AIBU to request a service charge is removed before service?

[Globules]

Went to a lovely restaurant yesterday. We began by ordering at the table using the app. We expected to pay before recieving our food.

The app automatically added a 12.5% service charge to the order. There was no option to remove it.

So I went to the bar and ordered. The server put the order through the app I'd just used, therefore the total was the same. I asked her to take off the service charge. She seemed surprised, but did so.

Inside I was thinking I haven't had any service yet, how can you charge me for it now?

The server poured the 2 drinks at the bar. I carried them to our table. Another server carried our plates of food 3m from the hatch to the table.

There was no other interaction with servers at all. The servers were pleasant enough, but 20 seconds of announcing food was all it amounted to.

The food was really tasty but nothing service wise to justify the £7 service charge they asked for upfront, before you'd even experienced the service!

It can’t be compulsory. Putting it on the bill is irrelevant. We are talking about whether people pay it. And specifically about not paying making prices go up.

I agree. I just tipped a fiver to a pleasant enough woman (young enough to be at uni) she was on her feet and fairly busy so I would say that it’s probably physically demanding. But not more so than a carer or a cleaner or a factory worker. £5 was about 10% of my bill so on the conservative side (service was okay, not brilliant) I did muse for a while about the tables around us that all left at roughly the same time as left similar tips and were all served by the same waitress and if she keeps 100% of her tips then she is probably earning £30 an hour at least. Of course that’s not consistent but it’s quite a lot for someone simply doing the job. I certainly don’t think we should feel shame if we don’t tip. I barely go out to eat anyone but I imagine I would feel compelled to tip unless the service was bad.

I'm talking about putting it on the bill v not. Probably those restaurants that put ot on the bill get more, even if it is not compulsory.

I completely agree with this. We have a NMW in this country (UK) and so tips should not be standard or expected. I rarely tip and will ask for a service charge be removed unless I feel the service has been exceptional.

why do we feel some jobs deserve a tip and others don’t when most are working as hard as each other?

Not a popular opinion, but I’ve personally never understood why a service charge is expected. I’m tired of hearing people say they’re not paid enough—why don’t restaurant owners cover it? Also, no one is forcing people to work there if they don’t like it. I used to work in management consulting, and yes, my salary was higher, but I was working 14–16 hours a day. I’d bet my hourly rate wasn’t much different. I didn’t go to my manager and ask for a bloody tip!

Because in physically making it, and clearing up after you leave they are also get service charge.

Do you really think it should just go to the waiter/ess? They are called back of house/front of house teams.

The cost of the food by the way is nothing to do with service
charge.

Service charge is passed to the workers equally distributed in their pay.

Sad for the 2 young staff. The business legally has to pay them the service charge..but you took that away.

Just to add someone
a thousand threads back said restaurants
keep the money...heres the facts

Under the about:blank Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023:

• From 2024, 100% of tips and service charges must go to staff
• Employers cannot keep any portion
• Distribution must be fair and transparent

👉 This applies to:

• Card tips
• Cash tips
• Service charges

Thats how you pay for lots of food

Of course they did - service was shit! Only an idiot would pay a service charge on this occasion - any regular customer would be expecting the whole thing to be complimentary!

We had this too the other day at an all you can eat buffet place
I didn't realise till I'd already paid. You pay before you eat.
Although it was only £1 I believe - but maybe they just make it £1 because they think they can get away with that amount and that will all add up still

This is plain ridiculous.

Chefs physically making the food and staff physically cleaning the premises are all business overheads that contribute to the price charged for theit product - the food.

Should the customer pay extra for occupying the table? The share of electricity and heating bill? What else? When a restaurant charges £15 for a burger and fries this price uncludes all of the above! Because without all of that, it would cost several pounds to make the same meal at home and eat at your own table.

Nobody is a dick for not paying a tip of they don't want to.

This is the UK not the USA. We have a minimum wage for reason.

guessing you dont tip your bin man at xmas..

Tbh you all need to reframe it a bit. If it wasnt on your bill as service charge it would just go to the business..because its marked as s/c it becomes illegal to keep it.

if you decide to pay it (and when your own kids get jobs in restaurants you might) at least you will know its going to them.

My son works in a pub that sells food. It still doesn’t make me want to tip.

And no, I’ve never tipped bin men. Who does that? I don’t tip my post men or delivery drivers. You k kw all these people are getting paid a wage don’t you?

We do, pretty common round here.

Look a lot of you will be googling "what present to get the teacher" soon..are they also just doing a job or are they doing a job you value?

If you don't value it dont pay..simple.

Maybe you need to reframe it a bit: that the tip is discretional and therefore is not to be expected nor applied automatically

Teachers get a present once a year.
Service charge, you think, needs to be paid every time someone eats out. Not an even comparison

I don't think I have disputed that.

Fair enough, your choice.

Well it does seem like YOUR choice

Having had a career in the hospitality industry (UK & Ireland), I disagree with you. I never once relied on tips as part of my income, probably because tips aren't standard in the UK & Ireland, well they certainly weren't. The odd tip here and there was a lovely bonus but never relied upon, I'm just not that entitled.

Yes, hospitality workers work hard for the pittance of a wage they get, I know how bloody hard it is, but don't go shaming people with your "dick move" comment just because someone has decided not to leave a tip or pay a service charge, that's so not on.

I'd feel terrible taking a tip from someone who had felt forced or guilted into having to give it, I'd rather not have it in those circumstances.

I rarely give tips, only if I feel I've had exceptional service.

Why would I pay an extra 10% on a £600 bill for awful service? The two young staff were paid their wages for the day, that's what they're entitled to. Anything extra is an optional bonus for good service, which I didn't receive

Youre just making shit up

I didn’t pay a service charge once because the service was awful and the waiter was exceptionally rude. He then shouted at me when I paid because I’d not told him in advance that I wasn’t going to pay the service charge. I had to explain that I was more than happy to pay it for good service but that’s not what we got and he stormed off!