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Service Charge
Aim is to create awareness among consumers and protect them from being overcharged; another issue is the practice by manufacturers to compel users to download apps in order to make complaints
People prefer making transactions online but regard service charges as unjustified and costly
It comes just days after, on Tuesday, HC had asked the restaurants why they could not increase the salaries of their staff instead of levying a service charge
The Delhi High Court questioned why restaurants should recover service charges from consumers as an additional and separate levy
Guidelines prohibit levy of service charge on food bills
Usually there is a marked difference between the charges promised and what we pay at the end of a service, whether at a restaurant or booking an air ticket. How can we ensure price transparency?
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No such charge on takeaway orders: Court
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed the recent guidelines prohibiting hotels and restaurants from levying service charge automatically on food bills
High food inflation forces restaurants to hike prices; ban on service charge will likely lead to further increases in the prices of dishes on the menu
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Industry experts say that while restaurants will increase the food prices there is no certainty on it going to staff as it will be a part of the owner's revenue
Restaurants say they already explicitly mention the charge in notices at the gate and on the menus, and if someone chooses to use their services, they are bound to pay it
According to the NRAI, the government cannot bring about a change insofar as a levy of service charge is concerned by making guidelines
The decision has drawn mixed response from hoteliers, restaurant owners and associations, across India, some of whom said the move will ''not impact'' their businesses
If a restaurant is forcing customers to pay extra money in the name of service charges, customers can lodge a complaint with the CCPA
The hotels have to clearly inform the consumer that paying the service charge is at the consumer's discretion, the CCPA said
Service charge in hotel/restaurant bill cannot be collected from consumers by any other name; can't be added to food bill, states CCPA order
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The government will soon come out with a legal framework to stop restaurants levying service charge from customers as the practice is "unfair", Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said on Thursday. After a meeting with representatives of associations of restaurants as well as consumers, Singh said that although the associations claim the practice is legal, the Department of Consumer Affairs is of the view that it adversely affects the rights of the consumers and it is an "unfair trade practice". "We will soon work on a legal framework because there were guidelines of 2017 which they have not enforced. The guidelines are not generally legally enforceable," he told PTI. The meeting was attended by representatives of National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) and consumer organisations, including Mumbai Grahak Panchayat and Pushpa Girimaji. A legal framework will be legally binding on them to stop this ...