Legality of Walking Out of a Restaurant Without Paying

Factual Questions
41

[QUOTE=Stentor 2.5]
This actually reminds me of an incident I experienced in Florence. I had just been to an ATM, so when I had to pay my 8 euro bill I gave the counter man the fifty euro note I had. He refused to take, apparently worried that it was counterfeit. I tried to explain that I had gotten the note from a bank, but he would not accept this. Ultimately I went out and made a purchase with the fifty, and then returned and paid the restaurant with a twenty. I honestly wonder, though, would it have been illegal for me to simply not bother paying, seeing as I had made a good faith attempt to settle the bill.
[/QUOTE]

Same happened to me in China… a rickshaw driver charged us a stupidly high price for a 10 min trip, simply because we were tourists. No price was negotiated beforehand.

We offered him the fair fare, plus a little extra, but he refused to accept it.

In the end we just walked off, reasoning that we’d offered fair payment for the service which had been refused… no idea about Chinese law, but we took our chances.

42

Many restaurants also do catering, and thus are able to bill customers. If things really were not working on the credit card situation, you could arrange to be billed.

43

been on two sides of this.(1) customer at dockside restaurant fails to pay and leaves in rented boat.boats rental co called and police meet customers at rental dock.customer says money left on table.no further action except i have to pay tab(as waiter, im responsible)(2)customer leaves without paying,i apprehend and bring back to restaurant,police called,deadbeat arrested.police thank me for performing"citizens arrest"

44

With regard to trying to pay by card because you don’t have enough cash on you, isn’t it the customer’s responsibility to ensure that the restaurant will accept the card before ordering?

45

[QUOTE=Quartz]
With regard to trying to pay by card because you don’t have enough cash on you, isn’t it the customer’s responsibility to ensure that the restaurant will accept the card before ordering?
[/QUOTE]

This is an excellent question/point.

I worked at two places for the past two years that did not accept debit/atm cards. We accepted all credit cards and cash. No bank cards. I can’t begin to tell you how many people swore at me, became openly angry and irate with me, because we didn’t have ATM.

Last I checked, it’s not MY job to ensure you have sufficient means to pay your bill. And it’s not a law to have ATM access at all restaurants (though it would be more customer friendly, but that wasn’t my choice).

However, that’s a digression from the main issue. But I had to share. :slight_smile:

46

[QUOTE=Quartz]
With regard to trying to pay by card because you don’t have enough cash on you, isn’t it the customer’s responsibility to ensure that the restaurant will accept the card before ordering?
[/QUOTE]
What if they have the ability to take it, but the machine’s down, and no one knows where the old carbon-type one is?

I went on a wine-tasting tour with a group of friends friends, and one winery we tasted at had their POS system break down just as we were trying to pay. We even had cash, but none of them were willing to figure tax or take it without it going in the system. After 15 minutes of them futzing with the system, trying to set up the old system, we told them that they could either take our money or bill us, because the limos we had rented were costing us $150/hr, and we weren’t going to waste any more of it standing in their tasting room. They ended up just comping our wine.

As far as not taking cash, I think we were within our rights. All my money says that it’s legal tender for all debts, public or private. We tried to pay, and they wouldn’t accept it.

47

[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I say if you received food, regardless of the quality of service, you have to pay for whatever you received. A specific level of service above actually receiving what you bought is gravy. You have contracted to receive food. Period. No bells and whistles included. Anything else is gravy.
[/QUOTE]
See, on a general level i’m not sure i agree with this.

While you may or may not be legally correct (and e-logic’s citation suggests that there might be some dispute over that), the fact is that people don’t go to a restaurant just to receive food. Restaurant dining is, for me at least, often about more than simply filling my guts. If all i want is a satisfactory meal, i’m perfectly capable of preparing that at home, for considerably less than i would pay at a restaurant.

Also, when i dine out, it’s often not simply to avoid the chore of cooking the meal and washing the dishes. Enjoying a meal in a restaurant often involves much more than simply liking the food.

Sure, some might argue that if the waiter is rude or unprofessional, you can simply decline to leave a tip. But if the staff’s conduct actually deprives me of some of the pleasure that i seek in eating out, then i would feel justified in not only refusing to leave a tip, but talking to management and asking to have my actual bill reduced as well.

None of this, of course, would justify simply walking out without paying. But i do take issue with your assertion than all you can reasonably expect in a restaurant is to get your food placed in front of you.

48

[QUOTE=Carlyjay]
As RealityChuck said, if you were in a store and the sales clerk wasn’t around, you wouldn’t be allowed to just take what you want for free.
[/QUOTE]

But there’s a world of difference between being unable to pay for a consumed item after the fact because there’s no one to accept your payment (such as at a restaurant), and not being able to purchase a non-perishable item because the shop assistant is on smoko.

You can leave the non-perishable item on the shelf and go elsewhere for it, thus not commiting a crime or breaching a contract- but if you leave a restaurant without paying for a meal you’ve already eaten, you’re breaking the law.

The “ensuring the business accepts EFTPOS/Credit Cards” is an interesting point. Again, not a lawyer, but my understanding- here, at least- is that a “reasonable person” could “honestly and reasonable believe” that someone carrying on a business is doing so “as a prudent person of business”, which means, basically, it’s a reasonable assumption that a dining establishment larger than a kiosk in a mall (or thereabouts) will have the facilities to accept EFTPOS/Credit Cards, and if they do not, there will be large and prominent signs indicating this.

That doesn’t mean people can go “Woohoo! Free Food!” and claim they don’t have any cash- I’m pretty sure it just means as long as you explain to the staff that you need to duck off to the nearest ATM (and they’re everywhere these days), your initial departure from the restaurant won’t be interpreted as attempting to leave without paying for your meal… unless you don’t come back, of course.

It’s not legal here for an employer to make staff pay for unpaid meals or goods (“shrinkage”), however- which is just as well, really.

49

The missus and I were at a restaurant in town on Friday that doesn’t take credit/debit cards.

They were well used to this - the next table to us also got caught out - and said it was absolutely not a problem to pop down to the nearest ATM after our meal.

It’s a small place, so skipping out on a bill would mean your face would be noted and you’d not be welcomed back.

50

If you leave a restaurant without paying but you identify yourself (i.e., you leave genuine contact information), how is it “stealing” at that point? Are you not at that point “in debt”? And wouldn’t it be a tort instead of a misdemeanor or felony not to pay at that point?

51

[QUOTE=Frylock]
I went looking for a “Goods and Services” act through google, and it looks like this is a British law. Anyone know what the equivalent in the USA would be? Or in any particular state within the USA?

-FrL-
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From my dim memory of civil law – subject as always to correction from those that that remember better than I:

Every contract has two implied warranties: merchantibility and fitness for a particular purpose. These derive from the Uniform Commercial Code, which exists (in nearly identical form) in every state.

The implied warranty of merchantibility to sales of a product by someone who normally sells the product and holds himself out as having expertise about the product. It means that the seller promises the product is fit and usable for the ordinary purposes for which it is normally used.

The implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose comes into play only if the the seller has been told, or should reasonably know, that the product are required for a particular purpose or the buyer is relying on the seller’s expertise and judgement to select a product suitable for that specific purpose. If you order a wedding cake, and the seller delivers a sheet cake, you probably have a claim for breach of the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.

Now, these are all civil law concepts.

The criminal law has some additional strictures. To choose Virginia, an example I am familiar with, Va Code § 18.2-188 makes it a crime to obtain food from a restaurant without paying for it and with the intent to cheat or defraud the owner or keeper thereof.

In my view, the intersection of these two principles means that you cannot simply engage in self-help by refusing to pay when the food or service is not to your liking. The criminal law requires that you pay for the food. You could, of course, argue to a jury that you never had the intent of defrauding or cheating anyone… but the jury is entitled to draw its own inferences about your intent from your actions.

52

[QUOTE=DrDeth]
After finishing most of the dinner, the waitress brought out the dessert- and a cockroach ran off the plate as she was setting it down. We got up, went up to the cashier, and said- “of course, this means we won’t be paying, you understand, right?” and walked.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I wouldn’t pay either if the waitress had eaten my dinner.

53

If you’re going to cite legislation, you should probably note where that legislation applies, e-logic.

If you read the other thread, you’ll see PunditLisa described a situation in which a restaurant employee refused to ring her up, then she stood around for five minutes before shouting, “I am going to leave if nobody comes to ring me up,”

Did the restaurant have a sign regarding the largest currency denominations they could accept?
Incidentally, level of service is not part of your contract with the restaurant. Your food is the same price whether you take it home with you or eat in the restaurant. Level of service is part of your contract with the server, whose performance is variously rewarded with a tip.
This wouldn’t necessarily be true in, say, Britain, where wait staff make at least minimum wage.

54

[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
If you’re going to cite legislation, you should probably note where that legislation applies, e-logic.
[/QUOTE]

I did… check my location field.

55

“The Silicon Fen” is arguably a bit cryptic. I lived in England until I was fourteen and I don’t have the foggiest idea where that is.

56

[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
“The Silicon Fen” is arguably a bit cryptic. I lived in England until I was fourteen and I don’t have the foggiest idea where that is.
[/QUOTE]

Google is your friend. :slight_smile:

Anyway, even if the OP is based in the USA (which wasn’t clear from the post) I would hope the way other nations approach this topic would be of interest as far as these boards are concerned… fighting ignorance, building the store of global knowledge etc etc.

57

[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Did the restaurant have a sign regarding the largest currency denominations they could accept?
[/QUOTE]
Even if they did, once you’ve eaten the food, you are indebted to the restaurant, right? So they have to accept legal currency.

58

I was the poster who brought up the situation being discussed. Let me at least present the facts to that we can at least all be on the same page.

*The restaurant was a Frisch’s type, where you were waited on, but given a bill and asked to pay at the cashier stand (similar to Bob Evans).

*I walked to the cashier stand, where an employee was standing behind the counter. He proceeded to ignore me. I cleared my throat; he continued to ignore me. I said, “Excuse me; I’d like to pay my bill.” He shrugged and said, “It ain’t my job.” and continued counting the money in the till. He made no effort to go and find the person responsible for taking the money. He just sat there while I checked my non-existent watch (I never wear one, but I went through the motions), sighed and stewed.

*I waited at least five full minutes with Mr. Surly right in front of me. There were no other employees in the common area. Finally, I hollered out out that if someone didn’t come to take my money immediately, I was going to walk out without paying. I was 100% serious.

*Someone did show up after I shouted out; I paid, left the tip on the table (it wasn’t her fault), and left the restaurant.

*I was in college and I had cash, but only twenties. Since my bill, with tip, was less than ten dollars, I’d have seriously screwed myself if I just left the cash there and left. And if I had to choose between paying $20 for a $6 cheeseburger or walking out without paying solely because the only employee around refused to take my money, I would have chosen the former. With a completely clear conscience.

Y’all can carry on with your discussion now about whether walking out would have been legal.

59

[QUOTE=PunditLisa]
I was the poster who brought up the situation being discussed. Let me at least present the facts to that we can at least all be on the same page.

*The restaurant was a Frisch’s type, where you were waited on, but given a bill and asked to pay at the cashier stand (similar to Bob Evans).

*I walked to the cashier stand, where an employee was standing behind the counter. He proceeded to ignore me. I cleared my throat; he continued to ignore me. I said, “Excuse me; I’d like to pay my bill.” He shrugged and said, “It ain’t my job.” and continued counting the money in the till. He made no effort to go and find the person responsible for taking the money. He just sat there while I checked my non-existent watch (I never wear one, but I went through the motions), sighed and stewed.

*I waited at least five full minutes with Mr. Surly right in front of me. There were no other employees in the common area. Finally, I hollered out out that if someone didn’t come to take my money immediately, I was going to walk out without paying. I was 100% serious.

*Someone did show up after I shouted out; I paid, left the tip on the table (it wasn’t her fault), and left the restaurant.

*I was in college and I had cash, but only twenties. Since my bill, with tip, was less than ten dollars, I’d have seriously screwed myself if I just left the cash there and left. And if I had to choose between paying $20 for a $6 cheeseburger or walking out without paying solely because the only employee around refused to take my money, I would have chosen the former. With a completely clear conscience.

Y’all can carry on with your discussion now about whether walking out would have been legal.
[/QUOTE]

For the record, I think strictly speaking, the restaurant would have a claim against you and you’d be guilty of theft, but for all practical purposes, walking out would probably have been treated as justified. (And certainly should have been so treated had it come down to that.)

-FrL-