SINGAPORE: After seeing an additional charge on her restaurant bill, a diner wondered why she had her bill rounded off since she was paying via credit card anyway.
“It’s ridiculous for a restaurant to ROUND UP the bill. So I paid additional for no actual food or service but for rounding,” wrote Gillian Chia in a post on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Saturday (Sept 28).
Ms Chia included a photo of her bill from a restaurant called Chopstix & Rice, located at Suntec City Mall on Temasek Boulevard.
It shows that the diner paid S$39.90 for a set meal for two, S$10.90 for ayam lemak, and S$15.90 for beef rendang. With the 10 per cent service charge of S$6.67 and 9 per cent GST of S$6.60, the total should have been S$79.97.
However, the last item she was billed for was “Round Amount,” and S$.3 was added to the bill. In total, she was asked to pay S$80. The bill shows that she used a credit card for the transaction.
According to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), because one-cent coins have been discontinued, some businesses have rounded their bills to the nearest five cents for ease of cash payment by their customers.
“Whether a bill should be rounded up or down is a business decision,” IRAS said.
Ms Chia, however, did not pay for her bill by cash, as some commenters pointed out. Paying by credit card should not be rounded up as diners can pay by cents, one wrote.
“If (a customer) pays by card, it should be the exact amount,” wrote one Facebook user, who added that if Ms Chia’s bill had been rounded off, she should have been made to pay S$79.95 and not S$80, as “it’s better to round down, instead of to round up.”
Others agreed with this. “7 cents is nearer to 5 cents, so it should be rounding down instead of up. Not logical,” another wrote.
“Very convenient policy they have. As pointed out by several people here, they should charge the exact amount for credit card payment, period,” wrote Ms Chia.
Another commenter wondered how much the restaurant is “making in all for free” if every transaction is rounded up.
Other commenters wrote that in other countries, bills are rounded up, and the difference is given to charity or the servers as tips, but diners often have a say in the matter.
“While the rounded-up figure may seem quite insignificant, it is wrong as a practice,” wrote a Singaporean in a letter published in ST Forum in 2016.
The Independent Singapore has contacted Ms Chia and Chopstix & Rice for further comments or updates. /TISG