Being charged for drink when ordering from child's menu. Check your bills closely!

[IDoDis]

Always remember to review your check closely if the waitperson brings your child a full-size drink but the meal was ordered from the kid's menu.

DS is 10 and still orders from the child's menu when we go out to eat. Now that he's bigger, the wait staff usually bring him a full size drink instead of a drink in a kiddie cup. We never ask for a full-size drink. When the bill comes, we ALWAYS get charged extra for his drink, when the price of a drink is already included in the price of the kid's meal.

Last night we ate at TGIF and it happened again.

Me: "We were charged for a drink when his drink is included in the price of the kid's meal which was $6.99.

Waitress: "Well, he got a full size drink."

Me: "We never asked for a full-size drink."

Waitress: "That's how we do it now."

Me: "The menu says the kid's meal is for kids 12 and under and includes a drink. So are we being charged for 2 drinks?"

Waitress: "Umm... That's what we're told to do."

Me: "You're told that when a a child orders a kid's meal to bring him a full size drink and then charge the customer for it?"

Waitress: "I'll go take it off and bring you a new bill."

Seems to be that this is a new way for restaurants to rake in more money given the tight times. Three years ago when DD was around 9 or 10, the restaurants used to bring her a full sized drink when she got a kid's meal, but they never ever charged us for it. Times have changed.

Do others notice this happening to them, as well?

 

[Xcited4Disney]

I have not noticed, but thank you as I will now keep an eye on the bill.

 

[Micday]

O'Charlies does this to us everytime. My DD likes the smoothes and they are $.99 with a kids meal. They try to charge us $3.99 for a milkshake everytime. I've stressed to them we would like a kid's smoothie!


Applebee's tried it too.

Like OP says watch your bill.

Michelle

 

[amamax2]

We had something funny happen last weekend kind of related to this....


My youngest DS is 11 and eats like a horse, so no more kids meals for him. We were at a pizza place and we all ordered our food and a drink. The waitress brings the drinks - my DH, DS13, and I received full sized drinks in glasses. My DS11 recived a smaller drink in a plastic cup with lid. He was quite insulted!!!

I didn't look at the receipt, though, so now am wondering if they charged a different price for his drink......hmmm. I will look for things like that from now on.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Wow...I haven't had that happen. In fact..when we got to Chili's usually DS orders a root beer (in the bottle) so we get charged for that, and DH or DD gets a drink, I drink water. And we usually are only charged for 1 drink, since they count DD or DH's drink as the free kids drink .

But yes I would be po'd if I was you. First of all it shouldn't matter what size drink they bring you. The kids cup cost them more money, since they let you take it with you, and since they refill them all, what difference does it make .

 

[maps]

I have actually noticed this happen several times lately in many different restaurants. It seems the newest way to make extra money but I always scrutinize my bill and make them take it off.

 

[krcit]

I'll have to watch for this. I have a terrible habit of not reviewing the bill most times so I wouldn't notice an extra 2-3 dollars. thanks for the heads up!

 

[squirrlygirl]

This always happens to us at Big Boy. Haven't had it happen at Applebee's yet.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

This happens at fast food places too. We went round and round with them for the 3rd time the other day. Their menu states that you can get any small drink excluding cream slushes and something else, I cant remember what. It even pictures milk, ch milk etc. We ordered ch milk and they charged us for it. When we questioned it they said that it was correct because the computer put it in that way. We asked for the manager....and it was the manager. He refused to take the charge off so we got the owners number and ended up calling him. He said that the computer was correct and that we would have to pay it. We left and called corporate. They said we were correct and I guess took care of it. We got a letter apologizing and $50 in gift cards.

 

[robinb]

That's happened to us at BW3 too. Only some of the drinks are included in the kid's meal, but the server offers the drinks that cost extra (like the special lemonade). My DD ordered the special lemonade and we were charged for it instead of it being included! The waitress didn't bother telling us when we ordered it and the manager reluctantly took it off our bill with a stern warning that he wouldn't do it again. Don't worry buddy! We don't live near that BW3 and we won't be back.

 

[stacie_d]

I've had this happen multiple times. Only once did we have a problem with getting it corrected. The waitress refused to accept that the kids meal came with a drink and insisted on charging us for an adult drink for him. She even brought him the kid-sized cup. Probably should have talked with a manager but didn't.

I watch every bill we get when we eat out. It seems more often than not there is something wrong with it.

 

[fatuhiva]

This happened to us a couple of times at Applebees. One time the waitress tried to tell me that the kids meal didn't come with a soda. I actually had to show her on the menu when it said that kids meals included a soda. But I have also had resteraunts that offer free refills automatically bring big cups, so they don't have to refill them later. Now I just always specify "he's ordering a kids meal" when we order drinks so they know up front.

Another time my boys (age 10 and 7) both clearly ordered kids meals - chicken fingers. I didn't pay too much attention to what the waitress brought, other than it was chicken fingers & fries (and the only difference is the adult is 4 fingers, the kids is 3). The bill came & they charged for 2 adult chicken fingers - which were twice the price. When I pointed it out the waitress agreed that's what they ordered, but that they had actually gotten the adult meals. I had to point out that even though they had gotten that, that's not what they ordered, and how should I know that when they brought the food. We wanted what we ordered, not what was brought. Finally the manager changed the bill.

Sometimes I think the waiter/waitress does it on purpose to pad the bill, thereby getting a bigger tip. If no one notices, then they make out.

 

[griergirl2]

Sometimes I think the waiter/waitress does it on purpose to pad the bill, thereby getting a bigger tip. If no one notices, then they make out.

Well if they did it to me and I did notice, they would get NO tip at all, even if they fixed it! A tip, afterall, is NOT required. And if it was automatically added to my bill, you better believe I would refuse to pay that part.

 

[disneymom2003]

Something similar happened to us this summer but with my husbands meal. Outback had a special steak and shrimp. He asked the server a couple of questions about it and then ordered it. When the bill came it was more than the price the special was advertised for. When we asked the server said it was because when he ordered she ordered him the larger portioned size that is on the menu because she thought that was what he wanted. Huh? No he wanted the special. That's why he asked about it. Go figure.

 

[debelfish]

You order a kids meal with a milk or juice and they charge an extra dollar. When I questioned them they say that the meal includes a soda not juice or milk. I said you show milk in your advertisement and nowhere do you say milk is extra. So then I tried another approach and ask for the small soda that was included in the price. Since the menu price for milk or juice is a dollar. Only once or twice did I get the included drink. Mostly we just don't buy Happy Meals any more

 

[LeslieG]

Yes, had the drink problem at Olive Garden. Really irritating, but I always check my bill closely. Now that I see so many others having the experience, I'm sure they're doing it on purpose hoping most won't notice.

 

[dreamin_disney]

because of your post it made me aware. Well it happened today at IHOP. I asked for a kids cup of orange juice. The waitress was busy and had an attitide. She brought our food which i said no whip cream on the stuff french toast and it had whip cream on it. Then instead of the kids cup she brought dd's drink in a regular cup. Well i we just ate because it would have took the waiteress longer to fix it. other cutomers in her area were annyoed too evey table had to ask for extra sliverware. Anyways when the bill came dd was charged for a regular O.J. $2.99 ! as i look at her 1/2 full drink she was leaving I did let the cashier know that i ordered a kids cup and was given a regular drink and the waitress was behind and busy on her tables. She looked at me like she knew what i was talking about because even the other staff would walk around her carefully

 

[SandrA9810]

Kari orders a lot off the kid's menu, just because that's the only thing she'll eat. But it's vary random if we get charged extra for a full drink. We pay attention to the bill and what's being charged, if we don't get charged extra for a drink... they get a 2$ bonus in their tip.

There was a guy at Pizza Hut that gave us four free fountain drinks with the pizza deal. It included 2 pies, 1 breadstick, 1 bottle of soda. But if we ate there, they would generally substitute the bottle for fountain drinks, he gave us the bottle and the fountains. So he got 5 bucks from her parents, and I threw down an extra 5 before walking out.

Generally we order from the kids menu or something real cheap, so our tab is generally under 20$ any place we eat out. If the waiter is a good one, they'll get a tip based off the time we spend at the table. If they're bad, they'll get a 15% tip based off the bill.

 

[joy@disney]

This was happening to us everytime we went to On the Border.

The waiter serves you drinks first and doesn't take the time to ask if your 11 year old is going to order off the kids menu or adult menu. So they would bring him the adult cup, THEN he would order off the kids menu (12 and under). But they would charge us for the adult drink. Luckily we noticed once and then checked every time after. Most of the time, they were nice about it and took it off. Other times the waiter was very annoyed.

If it is such a hassle or pain, ask me when you take our drink order if the kids are going to order off the kids menu or not. Seems pretty simple to me.

 

[IDoDis]

When the child is sitting at the table with a child's menu in front of him and the waitperson comes to take drink orders, that should be a clue. A few years ago they used to ask if we wanted the kids' drinks in a regular glass or in a cup with a lid and they always said there was no extra charge. Now they just assume the big glass is ok (which it is for us), but it is not valid then to assume that the patron should be charged for a full-sized drink if a drink is incorporated into the kid's meal price. The drinks are the big profit area for the restaurants as it is. $3 for a glass of coke is about a 400% profit considering it costs them maybe 20 cents to fill the cup with ice and soda.

I also do think many places are doing it on purpose because we have seen so much of it lately -- over and over again. Most people probably don't notice and just pay the bill.