THE collapse of Ruocco’s Pizzeria in 2012 has thrown up a nasty surprise for discount voucher holders—even though the business is back up and running under new owners.

Palmyra’s John Nettleton (right) and a group of friends visited the South Fremantle restaurant last weekend, only to be told after eating their meals they couldn’t use their Entertainment Book vouchers which expire June 1.

New owner Vijay Balagopal said he’d not agreed to honour vouchers when he bought the business from the Ruocco family and makes it very clear with prominent notices on his menus.

Mr Nettleton told the Herald that after being told he couldn’t redeem the voucher he saw a “tiny sign at the counter, but I don’t read all the tiny fine print when I walk into a restaurant.”

Mr Balagopal says he’s invested heavily in the restaurant and would lose a lot of money if he honoured every voucher.

“To give away every second meal free is ridiculous. If I keep losing money that is bad news for me, because I would have to shut down in a few months,” he said.

The Herald contacted Consumer Affairs which said it had conciliated four out of five similar claims (not related to Ruocco’s) in favour of customers in the last six months.

The department said if a new owner didn’t take on the liability of the previous business and didn’t want to honour vouchers, holders would become an unsecured creditor of the previous owners.

by BRENDAN FOSTER