Saturday 25 April 2015

'Hotels, restaurants must display service charge notices or face fines' - Very Good!

After the introduction of the GST on 1st April 2015, I have always felt that extra charges, such as Service Charges not mandated by Law should not be part of the bill that we the customers are being charged for.

Finally something is moving which gives customers a choice to pay or not to pay service charges:


Restaurants and hotels with service charges that fail to display notices informing customers of their fees could face a fine of up to RM100,000 starting next Friday, The Star reported today.

The notices must be visible to potential customers and contain the words “all prices or charges are subject to __% service charge” in capital letters, with the height of the lettering at least 5cm.

“The notice must be in Bahasa Malaysia followed by a translation of the expression in any other language,” Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad was quoted as saying in the report.

Alias reportedly said the order, gazetted on Thursday, was in accordance with Section 10 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act.

“The order comes into operation on May 1, 2015.

“Any business owner who does not comply with this order is committing an offence and can be fined up to RM100,000,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

On Wednesday, Putrajaya announced that businesses such as hotels and restaurants can continue to collect service charge from consumers, ending confusion as to whether the fee was still allowed after the implementation of goods and services tax (GST).

Alias had said the decision had to be made because many of the workers are still earning salary as low as RM350.

Meanwhile, The Star said the ministry, under Ops Catut, would now shift its focus on GST-related offences in rural areas.

“After over 20 days since GST has been implemented, we have conducted 152,129 checks under Ops Catut and opened 30 cases,” Alias was quoted as saying.

“From now on, we will be shifting our focus to small businesses in rural areas such as small towns, villages and Felda settlements.

“We have received many complaints that our ministry is not doing enough checks but the fact is, we have conducted over 150,000 so far.

“We will also be conducting checks on manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors."

He said the ministry would set up mobile complaints centres in vans stationed near supermarkets and hawker bazaars.

“Customers can lodge complaints at these mobile centres and the officers can even launch investigations immediately,” he was quoted as saying. – April 25, 2015

Read more: here

Mind you I am a good tipper, and I do give good tips if the service is good.

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