To think that restaurant service charges are getting out of hand?

[Comcor]

Does anyone else object to a service charge being added to their restaurant bill? I’m more than happy to tip, and would usually leave around 10 percent. If it was crap then I won’t.

I have noticed that “discretionary” service charges at restaurants are going up and up (as well as food prices).

I recently ate out and it was a 15% service charge PLUS they charged for water.

Totally agree. It’s awkward to ask for it to be taken off. Everyone knows that- it’s what they’re banking on.

I got charged 12.5% tip on a hot chocolate a few weeks ago. I’d had to go up to order and to pay. I bloody well had that taken off- it was already over £8!

I'm just unsure why I'm supposed to give the slightest fuck what a complete stranger thinks of my attitude towards tipping. Maybe you can enlighten me?

I’m embarrassed for you

What a ridiculous comment. Why would you be embarrassed that someone you don't even know holds a different opinion from you ?

I agree, if restaurants want to charge more they should just up their prices by a % rather than adding that as a tip, at least then you know up front what you’re paying.

Exactly.
They know full well what they are doing - luring people in with one price, then charging a different price and working on the fact that most people will be too embarrassed or not assertive enough to challenge it.
A tip - if you choose to give one - should be a freely given gift, not an almost compulsory surcharge.

I don't live my life for others approval, how cringeworthy that you do.

Restaurants should put their prices on the menu, not try to sneakily add an extra charge. Its the principle of the underhandedness that makes me not want to pay it.

A tip - if you choose to give one - should be a freely given gift, not an almost compulsory surcharge
I agree with this. I'll often tip generously, but dislike companies adding optional service charges. It's no coincidence that the optional charge is never something they ask if you'd like to add on. It's always presumed and you have to ask to remove it.

If they don't believe their current wages pay enough, then they need to raise the wages. If their current prices don't allow them to pay decent wages, they need to raise the prices.

Service charges have quickly gone from something for large parties of diners to a way of adding an extra 10-15% onto everyone's bills and relying on the fact that a lot of people won't want to ask to have it removed.

Oh give it a rest @whenimakeithome , they are not

I always tip if the food and service has been good. I do object to a service charge being put on automatically unless a large party perhaps. I also always ask the serving staff if they actually get the tips as a restaurant I worked at when I was young kept them and said the split them at Christmas…

I'm embarrassed for those stupid enough to blindly pay whatever fantasy ''service charge'' the restaurant fancy adding.

90% of the time there's nothing exceptional about ANY service these days. Especially in restaurants. Half the time i'm surprised and grateful if the order's right.

Pay for decent staff, train them to give good service, and the tips will roll in without having to rely on stealth charges or weird embarrassment or guilt from people.

I am happy with service charge if it’s day 10% on a £50 lunch but when it’s 12.5% on an expensive meal I find it a bit steep. I’ve never actually asked to have it removed but I would prefer to hand the waiting staff a tenner than pay for example £25.

Yes I used to tip 10% religiously but then realised that drinks are a lot more expensive in pricier restaurants so often , you're not getting more service as it were. So we do cash and sometimes round down a little- but will tip more than 10% if the service is exceptionally good.

I suppose the point of adding it to the receipt is so that the service charge can be divided amounts waiting staff and kitchen staff. The person washing the dishes is providing just as much a service.

I suppose the point of adding it to the receipt is so that the service charge can be divided amounts waiting staff and kitchen staff. The person washing the dishes is providing just as much a service.

True, they do. But how do you know it's filtering down to anyone below management/owner level?

Better for the norm to be that the restaurant pay a decent wage to ALL their staff in the first place. We shouldn't be happy to be led into this culture of hoping for random amounts of tip money to filter down.

Yes I dislike it too. I ask for it to be taken off every single time and I don't care about the reaction.
If good I ask the waiting staff if they get to keep the tips, if they do I give them cash, an amount I decide on. If not I leave nothing at all.

I used to waitress at a gastro pub years ago in an affluent area for £7.50 an hour. My tips at the end of the week used to be more than my wages!
No service charge was added at all and people left what they liked.
We had a great boss and every penny would be split between the staff at the end of the week.

I worked briefly at a small chain establishment after that which added service to the bill (same affluent area so they always paid it without question). They had a system where the tips were actually paid to to top up your wages!
So on pay slip it said for instance, hourly rate £6 + £1.50 tips = £7.50/hour.

A customer personally placed a tenner in my hand once and I was told I couldn't keep it. I'm pretty sure the manager used to skim the cash tips and keep them for herself.
Anyway...that's why I don't pay service charge without question.

I am going to ask to have it taken off the next time I go somewhere expensive. I’ve decided I really don’t want to pay an extra £25 on top of what I’ve ordered.
I am happy to tip in the regular way, I never been to a hairdresser or out for a meal and not tipped unless it’s an order at the bar time of place.

I've never understood why it's a percentage. Why does the service deserve more for and expensive meal than a cheap one? IME staff are more likely to be run off their feet in a cheaper restaurant.

This. I’ve stopped eating in restaurants where there is a mandatory service charge.

Yes i was going to say the same.

It's to acknowledge good service, not supplementing the cost of the ingredients.

I’ve not had this locally (south west) and not ever where they’ve charged over 10%. Yikes. It would put me off visiting I have to say. As a general rule, we always tip. Unless food plus service was really dreadful. For something exceptional we would tip over 10% but everyone is different. We’ve been out for dinner with some tight fuckers before that don’t believe in tipping (we don’t see them anymore) but I think a lot is to do with your upbringing and following what your mum and dad did.

I tip for good service and I decide how much . I agree tipping used to be an incidental extra now it's almost as much as part of the menu it's gone up so much .
I also give it straight to the waiting staff who served us .

Last time were out we were shocked at the price and the service charge was much higher than we would have left as a tip. I don't like to make a fuss but I think that, in future, we will be asking for the service charge to be removed and then adding our own tip as we see fit.

Unless it's a very small amount I never tip a percentage - even when I do leave a tip. Why should the waiter get more just because I ordered the £30 main instead of the £15 one? If I feel the need to tip it'll be a couple of quid up to a fiver, regardless of what kind of expensive crap I ate.

Agree

We noticed this at a local restaurant with water. They've called it something else but it's tap water.

Restaurants that add a tip automatically get my goat . Lots of service industries have people that work hard at minimum wage and get no recognition at all . To my mind it’s a very outdated system that only really applied pre minimum wage .

One of the last places we ate didn’t even provide a bill , you just got told the final price when you went to pay . I queried if they had added a service charge which they had , but I worked it out later that it was a ridiculous 17.75% , we aren’t going back even though the food was good as I feel like they were taking the proverbial.

Just price up the food at the cost you need , pay a fair wage and then people can chose if they want to eat there with no nasty surprises. Although from previous threads this does seem a divisive subject .