HYDERABAD: If the customer in you is dissatisfied with the service at a restaurant, you can choose not to pay the service charge. This is a notification from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution released on Tuesday making service charge “discretionary or voluntary”. This move spells trouble for some fine dine restaurants in the city.
“How do we know if the cause of dissatisfaction is genuine or not?” wondered a restaurant manager of an upscale fine dine restaurant located in Begumpet.
“We charge 10 per cent service charge. In the past few months there have been queries from customers on the service charge being levied by us,” he added.
“We have faced issues due to service charge with maybe close to 5 pc of customers in a month who are not willing to pay service charges. Now the rate we charge has been fixed by our management.”
“If a customer refuses to pay the charge we sometimes have to put that amount from our pocket,” said a representative of Oh!Calcutta restaurant.
The ministry in its notification said, “A number of complaints from consumers have been received that hotels and restaurants are following the practice of charging ‘service charge’ in the range of 5-20 pc, in lieu of tips, which a consumer is forced to pay irrespective of the kind of service provided to him,”.
The ministry had then sought clarification from the Hotel Association of India. The association responded saying the service charges were “discretionary” and that it could be waived of at the customers request.
The ministry cited the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, in their notification, saying, the law provides that a trade practice which, for the purpose of promoting the sale, use or the supply of any goods or for the provision of any service, adopts any unfair method or deceptive practice, is to be treated as an unfair trade practice.