Overcharging in bars shops restaurants.

[Gratefuled]

1 minute ago, sonjack2847 said:

Sometimes Ed the only thing we can do is vote with our feet.It does not seem to sink that foreigners are not stupid and don`t like anybody trying to overcharge them.Out of all these instances some of them cannot  be mistake

A good way to lose customers. Their place is not the only one around. Which is why I mentioned the name.

[JJReyes]

Here are examples of sophisticated overcharging scams.

We were given the food and drinks menu. After the meal, the bill was much higher than my mental calculation. Asking for a menu, the waiter returned and presented a menu containing new, highly inflated prices. It was a brilliant scam on tourists. Locals paid the regular price. This was in Hong Kong. Also, never order a dish marked "at market price." without asking for the amount. One of my friends was charged HK$2,500 for a plate of fresh clams.

In a separate incident, I wanted to dine on Filipino seafood in Guam. There was such a restaurant except the prices on the menu were over inflated. I complained to the waiter in Filipino. "Don't worry, sir. We will give you a 50% discount." This perked my interest and I spent the rest of the evening observing arriving Japanese tourists accompanied by taxi drivers. The driver would introduce the tourists and ask the restaurant staff to "take good care of my friends." The taxi driver would return later to collect his 40% or 50% commissions for recommending the restaurant.

A bartender explained to me that many customers would order a drink by saying, "Gin Tonic" or "Scotch & Soda." The establishment would have something called a "bar pour" which would be a brand name like Johnny Walker or Chivas Regal. The drink is poured in front of the customer. The system is legit except that the per bottle price would be negotiated with the liquor distributor. The distributor sold more liquor and the profits were higher for the bar. 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2017 by JJReyes

[sonjack2847]

18 minutes ago, Gratefuled said:

A good way to lose customers. Their place is not the only one around. Which is why I mentioned the name.

I can tell you a bar/resort which always gets my bill wrong it is Pigeon resort.One week she told me my bill was for 1smb and 1 sm light.I told her it was wrong and she said no I wrote it down,I said but what about the other 4 bottles of smb I had.She changed the bill and I paid the higher amount.Every week this goes on as they do not pay enough attention to what they are doing.Now they just say to me how many did you have that works for both of us.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Unless you have a small table perhaps dont allow for the empties to be removed until the bill has been viewed. 

[AlwaysRt]

5 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Unless you have a small table perhaps dont allow for the empties to be removed until the bill has been viewed. 

That is exactly the same thing I have been thinking since yesterday, was going to make a comment but you read faster than me apparently LOL.

[sonjack2847]

I was at the red table a few weeks ago and had only had 4 beers well they tried to overcharge me I told them that as I was driving I only had 4.The lady in charge said ok next time keep your bottles and charged for 4.I have had no problems the last few times I have been in there.

[Dave Hounddriver]

6 minutes ago, sonjack2847 said:

The lady in charge said ok next time keep your bottles

Not sure how this would work.  If you had 4 empties in front of you the waitress may claim to have took some away while you were in the CR so all it proves is the minimum you have had, not the maximum.  It would also lead to people cheating and sticking their empties on another table and saying "See, I only have 4 empties so I only had 4 beers."  Bottom line is that its only proof to yourself and you already know.

I know a couple of expats who will have 2 beers, pay the bill, get up and go somewhere, and come back a few minutes later for a couple more, then do the same thing, never having more than 2 beer each time.  Its possible these guys have figured out a way to avoid being cheated without actually accusing the waitress' of anything of being a pest by paying for each one separately.  Just a thought. It may also be because they want to walk around a bit so they don't get too drunk too fast.  I was past my limit yesterday, I know 

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

 I was past my limit yesterday, I know 

Past your limit of what? Paying for someone you didn't know you were? Certainly not beer limit... 

[sonjack2847]

31 minutes ago, AlwaysRt said:

Past your limit of what? Paying for someone you didn't know you were? Certainly not beer limit... 

Dave only  has about 2 beers usually.

[Dave Hounddriver]

29 minutes ago, AlwaysRt said:

Certainly not beer limit

Yep.  I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to beers per hour.  I can drink a dozen over a period of 12 hours but I can't do 6 in 4 hours or I stagger home and fall asleep.  Its a complication of type 2 diabetes, plus age, that the body takes a long time to process each beer 

Doesn't stop me but it slows me down.