Do you HAVE to pay the tip?

Question

Last week some friends of mine, and my husband and I went out to eat. Six of us all together. It was a really pricey restaurant. About $30 person to eat. Well...the service sucked! My husband even had to refill his on glass of tea, and when we ordered a drink from the bar it took every bit of 30 minutes. Two of my friends ordered steaks and got pork chops, it took them so long to bring it back out, they just had theirs put in a box to go. Well when we got our check, there was a 18% gratuity already added. If it had been up to me I would not have paid it, or at least asked for the manager, but 'the guys' were just ready to get out of there as we were already running late for our show. My question is...when the service is bad, and the gratuity is added to the check do you have to pay it, or what happens if you decide not too? How can they MAKE you tip a person?

I do not know where the guy that said $30 to eat is not expensive...maybe not to you but when you pay $30 roasted tomato chicken, $7 for salad and 8.50 for each drink ordered...it adds up....congrats to you for being rich, most of us arent. And yes it usually is a very nice restaurant in a resort area. It is a 3.5 star...sorry if all you eat at is 5 0r 6 star. I wouldnt care if it was Shoneys, if the service isnt good, I do not think you should have to pay gratuity!

Answer 1

Your real trouble was that the group was in a hurry. I think that the best decision when that is occurring is to pay and move on.

sometimes you might even post the name here.

I vowed for 10 years not to set food in a chain that really torked me .. but I have broken down and go there now. At that time a manager at a Golden coral was so intent on making a young mother pay a full adult plate for the young troublesome child who was grabbing food from mommy and daddy even though he had his own plate that it ruined the experence for my date and me.

To this day I wished I would have unloaded not only on the manager who ruined my evening but the district manager. But in this case also I probably could not have done it with my friend standing by.

Also you have to make a decision to which you will ever go back there.

it does gets sticky when the tip is on the bill. and if you don't pay it you will see the manager; which is only right.

Most of the time the house has a mandatory charge when there are 4 or more people .. however if the service is bad and you can show that you are not just whining .. they can and often will wave the bill.

It also helps if you are a regular.

Once when I was in a crabby mood and the service was truly abysmal at a nice place about 6 of us as a group we frequented each week for weeks. .. we got to speak to the manager, got the bill corrected for items we did not order, said we really did not want to see him or the waitress and did not show up for a few weeks. Things were ok when we returned.

I found out later that The manager took us literally and fired the waitress a few days later who gave us all the problems. It bit me some cause it turned out that a junior co-worker was this watress's friend.

Answer 2

If the service sucked as bad as your saying, you shouldn't have paid for 1/2 of it. I would have spoken to a manager about everything before I left the restaurant. EVEN when the gratuity is added to a check you are by no means obligated to pay that total amount the tip can just as easily be removed by a manager, I am a server and where I used to work we added the gratuity to a party of 8 or more, I never had anyone that didn't pay it, but as far as I know I have never sucked that bad either. I often had people say that they left more because they didn't think the 18% was enough. If you get horrible service or food in a restaurant it is your obligation to tell a manager, they might not have a clue as to what has happened. They don't want you leaving there and telling a friend (or the entire internet) that their restaurant sucked. They want you to come back and bring 10 friends. Always let someone know about it, never pay for a service that didn't live up to your expectations. And $30 + a plate is considered fine dining, for the person that said that isn't expensive.

Answer 3

Etiquette speaking you are suppose to leave 15% gratuity if the service is good for a normal party. many restaurants will add a 18-20% for parties larger than 5, so your party of 6 falls in that category.

However, that does not excuse the poor service. It was either the cooks fault or the server. In any case you should call the manager and report it and ask for a refund or a gift card to try the restaurant again.

Answer 4

You don't need to tip if the service sucked. Sure, the restaurant was pricey and the gratuity was already there, but you can say to the person at the front desk, "The service at my table sucked, my friends got the wrong food, so I would not like to pay a tip." If the person says you have to, then just pay it and make sure you tell everyone you know that the restaurant is horrible. Hopefully your friends will listen and then they won't have the same problem.

Answer 5

You probably had the gratuity automatically included because there were so many of you. Maybe next time you can split it with 2 tables near each other?

In cases where the service sucks, I really dont' think you should have to pay. I know I don't pay when I have bad service though I probably should. To me, the purpose of going out is so you can relax and not have to serve yourself.

Next time you might try asking for the manager. They are usually quite understanding.

Good luck.

Answer 6

The service may not be the server's fault. The kitchen could have prepared the wrong food and slowly, the server does not make the bar drinks. Server's have to depend on other staff members (who get paid at least minimum wages) to prepare orders quickly and correctly. If they are wrong the server suffers since they usually get much lower then minimum wage. I would not tip the server either if it were their fault, but unless I know for sure I do tip the server.

Answer 7

I am one that believes you don't have to tip but, I usually do. I would not pay a tip in this case and I would have spoken to the manager and aked him for some restitution. That was an awful experience for friends to share. I hope none of you go back there. And It is not too late to call the manager and tell them what happened.

Answer 8

$30 per person is not expensive to eat.

However back to your question, yes you have to pay it since it was added to the check...if that policy was posted. Otherwise you could at least argue the point with management. Most decent restaurants will discount the bill for poor service or meal.

Sounds like you didn't really go to that good of a restaurant to begin with, just chalk it up to experience and don't go there again.

Answer 9

Write a letter now. Some places have it posted that if you have a group of a certain number a tip is required. But Id call or write now, talk to the manager, explain what happened.

Then again, I called after my terrible valentines day service, they said theyd send a $25 gift certificate and never did! Thanks for reminding me.

Answer 10

since it was an expensive restaurant, maybe its always automatically added on there. but no, u dont HAVE to pay the tip. if the service sucks, let them know by not paying a tip. and if they add it on there anyway and you dont feel like they should've, then talk to the manager.