Pubs charging service charge on drinks when you buy food as well.

Chomeur

I went to a pub last night and bought a round of drinks at the bar. Then I decided I would get myself a meal as well. It said on the menu "A discretional (sic) 10% service charge will be added to your bill when ordering main meals. Thanks". The barman told me the total, which I found surprisingly high. But there wasn't much I could do because I didn't know the prices of the drinks. So I handed him my credit card and he took payment contactlessly. I asked for a receipt. The receipt showed a 15% service charge on my meal AND the drinks. I asked for a refund and was told that they didn't like my attitude! I was also told that the menu was an old one! I was offered a rebate on my next drinks. I declined that and eventually was given a refund in cash (which is inconvenient to use these days).

So what's the lesson? Order drinks separately from meals I suppose. And I guess if you think a charge sounds a bit high, ask for a bill before handing over your payment card, so that you can check how the total has been arrived at.

DullGreyGuy

Is how it would operate in a lot places around here... some of the more "bar" than traditional "pub" also offer table service on drinks which attracts a 12.5% - 15% service charge (and is always slower than going to the bar yourself). 

The Americans still have us though, a visiting colleague once asked if £1 was an appropriate tip for ordering a glass of tap water from the bar

Chomeur

Yes, but this was a service charge on drinks that I bought at the bar!

 In America they now have a tipping option on payment terminals - do you want to pay 18%, 22% or 25%? No, actually, 10-15% seems fine to me, it always used to be fine in the past, what has changed? It seems a bit presumptuous to suggest the amount like this. Tipping used to be just a small extra thing that you did out of gratitude for good service. Now it feels as if tips are something  you have to negotiate.

JReacher1

A lot of pubs/bars now add 10% on any drinks you buy at the bar.  Seems to be quite common in city centres.

Grumpy_chap

I think if you just buy drinks, then there would be no service charge.
If you buy drinks with a meal, the drinks are all part of the value to which a service charge would apply.  Certainly, when calculating the value of any tip, I would simply work that as a percentage of the total meal cost (which includes drinks).  

sheramber

Did you order at the bar but not pay for the drinks then.

You had a meal and got a bill for the meal = drinks.

DullGreyGuy

Chomeur said:

Yes, but this was a service charge on drinks that I bought at the bar!

 In America they now have a tipping option on payment terminals - do you want to pay 18%, 22% or 25%? No, actually, 10-15% seems fine to me, it always used to be fine in the past, what has changed? It seems a bit presumptuous to suggest the amount like this. Tipping used to be just a small extra thing that you did out of gratitude for good service. Now it feels as if tips are something  you have to negotiate.

The whole process in the US is different, in some states the employer's minimum wage for waitresses/bar staff etc can be as low as $2.13 per hour (but has to be topped up to $7.25 if tips/service charges dont naturally do it). The cost of living in the US isnt so low that £5.70/hr is a realistic salary to be able to live on especially when you have limited public healthcare etc (2nd highest cause of bankruptcy).

Few restaurants choose to increase the underlying prices to pay higher wages so instead bump the service charge options. Personally, I think their system is shocking, I cannot see how it can be justified that 1.3m of their diabetics have to skip doses of insulin because they cannot afford their medicine. Will my refusal to pay the standard service charge really going to drive changes or just increase the chances my waitress losses her sight etc due to not being able to afford medicine.


As to UK service charges... the ones I've seen are all basic, it's added to an order or not to an order. It doesn't selectively add it to different classes of goods like say VAT may be. 

Nellymoser

I posted the comment below recently on this site.

Petition : Make it illegal for restaurants to automatically add gratuity to the bill

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/632357

My signing takes the count to 3859 

The count presently sits at 5143 but petition closes soon 21st Aug.

JReacher1

Nellymoser said:

I posted the comment below recently on this site.

Petition : Make it illegal for restaurants to automatically add gratuity to the bill

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/632357

My signing takes the count to 3859 

The count presently sits at 5143 but petition closes soon 21st Aug.

This is nonsense. 

If you don’t want to pay the 10% then people just need to take care to read the bill before paying. 

SiliconChip

JReacher1 said:

A lot of pubs/bars now add 10% on any drinks you buy at the bar.  Seems to be quite common in city centres.

I don't drink in city centres so I can't comment on whether what you say is actually happening, but it would be of doubtful legality given that licensed premises are required to display the prices of the drinks that they sell. If a bar added 10% to the displayed price I'm sure you would be entitled to only pay the correct price, although of course they may well be relying on pished-up fools handing over their card without giving any thought to how much they're agreeing to pay!

sheramber

I have never been in a pub for a meal when I was not given an itemised bill to check- always do- before paying.

Did you pay for the drinks at the bar before you decided to have a meal?

If not, then by adding the drinks to your meal bill they have become part of the meal.