Customer fights restaurant over surcharge
A customer who dined at SkyCity restaurant Huami on Christmas Day says she had to fight for a refund after she was wrongly charged a 15 per cent holiday surcharge.
Auckland woman Rebecca, who did not want her last name used, said she had specifically looked for a restaurant that would not charge extra for Christmas Day lunch.
According to Huami’s website when she booked, the restaurant had a 15 per cent surcharge on public holidays, except Christmas Day.
She booked online for her family of four, and said that at no time during the booking was there any mention of a public holiday surcharge.
She saw no signage and said the first time a fee was mentioned was when she went to pay.
She contacted the restaurant later on Christmas Day to ask about the surcharge, and was asked to email the tax invoice and receipt so Huami could process a refund.
Rebecca contacted them again four days later after getting no response. She was told Huami had a 15 per cent surcharge on Christmas Day as per its public holiday policy, and she had not been overcharged.
‘‘I replied immediately directing him to the exact location on the website and to please refund and advise immediately by end of business day yesterday [December 30].’’
On January 1, Huami emailed her to say all customers had been advised about the surcharge when they entered the restaurant.
‘‘I double-checked with other members of my party, and no-one [had] heard that,’’ she said.
A SkyCity spokeswoman said yesterday that all customers at Huami on Christmas Day were told twice before dining that there would be a 15 per cent surcharge – at the time of booking through its reservation system SevenRooms, and when entering the restaurant.
‘‘It was incorrectly stated under the FAQs [frequently asked questions] on the Huami website that Christmas Day is excluded from the surcharge and this has now been corrected.
‘‘As this is an oversight on our part, we will refund the surcharge to the customer.’’
Jessica Wilson, head of research at Consumer NZ, said if a restaurant wanted to apply a surcharge, it had to let diners know before they placed their order.
There were no specific rules regarding signage, but it had to be clear to customers if a company was applying an additional charge, she said.