Is it legal to add a gratuity automatically?
Giraffes do this and it's bloody annoying.
Posted Jan 10, 2018, 9:15 AM UTC
3652
It’s legal but not required that you pay. There’s usually always a note somewhere on the menu that says however much % will be added, as well as on the final bill in a prominent location.
31
If it's clearly stated on the menu or front door then it's required to pay. It's only optional if it's not clearly indicated.
-3†
Source on that? My restaurant has it on the menu but it’s not required the customer pays it.
9
"Do I have to pay service charge? If you are told about a compulsory service charge, you must pay it, unless the service was particularly poor. "
15
unless the service was particularly poor
Not compulsory then.
18
I guess that all comes down to the restaurant, whether they say it’s “compulsory” or “discretionary”. Also the idea of service being “particularly poor” seems rather subjective to me, and you’ll always get people who push that definition to have a compulsory one taken off. Either way, I guess it’s best to check the menu first and how the place has worded the sentence.
8
If I tell you up front there is a 10% service charge on anything you order, and you order, it's an implicit acceptance that the service charge is as part of the thing you are buying as much as the actual price is.
If I don't tell you up front and I put it on the bill, you never agreed to it when you placed the order, as you were unaware.
A resteraunt can choose to tell someone up front about an optional service charge, but they don't have to. It would be like a sign saying "We assume you're going to tip our staff 10% and will charge you accordingly. Please tell us if you do not wish to tip them".
If the service was really poor then technically under consumer law you could argue for a refund of a compulsory service charge but that applies to anything. Technically though you couldn't refuse to pay as such, if the resteraunt manager insisted you had to pay and your complaint wasn't valid, legally you need to pay. You could then afterwards potentially take them to a small claims court for the money.
5
If the service was really poor then technically under consumer law you could argue for a refund of a compulsory service charge but that applies to anything. Technically though you couldn't refuse to pay as such, if the resteraunt manager insisted you had to pay and your complaint wasn't valid, legally you need to pay. You could then afterwards potentially take them to a small claims court for the money.
I guess it all comes down to whether the manager would want to deal with arguing over the compulsory tip. I feel like refusal to remove a tip would probably end up in a bad review on TripAdvisor or OpenTable, which is something restaurants really don't want.
1
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1
I've never seen somewhere that didn't make a note on your bill that it has been added - it's quite clear, so there's no "legal" issue.
You can ask to have it taken off.
8
I looked into it, and yes, it's sadly legal to do so.
Few places make it mandatory, but they can do if they tell you beforehand - I'm OK with this if it's for large parties (e.g. 8+), as they do tend to take up more resources and snaffle tables for longer, but I have seen one place that charges ALL people a service charge.
Think it is scummy to have it as a line item in the bill, if it's discretionary. By all means, use a till system that allows you to put a % at the bottom, but including it in the bill is a dick move imo. You see it a lot in touristy places these days :/. There was talk last year of making it illegal to put it in the bill, but it doesn't seem like that amounted to anything as of yet.
5
I don't get it. If it's 10%, surely you just have your prices 10% higher? Its not America, we expect you to pay your staff out of the money we pay you.
5
For me, I'd rather them set the price 10% higher if they want 10% more, but it does allow them to make their prices appear lower, so I guess they feel it works, and they get more people to tip (which could make the staff happier...)
For me, it just leaves me feeling slightly sour at the restaurant, and less inclined to go back.
4
My thing is always that I've worked minimum wage jobs that were harder than waiting tables and nobody felt the need to tip me. I think it's a very weird Americanism that for some reason, people handling food should get tipped, even though they earn what we have decided is enough to live on. Like most people who care for and wipe the arses of old dying people are on minimum wage. I've not done it but the ones I've seen seemed like they put in more effort that someone asking me what pizza I want and then carrying me a pizza.
4
but I have seen one place that charges ALL people a service charge.
This is reasonably common in London - I was charged 12.5% at Comptoir Libanais and Tombo in South Kensington when eating alone. Service at Comptoir Libanais was indifferent but not so bad I felt I could take it off...
(I did get it taken it off the bill recently somewhere else though. The service was so half-arsed that after I did that they took the bill away and brought it back with the same total.)
1
Heh, guess I've got lucky the few times I've eaten out in London. Definitely a good chunk of 'em stick the discretionary charge on the bill.
1
From a purely legal standpoint: If you were informed in advance (ie. it was written on the menu) then upon ordering you have entered into a contract on this basis, and you would be expected to pay it. You could still however refuse it on the grounds of poor service.
If there was no prior notification of a 'mandatory service charge' then it wasn't part of the contract you entered into with the restaurant, and you would not be obliged to pay it.
4
I very much doubt that would stand up in court. What if you ordered off the special board, decide to have your usual, someone orders for you or you have what someone else is having without looking at the menu?
There's no small print on that and it's highly unlikely the waiting staff would point it out to the one person who ordered without reading the menu. If that person goes on to pay the bill then there is no way you can demand they pay a charge they weren't made aware of.
I've 15 years in the industry and everywhere I've worked that included it it was neither mandatory to point it out or that it be paid.
2
In practise, sure possibly not, and i would like to think no-one would be petty enough to argue a service charge in court. But to reiterate my preface, from a legal standpoint, what i wrote is how contract law works. If you were notified of the charge & you ordered, then you have entered into a contract on this basis. Arguments of reasonable notification would therefore be considered the crux of a hypothetical legal dispute on this matter.
I take on board your real world experience that this is never actually enforced, honestly i wouldn't expect that it is. But OP asked if they can legally add a gratuity, and the answer is yes they can. The literal definition of the law does not prohibit it.
2
I think you're right. I don't know how enforcable it is, just going off what I've seen. I always considered it to be a grey area and a stealth tax. Having said that I haven't worked in the industry for some 16 years now.
1
I've always assumed that the front of house staff would happily let you switch a gratuity for a cash tip, since (as far as im aware) they rarely ever receive any of the card paid gratuity. Not to mention i doubt many of them give enough of a shit to kick up a fuss over 'company policy'
I'd personally much rather do this, because like you say its a stealth tax, and my wife said she never received any card tips when she was in the industry, only cash. Cash tips must be increasingly rare nowadays as we move toward a cashless society.
1
Tangent: Giraffe used to be owned by Tesco, but I never saw a restaurant in their supermarket - which seemed a bit daft to me.
4
There is one (at least used to be) at the Tescos in Abingdon, Oxon, if you are interested in seeing the two combined.
3
I was just about to book my train tickets, but Google tells me that restaurant is permanently closed.
Shame.
7
That's a shame. I think it will end up being like Woodstock. More people will say they went than actually did. It is going to be the cultural phenomenon of our time.
7
I did go the day I moved to Oxford. I had a vege burger.
1
It's still there but possibly not a giraffe any more. Not sure what flavour of safari based animal it might be now.
2
If there's no restaurant anymore, they'll be left with hungry hippos.
3
There used to be one at one of the the Tesco's in Poole too
2
The tower park one, not the fleetsbridge one, for anyone about to book a long range Uber
2
They're only about 2 miles apart so you could even visit both
2
Watford's big Tesco has a Giraffe as part of the same building, although I don't think you can get from one to the other without stepping outside.
1
My local tesco did the merge, it was a grade above the usual tesco experience.
1
There is in Bournemouth, and the other in Poole is in the same centre.
1
Tangent: I went once. I had a burger and chips and it was just so disappointing.
1
Yes. But they're usually discretionary service charges, ie you can say to them to take it off.
They're relying on you being too British to kick up a fuss and ask though.
1
[deleted]
1
Fucking giraffes, with their long necks and their mandatory gratuities.
Stupid long horses
Always trying to eat the wall.
At least someone else is picking up on the real talking point here. Thought I was in r/jokes and the punchline had flew over my head.
Wouldn't have happened if you were a giraffe mate.
Wahey! Someone stuck their neck out for a giraffe joke.
Never spotted that coming.
stupid long horses