Last year, service charge by restaurants for the convenience of customers was declared illegal. Even today many hotels and restaurants are cleverly adding service charges to the bills. Today we will tell you what rights you have for not paying this bill.
We all must have eaten food in a hotel or restaurant with our friends or families at some point in time. Keeping in mind the convenience of the customers, the central government brought a law in July 2022, under which the restaurateurs cannot force you to pay service charges.
But even today many restaurants and hotels are cleverly cheating you by adding service charges to your food bill. On July 4, 2022, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued certain guidelines to prevent the violation of consumer rights in hotels and restaurants.
These guidelines state that service charge in restaurants and hotels is illegal and cannot be levied automatically or by default in food bills. Today we will tell you what rights you have as a customer using which you can refuse to pay the service charge.
What is a service charge?
In the bill that is given to you after the meal, a charge of 5-10% is charged in the name of service charge on top of your food bill, due to which CCPA issued guidelines against service charges in restaurants
What rights do you have as a customer?
First request the restaurant or hotel to remove the service charge from the bill.
If the hotel or restaurant refuses to waive the service charge even after your request, you can lodge a complaint against the restaurant on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) by calling 1915 or on the NCH mobile app.
You can also file a complaint against such unfair violations online with the Consumer Commission through e-Daakhil (www.e-daakhil.nic.in) portal.
Apart from this, you can also file a complaint against the concerned restaurant to the District Collector.
You can also lodge a complaint directly by writing to the CCPA at com-ccpa@nic.in.
