ComplaintsforEl Puente Restaurant

• Initial Complaint

  05/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This restaurant has signs all over stating that if you pay in cash there will be an immediate discount. If you pay by card, there will now be a 3.5% charge. However. they do not wait to see what method if payment you use and put the charge on the bill no matter what. They do not make you aware or take off the charge when you pay cash. Instead the servers/ management simply take the extra cash " discount" for themselves. This happened yesterday 5/25/23. When I questioned the server she simply smiled and said that's just how they do it. This is deceitful, fraudulent and theft!

  Business response

  06/03/2023

  To Whom It May ******************* individual, accompanied by another person, came in during a busy evening prior to a concert across the street at the **************. El Puente has been adding a credit card surcharge for all non-cash payments. Our POS provider can only add the charge to all the transactions per their software. As the merchant, once a customer informs us that they will be paying in cash, the surcharge is removed and the correct bill, minus the surcharge, is then presented to the customer. The server forgot to remove the surcharge when she took the payment. Once the customer made us aware of the omission, the check was reopened, the surcharge removed, and the surcharge amount ($1.75) was refunded to the customer right then and there, in cash. 

  El Puente disputes this customers statement of "deceitful, fraudulent, and theft" for the surcharge policy. The policy is posted throughout the dining room, the entrance, and is again displayed on the menus. We believe there may be other establishments that try and hide this charge. El Puente is not one of those establishments. The server made a simple mistake. We corrected the issue, reminded the entire front of house staff of our policies and procedures, and pledge to remain vigilant to avoid any reoccurrence of this error.

  El Puente Restaurant has been a proud member of the St. ******* community for 23 years. We strongly deny the notion of trying to take advantage and/or deceive our new and long time patrons. We believe that situation was resolved that very evening and are committed to preventing this issue going forward.

  Sincerely,

  ************************* - El Puente Restaurant

  Customer response

  06/04/2023

   
  Complaint: 20111234
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  It happened twice, woth 2 different servers and the server stated that this is what they  always do. So the business is lying.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **************

  Business response

  06/10/2023

  This correspondence is in response to Ms. ***** "rejection" of our previous response to her allegations of "lying".  As stated previously, El Puente Restaurant strongly denies any unfounded accusations of lying, deceiving, or fraud with respect to our customers. Ms. ***** points out that the servers stated "this is what they always do". What our servers our trying to convey to the customers is that we "always" include the credit card surcharge on the bill presented to our customers at the end of their meals. Like most foodservice establishments, the majority of our payments are taken in some form of credit card. Our POS does not allow us to operate the surcharge any other way. Until a customer is ready to pay, we are unable to know how they wish to pay (cash, debit card, credit card, Apple Pay, etc.). Once the customer makes the server aware of cash payment, the surcharge is removed, and the transaction is completed.

  If what Ms. ***** alleges is true, customers would have taken notice of any irregularities in processing cash payments (such as Ms. ***** did), and would bring this to our attention in the previous 5 months since the policy was enacted. By placing signage throughout the establishment and on our menus, we are letting our patrons know of the policy. They can then decide how they wish to proceed. We regret the incident with Ms. ****** but believed the matter concluded when we returned the surcharge amount of $ **** in cash to her that evening.

  Sincerely,

  ************************* - El Puente

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