Dear Clever Credit,
I went to a new restaurant Wednesday night with a few friends, and the bill was $125. I left a 15% tip of $18 — or at least I thought I did. I looked at my account later and saw a tip of $78! What should I do? That isn’t what I agreed to.
Signed,
Tipped Out
Dear Tipped,
Yikes! Hopefully this is just an innocent mistake and your server misread your tip, thinking that “1” was a “7.” Either way, you have a couple of options. If a server added a tip to your bill without disclosing it, you should immediately bring it up with the restaurant right away. A server cannot add tips or service charges to your bill without disclosing them first.
This is different from automatic gratuity, which is considered a service charge rather than a tip. Think of it this way: If your bill discloses an automatic gratuity charge of 20% but you only planned to leave 15%, you’re out of luck.
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If there was no automatic gratuity disclosed on your bill, then these should be your next steps to deal with the issue:
— Gather evidence. Find the physical copy of your customer receipt if you can. This should have the total and correct tip on it.
— Contact the restaurant. Reach out to the restaurant’s manager and let them know the situation. Provide them with the transaction information and explain the discrepancy. Hopefully the manager will understand and void the charge on the spot.
— Dispute the charge. If the restaurant proves to be uncooperative, then you need to contact your issuer. This is why gathering evidence is so important, because you’ll have to present that information to your issuer to prove the amount you originally authorized.
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If the charge has already been posted, you’ll need to initiate a chargeback. Just know that most disputes need to be filed within 60 days of the original charge.
Hopefully it’s just an honest mistake on your waiter’s part, but the fix is relatively simple. You might just have to be on the phone for a little while. Good luck!
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A Waiter Added an Unauthorized Tip. Should I Reverse the Charge? originally appeared on usnews.com
