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.

[Kinsters]

@LadyWithLapdog

@Usernamen oh, I agree. DS would tell of tables of 10 or 20 not leaving any tip, or leaving £2 to take the piss. Conversely, large tips from people you’d least expect (quiet, undemanding).

But why would you expect a tip? Everyone is paid their wage which is at least over minimum wage...I used to work in a pub and some people tipped, some people didn't. It was a nice extra to have but not expected. I then worked in a dry cleaners where my hourly wage was much less. Funnily enough no one ever tipped.

[Soontobe60]

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

The giver of the voucher (DM) was clear that she expected DH and I to use it alone ie: not with the DC.

We had starters, main course, puddings, not the cheapest wine, a bottle of fizzy water and DH had a coffee. It was getting hard to spend much more!

We asked if we could take home another bottle of wine with the rest of the voucher, but they said not, as they are not licensed for off premises consumption. Fair enough.

Blimey, where was the voucher for? McDonalds???
It’s a very cheap place if you can get all that for 2 people and only spend £76.

[LadyWithLapdog]

@Kinsters we’ll have to agree to disagree. At the dry cleaners I don’t think you’re literally on your feet all day, to-ing and fro-ing with orders and plates and loud, drunken, boorish people etc. Do you make a point of taking off the service charge in restaurants?

[Whatthediddlyfeck]

@Theoldgreygoose

I've never heard of any place giving change on a voucher. Normally they would just deduct the amount and you could spend the balance left at some other time.

Isn’t that the very definition of giving change on a voucher though?

They were totally chancing their mitt!

As an aside I’d never give a voucher as a gift these days, especially after a very popular local food place closed very suddenly without honouring vouchers for hundreds of customers-no one saw that coming!

[Crunchymum]

Surely by giving you the smaller voucher them they'd be guaranteeing your future business (and if you went for dinner again you would spend on top of the voucher?)

If they'd insisted I'd have gone for another bottle of wine but ask for it to remain unopened and I'd have taken it home.

[Gateappreciation]

Surely it depends on the terms of the voucher.

[LadyWithLapdog]

Why are people so snobbish about the cost? Last lunch I had in a restaurant was about £80 for 2 people. Mind you, if one of us wasn’t driving and we didn’t have to pay out of our own pocket, we could have gone over £100.

[goingtotown]

I dislike vouchers, most only last a year.

[Kinsters]

@LadyWithLapdog

@Kinsters we’ll have to agree to disagree. At the dry cleaners I don’t think you’re literally on your feet all day, to-ing and fro-ing with orders and plates and loud, drunken, boorish people etc. Do you make a point of taking off the service charge in restaurants?

Working in a dry cleaners is hard work. You are on your feet for most of the day - taking in clothes, pre treating stains, setting the machine going, putting clean clothes on the steamer (it's a spring loaded mannequin that you put the clothes on), finishing with a lint roller and when you're not doing the dry cleaning you're standing at the ironing board ironing shirts, bed sheets and whatever else has been sent in or perhaps unpacking stock, doing laundry, cleaning the machines, there's always something to do. A desk job it is not! The customers are like any customer facing job - you always get a few dicks.

I leave the service charge on. It's just part of the cost like the old fashioned cover charge. If the restaurant doesn't charge a service charge then I won't add extra is what I mean.

[dubyalass]

They're also missing a trick by not at least annotating the voucher or giving you another voucher as change, because if there was money left on it, there's a chance you'll go back there to use up the balance and probably spend some more on top. £24 or whatever was left over would go a long way towards breakfast for two (if they serve it), or even another dinner. I wouldn't return to a restaurant that behaved like they have.

Reminds me of going for drinks in France once. Bill came to €25, gave the waiter a €50 note and he never came back. When challenged he said he thought it was a tip. As a result he didn't get a tip (we did get the money back) whereas had he been honest we would have left one.

[00100001]

@LadyWithLapdog

@Kinsters we’ll have to agree to disagree. At the dry cleaners I don’t think you’re literally on your feet all day, to-ing and fro-ing with orders and plates and loud, drunken, boorish people etc. Do you make a point of taking off the service charge in restaurants?

You're literally paid to bring the food out though...that's what the money the company is giving you to do that task.


My nephew is a porter in a hospital literally on his feet all day, to-ing and fro-ing with patients and equipment and dealing with loud, drunken, boorish people...


Nobody ever thinks about tipping him! I have absolutely no idea why people think waiters should be tipped when they're already being paid to do the task....

[LadyWithLapdog]

@Kinsters thanks for the reply. I had no idea what working in a dry cleaner entails. I didn’t know things like ironing were still done by hand. Isn’t there some kind of press for larger items, though shirts would be by hand.

[00100001]

@LadyWithLapdog

@Kinsters thanks for the reply. I had no idea what working in a dry cleaner entails. I didn’t know things like ironing were still done by hand. Isn’t there some kind of press for larger items, though shirts would be by hand.

there's dishwashers in restaurants, but that's still fucking hard hot work loading and unloading them...

[gogomoto]

I'd expect the change on a gift card/voucher if over £10, under that I'd expect to say keep the change if decent service, but I'd expect them to offer change!

[LadyWithLapdog]

I think the tipping or not is detailing the thread. I always have done in restaurants, unless it’s in the service charge. I was surprised, however, to see a note in a National Express coach saying that if we wanted to tip the driver they would keep the tips. That’s something I hadn’t come across, though it’s been a while since I took a coach.

[LadyWithLapdog]

^that should say since I last took a coach before a couple of weeks ago

[ReleasetheCrackHen]

@Usernamen

I live in London. No there isn’t a tipping culture at all. Most restaurants add service charge. Maybe tourists add more on top, but I’ve never seen a local do that, and I eat out with friends/family/colleagues/clients an awful lot.

Have you ever waited tables in London? I have, and yes there is an expectation to tip 10-15% in restaurants with no service charge.

The fact you eat out an awful lot and never tip says what you do, not what the larger culture is.

[ReleasetheCrackHen]

The fact there has to be an automatic service charge added to the bill demonstrates that there’s no tipping culture!

Quite the opposite. Service charges are usually in places with tipping culture AND lots of tourists who don’t know whether to tip or how much to tip both to ensure that some kind of tip is left and that tourists feel more welcome. Such as London.

[gogomoto]

@XiCi

The tipping culture is mixed in the U.K., I'd only leave a tip for a proper meal and then only usually if we've been there a while eg a couple of courses and it's full waiter service that's been very good. Most our local restaurants don't even have the option to add a card tip for which I'm grateful. (They include what they expect you to pay in the menu price) we might leave a £5 more for our server if they have been friendly

[00100001]

@LadyWithLapdog

I think the tipping or not is detailing the thread. I always have done in restaurants, unless it’s in the service charge. I was surprised, however, to see a note in a National Express coach saying that if we wanted to tip the driver they would keep the tips. That’s something I hadn’t come across, though it’s been a while since I took a coach.

There's always been a "whip round" for a long distance coach driver...

[Quveas]

@ZairWazAnOldLady

I’d expect it back in a smaller voucher

^^ This.

And if I hadn't got it I'd have stayed there and eaten/drank more until it was all spent, left no tip and then given then a truthful (poor) review online. It's dishonest of them.

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

@Gateappreciation

Surely it depends on the terms of the voucher.

No terms displayed anywhere - not on voucher, restaurant website, menu or displayed in restaurant.

[HaveANiceFuckingDay]

@ReleasetheCrackHen

No tip?

I rarely tip . I mean rarely
Yes I'd have expected a small voucher or credit note . Not pocket £24 . That's just cheeky

[LadyWithLapdog]

@00100001 maybe I’ve forgotten about the whip-round for the driver, or was too skint as a student to contribute. It’s completely gone from my memory. Nowadays with everything being cashless, I don’t know who carries any change anymore.

[Zonder]

Those saying you wouldn't expect change from a voucher, does this also apply if you got a voucher for Amazon, or Waterstones, or Boots? If you got a voucher for £30 for Christmas would you expect them to keep the change of you only spent a tenner on your first go?