College students arrested for not paying tip

[Dips]

I don't care if autogratuities are wrong or if it's OK not to tip for inadequate service. Those are both beside the point in this case.

My opinion depends on one thing that the article, unfortunately, fails to mention.

Did they speak with the manager before they left?

If they felt that the service they were charged for was not delivered, then it was up to them to talk to the person in charge, explain their case and have it taken off the bill BEFORE they left. I can't imagine that too many places wouldn't do that for them if they were telling the truth about the level of service they received.

But skipping out on the bill, or any part of it, runs the risk of being caught and arrested. Running away without paying is not the best way to handle a business dispute.

[draggar]

The article didn't elaborate on if they spoke to the manager or not BUT:

They did pay the $73 bill (as stated in the article - I'll assume this is without the tip):

The pub, which was very busy that night, took the $73, but then called the cops, who treated the matter as a theft.

The resturant called the police and the police arrived when the party was still there - I'll assume it would have taken 10 minutes to dispatch someone (I hope the resturant didn't call 911 over this) so they were there during that time

I do hope they spoke to the manager and if they did, most likely the manager refused to waive the tip.

I wonder if this is going to go anywhere? I'll agree with gratuity added to the bill but if service is lacking or non existant, I think the patrons have the right NOT to pay the tip part.

[Dips]

The resturant called the police and the police arrived when the party was still there

There's nothing in the article that makes it clear if they stuck around and waited for the police or if the police caught up with them later. Just that they were arrested.

If they really spoke with the manager and he STILL insisted on charging them for service they did not receive then most judges would dismiss the charges. At least that's the decision I would make were I the judge. The law is there to protect people from being forced into paying for things they don't receive.

But they might be hosed if they didn't make any effort to resolve the dispute with the business and instead made a unilateral decsion to not pay part of the bill.

[flybye023]

I just Googled the Lehigh Pub and found this article which says that the manager claims that he offered the food for free which they refused. The couple denies he made the offer. As one commenter states though, if he was willing to comp the $73, why did he have them arrested for the smaller $16 fee they were refusing.

[Dips]

That's not a news article so much as an opinion piece. The author is simply parroting an article he happened to read and offering his opinion (much like we are here ).

But the author of that opinion piece was kind enough to provide a link to the original article which {finally! thank you!} answered my question.

The customers DID talk to the bartender in charge to try to resolve the issue with the business and the business refused to take the charges off the bill. BAD move on the pub's part.

That's going to make a big difference and I predict the charges will be dismissed. Judges don't look kindly on businesses which try to charge for goods or services that weren't delivered. Nor do they look kindly on having the court's time wasted.

[yizuman]

That's not a news article so much as an opinion piece. The author is simply parroting an article he happened to read and offering his opinion (much like we are here ).

But the author of that opinion piece was kind enough to provide a link to the original article which {finally! thank you!} answered my question.

The customers DID talk to the bartender in charge to try to resolve the issue with the business and the business refused to take the charges off the bill. BAD move on the pub's part.

That's going to make a big difference and I predict the charges will be dismissed. Judges don't look kindly on businesses which try to charge for goods or services that weren't delivered. Nor do they look kindly on having the court's time wasted.

I agree. Put yourself in this situation. You get a lousy service, you're made to wait an hour to finally get the food put on your table. The waiters ignores your calls and so on and on. So I know you will be pissed.

So should you pay the 18% tip, even when your evening at the Pub sucked?

This case will get tossed out and I would think the customers would then sue the Pub and put them out of business.

Yiz

[yizuman]

Update on this story.............

http://consumerist.com/5411149/polic...ub-non+tippers

The charges against them got dropped.

Yiz

[lordlundar]

In short, they saw a drop in business and figure dropping the charges will gain them some publicity for being "benevolent".

[Sliceanddice]

oh no the pub didnt want the charges dropped but the police withdrew them because the ADA asked them to.

[draggar]

oh no the pub didnt want the charges dropped but the police withdrew them because the ADA asked them to.

Yep, the police dropped the charges, not the pub.

Plus, it's now reported that the tip was 22%, not 18%.

It gets fishier and fishier.

I doubt the "non-tippers" will file a complaint against the pub, though.

[rageaholic]

I just heard about this. It's so stupid. They already paid for the meal, they just didn't tip. Sucky? Yes, but not worth getting arrested over.

What a waste of police time.

[Broomjockey]

They already paid for the meal, they just didn't tip.

I guess you missed where it was a mandatory gratuity. That makes it part of the bill, and not technically a tip. I imagine if the service hadn't been so sucky, the charges would have stuck.

[Mnemjian]

Plus, it's now reported that the tip was 22%, not 18%.

It gets fishier and fishier.

I read that in a comments section somewhere (Consumerist?) and was surprised because it's true! $16.35 is a little over 22% of $73. 18% would have been $13.something. I've heard of mandatory gratuity but whoever heard of it being so high? Usually it's 15% which would be a very standard tip. I rarely tip as much as 22% even when I have the choice and the service was good Definitely strange.