The bloody service charge!

[Ilovemychocolate]

Went out to eat twice yesterday…we are in Bath for a festive visit.
Both times our bill came with service charge added.
Both times I sent it back and requested they remove the service charge.
Now I know it’s Christmas, but adding the service charge, without informing the customer it’s completely their choice to pay it, is a year round practise.
I am not against tipping, but it infuriates me when it’s automatically added to my bill with the expectation I will pay it!
An I unreasonable to ask the restaurant to remove it every time?

If it’s optional then it legally has to be split between all staff and the company cannot keep it.

Since 2024, by law in the UK the service charge has to be shared amongst all of the staff.

That legislation was required to ensure that sharing actually happened and that restaurants didn't keep the service charge themselves says much about certain employers attitudes towards their staff.

The new law banning employers from pocketing staff tips | The Independent

My kids work uses the tronc system.

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

I do find it annoying in the sense of the posts have, inadvertently or otherwise, highlighted - that you remove it for poor service instead if add it for good service. I always tip regardless but there should be no default, and especially not via card.

Plenty of jobs are “hard, long hours” though, why should (some) hospitality jobs be singled out? If she were a barista on her feet for 10 hours making coffee, toasting sandwiches, clearing tables etc. she wouldn’t get anything extra. Why is taking orders from customers who are seated and carrying plates back and forth worthy of more pay? This is what people are rightly questioning. And that’s before you get to physically demanding, minimum wage paying, non-hospitality jobs like stacking shelves in a supermarket or working in a factory.

Usually it's standard with a big group so surely you just divide the total inc service between you so that means your colleagues didn't pay enough

Restaurants could just fold in the service charge into the prices and pay staff better.

I put you are yabu by mistake, sorry
I think the service charge is cheeky as fuck. I understand why it was started in the US but here in UK I think we are pretty generous.
Nobody tipped me when I worked in retail years ago. Why do people who bring food to us deserve extra money? I tip but why??😂

We went to a small country pub for our work christmas meal, there were 15 of us and one person waiting the table all evening. When the bill came, they'd add a service charge of £90 onto the £900 + bill. It did leave a bit of a nasty taste to be honest, they should include it on the food. This isn't America, I hated that part of being in NYC.

I don't think people are saying they have left the house with £50 and the bill with the service charge comes to £51 and therefore they're unable to pay
It's the principle of going to quite often an overpriced restaurant paying a decent amount for food and then being told you have to give them a £50 tip regardless of level of service you have received.
I don't tip all the time but do occasionally add £10 if I go out for a meal where the waitress has been decent and I've asked for sauces and not been forgotten or not waited 20/30 minutes for the bill. I have been some nice places where the staff were busy chatting, I wasn't able to easily get their attention to order another drink, had to get up and find someone after waiting a very long time to just pay the bill. I wouldn't have enjoyed paying 12.5% service charge in those circumstances

I think putting a service charge on disincentives staff to give good service because most people just pay and suck it up not to be rude, but would possibly not have paid a tip if the service wasn't good

It also depends if it's not obvious it'll be added on later. It should always be very clear if it is added to the bill as standard so people can choose not go there if they cannot afford the service charge

I think the whole thing is ridiculous. A restaurant has service as part of the experience. Rrstaurant owners should put it all in one price or dont do it at all. I've always thought it's a con..You dont go to s supermarket and the checkout person says" oh, your bill is £76 and can i have a fiver for running it all through the til". Wheres it going to end. Can i have ten quid for showing you to your seat? You can have these trainers, but if i have to put them in a bag that"ll be fifty quid? F......off.

I agree with you OP. Working in a pub was probably my easiest job, tips were gratefully received but not expected and we only asked for a service charge for large parties (e.g. tables of 8+). I refuse to pay an automatic service charge when it's just me and 1 other person - especially if there's been nothing special about the service.

If service has been good then I tip about 10%. If exceptional then 15%. If I feel the server expects a tip and isn't doing anything to merit one then they get 0%.

Because she is paid an hourly rate as per the laws in this country

She agrees to work for this amount.

That is what is in herr contract, and that is what I assume she was paid

Not mean

The thread is highlighting several things:

Tips used to be something that customers gave for good service. Rounding up the bill or adding a few pounds per person was customary, voluntary and appreciated by the staff.

At some point (possibly when electronic payments became the norm) an amount for a voluntary tip was left open as an option when paying the bill - and people continued to round up or add a few pounds per head. But - some employers were not open about who actually received the tips and often kept the money for themselves.

Then service charges began to appear on menus and bills, and usually in the form of a fixed percentage of the bill. Sometimes this were "voluntary" but the restaurants were relying on the customers being too embarrassed to ask for it to be removed. Service charges also seemed to creep up from a few pounds to a fixed percentage - often 10% or 12.5% - that was much more than people were previously used to tipping.

Now the service charges are sometimes 15% or 20% and are included on the bill presented to the customer, and as described in my post above, additional items such as a mandatory "cover charge" are also beginning to appear.

I have nothing against giving a tip if the service, drinks and food and the whole experience have been good - it has been the custom in the UK for decades. The objections on the thread are mainly directed at mandatory or implied service charges, particularly where the service and food have been poor, and towards the creep from a voluntary tip of around 10% to a mandatory charge of 20%.

i don’t usually mind most places seem to be doing it and it’s on the menus in most places.We always check the bills. I wouldn’t pay it if bad service and i check it goes to all staff. We have gotten it removed but i agree it is awkward.

However i recently went in somewhere where we paid the 10% service charge and then when presented with the card machine….. it had an option to add a tip!! and you had to click off it. I mean come on!!

joking, right?

Yes, and I always do if it hasn’t been made absolutely clear beforehand that it will be added.

I don’t like surprises.

Why would I joke about that? I tip more if the service was better than expected. I never used to tip at all for "alright" but £5 seems better than nothing for acknowledging it was bare minimum service

That’s their job! Same as some peoples job is putting up with people’s kids all day, or smiling sweetly at hotel guests who no doubt kick up a stink of a regular basis, or cleaning other people’s shit out of toilets, or collecting everyone’s stinking bins. Waiting on is NOT a hard job ffs. There’s certainly much worse jobs out there who don’t get this bizarre top up that they beg from customers. It’s utterly batshit.

I hate service charges.

Why don't they just increase the price of the food? And pay staff a decent income?

You're paying for service anyway- not simply the food and fixed overheads.

It's really a scam to get more money and I'm sceptical if it goes to the staff.

I'd tip if the service was exceptional but really I think it's demeaning because it implies the staff are not being paid properly and rely on top-ups from tips.

When people work in restaurants there is an understanding that your base salary is £x and you can expect to make £y in tips. People take these jobs on that basis. Tips/service charge are not a new thing.

In an ideal world these careers would have higher salaries commensurate with the calibre of staff the restaurant wishes to employ. For that to happen prices would have to be increased - how would those of you too tight to tip feel about that?

By removing service charge or failing to tip you are not 'sticking it to the man' - you are negatively impacting on the income of very low paid staff who are working hard to ensure you have a good time. If you can afford to eat there, you can afford to pay service charge.

£5 is insulting, £0 would be better.

I agree with you 100%. It’s not as if the job waiting staff are doing is especially skilled, stressful, difficult, challenging, requiring special skills or talents, or even particularly unpleasant.

I would rate far more highly the job of a care worker, especially those caring in challenging scenarios on low pay. Waiting at tables is not even near it. Do care workers get tips? I suspect not.

Are you absolutely sure there was no mention on the menu/bill that an optional service charge and been added and could be removed? I'd be very surprised.

Personally I just see it as a required cost of eating out and would always factor it in. YABU.

I don't think they do.
As a student I had a bar/ restaurant job and never expected tips.

What you describe is exploitation from the management who want to make the food look cheaper than it is then whack on 12-15% and who knows if the staff get it?