A disguised form of setting a minimum consumption for limited-time dining to encourage people to leave
New Year's Eve dinner sold as a "set" makes consumers complain endlessly
Editor's note
The countdown to the Lunar New Year has begun, and the streets and alleys are getting more festive. As the most important "reunion banquet" of the year, a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner contains people's expectations for a happy reunion and a better life. Some families contact hotels in advance to reserve New Year's Eve dinner, some book takeout, self-pickup, set meal gift boxes, etc., and some families choose to purchase efficient and convenient pre-made dishes... But in reality, faced with the "hard to get what you want" In the grand occasion of the epidemic, some businesses tried their best to "trick" consumers and infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Every meal is full of fireworks, and every birthday gift is full of reunion. The "Rule of Law" edition focuses on the price-quality inconsistency, unreasonable pricing, and non-compliant charges behind the New Year's Eve dinner, with a view to standardizing the order of the New Year's Eve dinner market and creating a good catering consumption environment for the festival. stay tuned.
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
□ Ding Yi, trainee reporter of this newspaper
New Year's Eve is approaching, and reservations for New Year's Eve dinner are almost finished.
"Rule of Law Daily" reporters recently visited more than 20 restaurants in Beijing, Shandong and other places and found that this year's New Year's Eve dinner reservations are much more popular than in the previous two years. Whether it is public catering or high-end catering, private rooms are basically fully booked, and some restaurants are even It’s also hard to find a table in the lobby. However, there are still many problems behind the popularity of New Year's Eve dinner reservations, such as limited time consumption, minimum consumption requirements, non-refundable deposits, etc., which makes many consumers feel helpless.
Experts interviewed pointed out that the booming New Year's Eve dinner market has, on the one hand, relieved the public from the hard work of cooking at home, and on the other hand, it has injected vitality into the catering market. However, the frequent consumption "routines" have made consumers complain endlessly. It is recommended that relevant The department has strengthened supervision and law enforcement and urged relevant catering companies to make rectifications so that they can truly respect the rights and interests of consumers. When making reservations for New Year's Eve dinner, consumers should also carefully review the New Year's Eve dinner set menu and related project standards launched by restaurants to see if there are any "overlord clauses", etc., and protect their own rights and interests legally and reasonably.
Minimum consumption is set for private rooms
Guests cannot order their own meals
In order to cater to the market, many restaurants have prepared New Year's Eve dinner set menus, decorated with auspicious words such as "happy family", "happy set menu" and "splendid cuisine". The prices often include auspicious numbers such as "8" or "9". However, reporters found that some restaurants require consumers to only choose fixed packages when booking New Year’s Eve dinner.
Among the more than 20 restaurants visited and consulted by the reporter, 10 said that their private rooms only provide fixed seats, some said they did not accept ordering or adding dishes, and some said they could add dishes but had a fixed menu. The price of the set meal ranged from 1,688 yuan to 16,888 yuan. There are also some restaurants that have set meals, but you can still choose to order a la carte, but there is a minimum price requirement for a la carte dishes. For example, a restaurant in Beijing only offers a set meal priced at 16,888 yuan, and the a la carte must reach the same price; another in Beijing The price of a restaurant's set meal ranges from 3,999 yuan to 6,999 yuan, and the total price of a single order must reach the standard of 4,000 yuan.
Some restaurants only offer set menus on a per-person basis. For example, a restaurant located near the Zhengda Center in Beijing stipulates that it only provides standard set meals at 800 yuan/1,200 yuan/1,500 yuan per person. Guests cannot order their own meals. The merchant will configure corresponding set meals for customers based on the number of people and price.
In addition, 7 hotels have set different minimum consumption amounts for New Year’s Eve dinners. For example, in a restaurant near the National Olympic Center, even if you dine in a booth, you must reach a minimum consumption of 600 yuan per person. Some restaurants said that in addition to the 8 people specified in the set meal, each additional guest will need to pay an additional fee of 599 yuan.
A practitioner in Beijing's catering industry revealed to reporters that launching New Year's Eve dinner set meals has almost become a "business rule." He explained that launching a set meal is convenient for the kitchen to prepare ingredients, and it is well planned and organized. "During the Spring Festival, manpower is tight, so we launch a New Year's Eve set meal. The restaurant only needs to prepare the dishes in the set meal, which can indeed save a lot of trouble and cost." In addition, the set meal has greater profits than a la carte. space.
Ms. Chen, who has been engaged in the catering industry in Beijing for more than 10 years and is currently a restaurant manager in Xicheng District, Beijing, also mentioned that the way to book a set meal for the New Year’s Eve dinner is actually a helpless move. “The issue of stocking is a factor that must be considered.” .
According to Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, restaurants that only provide set meals and not a la carte dishes are setting up "minimum consumption" in disguise, which infringes on consumers' right to independent choice and fair trade. , is also suspected of violating the anti-food waste law, because this behavior may cause consumers to overorder meals, resulting in waste.
"High-priced packages are essentially an act of forcing consumers to trade with standard terms. According to the provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law on standard terms, it not only infringes on consumers' right to choose and fair trade, but is suspected of forcing consumption; it also violates green consumption. concept, resulting in a waste of resources." Xu Haiyan, a professor at the Law School of the University of International Business and Economics, said that as early as 2014, my country issued relevant regulations prohibiting catering operators from setting minimum consumption, but some catering companies still set minimum consumption, or have canceled the minimum consumption The consumption amount is replaced by private room fees, high-priced packages, etc.
Not proactively informed of service charges
Fines for those who violate meal limits
During the investigation, when reporters asked about the specific price of New Year’s Eve dinner, most restaurants did not proactively mention that they would charge a certain amount of service fee when mentioning the set meal price. When reporters explicitly asked about the service fee, they were told that on top of the package amount, an additional 10% to 20% service fee or private room fee was required. For merchants that launch New Year's Eve dinner set meals on online platforms, most restaurants do not include the service fee in the "group purchase details".
Take a restaurant near Wangfujing as an example. The other party initially only mentioned a "high-priced set meal" priced at 19,988 yuan. It was not until the reporter made further inquiries that he was told that the set meal of nearly 20,000 yuan included about 10,000 yuan. Service fee of 3,000 yuan. A certain restaurant located in the National Convention Center even charges a private room fee and a service fee of 10% each.
Experts interviewed pointed out that according to the provisions of the Civil Code, catering companies enjoy independent pricing rights within the scope of market-regulated prices. However, if a restaurant wants to charge a service fee, it must inform consumers in advance. Otherwise, it is suspected of infringing on the consumer's right to know and choose, and the consumer has the right to refuse to pay.
In addition, the reporter noticed that when accepting reservations, some merchants stated that full payment is required for booking New Year's Eve dinner packages, but did not clearly state whether or how much money would be refunded if the reservation was cancelled. Some merchants also require a deposit of 1,000 yuan when ordering, but it is not clear whether it is a "deposit" or a "deposit".
In reality, it is not uncommon to have disputes over New Year's Eve dinners caused by non-refundable deposits. After searching the social platform using keywords such as "New Year's Eve dinner", "deposit" and "deposit", the reporter found that many netizens complained that after the deposit was cancelled, the hotel required a proportional deduction or a full deduction of the deposit, with the amount ranging from a few hundred yuan to thousands. Yuan.
According to Chang Sha, a lawyer at Beijing Jingdu Law Firm, according to the provisions of the Civil Code, if the two parties agree on a "deposit" method instead of a "deposit" method, then the consumer has no right when the deposit does not exceed 20% of the subject amount of the main contract. Request a return. Therefore, consumers should carefully confirm the nature of the advance payment to avoid being unable to request a refund.
However, even if consumers pay the entire meal fee in advance, they may not be able to enjoy the New Year's Eve dinner "as they wish."
"When we went out for New Year's Eve dinner before, before we finished the meal, the waiters started to come in and out frequently to change dishes, and kept asking if we wanted to take it away and when to finish it. When we finished eating in a hurry and came to the lobby, the guests at the next table were all confused. Crowds of people were crowded in the aisles, and the scene was extremely chaotic." Ms. Xu from Yuncheng, Shanxi, recalled to reporters.
"I feel like I'm being rushed to eat. Last year, just an hour after eating, the guests from the table behind started arriving one after another, and some people even pushed the door directly into our private room. It was so annoying." Ms. Xu said, if the reservation is late, , basically I could only wait in line for the second round of dining. Not only did I miss my meal, I had to wait for a long time, and the table in front was left in a mess after eating, and the waiter didn't clean it up well.
The limited-time dining situation mentioned by Ms. Xu still exists this year. The reporter called many restaurants and found that most of them have limited time regulations. Some restaurants have even shortened the dining time to one and a half hours, and some hotels have clearly stated that if they do not evacuate by then, they will need to pay extra overtime fees. There are also some restaurants that open early, finish early and even provide dining services at different times. For example, a restaurant near Beijing West Railway Station provides private room New Year's Eve dinner service between 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm to attract more customers.
Chang Sha believes that in principle, consumers have the right to enjoy meals and services quietly without being rushed by merchants, but they also have reasonable time requirements; merchants have no right to ask consumers to leave during a reasonable period of time when consumers are enjoying meals and services. Nor can consumers be required to pay overtime fees, fines and other unreasonable fees based on this. If a merchant hopes that consumers will clear out in time for subsequent reception, they can use discounts for clearing out within a fixed time limit instead of unreasonably charging overtime fees, fines, etc.
Supervision needs to be strengthened
Supervise businesses to operate legally
Experts interviewed pointed out that as consumers increasingly prefer to have New Year's Eve dinner in restaurants, New Year's Eve dinner has entered a "seller's market". The extremely hot New Year's Eve dinner booking market has given many restaurants the confidence to issue "overlord terms" to consumers. This has led to frequent chaos in the New Year’s Eve dinner market.
"Catering companies are profit-seeking, have weak legal awareness, and ignore the protection of consumers' rights and interests; the illegal costs of catering companies are lower than the illegal gains, and the costs of consumer rights protection are higher than the benefits of rights protection, so catering companies would rather risk being punished. Illegal operations; weak law enforcement and supervision by regulatory authorities, selective law enforcement, and sports law enforcement have caused catering companies to have a gambler's mentality and disobey orders. These are the reasons why the consumption of New Year's Eve dinners continues to be prohibited." Xu Haiyan said.
According to Zhu Danpeng, vice president of the Guangdong Provincial Food Safety Promotion Association, during the Spring Festival, restaurants generally need to pay more to their employees to operate as usual. Coupled with the general increase in the price of ingredients, it is understandable for restaurants to increase prices appropriately. As long as the price increase is within a reasonable range and not overpriced, I believe consumers will understand and accept it. "But these are not a shield for restaurants to implement 'overlord clauses', not to mention many clauses have been expressly prohibited by the Consumer Rights Protection Act, continue If it is implemented, it is suspected of being illegal."
Sun Ying, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, also pointed out that business operating costs increase during the Spring Festival. According to the labor law, overtime wages for employees during holidays must increase, and costs will naturally rise. According to market rules, prices will increase appropriately during the peak consumption season. It is not easy for businesses to operate, and consumers can understand , but fixed-price packages limit consumers’ choices, resulting in poor consumer experience.
"Consumers should also look at the issue of charging service fees and private room fees objectively. Private room dining is different from dining in the lobby. Private rooms usually need to be booked in advance. Their environment is better decorated, the service is more thoughtful, and they occupy a relatively larger area. The presentation of dishes is different from that of dine-in dining. It looks more refined than usual. Some private rooms also have dedicated bathrooms, as well as sofas, coffee tables and other supporting facilities, which means merchants have to invest more costs in all aspects." Sun Ying said, so the service fee and private room fee only need to be charged The proportions are appropriate and the prices are clearly marked. With prior warning and full notification, consumers can make choices based on their needs.
Chen Yinjiang also pointed out that the catering industry should explain the service content to consumers before providing services and inform them of the specific charging standards, so that consumers can make their own informed choices. Otherwise, it will be suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know.
So, when it comes to charging additional service fees, what is the correct way to open it as told by the merchant?
"It should be informed in advance." Chang Sha listed four main ways: informing the consumer by phone when ordering; verbally informing the waiter when the consumer enters the store; and informing the waiter verbally when the consumer orders food. Verbal notification; the most important thing is to use the same font size and the same font next to the price of the dishes on the menu to list the service fee ratio. "But the font size, writing position, etc. of the written charging content, the time and occasion of the oral notification, etc., The specific details are difficult to define, because the consumption scenarios are very rich and the actual situations are different, so it is difficult to use a set of rules to define them uniformly.”
Experts interviewed pointed out that to deal with such "overlord clauses" chaos in the catering industry, multi-dimensional measures are needed: from the legislative and administrative levels, normative documents must be issued in a timely manner to clarify the rights and obligations of catering industry operators so that there is legal It can be followed; from the law enforcement level, local market supervision departments and consumer associations need to conduct regular inspections and handle consumer complaints in a timely manner; from the operational level, the behaviors prohibited by merchants can be made into a merchant code of conduct announcement, indicating the complaint telephone number, by Merchants post it in a place where consumers can easily see it to urge businesses to operate legally.
(Legal Daily)