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!

They get paid for the job they do! They don’t need to be tipped as standard service unless they have gone above and beyond! This isn’t America where they don’t pay their servers and they rely on the tips for actual wages!

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

I'm just wondering what sort of 'lovely restaurant' expects you to pay beforehand?

So not unreasonable

Isn't that literally the whole point? It's a "service" charge! If you don't even get a menu, place your own order and carry your own drinks what exactly are you paying for?

I bought my granddaughter a tub of ice cream yesterday, when I went to tap and pay he said oh there’s an option for a tip.
He had bent down to open the fridge and put the tub on the counter.

In the past hospitality we’re low paid and relied on tips. But then minimum wage came in.

i work very hard as support staff in a school on minimum wage - I never get any money given to me by parents/students for the service I provide! Yet I’m sure I work just as hard as your daughter and work through my kunch and breaks with no pay

I therefore resent service charge being automatically added in a restaurant and tbh begrudge being expected to tip a waitress at all.

I only tip if service is good. I’m fed up with silent wait staff staring and saying nothing, or not apologising for waits or mistakes. Service has gone downhill.

If they need tips to keep going they've got their pricing wrong.

Isn't that what a tip is for? I figure I'm paying for the service I get already, dh will leave a quid if he's got one.
I have worked minimum wage jobs and never expected a tip so don't see the difference.

No service charge is ment for the service, not to subsidise the establishment. If you’re not making enough profit then put your prices up! If you can’t do that, then it’s not a viable business.

Dont be tight

You hadn't had any food/ drink yet at that point either but were happy to pay for it.

I think there's an assumption you'll pay for service, and food, if you are happy, and if you're not happy you can ask for a refund for either?

Why tf is it tight? As a million other posters have said there is a legal minimum wage in this country. Im on it myself and don't receive any tips. A service charge is ridiculous if the whole point of your business is to serve food and drink. You don't see care homes adding a 'care charge' do you, because it's already factored into the costs.

I absolutely won't pay a tip when I am ordering the food myself on an app, ridiculous 😂

Loads of people work hard for minimum wage!

How come you are happy to pay for food before you receive it? What if the food is bad?

I always ask for it to be removed. I refuse to take part in tipping culture this is not America staff are paid minimum wage and can earn tips if they go above and beyond.

We rarely tip as the majority of wait staff seem to be terrible these days, if they actually have a smile and interact they get a couple of quid. My son is a bartender and gets about £30 a shift because all those couple of quids add up.

Apps are used becuase in order to use the service you must agree to T&C i.e cookies, avderts, 3rd party, data harvesting makes money. Same with supermarkwts you want that £5 off your next shop - dowmload this app. So we can data harvest and sell to advertisers and make more money from your Data and shopping habits etc etc. No no no no. Morrisons I demmanded a Card and Tesco I demanded a card. I told them I do not have a smart phone. 🤷🏽‍♀️
(I have a degoogled phone, only use open source apps, duck duck go as my browser, Newpipe for videos, no Google apps or services)
I refuse to dine at any establiahment that asks me to download an app. No thanks. I pay by cash and order in peraon only. If they refuse I walk out. Lost my customs.

I have only had one meal in the last few years with an auto attic service charge 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have just stopped eating out. The 'service charge' is just a way to socially pressure you to pay extra. The cost of living crisis is out of control, I'd rather just eat at home or get fast food.

Again you can ask for refund. But try to ask for service charge refund...

Lots of places do pre paid nowadays due to all that lovely people doing dine and dash.

Should I tip for bad service then?

Alot of the customers work hard for minimum wage also without getting tips.

Nope not for people working minimum wage or part-time jobs.

You should always tip if you can afford it.

I would only NOT tip for extreme rudeness, so I don't think I would ever be on the same side as the OP and you about this.
You come across as people who "expect a lot", so I would judge you as hard work, if I happened to be a customer in the same establishment at the same time.

I cannot tell you just how much I love Spoons.

Are you judgemental in every area of life, or just with food?

Not around here they don't. Where this " every single restaurant" ? And it's illegal to be complusary