Restaurants

beverleywardle

we went to a restaurant on Saturday night , my brother in law paid the bill without fully looking at it but he asked for a copy so we could pay him for what we had, he paid £100 cash, as it was £95. The next day we looked at the bill and found out he has charged us a service charge of £8.20 and then my brother in law had given him a tip of £5 . Is it too late to challenge this now?

chattychappy

Not sure where CCs come into it...(it's a CC forum)

He can't challenge it formally. You were presented with a bill which he paid. It included a service charge (discretionary or otherwise) but you accepted this. Then you left a further tip. Nothing to stop you asking the restaurant to refund something to you but you can only ask. Or you can write of your experience on Trip Advisor.

I dislike the habit of adding a % to restaurant bills so favour places that don't.

My answer would be different if the menu had stated there was no service charge or that the % was different from what was put on the bill. Even then, it's tricky.

dalesrider

beverleywardle wrote: »

my brother in law paid the bill without fully looking at it
found out he has charged us a service charge of £8.20 and then my brother in law had given him a tip of £5 .
Is it too late to challenge this now?

Not to put a too finer point on it.... The bolded bit say it all.

He better take that £8.20 as a cheap lesson to LOOK in future.

battleborn

I hate it when they put the service charge on the chip and pin machine, which ask's do you want to pay, yes or no, I always say NO.

fluffnutter

Sure it's cheeky to include an optional service charge but he should have looked at the bill. TBH, he was only tipping a fiver for a bill of £95. That's only just over 5%! Don't be tight!

This is far too paltry a sum for it to be worth challenging (if you even could). Next time, check the bill.