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!

Also it’s a bit much when there is absolutely no service. In so many restaurants now you either order via an app or go to the bar, bringing your own drinks back with you, so at most you get a hello from a server and then they bring you your meal. I’m not tipping for that.

In all fairness so do lots of other people, particularly care workers etc and we don’t tip them - I am not anti tipping at all but think tipping should be totally optional and not on bills. Those in the back office ( cooks, kitchen staff etc ) should be paid a higher premium to reflect the fact they aren’t getting tipped or companies have an ‘all tips are pooled and shared’ policy but I don’t think it should be kind of mandatory - In Denmark when we lived there it didn’t have a tipping culture at all and minimum wage was similar .

I deserve fucking tip for doing my job to a high standard but do I get one? No. As a public sector worker we can't even have our Christmas meal out paid for.

I’m in the ‘I don’t tip or pay an extra charge any other people whose services I pay for so why should I tip and post service charges at a restaurant or cafe?’

I get the hospitality industry is struggling, but If hospitality businesses can’t cover costs without these extra charges, they need to factor them into their advertised prices. But generally they don’t, because they know that would deter some potential punters, so they rely on customers feeling uncomfortable so they pay up.

@cardibach Great example of inverted snobbery. You have no idea why I won't go somewhere where I have to order food from an App but you assume it's cos I'm a snob.

That’s ridiculous. You don’t tip other minimum wage earners

for similar service we always ask for it to be taken off and we leave £1 per person . I understand that staff like to have a tip but it is just that a tip and should only be given if good service is given . As a hairdresser I don’t ever ask for service charge neither do I expect it , our industry is very similar not great pay but I don’t expect clients to mop that problem up . X

I disagree, OP and I like not having to work out the tip. YABU.

I would only NOT tip if a server was very rude to me, however.

You sound like the sort of customer who only tips for good service, to be honest.

I dislike automatic service charge plus we aren’t America so have living wages. I will ask for it to be removed eating out is expensive enough.

literally every restaurant doesn't.

'It's a local independent restaurant'

You miserable things. Just pay the service charge like decent people. Or go to spoons.

Why should you get a tip for doing your job to a high standard? Isn't that just ~"doing your job"? Or do the people who do it to a low standard get penalised?

You sound like the sort of customer who only tips for good service, to be honest.

Isn’t that what tips should be for?

But is she actually serving people? Making it a more enjoyable experience? The OP is saying she had it removed because there was next to no interaction with the staff.

I am a generous tipper. Always. But I refuse to tip prior to recieving any kind of service. We regularly go to the "Lounge" restaurants. I don't tip in advance (order via app) but when we order puds I add on 10% for the total of the WHOLE meal IF everything's been good

Yes this has happened to us before in the places where you pay before you get the food. It annoys me, but it also annoys me when even at the end a specific % is added on to the bill and you don’t have the option to leave your own tip on the table or added on. I enjoy eating out, and having nice food and service. I like to tip, but I don’t like to do it if the food and service are not good. I also have worked in hospitality for many years, so know it’s hard work and lovely to get a tip

I'm a dick then because I never tip anyoneand not going to start. So what is your point exactly?
Tipping is optional contary to popular belief. I'm contributing to the servers wages by actually using the restaurant or pub in the first place by spending my hard earned money and being a regular customer.

I was out recently & food was brought by a BellaBot!

But I work hard for my money too and I dont get a tip! My daughter also works in hospitality while at Uni and is on minimum wage but doesn't expect the general public to top up her wages!

As it should be!! Goes to show we've completely lost sight of what tips are supposed to be for and it's just turned into another way for customers to be fleeced.

Exactly. Tipping is optional and should be a reward/incentive, not an entitlement.

I was out for dinner last week. The restaurant is across the road from the theatre, we had a show booked in the theatre so booked dinner for two hours ahead of the show. On arrival at the restaurant, I told them we were going to the theatre for 8pm. Nobody brought menus until we had been sitting there 15 minutes. Someone took our order at 6.25pm. Our drinks order wasn’t taken until then and drinks came at around 6.40. At 7pm we asked where our starters were and they arrived at 7.10. At 7.30 we got our mains. There was no apology at any stage, no acknowledgment that we’d told them we had an 8pm booking etc. We paid the bill, luckily they had not added a service charge as we wouldn’t have paid it, we left no tip and probably will not be back.

We always ask the member of staff serving us what happens to any default service charge and whether it gets back to the staff. Depending on the answer we either accept it or decline it and leave a cash tip

This ^

If they advertise a nn% service charge we add it on to the menu prices.

Or decline to pay it

Don't feel embarrassed about asking for it to be removed. Be polite, perhaps claim a philosophical objection.

It should of course be illegal and the penalty should be that you receive the food or drink for nothing.

We need a modern Consumer Act to end some of this drip pricing or hidden charges. Advertising a price and adding a charge in this way to me is also false advertising.

This ^

Unless the service or overall experience has been really poor or worse we will usually just accept 12.5% as part of the total price