A fancy restaurant overcharged a woman for water. Now she’s calling them out on their “deceptive practices.”
At many restaurants, it’s free to get water for the table unless you specifically order bottled water or sparkling water. However, this restaurant didn’t give their patrons the option; instead, they made them pay for the basic beverage.
In the video, TikTok user Vanessa Chamberlin explained that she recently took her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend out for dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate the daughter’s birthday.
When they sit down at their table, excited about the experience, their server almost immediately pops open a bottle of Acqua Panna water for the table, which is known to be expensive. He didn’t even give Chamberlin the option to request tap.
Chamberlin didn’t say anything since she would have ordered bottled water for the table anyway, but made a mental note of the incident.
The dinner is going great, but then, towards the end, the server comes back and cracks open another bottle of the upscale water and refills the table’s barely touched cups. Again, no one requested this water, which would be going on their bill.
Chamberlin didn’t want to hyper focus on the water situation and went about her meal and the birthday celebration. But she was further put off by the restaurant’s service because immediately after giving Chamberlin the bill, the server came over with the card reader for payment, hovering over Chamberlin, barely giving her time to review the total.
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“There’s something that didn’t sit right with me that they’re hovering over you immediately,” Chamberlin said.
The next day, she’s talking to her daughter about the experience, and they become curious about the cost of a specific side. As she’s looking at the receipt to confirm the price of the side she notices how much they charged her for the water.
A whopping $16 for the two bottles—one of which she didn’t even want or need.
“I’m annoyed because these waiters, they know what they’re doing. They don’t even ask you. They crack the bottles. It’s like, ‘Keep the champagne water flowing,’ and they don’t say anything about it, but you’re charged for it,” Chamberlin said.
She pointed out that if they were drinking just about anything else, especially alcohol, they’d check before just coming out with another round of drinks.
“Nothing like deceptive practices to leave a bad taste in your mouth. I feel like restaurant service for a large part, has definitely gone down hill – less service and costs more,” Chamberlain wrote in the caption.
The video has over 280,000 views and more than 1,200 comments.
“I waited tables for many years. He was way out of line,” a top comment read.
“Waiters know how to pad the bill,” a person said.
“100%%% hate the hovering. Avoid restaurants that do this now,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Chamberlin for comment via email.
