Hidden surcharges leave bad taste in Queensland diners’ mouths
Additional hidden fees at a Brisbane Mexican restaurant have left diners fuming.
The fees hidden in the fine print of the menu at El Camino Cantina in Southbank have not been received well, with over 1300 people expressing their distaste.
“Additional service fees every day of the week,” the diner noted.
The menu features a small disclaimer noting charges of a 5 per cent service fee from Monday to Saturday and a 10 per cent service fee on Sundays. On public holidays, customers are slugged an extra 15 per cent.
The restaurant will also charge groups of 10 or more a “discretionary” service charge, while the usual fees for credit cards and debit cards still apply.
“That’s such BS; service fees shouldn’t be a thing. Include them in your price and stop deceiving customers!” one commenter wrote.
“(There is) literally no way to pay the price listed on the menu. It’s not about the price, it’s about the underhanded way of stating the price,” one person said.
One noted they were up for a 25% surcharge for dining with a group of 10 people on a public holiday.
“What a joke,” they said.
Another took umbrage over the QR code used instead of table service for ordering.
“You order everything off a QR code … so what is the service, exactly?” they asked.
El Camino Cantina owners defended the charges.
“Service charges are commonplace across the Australian hospitality industry and cover various costs incurred by businesses, including penalty rate wages on particular days and higher costs of operating at certain times,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“In addition, recent soaring inflation and minimum wage increases have impacted our business, which continues to be impacted by Covid-19 induced hospitality hardship. We are fully transparent about service charges, which are noted on our menus, websites, and receipts.”
The spokesperson did not answer the question of whether it would better to increase prices rather than add surcharges.
This is the second Queensland restaurant to come under fire after the Sunshine Coast’s Bavarian Bier Café was also accused of having “sneaky surcharges”.
Both restaurants are owned by Pacific Concepts, which looks to have implemented the surcharges across several venues.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has flagged the issue of misleading surcharges if they display a price as a total cost when there are extra fees.
“A simple way to avoid misleading consumers is to display an all-inclusive price that includes the lowest surcharge the consumer cannot avoid paying,” the ACC stated.
Irit Jackson, 20th September 2022
