Surprisingly, popular fast-food chain Wow! Momo has already gotten into trouble with the law when one of the advocates opposed the idea of the restaurant charging a packaging fee as a form of dine-in food fee. The problem has caused controversy as to whether there should be some form of fairness in the hidden restaurant billing, and the increased tendency of restaurants transferring unwarranted expenses to customers.
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The case happened when the advocate went to a Wow! according to reports by Legal Maestors. Momo restaurant to have a normal meal and realized that he had been charged a packing fee in his dine-in bill. In dismay and annoyed, the advocate enquired the staff about the charge as there was no packaging as he did not order a takeaway. He believed that when the staff failed to provide a satisfactory explanation he took the legal action against the restaurant chain.
The advocate has made a complaint against Wow! to the consumer court claiming that Wow! has defrauded him. The act by Momo constitutes unfair trade practice as per the Consumer Protection Act. The rationale is that the packaging charges are to be offered to the take away or delivery orders only, but not to customer who are eating in the premises. By imposing such a price, he says that consumers are misled and the overall bill is repaired without any financial explanation.
The case has caused a lot of publicity as other restaurant chains in India have been accused of the same. Customers have been lamenting that they are charged a service charge, convenience fee and some other hidden charges on their bills without their knowledge and to their dismay. The packaging fee scandal may now establish a legal precedent on the way restaurants deal with pricing in dine-in restaurants.
It is estimated by experts that the ruling of the consumer court in this case would have far reaching implications. In case the court casts in favor of the complainant, the food chains and restaurants in India would have to revise their billing systems to make sure that customers do not pay an additional amount of money towards services or products that they did not consume. This has been termed by legal analysts quoted by Legal Maestros as a clear test of the freedom of corporate pricing, and consumer protection.
Meanwhile, Wow! Momo did not give an official statement. But as inside sources reveal, the company can also defend that the packaging charge is an element of a standardized billing system that the company will apply to any order irrespective of their preference in dining. They can also argue that the fee will be allocated on the overall operational expenses, and not on physical packaging materials.
This argument has been vehemently objected by consumer rights advocates. They demand that restaurants should distinguish the cost of dining in and take out meals so that transparency remains. They indicate that the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 openly bans deceptive advertisement and unjust billing practices. Consumers are entitled to being told under the Act all the elements of the price they pay.
The advocate has received a lot of applause in social media with users complaining about the increasing list of hidden restaurant fees. The case has been seen by many as a move that was well overdue in the hospitality industry in ensuring fair pricing. At last there is a user standing up against this nonsense. And why should we pay to have our packages packed when we have no packaging?
In case the consumer court decides to support the complainant, Wow! Momo might have to pay back the fee, provide an open clarification or even compensate. It may also lead to other food chains to take up similar litigation.
Indian consumers have over the years been subjected to a process of receiving bewildered restaurant bills; which constitute service charges, GST, and other ambiguous items. Although some of them are legally acceptable, there are those that occur in the grey space. The case may be the one that may shed a lot of light into the system.
The result will probably be the difference between what the Indian restaurants will be able to sustain with the addition of blanket fees and whether they will have to adjust their bills as per the individual customer service. To the legal fraternity, it is not an ordinary consumer case, but a case that can transform the ethics in restaurant billing in India.
