Free tap water denied - complaint

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It wasn't very nice of them - but the best thing is to if you can carry it round to always keep a bottle of water/tissues/other handy things on you incase you need it when out and about

mademoiselle_2

Under the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, an employer is legally obliged to provide clean drinking water and washroom facilities for staff. Perhaps this is where the understanding arose - if an employer has to provide these for staff on the premises, should they refuse them to customers?

In the restaurant trade, it is virtually unheard of to to not provide washroom facilities. If I ever came across an establishment that was brazen enough to take my money for a meal, but refuse access to drinking water, I would take water from the washroom (assuming it was fit to drink that is)!

I always ask for tap water when I dine out; I have never been refused. What are restauranteurs thinking of, in refusing this basic necessity? If they think it improves their profits to do so, they are very wrong! They will alienate customers, who will not return; and they will do staff out of a tip, so they are unlikely to stick around. Sounds like a sure fire way to go out of business, to me.

brightonman123

who would wantto drink London tap water anyway? especially at high (smelly?) tide, right by the Thames..

ewww..

tobybowes

McDonalds used to (and i believe still does) off free soda water (fizzy water) if you ask nicely. But when i used to get it i would usually be purchasing two meals and i would just have a soda water (generally to take tablets).

But McDonalds doesnt offer free tap water as it sells over priced bottles.


I can kind of understand places doing this these days because they are money grabing, but where it annoys me is in bars and nightclubs, you get drunk and may want to drink water nearing the end of the night so not to go over the top, most bars now refuse to give you it even though they have the responsibility to look after the customers.

BTW side tracking a little bit, in the age of sensible drinking why (generally) does it cost more for say a pint of coke compared to a pint of lager/bitter? And why does a pint of non-alcoholic lager (2 bottles) work our at twice the price of a pint of lager or more (on some promtion nights in my city it can cost £6.00 for 2 bottles on non-alcoholic and just 99p for a pint)?

johnmoney05

Hmmm.....I would suggest that you get the tap water from their rest room? Fresh and direct.....if that was what you wanted.....

discobaby

The thing I would find more insulting would be the way the woman spoke to you, I would have demanded to speak to the manager there and then! Wether she should have given you the water or not is by the by, but I am sure she is not employed to be rude to customers! People that find the need to be rude and patronising to the customer, quite frankly are in the wrong job and need to learn some people skills!

ch4ndresh

The problem here is the society,,everyone is so upthemselves about buying mineral water all the time that good old tap water has almost become irradicated from the fast food outlets and restaurants....some restaurants even charge 12 pounds for a litre of mineral water and when you ask for tap water the waiters look at you in a funny way.....i am not surprised that the new genration of workers behind these establishments are all for the mineral water craze and hence these problems.....good luck to all that continue with the free tap water campaign....

chuckley

who the hell would order tap water in a sandwich bar?!

this has got to be a joke surely?!

chuckley

Caterina wrote: »

I agree, very mean! Actually what I did (because I did not have a lot of money of me to be truthful!) I went to Starbucks next door and asked politely (said that I needed it to take a tablet hehe), and the lovely assistant gave me a full glass.

Now, I know that Starbucks are the environmentalist's nightmare, but you know what, I would go back there for a paid drink just out of gratitude for the way I was treated!

so u went to another place, lied and are now happy coz they gave u the water?!

HILARIOUS

[Deleted User]

In my college where I go the tap water is charged at 20p a cup whether its hot or cold.
BTW thames water has supposedly been recycled 'through the system' IYKWIM at least three times when you drink in, but as I grew up on it and I'm still around I guess its pretty well filtered by the time you get to drink it anyway. I always take a small bottle of my own drink with me when I am at college ot out in the car I object to paying silly money for a bottle of water