Was at Prince Alfred in Bayeswater today and they charged a service charge of 4% even when ordering drinks at the bar. This is getting out of hand. And I am sure it's deliberate that they placed that placard in front of the till to make it less noticeable (to see the numbers). Name and Shame! Never giving them custom again. Hope the extra pennies was worth it to them!
by quickfix12
29 comments
is a service charge a tip? says tips go to staff but feels weird to use different language. I would of course ask it to be taken off
That can fuck right off
Cheers! Won’t be going there then. Don’t mind the card payments but I’m absolutely not paying an additional 4% to collect my own drink from the bar. Where’s the service?
optional, so opt out
Absolutely mental stuff. What can we practically do about it though? Feel a bit powerless when this is obviously just very bad for the future of hospitality
Oh wow, that’s crazy. I was going to say I’ve seen lots of pubs/bars asking for tips on the payment terminal, but I’ve not seen bars including it _by default_. That’s too far!
There’s a service charge epidemic
Optional but automatically applied. Riiiiight…
I’ve also seen this at a counter service coffee shop.
Pay for your coffee & food. Go and find a table yourself. Wait for your food. Didn’t matter how long it takes….. You’ve already tipped them.
( And they didn’t even have a sign. I just thought I’d been over charged. )
It’s fucking US culture coming over here. I don’t go back to those places
fuck them off then
If it’s automatic, how is it optional?
Do customers have the option of taking it back off?
thanks for letting us know.
Girrafe restaurant do this also – 12.5% (!!!) they tried to add to our bill for their shitty food and shittier service. Fuck em.
Damn, now I’m going to have to check this at every pub and tell them to take it off
Is cashless legal? I come from a country where businesses are legally required to accept cash
Buy your drinks from an off licence, cross the road to the park and find a park bench
It says the 4% is optional.
“I’d like to remove the optional service charge please”
“May I have the bill without the service charge? Thank you!” as a default way to ask for the bill.
So obsessed with America that we are becoming them.
4% service charge.
Tips go to staff.
Do they consider the service charge to be “tips”?
Or do they keep the 4% and tips come after that?
Using the two terms is confusing.
Deliberately?
To be honest the thing that I’m surprised by is explicitly accepting AMEX but not MasterCard.
100% no business for me.
They deserve to go out of business.
This is getting ridiculous. We should not be paying service charges, full stop. I’ve asked for them to removed at times but when your server is trying their best to provide good service it just makes me feel guilty but truly it’s an unjustifiable charge and shits expensive enough as it is
My local coffee shop has the tip option on the payment screen even for takeaway coffee. It does leave a somewhat sour taste in my mouth that they are expecting extra money on top of the £3.80 I’m paying them to make a drink.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/yeDAav3cRYdzWdan6?g_st=ipc
The other day at a pub near me, we were doing rounds and everyone paid different amounts for the same round. We take this up with the manager, turns out the lady on the till was applying a different tip % for everyone. Manager gave us a free round tho, which was nice.
The Barley Mow in Westminster (Horseferry Road) has been known to add service charge to all bar orders.
Avoid & pls upvote for visibility.
They’re snide on google reviews about it..!
And that’s how this shit starts, at only 4%
Everything is already expensive so they need to fuck off with this.
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