Optional service charge added to restaurant bill...cheeky?

[wetlastfoor]

Went out for a meal with my friend on Saturday night.
It was her birthday so it was my treat.
Bill came to £70.00
Plus a £7.00 "optional service charge"
So altogether £77.00

Now am I wrong in thinking this shouldn't be on the bill? If you want to tip it's your choice..them adding this to the bill makes it awkward to ask for another bill with it removed.
They must know most people (me included ) wouldn't ask and have to explain why I want the service charge removed.

Aibu to think it's cheeky to put this on?

[quote wetlastfoor]@Sapphirejane it's presumptuous isn't it that the service was good.
Tbh we waited 20 mins just for someone to ask what drink we wanted and it wasn't busy [/quote]
I have insisted they take a service charge off before when I have had bad service

You have to pay a service charge (not optional) if you order from McDonald's on Just Eat now!

I agree with you OP, I leave a tip if I've had good service but the cost of staff is already included in your meal price, I think it's cheeky.

It's definitely becoming more prevalent. In London the other week nearly everywhere we went added a 15% discretionary service charge.
If the service is decent I'll pay it, but not if it's been crap.

It's happening more than ever, understandably. I am also experiencing a reluctance to be served tap water.
It could be double that and some more (like in the US) where you would be openly challenged for questioning it.

I’ve noticed it’s become more common than not in the last 5 years. In main cities anyway.

I ALWAYS insist on having any optional srrvice charge removed as a matter of principal.

I will then sometimes leave a small tip (in cash) for excellent service.

Normal here with more than 6 people.
I do ask what happens to it. If staff ain't seeing it, I remove it and leave a cash tip if its likely to end up with staff.

Very common even 20 years ago, and yes even in the NE

It's fairly normal, but I do think it's wrong to add it on automatically. Also the servers may lose out as the customers might have left a bigger tip!

I don't mind it (in fact like it) if it's the kind of place where I would leave a tip anyway - but only it if it 10%.
I've had 15% added before to a bill that also had several hundred pounds of room hire on it (and there is no way I am tipping a % of that!). I had it removed and left a smaller cash tip.

I've paid it but tbh it annoys me and I pretty much won't go back to places that do it because I find it disingenuous. Just put the price on the menu! Then I know where I stand and can opt to tip if and when it's deserved (almost always - former front and back of house worked here, but as wages have increased tbh a would generally only tip a few quid as a "thanks"). It's like budget airlines using a low headline price but then charging for everything.

@ethelredonagoodday

It's definitely becoming more prevalent. In London the other week nearly everywhere we went added a 15% discretionary service charge. If the service is decent I'll pay it, but not if it's been crap.

Probably 18% in reality...

I also hate the assumption that I want to tip. If I ran a restaurant, I would prefer to know if a customer wasn't 100% happy.

'We hope you enjoyed your meal and would like to leave a tip, if not please let us know where we went wrong today, we'd love to get it right next time!"

I would also want to know that my customers were happy - I hate the way big companies proudly trumpet a 90% 'would recommend to a friend' rating as a huge positive, rather than wondering/caring why they've seriously disappointed one in every ten of their customers.

To be honest, I would clearly add to the menu something like "We aim to give you excellent service as standard! We pride ourselves on paying our staff a very fair, realistic living wage, without having to rely on tips, and the prices we charge for our food and drinks are all-inclusive - therefore, the price on your bill is the price we ask you to pay, and not a penny more." Then, I'd have a charity box at the bar/till for anybody who doesn't get it and insists that they want to overpay for what they've had.

Additional service charges are a con (even if claimed as optional, but you then have the faff and awkwardness of rejecting them): I used the toilet in Asda yesterday, borrowed one of their trollies and scan machines, it was nice and warm and light as I shopped and all the goods I wanted had already been put on shelves ready for me to take.... yet for all this, they still only charged me the total price of the goods I chose to buy, as shown clearly on the shelves. I can only assume that they set their prices based on all of their costs in supplying the goods being covered - an honest and straightforward thing to do.

I like it. I’d generally tip so having the charge there already makes it easier and I have problem asking for it to be removed if I don’t want to pay it because the service was poor.

I hate places that do this as they just rely on people being too British to ask for it to be removed or feel awkward about not wanting to make a scene - basically making people pay it under duress.

I recently went out for lunch - got the bill optional service charge added on. We split the bill minus the service charge & when we got up to leave they stopped us saying we had underpaid as we hadn't paid the OPTIONAL service charge.

A joke.

About ten years ago I went out for breakfast. The beans were cold and there wasn’t a member of staff to be seen. No one checked
On us. Eventually we asked for the bill and it came with 12.5% service charge added to
It. I was fuming, but far too inhibited to ask them to remove it. I’m still angry at myself all this time later for not having the balls to complain.

I work in a restaurant and 10% gratuity is added to every bill....this is paid out to the staff at the end of the month with their salary..this is divided daily between the staff who worked that day.

@myusernamewastakenbyme

I work in a restaurant and 10% gratuity is added to every bill....this is paid out to the staff at the end of the month with their salary..this is divided daily between the staff who worked that day.

Do you declare it in your tax returns?

completely normal and only 10% so less than I would normally tip

It's cheeky. They should put their prices up rather than this nonsense. I think charging extra for more than six people is even worse.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I also hate the assumption that I want to tip. If I ran a restaurant, I would prefer to know if a customer wasn't 100% happy.

'We hope you enjoyed your meal and would like to leave a tip, if not please let us know where we went wrong today, we'd love to get it right next time!"

I would also want to know that my customers were happy - I hate the way big companies proudly trumpet a 90% 'would recommend to a friend' rating as a huge positive, rather than wondering/caring why they've seriously disappointed one in every ten of their customers.

To be honest, I would clearly add to the menu something like "We aim to give you excellent service as standard! We pride ourselves on paying our staff a very fair, realistic living wage, without having to rely on tips, and the prices we charge for our food and drinks are all-inclusive - therefore, the price on your bill is the price we ask you to pay, and not a penny more." Then, I'd have a charity box at the bar/till for anybody who doesn't get it and insists that they want to overpay for what they've had.

Additional service charges are a con (even if claimed as optional, but you then have the faff and awkwardness of rejecting them): I used the toilet in Asda yesterday, borrowed one of their trollies and scan machines, it was nice and warm and light as I shopped and all the goods I wanted had already been put on shelves ready for me to take.... yet for all this, they still only charged me the total price of the goods I chose to buy, as shown clearly on the shelves. I can only assume that they set their prices based on all of their costs in supplying the goods being covered - an honest and straightforward thing to do.

Exactly. Plenty of other services dont expect or rely on tips.

I've not had it recently, though it had fizzled out, but yes I used to hate it. Regardless of if you want to tip or not, if you did it would go direct to the waiter/waitress. If on the bill it will surely just go the owners.
I have always paid it at the time as assume most people do, but it would put me off going there again. If you really liked the place you could pay in cash (minus service charge) and then tip the waiter individually.

@LegMeChicken

YANBU. No guarantee that money goes to staff. I always ask for it to be removed and tip in cash (if worthy). I also don't see why bigger tables need it - surely it's the same service?

Tipping is an idiotic American practice that should be outlawed. I say this as a former waitress...

Tipping is actually a British tradition, but in the US it’s much wider with many staff having reduced pay rates in the first place on the assumption that they have to earn tips.

It’s been many years since I worked in a restaurant, but at that time the assumption of HMRC was that on top of your wage you’d get tips so we were taxed on that basis whether the customer had tipped or not. But that was when tips were added by the customer & not added to the bill. Now when it’s added to the bill there’s usually a sub-total pre-service charge so you don’t have to ask for it to be removed which is awkward, just pay the amount without the charge.
If they then tell you that you haven’t paid in full then that gives you a chance to explain why you disagree with the practice or that the service was poor.