A CUSTOMER was charged £10 for ‘tap water’ following a sneaky trick by a local restaurant – they want others not to fall for it.
The Aussie diner had been offered “still or sparkling” water after believing there was no option to get tap water.
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By law, restaurants serving alcohol in Australia must provide free tap water – but that doesn’t stop some from confusing customers into forking out for a bottle or two.
The irritated restaurant goer said she once answered “still” thinking it meant tap water and was shocked when she was charged £10 for multiple bottles of water.
She wrote that waiters had “multiple bottles of water they brought to the table – without asking if we wanted more – that I thought were free tap water”.
Another commented: “I had dinner with a friend recently, she she ordered the still water and I was like ‘they are going to charge you for that’.
“She didn’t believe me. Well, well, she did when the bill came.”
Another was charged £5 for one bottle of still water at a fancy waterfront restaurant.
Restaurants in the UK are also known to only offers still or sparkling water despite tap water being available.
Those reading the diner’s comment told them to “just ask for tap” next time and said being asked for anything else was a “pompous” way for restaurants to upsell products.
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They wrote: “Is there anyone who doesn’t roll their eyes when they get ask this pompous question?
“If I want expensive sparkling I will ask, just like anything else on the menu.”
Another diner added: ‘If they ever offer still or sparkling we always just say just tap water please. And they bring it. Happens mostly at restaurants.
“It’s called up-selling. You can still ask for tap water and they can’t say no, but it’s literally their job to make profit. There’s no profit in tap water,” a third explained.
A restaurant owner accused customers of kicking up a fuss and told them to ask for tap water next time.
“Restaurants ARE at the end of the day businesses and it’s not against the law for them to make money in small ways like this,” they wrote.
“If you don’t like sparkling water or you don’t want to pay for it it is entirely up to you to control the interaction or say no, politely!
“Nobody is forcing you to take something you don’t want.”
