

              I'm sure it was introduced to us medical students as "refried rice" syndrome as that's a really common cause. (Always heat your meals thoroughly kids!)
              Last edited by PandaHat; 02-28-2013, 02:37 AM.

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              • #8
                Wow, where was I? I didn't even notice people were replying. I need a vacation . . .

                Anyway, I'm sure you're right BlaqueKatt but the part that I have to call into question is how exactly my husband and I both happened to get food poisoning at the same time, with our varying symptoms, if it wasn't from the restaurant. Yes, I realize some food poisoning can take days to show up but until recently (as in just this past Monday) we haven't been eating the same thing. We'd always make our own dinners or go out to eat and order something different. The odds that we both happened to eat two completely different things at the same time that both had a strain of food poisoning seem really unlikely. Also take into account that my husband had less of the dish I suspect and he had milder symptoms. Usually he eats much more than I do so if it was something else I'd imagine his symptoms would've been more severe.

                BTW, I still haven't gotten a call back. I guess I'm going to have to call the restaurant again today.

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                • #9
                  to be honest the length of time can depend on the infection. Some take little time while others can take a few days.

                  you may also want to consider calling the board of health if you feel they haven't done enough at the restaurant.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Crescent Cat View Post
                    We'd always make our own dinners or go out to eat and order something different. The odds that we both happened to eat two completely different things at the same time that both had a strain of food poisoning seem really unlikely.
                    Only you wiped down every surface in your kitchen with 2% bleach solution between prepping meals(and use a different cloth for each surface). you'd be amazed how dirty household kitchens actually are.

                    Faucets and sponges in kitchens harbor more germs than bathroom surfaces. In the Hygiene Council survey, kitchen faucet handles carried more than 13,000 bacteria per square inch and bathroom faucet handles had more than 6,000 germs per square inch.

                    highest contamination in a house is the kitchen
                    Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

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                    • #11
                      I'm so glad I looked at this thread while I was making dinner...

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