Special Drink? Surprise Service Charge From Paola Kiosk Leaves Diners Confused
A group of diners were left surprised and annoyed after they ordered some coffees from a Paola kiosk – only to find an extra €4 charge for a “special drink” they hadn’t ordered.
And when they asked staff what it was for, they were told that it’s standard procedure, leading diners to new fears of service charges being rolled out by restaurants locally as COVID-19 measures begin to be relaxed.
“It would not be a problem since we were four people, so €1 each, but the service fee is listed as a special drink on the receipt rather then a service fee. When telling staff, all they could say was ‘heq, it’s how it’s done’,” one of the diners said online, sharing the receipt from the meal.
For four coffees, the table was charged €9 – €4 of which were for a “special drink” that seems to have been passed off as a service charge.
Pictured above: Maltese restaurant interior
People weren’t sure how to react, with some joking that at least the coffees themselves were well-priced, while others said this was already happening in restaurants across the island.
The fears over service charges being rolled out in Malta comes as restaurants and diners face increasingly razor-thin margin and profits coming out a tempestuous pandemic.
However, most people agreed that diners should be informed of a service charge from beforehand – and that it shouldn’t be tacked on as a “special drink”.
Even more worrying was the fact that, generally, a service charge is around 10% to 12% of the total bill, and not a flat charge regardless of what one spends.
Either way, diners may now need to keep their eyes open for new charges tacked on their bills when eating out – especially if they haven’t ordered any “special drinks”.
Do you think restaurants should begin adding service charges to the final bill?
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