In Guangzhou, "drinking tea" is a dining habit but also a dining culture, and it is a common experience for people to be charged for tea at restaurants. Have you ever thought about whether the charge for tea is reasonable?

Yesterday, the Guangzhou Municipal Consumer Council issued a public opinion survey report on the situation of tea charges in the catering industry in Guangzhou. The report shows that 99% of the consumers surveyed have been charged "tea place fee", 77% of the consumers surveyed think that the charge "tea place fee" is unreasonable. The Consumer Council said that if tea is not provided free of charge, restaurants should inform consumers in advance, so that consumers can choose whether they need tea, do not disguise forced consumption.

Data

Ninety-eight percent of the restaurants surveyed charge a tea ceremony fee

Recently, Liaoning Province, the newly introduced "Liaoning Province Consumer Protection Regulations" mentioned that "shall not be charged or disguised as a charge for the cost of the dining room, sterilized tableware, bottle-opening fees and other fees that do not comply with the provisions of the regulations." For a while, the topics of dining space fee and tea space fee have attracted public attention.

"Tea table fee" refers to the basic tea table fee, but also includes dining table fee, sterilized tableware fee and other charges. Recently, the Guangzhou Consumer Council survey found that, in the questionnaire surveyed 705 consumers, 99% of consumers have been charged "tea table fee", 77% of consumers think that charging tea table fee "unreasonable". Nevertheless, more than half of the consumers surveyed have the attitude of "although they have opinions, but can only go against the grain".

Whether to abolish the tea ceremony fee, 79% of the consumers surveyed support the abolition. At the same time, 8% of the consumers surveyed do not recommend the abolition of the tea ceremony fee, 66% of these consumers suggested that "after the price is clearly marked and let consumers choose", because of the fear that the abolition of the quality of service will be reduced, the price of food increased, the loss of cultural characteristics of the tea ceremony in Guangzhou City, and other phenomena.

For the tea ceremony fee, Guangzhou Municipal Consumer Council released a report showing that volunteers visited 52 offline restaurants and found that 98% of the restaurants need to charge tea ceremony fee, dining fee, disinfection of tableware fee, 83% of the restaurants have the tea ceremony fee clearly marked price, 65% of the restaurants basic tea ceremony fee standard is 1 ~ 5 yuan / person. However, 49 restaurants do not have the choice of whether to pay for tea, that is, "as long as consumption must pay for tea".

The Consumer Council pointed out that the charging of various types of tea ceremony fees seems to have become an unspoken rule in the catering industry. Numerous restaurants to charge a fee for tea, one of the "conscious" to follow the trend, and the second "subsidized" food prices. Catering industry has gradually evolved into a phenomenon of tea place fees disguised as charges, invisible deprivation of the consumer's right to make their own choices.

Reminder

Forced to pay the tea place fee can actively defend rights

Guangzhou Municipal Consumer Council suggests the majority of consumers, should be re-concerned about being forced to pay the "tea place fee" phenomenon, and actively defend the rights of the consumer process as far as possible to retain the evidence in hand. If you find consumer infringement, you can call the Guangzhou 12345 service hotline to complain, report.

Voice

People: do not drink tea only drink water should be charged for tea?

Chatting about the tea place fee, some people expressed doubts: do not drink tea only drinking water also be businessmen charged tea place fee, so reasonable? Citizen Mr. Chen said, "Once went to eat tea, the business said to charge a tea place fee, I said I don't drink tea water just drink plain water, but they still want to charge the same tea place fee. I don't need tea, so why do they still charge the same fee?"

Some consumers said that even their own children were charged for tea space when they drank the water they brought with them. Ms. Lee, a member of the public, said, "They said my child is more than 1 meter 2 and must be charged a tea place fee."

Businesses: tea place fee including service fee tableware fee

Yesterday, the reporter visited the Tianhe business district found that, regardless of whether the tea, as long as the consumer seated dining, many businesses will charge tea place fee. Banquet Jiangnan in Tianhe City, dining ordinary tea place fee 6 yuan a, drink white water is required 3 yuan a, on weekends, drink white water need to charge 5 yuan a tea place fee. At Tao Heung Restaurant, the tea cost is 8 yuan a head, even if you choose to drink plain water, you have to charge the same price for tea.

Why is there a charge for drinking plain water? Banquet Jiangnan staff said, "Tableware fee is also included, so even if you drink plain water, there is a charge." The staff of Tao Heung Restaurant said, "Drinking tea and drinking plain water are both included in the service charge and tableware fee, so the price is the same."

Consumer Council: without the consent of the charge for tea is mandatory consumption

Guangzhou Municipal Consumer Council said, expressly prohibit the minimum consumption of food and beverage "catering business management approach (for trial implementation)" has been implemented for more than a year, however, there are still many members of the public reflect that there are still restaurants in Guangzhou set the minimum consumption of private rooms, some catering companies even without minimum consumption, but also add a variety of additional charges Names and consumption restrictions, adding to the burden of consumers.

Consumer Council said, the current "catering business management approach (for trial implementation)" is only a basic provision, the lack of refinement of the standard, I hope that the relevant departments can be disguised charges to regulate the behavior of the refinement of the private room service fee, expensive tea and so on whether it belongs to the provisions of the permitted surcharge.

Consumer Council believes that the catering industry operators should provide free tableware in line with quality standards and hygiene conditions, in a prominent position to indicate the price of the food and services they provide, shall not set a minimum consumption, shall not be charged, or in disguise, the charge for the table fee, sterilized tableware fees, corkage fees and other non-compliant fees. Catering industry should respect the majority of consumers' right to independent choice, the right to fair trade, clearly marked prices, do not disguise forced consumption. Regarding the "tea fee", if the tea is not provided free of charge, the restaurant should inform consumers in advance, so that consumers have the right to choose whether to need tea.

While there is no explicit provision charging a tea place fee is legal, but this behavior violates the "Civil Law" principle of equality, voluntariness and fairness, the consumer should consume how much they pay how much the cost of the business of the other additional costs are unreasonable charges.