Consumer Forum

Last week's column on restaurant tipping hit a nerve with readers.

Last week's column on restaurant tipping hit a nerve with readers.

The reaction highlights two major issues: concerns that business owners don't pay their waiters enough or at all, and the inclusion by some eateries of an automatic 10% service charge on bills.

Not paying waiters the prescribed minimum wage is illegal. Since July 2007, any person working in the hospitality industry for 24 hours or more a month is regarded as an employee and must be paid a minimum wage, excluding any gratuity or tip.

Adding a service charge to a restaurant bill, however, is not against the law. As long as the restaurant declares this charge up front, usually on the menu, it's a legally acceptable, albeit frustrating, way of billing.

Here's what some readers had to say:

Tipping and the law

I have come across a few bills where restaurants automatically add 10% service charge to the bill. Is this legal? - Anton Schutte, by e-mail

Said Consumer Goods and Services Ombud Neville Melville: Yes. The legal rule is that in order for a party to rely upon a contractual term, it must show that the other party was in fact aware of it, or that it was so conspicuously displayed that it can be inferred that they must have been aware of it.

Popularity tax

IT is really irritating to see on a menu that "a surcharge of 10% will be added to the total bill when there are more than six [sometimes it is eight or 10] persons at the table".

It suggests I am paying a penalty for giving them more business.

I have also been to restaurants that charge a 10% service fee, regardless, and in this case I am reluctant to add a tip as well, but always worry about whether the waiters get any of the extra. - Ann Holmes, by e-mail

Tip on top of tip

ON October 18 I took three members of my family to lunch at Her Majesteas in Heidelberg, Gauteng. The bill came to R420 plus an unspecified amount of R42, which I assumed was VAT, bringing the total to R462.

I asked the cashier to add a R50 tip. Later I realised that the R42 was in fact a 10% service charge. I was furious that the cashier had not explained this to me.

I live in Benoni, otherwise I would have gone back immediately and demanded my R50 back. - Noreen Easton, by e-mail

Her Majesteas responded: On the front cover of our menu it clearly states that we add an automatic 10% service fee. If service was not up to standard, we waive it.

About 50% of our customers add an additional tip. We usually alert those customers to our service fee. In your case, clearly we didn't. We'd be happy to refund you your R50.

Head left spinning

A few weeks ago a group of us had a meal at Roma Revolving restaurant in Durban and (my own fault) I omitted to notice that they added a 10% gratuity charge to the bill.

What added insult to injury was that under the total of the bill was a space for customers to add a gratuity, so unsuspecting customers are easily fooled. Our bill came to more than R1700 so I added my 10% and inadvertently paid a tip of R340. The Roma is now off my list. - Tony Ball, Durban

Roma Revolving responded: The 10% charge is clearly marked in bold on every page of our menu. It's also shown on the bill.

Calculated pre-tip

WHAT bugs the hell out of everyone is restaurants automatically charging for tables exceeding eight or 10 people. It just means they don't have to even bother about good service because they are getting the money anyway. - Gary Smith, by e-mail

Automatic gratuity

The bigger problem is when parties of 10 or more are charged an automatic gratuity of 10%. Imagine walking into a shop and purchasing 10 items and being charged extra. - Myron Wood, by e-mail

Amount is my choice

I will not be told how much I should tip. I have heard from waiters that they are not paid a wage and that they live on what they make in tips. These restaurants should be prosecuted.- Willie Swart, by e-mail

Pay your waiters

Some restaurants are not paying anything to the waiters and yet they call them employees. The business owner mustn't dump his responsibilities on the patron while he smiles all the way to the bank. - Alfred Mogwera, by e-mail

Include service in bill

Owners want waiters but don't want to pay them. They should be brave enough to increase their prices to include service, with discretionary tips being a thank-you for politeness et cetera. In this way the waiter would get a "fair" wage, with some cream on top if they please. - Peter Youell, by e-mail.

Begging bowls

WHAT gets me is the tipping plates or bowls in forecourt toilets and convenience stores and similar outlets asking for staff tips. It's a cheek. Let the owners pay staff better. - Gershmead, Gallo Manor

Doesn't happen in Oz

IT'S all a huge con. Doesn't happen in Oz, where staff are paid an honest salary. No culture of tipping. - Maureen Mayes, Hoedspruit

What a cheek

I DO not know how M Squared has the audacity. It must think its customers are thick. If I were to receive a bill in that format, then there would be no tip at all. - Tony Mills, Broederstroom

Just a suggestion

I WAS amused that anybody would be annoyed that M Squared simplifies the choice for a customer to give a tip to their excellent waiters.

It is a guide only. We tip as much as we can afford. - Elaine van der Heever, by e-mail

M Squared on money

I MUST support Richard Walsh of M Squared. He is moving with the times.

In the US most restaurants visited reflected suggested tips which, in my opinion, made it much easier to add the chosen amount to the bill. We as a family have a culture of tipping. Perhaps your reader who complained does not. - Michael Abdinor, Cape Town

People like the guide

AS a diner and restaurant owner I hate tipping, but it is here to stay. We ensure that our staff get as much bang for their tip as possible.

In many cases, even though we pay way more than the industry minimum, the tips my staff take home enable them to live a little better.

We have a tip guide on our bills (10% for good food and service, 15% for above average) and this is just a guide, but we get lots of positive feedback. - Chef patron Simon Kerr, The Phatt Chef Restaurant, Oliviershoek Pass

Usual practice in US

HAVING just returned from the US, I was intrigued to discover that the restaurant bill there came with a choice of three tip amounts: 15% , 18% and 20%. Then there is the local tax. All this added a minimum of 25% to the original menu price. So maybe 10% is a treat, especially considering that an average meal in the US is triple the price in South Africa. - Dave Walshe, by e-mail

They should tip me

AS the owner of a small B&B, I always wondered why this [tipping] practice occurs. Come the festive season and I recognise my guests' loyalty by giving them a gift. Why should I tip, inter alia, "the beauty therapist and the woman who washes hair in the salon"? Truth be told, they should be giving me some sort of gift for my loyal support, not the other way around. - Lucille Byrnes, Green Point