Overcharging at restaurants
My expectations were not high when I went to a Chuck's Roadhouse a few weeks ago but their commercials made it look appealing and the prices on their steaks looked great. A 21oz. porterhouse was no more than $25 and their steaks are advertised as AAA.
They were fairly busy on a Saturday night and finally a table opened up for us. Just as we were getting seated, this guy (owner? manager?) stops us and says we can't sit there because they needed the table for a party of 21 arriving shortly so we had to sit at the counter, not as amenable for conversing with the rest of our party. The party of 21 never showed.
Most of our main dishes arrived tepid and one was actually cold. But, as I said, my expectations were not high.
Then we get the bill and for some reason I checked it closer than normal and between the subtotal and the tax I see a charge of 3%. I asked the person behind the counter what that was. She said, and I quote "It is an Honest to Goodness fee". WTF?
I paid the bill but before we left I tracked down the manager dude and politely questioned, saying that I'd never heard of that. He said, and again I quote, "It helps us keep our prices down". At that point, still at normal voice level, I let him have it. Your prices are deceptive. We unnecessarily had to sit at the counter, the food was cold and now this stupid, stupid charge and even stupider explanation. He said he was terribly sorry about our experience and then proudly hands me a $10 off coupon for our next meal. (Now that I think of it he had a LOT of those cards in his pocket. Not surprising in retrospect.) I said, but the bad experience was tonight. He said, "That's why I gave you the coupon." Me: "If you were sincerely sorry you would do something for us now." He said that he was sincere and continued to defend. I basically called him out on his bullshit (I did not swear), crumpled up the coupon and saw the incredulous look on his face as I tossed the coupon on a counter and walked out.
Does anybody else have tales of getting overcharged in such a deceptive manner?