‘Felt cheated on’: Diner calls out restaurant for charging service fee despite self-service setup

SINGAPORE: Questions over the legitimacy of service charges have resurfaced online after a diner called out a restaurant for imposing the fee despite offering little to minimal table service.

In a post shared on the r/askSingapore subreddit on Thursday (Jan 1), the diner recounted a lunchtime visit to a well-known Korean fried chicken chain, where they observed another customer requesting an empty bowl from a waiter shortly after being seated.

According to the diner, the waiter responded by pointing towards a “Self Service Station,” signalling for the customer to retrieve the item on their own.

While the diner said they did not take issue with the arrangement at the time, noting that it felt similar to dining at a kopitiam where customers help themselves to cutlery and additional items, their view changed after receiving the bill.

The receipt reportedly included a service charge, a detail that left the diner questioning what the fee was meant to cover. “This left me puzzled and, to a certain extent, felt cheated on the reason why they charge the service charge,” the diner wrote.

The diner went on to ask fellow Redditors, “What do you guys think? Are service charges justified in restaurants with self-service stations?”

“This is the whole reason why we hardly eat out now.”

The post resonated with many netizens, who expressed frustration over paying service charges at establishments that require patrons to order through QR codes, fetch their own utensils, or clear their trays.

One wrote, “If the ordering is self-service, food is self-collected, and you return your own tray, then it’s not right to collect a service charge at all.”

Another commented, “I know manpower is an issue these days, but I really cannot stand those restaurants that charge a service charge when we have to order ourselves via QR and the service staff’s job is merely to serve the food to us.”

“Might as well collect my own food too, so that they can omit the service charge. On a side note, not to mention some restaurants’ QR ordering sucks; you can’t input special requests—e.g., no spring onion, etc.”

A third quipped, “The service was the waiter pointing to the self-service station. You’re welcome.”

A fourth added, “Truthfully, this is the whole reason why we hardly eat out now. I usually bring food from home for lunch, and if we do go out as a family, we go somewhere a bit nicer (like the Hakka Yu restaurant at Jewel, kind of standard).”

On the other hand, a few others suggested that if the diner was unhappy with the service charge, they could simply choose not to dine at such restaurants. “Don’t buy from those places lor, problem solved,” one user wrote. “Support your local hawkers with CDC vouchers and cash.”

Can I refuse to pay for the service charge?

According to Singapore Legal Advice, once a customer has placed an order, they are legally obliged to pay the 10% service charge, regardless of how unsatisfactory the service may be.

The charge cannot be withheld on the basis of poor service. Should the dispute be brought before the courts, it is highly likely that the customer would be ordered to settle the amount in full.

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