A fancy restaurant charged a woman with too much water. Now she is alerting them to her “fraudulent practices.”
In many restaurants it is free to get water for the table unless you specifically order bottled or bottled water. However, this restaurant gave its guests no choice; Instead they made her pay for the basic drink.
In the video, TikTok user Vanessa Chamberlin explained that she was recently invited to dinner at a nice restaurant with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to celebrate the daughter's birthday.
As they sit down at the table in anticipation, their waiter almost immediately opens a bottle of Acqua Panna water for the table, which is notoriously expensive. He didn't even give Chamberlin the opportunity to request a hearing.
Chamberlin said nothing, as she would have ordered bottled water for the table anyway, but made a mental note of the incident.
Dinner is going great, but then, towards the end, the waiter comes back, opens another bottle of the fine water and refills the barely touched cups at the table. Here, too, no one asked for this water, which would be on their bill.
Not wanting to focus too much on the water situation, Chamberlin turned her attention to her meal and birthday party. But the restaurant's service put her off even more because immediately after handing Chamberlin the bill, the waiter came over with the card reader to pay, hovering over Chamberlin and barely giving her time to check the total.
@silverliberation Has this ever happened to you? There is nothing better than fraudulent practices that leave a bad taste in your mouth. I feel like restaurant service has gotten significantly worse for the most part – less service and higher costs. #silverliberation #deceptivebusiness #finediningrestaurants #greyhairmodel #saltandpepperhair #diningout #lasvegasdining #womenover50style #fyp #diningexperience #Naturalgreyhair #waitstaff #restaurantexperience ♬ Retro Modern Lo-Fi Lounge, 10 minutes (1003987) – 8,864
“There's one thing I didn't like, that they immediately jump on you,” Chamberlin said.
The next day, she talks to her daughter about the experience and they become curious about the cost of a particular site. As she looks at the receipt to confirm the price of the side dish, she realizes 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 know what they're doing. They don't even ask you. They break the bottles. It's like, 'Let the champagne flow,' and they don't say anything about it, but you get charged,” Chamberlin said.
She pointed out that if they drank pretty much anything else, especially alcohol, they would check before coming out with another round of drinks.
“There is nothing like fraudulent practices that leave a bad taste in your mouth. “I feel like restaurant service has gotten significantly worse for the most part – less service and more cost,” Chamberlain wrote in the caption.
The video has over 280,000 views and more than 1,200 comments.
“I worked as a waiter for many years. He was completely out of line,” read one top comment.
“Waiters know how to settle the bill,” one person said.
“100% hate floating. Avoid restaurants that do this now,” wrote another.
The Daily Dot reached out to Chamberlin via email for comment.
*First published: December 10, 2023, 9:30 p.m. CST
Stacy Fernandez
Stacy Fernández is a freelance writer, project manager and communications specialist. She has worked at The Texas Tribune and The Dallas Morning News and managed social media for The Education Trust New York. Her favorite hobby is finding hidden treasures at the thrift store, she loves a good audio book and is a chocolate lover.
