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?

was with my mil. She refuses not to leave anything.

Without wanting to be mean, she is the problem and just helps to endorse making terrible service the baseline for everybody. It's actually also very disrespectful to servers who do make a big effort to go above and beyond, as people like her won't (visibly) appreciate it - or does she tip good servers even more? What would be her maximum? Would she pay double or treble the bill for out-of-this-world amazing service?

Now that everybody earns at least minimum wage, the only sensible thing to do is to get rid of tipping completely. What's the betting that top-notch servers also have it used against them by exploitative employers, who tell them that, because they're so good, they can always earn more in tips, so they don't need the employer to pay what they're really worth?

It really is madness that a table of people who are all on minimum wage can go out to a restaurant for a special treat and are then expected to overpay their bill specifically because their server is 'only' on minimum wage. Even if they are all middle-aged and have to budget very carefully to run households and provide for children, whilst the server might be a young adult who lives bill-free with their parents and spends all of their earnings on expensive luxuries.

If the absurdity of tipping isn't clear to you, just stop to think how you'd react if you paid for your shopping at a till, in any supermarket, store or small shop, and when you paid by card, the machine prompted you to add a tip for the checkout assistant - maybe 'recommending' 10 or 15% - or actually went ahead and added the 10, 12.5, 15% as a 'service charge' and left it to you to ask for it to be removed if you spotted it and were brave enough to do so.

Or a plumber, or car mechanic, or bus driver, or childminder, or council worker if you pay your council tax over the counter; or ANY other industry/transaction except for a restaurant, takeaway, hairdresser or taxi driver.

Most people wouldn't just not accept it - they'd be outraged, screaming about what a disgusting rip-off scam it was and warning everybody they know to never do any business with them.

i think it should always be clearly stated on the menu that "A service charge of X% will be added to your bill"

Indeed it should, but it always seems to be in tiny yellow print on a gold background. It's a bit like the retractions that newspapers are legally forced to make in contrast to the massive splashes where they printed the original lies for which they now have to apologise.

You'd think that any (semi) decent place that routinely adds an 'optional service charge' by default would point-blank refuse to accept any proffered tips on the very clear basis that it's already been covered. However, actually finding one that would do this might be quite a tricky task....

Happens all the time!

Whilst the presumption of it gives me the rage, I normally leave it on if it’s about what I would tip - although maybe not now I’ve read this thread and appreciated the difference between service charge and tip.

I’ve only ever asked for it to be removed once - we had booked a table of 10 about a month in advance and when we got there they had given us two tables of 5 a little apart from each other - the service was pretty rubbish generally but the bill arrived we had a service charge applied because we were a table of 8 or more…

I ask for it to removed, very cheeky

I ask for it to removed, very cheeky

Not suggesting that anybody should seriously do it, but I do wonder what their reaction would be if you paid in exact cash and removed 10%, 12.5% whatever and told them it was your customer charge.

I'm guessing that the 'small amount extra' they're adding would suddenly become a very significant amount to them....

A bit like employers who insist that you must be there and start work 'just' 5 or 10 minutes (unpaid) every day, but would take you to a disciplinary if you regularly turned up the same amount after your paid start time.

Lots of places add on service charge, I'm surprised you're surprised.

Inspired by this thread, I decided not to pay the optional service charge yesterday (rec'd poor service at a chain along the Southbank). They never batted an eyelid. I would not be so brave in a chef-patron style establishment.

[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]
You can decline to pay it. We had a meal where the 10% was added and OH queried it, he was told they could remove it but he said No, leave it but you're short changing your staff! He would have [probably left 15%.

Happened last time I went out for drinks early evening. Group of 3 people and 15% service charge added to bill just for drinks.
I thought that was pretty outrageous, especially given that the service was terrible and we waited ages to order (tabke service only) and ages for drinks to be brought over. I'd much rather tip for good service when the service has actually been good.

Recently have started to see a move away from this with increasing restaurants stating they have removed the 12.5% service charge and instead have increased their prices across the board by 12.5%.

Why would you even leave 10%?

If service was poor take the whole tip off

I always remember reading the inevitable article on tipping where the Americans were saying how mean we are, one man said he tipped
20-25% for excellent service
15-20% for good service
10% for poor service
As my late mother would have said, They saw him coming, 10% for poor service!

@Anniissa

Recently have started to see a move away from this with increasing restaurants stating they have removed the 12.5% service charge and instead have increased their prices across the board by 12.5%.

But I would bet that the staff would still expect a tip! I doubt their wages had been increased by 12.5%.

I had this . £35 service charge. Then they handed me the card reader with the option to leave another tip. Cheeky cunts

I tip in cash. I never pay a service charge.

If not mentioned in the menu before hand yes that’s very cheeky to add a service charge
when restaurants have done this to me I politely request it’s removed and normally they totally ok with doing it
really don’t like service charges as they seem a bit cheeky to assume you want to tip

I didn't think the service charge went to waiting staff. I thought the tips did. You have absolutely no obligation to pay a service charge unless the restaurant started it in advance, eg for large groups

The HMRC have specific definitions of what tips & service charges are.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/e24-tips-gratuities-service-charges-and-troncs/guidance-on-tips-gratuities-service-charges-and-troncs

A service charge might go to the staff, and it may or may not be optional.

If it’s declared in the pricing then it’s not optional, and you’re seeing a breakdown of how the bill is made up.

If it’s discretional then you can usually say no on the card machine, or ask for it to be taken off.
If you want to be sure about your tip going to the staff then you really need to ask them how it’s run in that business - even when you leave money on the table there could be a policy of it being collected and shared, which if run well aids the back room staff in the kitchen

I was so cross about this the other week at an event for work.

Every single time I went to the bar I was paying 12.5% service charge.

For what exactly? Opening a beer and charging me £9 for the privilege?

Worked out by the end of the night, between us we'd spent over £100 on tips. For drinks we'd walked to the bar, ordered and delivered to the table ourselves.

Absolutely normal , I've noticed it's creeping up to 15%. If the service or meal isn't good ask for it to be taken off.

It's standard. You have to ask for it to be removed.

This is exactly what I do! It really does not feel embarrassing to do this and most waiting on staff prefer it if you just say you'd prefer to leave the tip in cash. (Paying tips via card can either not get passed on, or split by all staff members (including higher paid chefs and mgrs) or get taxed).

Very normal in London- but I hate it being added on!

We had absolutely dreadful service at a Vietnamese and said we weren't paying their 12.5% discretionary charge. They wouldn't let us leave the restaurant and seemed to be confused between discretionary and mandatory!

This happens all the time. Check your bills if you think this is a new thing, it isn’t. First thing we do when we check the bill is check if they’ve already added a service charge. If they have; fine we split the bill according to the bill, if not we add 10% and split. I don’t mind as I always check. If I felt the service was poor I’d ask for it to be removed or just ask them to put the amount through without the service charge

A lot of places use it to top up wages. It is known as Tronc.