The Cellar has had a reoccurring problem with students walking out on bill payments at the end of the night and employees say they are tired of it.
“Bills that are not paid, come out of our paychecks … and so we try our best to avoid this,” said employee Sarah Gowan.
She said they have used several tactics to, if not get rid of the problem, minimize it to a great extent.
Staff recently posted to The Cellar’s Facebook page concerning the matter:
“To everyone who walks out on a bill… You are on camera from the minute you walk through the door, we know exactly who you are… it puts more and more pressure on us to raise our prices. The Cellar is a NOT-FOR-PROFIT business owned by you, the students… We are simply trying… to provide you with a great place to eat and drink. Please keep this in mind or one day we may not be here.”
The Cellar’s staff made it clear that the pub is there by students for students and the money they continue to take away because of incidents like this will only hurt the students in the end. All profits made at the end of each year are returned to the establishment in order to improve services, buy supplies and keep it up and running for students’ enjoyment.
Credit and debit payments posed another challenge as students were known to call their banks and inform them that they were unaware of such purchases when pub bills were charged to their accounts.
“We found the need to be more aggressive with customers where necessary, and also withhold IDs, considering their great importance,” said employee Adriana Spragg.
Gowan said they also had to become diligent in hunting down perpetrators, using camera footage and the help of university staff and students in identifying them and asking friends of those who walked out to take care of payments.
This had created a negative light on university students, deeming them untrustworthy, but staff said there are still some good buds in the patch who do the right thing.
“Some students leave so intoxicated that they forget … they usually return the following day to pay their bills.”
The Cellar’s staff said they hope students will make a conscious effort to take responsibility for their bills ensuring us that the cellar will be around for more years to come and for more students to enjoy.
