Bar George in Montreal review: Bait-and-switch reservation extortion policy

We recently came across an unethical & illegal bait-and-switch scheme Bar George in Montreal is conducting on all diners during the weekend of June 16-18th 2023. The restaurant canceled the reservations of ALL diners that have booked in advance, including those that have booked weeks or months in advance, in order to institute a price-gouge fee during the F1 weekend.

Bar George sent those customers an email that required them to call the manager in order to rebook. When we called, the manager told us that we need to pay C$50 per person in order to get a reservation. This fee DOES NOT INCLUDE FOOD, SERVICE, OR ANY OTHER BENEFIT. This fee is ONLY used to reclaim the same reservation that was previously made. This fee was never advertised nor was it implemented in the past.

The reason given for why this was done is that the business apparently "forgot" to institute this price-gouge ahead of F1 and was now retro-actively implementing it. Unfortunately, this late fee also meant that all other comparable reservations have been taken and we are unable to find a similar replacement.

The business was explicit in saying that this fee was being implemented soley because they want to charge a higher fee during the F1 weekend. There was no advanced notice given and this cancelation has caused a major inconvinience to all involved (including many others that have made reservations). This feels strongly like a bait-and-switch tactic to extort customers that have fewer options given the short notice.

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