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A disgruntled Australian restaurant raised their concerns this week after they said they were hit with a $4 surcharge on their bill.
They said no signs were visible anywhere in the store explaining the surcharge, a trend they say seems to be becoming more common.
Two servings of beef pepper rice and a Pepsi Max cost the diner $40.97 earlier this month, but the total figure is shocking and prompted them to take a closer look at the receipt, which was later posted on Reddit.
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“Almost a goddamn $4 in fees and not a single sign to be seen. I noticed when I saw how much the transaction was on my phone, because I thought, surely my food wouldn’t come to that much?” they said.
They said the problem appears to be more common than in years past.
“A few years ago EFTPOS charges or any additional charges were clearly displayed at the counter. In fact, the staff usually go out of their way to let us know if there is an additional charge, how much it is and why it is there,” the diner said.
“Now it seems that nothing is actually valued at the amount they are advertising. Retailers always add some sort of fee, even my local coffee shop will add an extra 15 cents to my order.
“Are EFTPOS fees and surcharges normalized now?”
“I wonder how much money I actually spend on taxis a year now.”
Netizens criticized the fee in comments under the diner’s post.
“This is the ‘hidden cost’ crisis we’re going through right now,” wrote one person. “Money isn’t free either. You have to pay the staff to go to the bank to do a float, drop the express deposit envelope into the night safe at the end of the day.
“Saturday surcharge? Where is the “Additional charge for breathing restaurant air?” What a gang of bloodsucking insidious mozzes,” said another.
“A law that has no teeth”
Faced with what the diner called a growing trend of hidden fees from restaurants and retailers, they questioned the legality with forum users.
“The charges are never explained or listed anywhere in the store, they just hand you the EFTPOS machine without saying a word. I can’t help but feel cheated,” the diner wrote.
“Is this even legal?”
The short answer is no, if the business does not have any signs showing the 0.79 percent card surcharge and 10 percent Saturday surcharge listed on the receipt, that would be a violation of the law, according to ACCC.
The regulator called weekend surcharges “unavoidable” but said: “If they charge such a surcharge, they should include these words on the menu: Surcharge of [percentage] applied to [day or days].”
The ACCC has urged concerned customers to first contact the business about instances of misleading pricing and if this does not resolve the issue, it can be reported to the ACCC.
Although the regulator does not resolve individual complaints, it said: “The data from these reports informs what we investigate and what enforcement action we can take. It also helps inform our compliance and education, industry engagement, advocacy and research activities.”
Netizens on the platform said the enforcement of the rules did not go far enough.
“A law is only as good as its enforcement,” said one man. “It’s a law that has no teeth.”
But some say the bigger problem is inflation, which affects small businesses.
“Cafes and restaurants are really struggling, and the only way they can see ahead is to start hiding extra charges like this,” said one netizen.
“We have to stop doing such nonsense. But then we would have to realize that in today’s Australia it is not possible for a cafe or restaurant to make a bowl of beef rice for $16.50 because of inflation.
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