In order to prevent unfair business practices and violations of consumers’ rights in relation to the imposition of service fees in hotels and restaurants, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has developed guidelines.
According to the CCPA’s standards, service fees cannot be added to the food bill voluntarily or automatically by hotels or restaurants. No service price shall be collected under any other name. No hotel or restaurant may insist that a customer pay the service charge, and must make it abundantly apparent to the customer that doing so is voluntary, elective, and up to them. Consumers shall not be subject to any access restrictions or service provision limitations based on the collection of service fees.
It is not permitted to add the service charge to the food bill and then add GST to the total to collect it. By clicking the link, you can see the rules.
Consumers may request that a hotel or restaurant erase a service charge from their bill if they discover that the hotel or restaurant is charging customers in violation of the rules. By phoning 1915 or using the NCH mobile app, the consumer can also file a complaint with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), which serves as an alternative dispute resolution process at the pre-litigation level.
Restaurants making service costs mandatory and automatically adding them to the bill, hiding the fact that paying such fees is discretionary and voluntary, and embarrassing customers, if they refuse to pay service fees, are just a few of the complaints made by customers.
Consumer commissions have also ruled in favour of consumers in a number of cases involving the imposition of service fees, finding that doing so constitutes an unfair business practice and a breach of consumers’ rights.
The Consumer Commission will also accept complaints from consumers regarding unfair business practices. For quick and efficient remedy, the complaint may also be submitted electronically via the e-daakhil site at www.e-daakhil.nic.in. The consumer may also file a complaint with the district collector of the relevant district for the CCPA to investigate and take appropriate action. The CCPA can also receive complaints via email at [email protected].
Numerous complaints about the imposition of service fees have been made by customers to the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).
