The Times of India

Consumer watchdog fines Chaayos Rs 50k for auto-adding service charge in bills

The Central Consumer Protection Authority fined Chaayos fifty thousand rupees for automatically adding service charges. This consumer watchdog ruled that restaurants cannot force customers to pay voluntary tips. Chaayos must refund the collected service charge to the complainant. The company also needs to remove default service charges from all its billing systems. This order reinforces that service charges are optional and not mandatory.