Service, food, cover - what charges?

First of all may I take the opportunity to congratulate you on your consumer protection initiatives, particularly your column in The Sunday Times which I follow with interest.

I am writing to seek your views with regard to what, in my view, seems to be a rather unfair practice by certain restaurant operators. I say "in my view" because there may well be a logical explanation for the object of my complaint, although I can not see one!

I recently went out to eat at San Giuliano Restaurant and upon payment was given the enclosed receipt. You will note from the attached that at the top and at the bottom of the receipt there are the words "Service charge not included". On being handed the receipt I left a 10% tip as per custom.

It was not till later that I realised that the receipt includes a "cover charge" of Lm1.60. Excuse my ignorance, but isn't a "cover charge" the same thing as a "service charge"?

Your views and comments would be appreciated. This is not a formal complaint and I am not asking for a refund of sorts, but I thought that this is a matter that you would find to be of general interest. (Nicolai Vella Falzon)

I asked for San Giuliano Restaurant's comments on the issue:

We refer to the letter by Mr Vella Falzon re the service charge and the cover charge. The two charges are entirely different.

The service charge, or as it is more commonly known, the tip, is a gratuity left for the waiting staff at the sole discretion of the customer depending on the level of satisfaction with the service offered. San Giuliano Restaurant has no fixed service charge and therefore this is completely optional.

The cover charge, on the other hand, is a normal fixed charge at many top class restaurants. This charge, in our case, covers among others, the cost of linen (tablecloths and napkins changed with every customer), bread and butter, and bruschetta.

We hope that this clarifies the matter. (A. Depasquale Schranz, restaurant manager)

The consumer is king of the marketplace wherein suppliers of products and services compete against each other for the consumer's custom.

While there are products and services of either a "personal" or a "material" nature, there are products and services of both a "personal" and "material" nature.

The product sold by restaurants includes both. It is probably the product that includes most ingredients, pardon the pun. Indeed when all is said and done, we can go on quantifying forever.

However, when it comes to pricing and presenting bills, in the final reckoning, what matters is that the buyer clearly understands how much money has to be paid and for what.

We have the right to know exactly how much we have to pay before we buy the product. This means that in restaurants there should not be any item or charge in the bill about which the customers were not informed prior to making the order which constitutes a commitment to buy the product.

In any case, unlike fast food or take-away outlets, it is understood that when it comes to restaurants' expenses, apart from food and cooking, they spend money on the environment, the atmosphere (!), the furniture, and yes, the tablecloths, the napkins, bread and butter, etc. These are all part of the suppliers' expenses to compile the ultimate 'restaurant" rather than "take-away" product/service.

Fortunately, unlike San Giuliano Restaurant, there are restaurants where they do not present bills to customers that include charges about which they were not informed in the first place. Moreover, as has been clearly demonstrated in this case, in restaurants where such a policy is adopted, when it comes to presenting bills, the customer is likely to get confused.

Therefore, if we find items/charges in our bill confusing and about which we were not informed earlier when we could have decided to take our custom elsewhere, we must ask for clarification. More importantly, however, we must not forget our consumer rights.

In this context the two rights in question are the right to be informed (prior to deciding whether to buy the respective product or not) and the right to choose our restaurants.