Anyone else been refused tap water in restaurant

motorguy

Willyk wrote: »

Speranzas Belfast charged me 50p a while back for tap water. Told them I will not be back and I won't. We had already had a few cokes and some wine.

Why?

I take it you otherwise had a lovely meal and a good experience?

Perhaps their cost for processing a drink, in terms of overheads, serving it, clearing it, washing the glass, etc is 50p. Therefore you got the water free?

belfastgirl23

Personally I reckon if I pay £2.50 for a coffee or £10 for a pizza, it's reasonable to expect them to serve water for free. I wouldn't expect to just get water without paying for something though.

It is still the choice of a restauranteur not to serve water. But it's my choice whether to go back or not. And if I'm refused tapwater when paying for a meal, I won't go back because to me this is a lack of goodwill on the part of the restaurant.

That's a personal opinion but I do want restauranteurs and cafe owners to know that if they do this, some people will not eat there. I lived very near The Other Place for a very long time and never set foot in it after the rirst time that they refused me tapwater, though I ate out a lot more in those days. Their loss I reckon, I had lots of choice of where to eat so I didn't lose anything at all

jouef

almillar wrote: »

Not again jouef! The landlord has a knife, fork and plate to wash too. Can't you just see water as part of the process of eating?

So why didn't the landlord just charge the wholesale beer price for the pint and wash that glass free? Every drink costs money to serve. I only drink beer, and pay for the service with every drink. If someone else drinks free tap water every third drink they only pay 2/3 of the service charges that I'm paying drink for drink. That means I over-pay so they can under-pay. The service cost of their free tap water is shared by every customer; the service cost of my beer is all paid by me. There's no such thing as a free lunch or a free glass of water. Somebody pays. Free-of-service water is not some heaven-sent right, it's a business decision which affects other customers like me. It's not that big a deal; water is a nice touch, but it's good business to question the costs involved.

jouef

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Personally I reckon if I pay £2.50 for a coffee or £10 for a pizza, it's reasonable to expect them to serve water for free. I wouldn't expect to just get water without paying for something though.

It is still the choice of a restauranteur not to serve water. But it's my choice whether to go back or not. And if I'm refused tapwater when paying for a meal, I won't go back because to me this is a lack of goodwill on the part of the restaurant.

That's a personal opinion but I do want restauranteurs and cafe owners to know that if they do this, some people will not eat there. I lived very near The Other Place for a very long time and never set foot in it after the rirst time that they refused me tapwater, though I ate out a lot more in those days. Their loss I reckon, I had lots of choice of where to eat so I didn't lose anything at all

I just bought a coffee and a pizza. Can I have a half-price beer now? That's just reimbursing the wholesale cost of the beer but having it served for free. Otherwise I'll never come back in here again.

motorguy

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Personally I reckon if I pay £2.50 for a coffee or £10 for a pizza, it's reasonable to expect them to serve water for free.

Why is it reasonable?

Heres one for you - i would contend that you are actually getting the water for free, even if you were charged.

For talks sake :-

Glass of coke - cost to them = 50p, overheads & profit £1.00. Cost to you £1.50.

Glass of water - cost to them = 0p, overheads and profit £1.00. Cost to you £1.00.

You're still sitting in their restaurant while you drink it, so it is right it contributes to the overheads and profit - unless of course you think they're running a charity - but they didnt charge you for the water itself?

motorguy

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

I lived very near The Other Place for a very long time and never set foot in it after the rirst time that they refused me tapwater, though I ate out a lot more in those days. Their loss I reckon, I had lots of choice of where to eat so I didn't lose anything at all

So cutting off your nose to spite your face then? I wouldnt deprive myself of the ability to eat in a particular restaurant, just because their pricing structure varies from what i as someone outside of the industry might feel they should charge.

I genuinely dont get it - if i go out for a meal i cant even think why i would ask for a glass of tap water - if i want water i can have that at home. Eating out is about the experience - a lovely meal, time with friends and family, a nice drink (alchoholic or otherwise) so demanding unchilled and ice free tap water just seems odd.

If i ask for a jug of iced water for the table, then i'm happy to be charged for that, as part of the overall experience of eating out.

Once i've paid, i'll consider whether or not the meal represented value for money - did the standard of food meet or exceed the amount i was charged? If i've paid a tenner for a meal in a cafe that might be in line with my expectations for that establishment, compared with paying £100 for a meal in restaurant.

I certainly wont make a judgement on whether or not to go back there on whether or not in my opinion they should charge for a particular aspect of the experience.

Willyk

There is no right or wrong answer here, it is just down to your own personal opinion on whether you think it should be free or not. I think it should be. If I was running a restaurant / cafe I would just take the hit on costs, hand it out, appreciate the custom and be more concerned that customers come back. The waitress who served us said she gets the same complaint all the time. Surely it can't be good for their business, but they have been there many years so I may be wrong. It would appear that is free in England & Wales from this link:

http://www.mumsfinance.com/the-law-regarding-free-tap-water-in-uk-restaurants/2010/09/01/opinion.htm

motorguy

This is right up there with "I've left negative feedback for an ebay seller because they charged me £2 for postage when it only cost them £1 for the stamp. I'll never use them again even though the product was excellent and i was otherwise happy with the overall price".

Maybe we should start a forum thread "I've no grasp of business overheads and costs", where these people can vent?

motorguy

Willyk wrote: »

There is no right or wrong answer here, it is just down to your own personal opinion on whether you think it should be free or not. I think it should be. If I was running a restaurant / cafe I would just take the hit on costs, hand it out, appreciate the custom and be more concerned that customers come back. The waitress who served us said she gets the same complaint all the time. Surely it can't be good for their business, but they have been there many years so I may be wrong. It would appear that is free in England & Wales from this link:

http://www.mumsfinance.com/the-law-regarding-free-tap-water-in-uk-restaurants/2010/09/01/opinion.htm

All very noble, but you dont run a restaurant do you or understand their cost pressures do you?

What if you calculated that one full dishwasher load per evening of glasses was generated from giving out "free" water? Or that your five waiting staff spend a total of 3 hours per evening processing "free" water? Or that on average three glasses per day were cracked or broken serving "free" water? Or that your bar sales were down by 25% when you offered "free" water?

Do you otherwise raise your prices and risk people not buying because they see your meals as too expensive?

steveymp

Having worked in hotels and pubs most of my life I know that the profit in drink is not from beer or spirits but from soft drinks. This is the reason some try to refuse or charge for tap water.

I paid £3.75 for a jug or cordial last year in a hotel, despite just ordering in excess of £50 worth of food I spoke pleasantly to the owner afterwards and he sheepishly refunded the £3.75 (which I then added to the tip bowl as service was good). He saw my point of view as I told him returning happy custom is better than a short term gain and peeing customers off, a simple charge of 50p to cover cordial and ice would be perfectly acceptable.

I cannot and will not ever charge anyone for a glass of water, I will present it to them in a nice clean glass, with ice, a slice of lemon and a smile (the latter of which costs nothing) in the hope that they return as a customer again.