restaurant not giving change or all of meal

[happyscooter]

Since when did it become customary for the restaurant to keep the change (silver) from your bill when they are paid? This has happened a few times recently, we are amazed. The last time it happened it was a quarter the girl kept. So we figured if they kept 25 cents from 100 tables a day, they would profit $25.00 a day. For nothing. We had it happen one time with a dime, then 2 dimes. When did they decide that the change should be in their favor? Why not round it off the other way and let us keep 75 cents? The other thing, we didn't get all of our entree. I thought we were supposed to, but didn't think about it until she brought the bill. We picked up a menu and it listed all of the side items which we didn't get. So we asked the server. She said 'unless you request all of your meal, we don't bring it out.'
If we had not been out of town, I would have asked for a box and took it home. As it stood we were in a tourist town for a long weekend and didn't have anywhere to put it for the drive home. I sent an email to the restaurant manager but as you can guess, no reply.

[happyscooter]

Hey, I have 11 karmas!

[happyscooter]

I WILL NOT use a cc to pay a meal at a restaurant so I can be ensured of the correct charge. When we did charge a meal (6 of us eating out for birthday, mother's day, father's day, etc...), we left the tip in cash. This is why, like Daphne, we go to the same restaurants over and over and over.

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2011 7:49:42 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

Since when did it become customary for the restaurant to keep the change (silver) from your bill when they are paid?

It's not... at least not here.

Between that and your entree problem, it sounds like you just went to a crappy restaurant.

[Apple]

I don't eat out often, but I've never had that happen. I did have to ask for my water about 5 times the last time I went out (not a refill, just to get the water). Maybe she figured it would force me to pay for a drink? If someone had the nerve to withold my change, I'd have the nerve to tell them I want it. Very bizarre about the missing food, I bet that's another way they make their profit.

[midjd]

I'd say this will start happening more often, I'm sure restaurants are having trouble with higher food/fuel costs... some around here have increased their prices a bit but many haven't yet.

[Cookies Galore]

You just went a bad restaurant, that's all.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

You just went a bad restaurant, that's all.


Obviously must have been in Philadelphia.

[Cookies Galore]

Apr 16, 2011 12:27:53 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

You just went a bad restaurant, that's all.


Obviously must have been in Philadelphia.

SF!








(translation: SF! I am shocked and angry that you would say such a thing about my wonderful city's amazing food culture. You are obviously crazy.... I am laughing at you, not with you.)

;D

[azphx1972]

I've never had this happen, although I prefer to pay by credit card because I hate carrying cash (especially change). Sounds like theft or human error to me.

[DVM gone riding]

I don't know about the change thing-I usually tell them to keep and include it as part of the tip, but it is now standard not to serve water unless asked for in many restaurants. I have never figured out if its the glasses or the water they are worried about.

[Deleted]

I can't remember the last time I paid with cash at a restaurant but find it strange they would not give you your exact change back.

[Deleted]

This has happened to me in both directions. I've seen servers just round things to the nearest $0.25 and not mess around with the pennies and smaller coins.

The obvious assumption is that it will even out with the tip, but it seems a little presumptuous. And occasionally, I really need the change for a parking meter or whatever.

I suspect it is related to the general inability to make change any more. A whole lot of cashiers would be completely baffled if their register didn't tell them exactly how many pennies they needed to hand back to a customer.

[cubefarmer]

It's fairly normal around here. So few people pay with cash oftentimes the restaurants don't even have any coin change on the premises. I was sitting at a bar at a fast casual chain restaurant waiting for some to-go food the other day and some older guy paid with cash and wanting his coin change. Neither cash register at the bar had any coin change nor did any of the wait staff.

[Baby Fawkes]

Apr 16, 2011 16:56:22 GMT -5 @craftysarah said:

I suspect it is related to the general inability to make change any more. A whole lot of cashiers would be completely baffled if their register didn't tell them exactly how many pennies they needed to hand back to a customer.

I have a number of friends who are servers in restaurants and they often round out the money because they carry change purses around with them. I'm not sure the exact details, but I know that they may cash out multiple tables without going back to the register. There probably are a number of folks that have trouble with basic math, but I wouldn't suspect that's the most common case. They told me the reasons once before but I can't remember fully. I did make the comment to them about which way they round and they told me that it is always in the favour of the customer. They said something about their point of sale system having a prompt when they do things later on asking if they rounded and there's a limit of 50c that it allows without needing manager approval

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2011 17:00:16 GMT -5 cubefarmer said:

It's fairly normal around here. So few people pay with cash oftentimes the restaurants don't even have any coin change on the premises. I was sitting at a bar at a fast casual chain restaurant waiting for some to-go food the other day and some older guy paid with cash and wanting his coin change. Neither cash register at the bar had any coin change nor did any of the wait staff.

I think this might be a good reason for it, a lot of people pay with debit/credit card nowdays that some restaurants may not carry change.

And also, you have the "keep the change" response (hear that a lot when I go buy coffee" that the servers may assume that they will end up keeping the change anyway so just round it up.

[marvholly]

I would NOT have tolerated either the no change or the shorted meal. I would have IMMEDIATLY sent for the mgr and asked what he intended to do about BOTH.

The ONLY thing that would have been acceptable to me would have been for the wait person to immediatly be reprimanded or fired and at least one meal to be comped. The excuse that the server gave on the meal shortages smells like a mgmt decision because the place is just trying to stay afloat w/o raising menu prices. BAD move shorting customers in ANY way.

[happyscooter]

Marv, I think we were both just stunned at her reasoning on the entrees. I have contacted the restaurant, but I haven't heard from them. Again, it is a tourist town and I am sure that they think people are there for 1 time and will never be back to that city.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

As it stood we were in a tourist town for a long weekend and didn't have anywhere to put it for the drive home.

This.....the restaurant my find that they can get away with crap like this because it is a tourist town, but you don't have to let them do so.

However, IME if you don't get everything you ask for, you need to deal with it at the time. If you didn't get your full meal, why didn't you ask for it when they brought your entrees?

At the same time, if you didn't get all your change, why didn't you ask for it?

In any case, I'd be going up the management ladder and contact the owner of the restaurant. If you don't get an appropriate response, then there are a myriad of sites that review restaurants, and I'd likely be leaving a not so great review on them.

[marvholly]

happy
I would recontact the mgr and tell him you were filing a consumer FRAUD complaint w/the town, BBB and state's attorney's office if you do not get a good check within 48 hours for an entire meal (I assume you paid $$). Also, I hope you stiffed the waitress for all that..........garbage. NOT giving you everything the menu said was included is FRAUD.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

If you aren't going to give me the full entree, then I don't want to be paying full price. I'd have made a huge stink about it especially if we were not informed ahead of time of this policy.

[thyme4change]

Are you really fussing about a quarter?

[oreo]

I'd definitely be more upset about the lack of food. Unless it was stuff I didn't want, I probably would have noticed it when the food came though.

As for change, I've had them round the bills in our favor but never in the restaurants favor.

I think you should tell us where this place is so we can all not get taken!

[kgb18]

We picked up a menu and it listed all of the side items which we didn't get. So we asked the server. She said 'unless you request all of your meal, we don't bring it out.'

I have never heard of such a thing. That's cheating the customer if you're paying for the full meals. I've also never had a server not bring us our complete change, but then again we usually pay with a debit card.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"I would NOT have tolerated either the no change or the shorted meal. I would have IMMEDIATLY sent for the mgr and asked what he intended to do about BOTH.":::...

Same. We review the bill and if anything did not make it to the table, we have the bill adjusted. And yes, sometimes we've received things we weren't charged for, and I'll point those out too.

...:::"especially if we were not informed ahead of time of this policy.":::...

I feel the same way about policies. 9/10 times, I will fight an up charge if I was not told about it... especially some of those sneakier ones like 50c for extra bread.

...:::"Are you really fussing about a quarter?":::...

I think what annoys most people is the principle of the thing. I would bet that these days, some wait staff stay silent about up charges because they are counting on the "well its just a dollar" response. I'd imagine in big groups, they are hoping that someone would rather pay than embarrass themselves in front of the group.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I feel that if you don't address an issue in person with the manager before you leave, you rarely get any response. I don't waste my time emailing anyone anymore, or even trying to call. But I will take the time to go to www.tripadvisor.com and other sites and write them a nice review...

[Wisconsin Beth]

We don't eat out much but prefer to pay in cash. And when the bill comes, we usually figure out tip and leave the entire bill + tip in the folder/on the table. Usually the waitstaff will say something about change and we say something about being good.

[jeffreymo]

When we dine out I pay with a credit card. I calculate the tip so that it rounds the total transaction to a whole dollar. Sometimes when I go to check my credit card transactions I notice that the tip is rounded down to the nearest dollar and my transaction is not whole. So essentially the server is saying "Thanks, but no thanks" for my loose change. They are either too lazy to pull the correct change from the register at the end of the night, or they have no use for loose change.

[TheOtherMe]

I have learned over the years to take it up with the server and if I get no satisfaction, I ask for the manager.

Got totally angry at an Outback who served me cold french onion soup. Server disappeared, but when he finally returned, I told him soup was cold and it's supposed to be steaming. I had only eaten one bite. He went and got the manager, so by now the soup is really cold and inedible. Manager tries to tell me the soup is fine and just needs to go in the microwave. Well, I know that soup is to be baked and the microwave isn't going to cut it. I said no, I don't even want the soup now. Take it off my check and I'm leaving. I didn't leave a tip and have not been back to that particular Outback.

We don't have an Outback near where I live. I love the Outback. The one I frequented before moving here would have comped the rest of the order, which was only a soda. They didn't. Will never go back.

If I add the tip on to the CC, I usually make it come out to an even dollar amount. One restaurant changed the amount so it came out to an even .25. They have gone out of business. I never went back there either.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Apr 18, 2011 9:59:29 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Are you really fussing about a quarter?

I'm a former bartender and server with definite "industry" sympathies-- and a big tipper.

I don't see this as fussing about a quarter-- I see it as the principle of the thing.

1. You get what you order.

2. You pay gratuity voluntarily. It's YOUR money unless or until you CHOOSE to part with it.

As a server or bartender-- I would never have dreamed of working for a place that withheld a portion of a person's order unless they asked for it-- that's a bunch of BS. And you give people their change-- I ALWAYS rounded to the nearest quarter, but it was always in the customer's favor.