oppn parties Why Service Charge for Bad Service?

News Snippets

  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
Australia thrassh India in the 4th Test, dim their chances of making the WTC finals, Rohit, Virat and Rahul fail once again
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Why Service Charge for Bad Service?

By admin
First publised on 2017-01-03 13:27:05

About the Author

Sunil Garodia By our team of in-house writers.
People are talking about restaurant bills now. With the government saying that the service charge (as distinct from service tax, which has to be paid mandatorily) component should be optional – that a customer should pay only if he or she gets service of an expected quality, otherwise they can ask the eatery to revise the bill, the people have started talking about their horrible experiences in renowned restaurants where they were forced to pay 20% service charge on food bills despite getting atrocious service. Trade bodies of restaurants have retorted by saying that they will continue with the service charge and have haughtily added that patrons are welcome not to visit if they do not wish to pay the same.

Restaurants add various charges on their bills. One such is establishment charges. Taking the plea that they are providing diners with plush seating, lavish décor and air-conditioning, eateries charge a premium of anywhere between 200 to 500 percent on bottled water and branded soft drinks on the maximum retail price. If one carries one’s own drinking water, many times eateries do not provide empty glasses for the same. People have long resented this.

Logic provides that if a business is being run as a sit-down fine dining place, the price of food must cover all overheads the entrepreneur incurs. If dishes are priced upwards of Rs 350 for a portion, the waiter who serves the dishes must get his salary from that. Levying additional charges is abominable. Restaurants are already talking about how prices will be upwardly revised if they are not allowed to charge for service.

But keeping the service charge component optional is sure to start many ugly fights in restaurants. The best way would be for eateries to prominently display a board saying “this restaurant levies XX% service charge on its bill” and leave it to the diner whether he wishes to eat there or not. The same message should be prominently printed on all pages of the menu instead of being relegated to a small, 7 point line at the bottom. Many patrons end up leaving tips even after paying service charge in the bill as they do not know they have been charged separately for the service.