Is this restaurant taking the mick, or are we just naive?

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

DH had a £100 voucher for a local restaurant.

We went tonight and ate/drank £76 on food and drink.

They initially refused to give us change (fine, I wasn't expecting cash change), or a smaller voucher for what we hadn't spent/ annotation on the original voucher for what we had left.

They did finally give us cash change as a goodwill gesture since we were unaware (doesn't say anything on their website or on the voucher).

Is this normal? They've been paid £100 for the voucher, they were essentially planning on picketing £24 that they'd been paid.

Or should be have forced ourselves to have had another bottle of wine ?🤣

I've never had a restaurant voucher before, but a local bookshop just writes on their vouchers how much you have left to spend if you don't spend it all at once.

I would expect either a smaller voucher or some sort of credit for a future meal unless it told me VERY clearly otherwise. I think that's cheeky of them.

No tip?

I had a 100 voucher and used it last week, bill was 47 and they gave another voucher back for 53 no qualms.

A very small tip. The service was very good until we came across this unpublished voucher policy.

I wouldn’t have expected cash change, maybe they don’t have the ability to give a smaller voucher, but they shouldn’t have expected to just keep the difference.

I don't think I've ever underspent a food voucher!

I'd expect them to give you a voucher back if it isn't in their t&cs

What makes you say that? It's not even relevant to the thread but you wouldn't tip off a vouchers balance you'd leave actual cash. Like I did last week.

The voucher was just a card that they filled in a signed. They had blanks behind the till. They totally had the ability to issue a smaller voucher, or annotate the original.

I’d expect it back in a smaller voucher

I had a voucher for the Wolsely in London. DH and I went for breakfast. We spent less than the voucher. The waitress was struggling to work out how to do change. In the end she gave up and encouraged us to have a couple of cocktails 😂🍹

But she recognised you were owed something.

I don’t leave cash tips. It’s keep the change as the tip for vouchers or round up the bill when paying. I pay via Apple Pay. That’s why I asked. The restaurant might have been hinting to OP that customers usually tell them keep the change as a tip.

How is that necessary?

Usually with vouchers, you don't get change unless it's a tiny amount like a fiver. For this reason I don't get food vouchers as gifts

I never tip unless service is exceptional. I don't live in the US and I don't want to, tipping is dumb

I didn't realise you could get money back with vouchers (through the form of vouchers)

She did and we were until we owed them for going over budget.
Great cocktails🤣

I'd have expected to have to spend the whole voucher and any refund would have been a bonus, although obviously this should be clear in the T&Cs.

What would £100 typically cover in this restaurant? We normally have 2 courses and only one or two cheaper drinks and it's still typically £50-60, so if you're the type to have 3 courses and a bottle of wine, plus coffees and water, I can see how you'd go over the £100 in a lot of places anyway.

I think that if a restaurant won’t do change from a voucher, then they really should make that clear on the voucher itself.

I wouldn't expect cash but I would expect a voucher for the remainder. Very cheeky not to, I'm glad you got it sorted.

I do for one couple I know but I get smaller vouchers to add up to the total amount and only at a restaurant I know they go to often (and I also know they can afford to pay the extra on top of the voucher).

There’s no tipping culture in the UK. There’s sometimes service charge of 10-15% automatically added to the bill (which is technically optional). There is no need to tip outside/above that, although you can if you want to, of course.

There’s NMW here so staff don’t rely on tips in the same way as in the States.

Well, it’s more that there’s absolutely no need to tip in the UK the way you need to tip in the US. Restaurant staff are paid at least NMW.
You wouldn’t tip checkout staff at Tesco, or the barista who serves you in Starbucks, so I don’t see why you should tip a waiter in a restaurant.

….and even if you did tip, you’d surely only chuck a few quid down, or leave the change, not offer up a third of the bill.