Pizza Hut and VAT

jen_jen_2

i went to pizza hut this week for a buffet lunch £5.49 per person, as much as you can eat - BARGIN!!

however when the bill came it was £10.98 plus VAT, since when did they start advertising their prices without VAT?

i didnt check the price of the drinks on the menu but they were £1.69 plus VAT on the bill

it makes there £5.49 buffet actually £6.45 (still not bad but not what i was lead to believe).

SaraSeahorse

http://www.pizzahut.co.uk/deals/deal.asp?img=/img/promo-dine_in/featured/buffet_lunch.gif

no sign of plus vat on website

bingo_bango

It's a misleading price indication. This is a criminal offence under legislation enforced by TRADING STANDARDS .
Report 'em.

blue_monkey_2

If you look on the ticket you'll find the VAT has been analysed thats all. I am guessing you had 2 buffet lunches and 2 x 5.49 = £10.98. Don't forget the price of drinks if you had, that will put the price up of course, any but the receipt will show the amount of VAT as a lot of people use them for quick business lunches, it is not added to the total. If you have been overcharged get the address of their website, send your receipt to them and you should get £20 in vouchers!! Recorded Delivery of course!

jen_jen_2

no blue monkey, thats my point, they put the 10.98, the drinks price and then added the VAT so it took the total price over the price on the menu. i will look and see if still got receipt but sure it added it all up because i was astonished that they had done it.

didnt really feel like arguing and expect there will be something on the menu saying price excludes VAT but not obvious.

BobToo

It sounds like somebody has, accidentally or fraudulently, programmed the till wrongly. Report them to Trading Standards.

On the subject of Pizza Hut- Somebody once told me that the company keeps the tips. Does anybody know if this is true?

Gingham_Ribbon

I understand that some companies will keep the tips if they are added to the total when paying by card. It's often better to pay the bill by card and leave a cash tip. Then it's more likely to go to the person who served you.

reddevilled

BobToo wrote:

It sounds like somebody has, accidentally or fraudulently, programmed the till wrongly. Report them to Trading Standards.

On the subject of Pizza Hut- Somebody once told me that the company keeps the tips. Does anybody know if this is true?

Back in my student days I worked for PH. If the practice is still the same then the staff keep the tips if they are cash, but the company keeps them if they are cheques / card.

With regard to the OP it sounds like a mistake has been made, probably just with one till - why not just speak to the manager (they won't bite ) and get it sorted amicably and nicely. They probably don't realise it's going on unless someone notifies them. You'll end up with some sort of free meal and will stop future people having the same problem.

Going to trading standards seems a little bit harsh - if you made a simple mistake in your job would you prefer someone to go way OTT and report you, or speak to you face to face (or in a letter) and solve the problem???

It's a no brainer for me

Gayle1983

OP I currently work for Pizza Hut and can assure you that our prices are inclusive of VAT. Blue_Monkey has hit the nail on the head. I work in a city centre store and we have a lot of business people coming in for lunches and they need receipts which show the amount of VAT they have paid.

If you have had 2 buffet lunches and 2 refillable drinks then the amount you should have paid would be £14.36. Perhaps you need to look at your receipt again.

With regard to BobToo, the tips are retained by staff. If I have a customer who wishes to add a tip when using a cheque or a credit card then I inform them that the tip will not go to myself but will go to the company - most people then decide not to add a tip as Pizza Hut make enough money as it is in my opinion

ben500

reddevilled wrote:

Going to trading standards seems a little bit harsh - if you made a simple mistake in your job would you prefer someone to go way OTT and report you, or speak to you face to face (or in a letter) and solve the problem???

It's a no brainer for me

I understand you feeling this course of action harsh but organisations like T.S are there to be used to safeguard against sharp or fraudulent practice (and I am certainly not implying either is the case here) if it is a genuine mistake then the establishment has nothing whatsoever to fear from TS, if not then the incident has been logged and should further occurrences take place then all incidences are recorded in order to support action, whilst I'm sure there may be a perfectly acceptable explanation it is important to remember that such sharp practices occur in all industries and to just mention it to the establishment that you suffer such an instance just allows them to apologise give some kind of plausible explanation and discount or free service voucher and continue to rob others whilst you have been left placated.

reddevilled

ben500 wrote:

I understand you feeling this course of action harsh but organisations like T.S are there to be used to safeguard against sharp or fraudulent practice (and I am certainly not implying either is the case here) if it is a genuine mistake then the establishment has nothing whatsoever to fear from TS, if not then the incident has been logged and should further occurrences take place then all incidences are recorded in order to support action, whilst I'm sure there may be a perfectly acceptable explanation it is important to remember that such sharp practices occur in all industries and to just mention it to the establishment that you suffer such an instance just allows them to apologise give some kind of plausible explanation and discount or free service voucher and continue to rob others whilst you have been left placated.

You could just accept that that a mistake has occured and that it can be rectified easily by speaking to the manager at Pizza Hut.

Why involve a higher authority when it isn't needed.

If we had a number of complaints on this thread of the same thing happening then fair enough, but othewise why not put it down to simple human error and accept an apology ( and maybe a little compensation) rather than pushing for blood at the first opportunity.

The only person to lose out is the consumer - who do you think pays for these problems, the shareholders and directors, or the consumers - the costs will all be passed down.

I am sorry if i sound a bit short here, but I really get fed up of this litigious society we live in - everyone makes mistakes, but at least have the decency to give them the chance to correct them beofre launching into a full on attack.

Phew! Rant Over!

Time for a beer now :beer:

Sorry if I've offended anyone - it just winds me up sometimes