A restaurant in Lucky Gardens, Kuala Lumpur has come under fire recently for imposing RM10 “air conditioning charge” in a customer’s bill dated 15th April 2016.
The receipt, which has been widely circulated on Facebook, drew criticism from netizens, with many asking if it was necessary. “Next time please include rental charge, utilities, toilet cleaning services also,” said one Facebook user. Another commenter wrote, “Patrons now have to absorb the electricity charges? Soon it will be lights and water supply from Syabas too.”
The restaurant’s management has stepped forward to address the issue, saying that they didn’t put in the RM10 “air conditioning charge” in the bill. The management explained that the “air conditioning charge” was only billed to customers who dine in its air-conditioning executive dining area, private section of the restaurant.
The person who shared the copy of the receipt had booked the room for a group of 10 people and used the space for over 3 hours, the management claimed. “For their exclusive usage of the air conditioned room, we charged the customer a nominal fee of RM10 which he had requested to waive, and we waived it. We did a favour for the customer by just charging a nominal fee instead of a booking fee which we waived in the end,” they added.
Meanwhile, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said that the restaurant would be investigated over the supposed bill.
“Some restaurants have charges like that for customers who book a room for a specific event, and it is not against the law if it is communicated to customers. Only in this case, we cannot be sure whether the customer had dined in the room or outside, as we have not met the person,” he said.
Sources: TRP, Sin Chew Daily, The Star Online, FMT.
