Service charge of 10% included in restaurant bill

Z

z106

Guest
How do people react when they see this on a bill.

Like - it really bugs me.

You go into a restaurant and something is priced at €30 - and you are charged €33 for it.

It makes no sense to me.

I'm surprised it isn't illegal. Maybe it is in fact.

Personally I think it is an intimidatory tactic to try to get people to leave a tip on top of teh service charge thereby increasing their overall tip.
 
I think it works against a lot of places. Last time I was in a group in a restaurant and we all enjoyed the service, the food, the ambience etc.... when the bill came and there was already 10% service on it we paid it to the cent - if they hadnt added service we would have given more than 10%.
 
I agree - because most times a restaurant will get at least 10% anyway.

By including the charge most people (quite reasonably) won;t give anymore.

I think teh whole thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
 
Maybe there is someone here who knows why they include the 10% charge?

I would be curious to find out.
 
I have a problem with tipping in general - people should be paid a proper wage - and to have it automatically added to the bill really annoys me.
 
Whenever I've eaten in such a restaurant, its indicated on the menu that a service charge applies.
 
Well if it is indicated on the menu that there is a 10% service I don't have a problem with it. You know about it before you order anything and if it bothers you, take your custom elsewhere. If it's not indicated on the menu beforehand, I doubt it's legal.

cole said:
I have a problem with tipping in general - people should be paid a proper wage - and to have it automatically added to the bill really annoys me.
Click to expand...
You're in for a shock if you eat out in the US. ( I agree with you btw )
 
I worked in restaurants for years. 10% is ususlly put on groups of eight or more and this must be stated on the menu. It is a discretionary charge. i.e. the customer does not have to pay it if they disagree with it - someone might be able to shed some light on the legalities of this? I would say, based on years of experience, than less than 1% of customers would take issue with this charge but I was always surprised that it wasn't more;(and the manager would find out why they objected and then say it was no problem to take it off). I suspect a lot of people did not realise it was on the bill. I often noticed, particularly in the run up to Christmas, that people did leave a generous tip on top of the 10% included in the bill - and when I pointed out to them that a tip was already included, more often than not they would say it was fine (may have been aided by the feel good factor of a good meal and wine).
 
well i've had a number of experiences where teh 10% charge applies when there is only 2 or 3 people in teh group.

I do agree that if it states it on the menu then fair enough in that you can decide to not bother going in.

I still find the whole thing a bit mad though - like - why bother including it in teh firts place?

It's just a weird thing.

E.g. If,say, a newsagent added 10% onto everything then we'd all be saying it's completely taking teh mick.

Why is it that restaurants are allowed do it with little fuss?

if it's to cover their expenses for paying their staff, then evry company could argue the same opint in saying they have staff to pay.

E.g. call centres for insurance companies.

Having staff is part of doing business.
 
Next time, try asking what happens to the 10% that is added. Some places hand it over to the staff as extra, some use it to make up the pay packets. If they say it's used to make up the pay packets, don't pay it. Pay the actual price at the till without the service charge, and give a separate tip to your waiter (assuming you think they've earned it).
 
God I would love to be able to charge proportionately more the bigger the bill was!
What's the logic behind charging 10% for groups over 8 (or whatever)? It seems logical that a large group, more bums on seats, should be offered a discount not a unit price increase.
Do shops have signs up saying "If you spend over X amount we charge an extra 10%"?
 
Exactly - for some reason it is accepted as part of restaurant culture.

God knows how the whole racket started !!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Of late I’ve definitely started to tip relevant to the service received. I wouldn’t tip 10/12% just for the sake of it. If service is good they'd probably get more.

Don’t agree with the restaurant policy of service charging on larger parties. last time this happened there were 10 of us. We received dreadful service - Food arrived at different intervals - orders were wrong. Anyhow, we disputed the service charge being automatically added on. Manager was called. Long story short after arguing in the restaurant for a while we ended up just paying and walking out. Manager wasn't budging. Will never return there again.

Most recent occasion was my Daughters Christening. Received brilliant services - I tipped the two waitresses that served €40 each at the end of the day. However, I got home to examine the bill to see there was about €80 added on the end for service charge as well. My mistake, although this was more like a function and catered for a large group so I can except the service charge added on. I just brushed it off by 'convincing' myself the girls deserved it as the service was brilliant. The restaurant went above and beyond to bring out more food and assist and cater for other families that had children there. A clear case where a larger tip is well deserved.
 
Leaving aside whether tips are needed or not, the reason large parties are automatically charged is because otherwise these groups often either forget to tip in midst of the confusion of dividing up the bill or someone feels a tip of 40+ euro seems a lot on top of 400 euro and ends up leaving a much smaller rounding up tip. Basically restaurant staff have found that large groups on average don't tip as well.

Serving a table of eight requires much more effort for staff than 4 tables of 2 since they need to synchronize everything. It's also not uncommon for a noisy table in a restaurant (say a hen party) to cause customers to turn away, refuse to sit near them or finish up as quickly as possible.

If these groups were leaving without tipping as much as a few smaller tables then you'd find that without the service charge the staff in the restaurants would suddenly find it hard to find a table for that many people.
 
As an aside, I wonder if we will see a decrease in this practice now that VAT is payable on service charges included on the bill, but not on discretionary tips?
 
qwertyuiop said:
How do people react when they see this on a bill.

Like - it really bugs me.

You go into a restaurant and something is priced at €30 - and you are charged €33 for it.

It makes no sense to me.

I'm surprised it isn't illegal. Maybe it is in fact.

Personally I think it is an intimidatory tactic to try to get people to leave a tip on top of teh service charge thereby increasing their overall tip.
Click to expand...

We recently dined in a party of 8 where the 10% service charge was applied automatically (what other industry can do this... imagine the local cinema... "sorry you are a party of 8, we have to charge you an extra 10%")! Service was so bad that we decided to withold the 10%. A row ensued. We just stood our ground. Note: there was no shortage of money, it was the principle. Service was crap. The manager got quite angry.... he just didn't get it that we were not paying for something we didn't get!

Irish people need to be more assertive. I have no problem paying the very high prices here in Dublin.. IF... and only IF.... the customer offer meets the expectation suggested by the marketing. For what it's worth Le Guelleton and Chapter 1 are still the best around these parts, but, other restaurants in their own niches or sectors are equally as good... e.g. Indie Spice, 101 etc.

I never notice any difference in service between people dining in two's or four's and our table either! "Two tables of four please... er... side by side and billed separately... thank you garcon!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top