Latest news with #customerawareness
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Diners warned to ‘read the fine print' when making restaurant bookings
SkyCity is reviewing how its restaurants display their cancellation policies to ensure customers are clearly aware of fees. Photo: RNZ / Ziming Li The Restaurant Association warns diners to "read the fine print" when making reservations after reports have emerged that some customers in the country's largest city are being charged a fee for cancelling bookings. Auckland resident Jessie Chen made a reservation through Google at SkyCity's Huami for five people to have lunch on 4 July. On the afternoon of 3 July, she fell sick and cancelled the booking in a phone call to the restaurant. A day later, Chen was surprised to find that Huami had deducted $250 from her credit card, which had been saved on Google. "I was like, 'I didn't end up eating at Huami, why was there a deduction of more than $200?' It's so strange," she said. Chen phoned Huami for an explanation and was told the restaurant charged $50 per person to cancel a booking if the cancellation was made less than 24 hours prior to the reservation time. She claimed not to have noticed any information relating to cancellation charges when making the booking. She also claimed the staff member she spoke to when cancelling the booking didn't flag any charges either. "Had they told me about the fee, I would have probably asked the other four people to go ahead with the meal ... or I could have asked others to help order some takeaway," Chen said. "I wouldn't let this money be deducted like this." Restaurant Huami in Auckland CBD. Photo: RNZ / Ziming Li A SkyCity spokesperson said customers must click through terms and conditions that set out cancellation policy details at Huami when making a booking for five or more people via Google. "Before the booking is finalised you must tick cancellation policy box," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the cancellation policy clearly stated that "you will be subject to a cancellation fee of $50 per person which will be charged to the credit card details provided at the time of booking for any no shows or cancellations made less than 24 hours prior to your reservation time". "However, given the diner made every effort to cancel the booking in advance due to sickness, as a gesture of goodwill and without any admission of liability, we will refund the diner's $250 cancellation fee," the spokesperson said. "We are also reviewing how we display our cancellation policy to ensure customers are clearly aware of this fee." MASU by Nic Watt in Auckland CBD Photo: RNZ / Ziming Li Another diner, Cici Guo, made a reservation to have dinner at SkyCity's MASU by Nic Watt in September last year. She made a booking for two people via Google at noon for dinner on the same day but cancelled the booking 15 minutes later after her friend suggested another place. Guo was upset when she discovered the restaurant had deducted $100 from her card. She claimed not to have noticed any information relating to cancellation charges when making the booking but did find the policy outlined on the restaurant's website later. "I was mad," Guo said. "If I had seen this clause earlier or if I had known it was like this, I would have gone there to eat, right?" She called for the cancellation fee policy to be displayed more prominently. The SkyCity spokesperson didn't make further comments on Guo's case. Sahar Lone, communications and campaigns manager at Consumer New Zealand Photo: Supplied Sahar Lone, communications and campaigns manager of Consumer New Zealand, said restaurants were entitled to charge a fee for cancellations or "no shows". "However, any cancellation terms must be reasonable and must be clearly disclosed to customers when they make the booking," she said. Lone said Chen "ideally ... would have received a courtesy reminder when cancelling by phone". Lone said businesses should also "provide a mechanism for people to edit or cancel their bookings in a timely way". "Making a booking with a restaurant creates a contract which places obligations on both parties," Lone said. "If you don't turn up, the restaurant can legitimately claim you have broken the contract and caused it to lose business. "If you realise in advance, you won't be able to make it, let the business or service provider know. They're unlikely to charge if you tell them within a reasonable timeframe." Marisa Bidois, chief executive at Restaurant Association of New Zealand Photo: Supplied Marisa Bidois, chief executive of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand, said it was not uncommon for restaurants, particularly higher-end venues or those handling large group bookings, to charge cancellation fees. Bidois said cancellation policies should be clearly communicated at the time of booking, whether online or over the phone. Cancelling at late notice often meant there was little opportunity for restaurants to fill the empty seats and recover costs. "Fees are typically only charged when the restaurant has incurred costs in preparation for the booking, such as ordering premium or perishable ingredients," she said. Many restaurants were compassionate and could waive or reduce fees depending on circumstances, so it was worth a polite conversation, but people needed to remember that there were often costs associated with cancellations for the business, Bidois said. "Restaurants work on very tight margins, and last-minute cancellations or no shows can have a significant financial impact," she said. "We encourage diners to always read the fine print when booking and, where possible, give as much notice as they can if their plans change."
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Telecom complaints watchdog highlights compliance issues in annual ‘report cards'
Canada's telecom and television complaints watchdog is once again urging providers to better inform their customers about its services, as it says just under one-third were fully compliant with the organization's public awareness requirements last year. The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS) released its annual compliance report cards on Tuesday, measuring how well service providers have fulfilled their obligations to remain in good standing. The report said 32 per cent of the 65 providers it audited in 2024 were fully compliant with rules to inform their customers about the CCTS on their respective websites, compared with 35 per cent in 2023 and 18 per cent in 2022. Although most providers had some information about the CCTS on their websites prior to being audited, the watchdog said many of the issues it highlighted were about how and where the information was presented. Four-in-10 had 'some' compliance issues while 28 per cent lacked any level of compliance, which was roughly in line with the results from the previous four years. The CCTS said it engages with non-compliant providers to help rectify the issues. In the past, it has publicly named companies with recurring compliance issues, noting that is one tool at its disposal to enforce the obligations. In more severe cases, such as a provider refusing to implement a resolution ordered by the watchdog following a complaint, it could consider expelling the company from its membership. That would prompt the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to get involved, opening the door for financial penalties. 'Canadians with unresolved phone, TV, or internet service complaints should be made aware about the CCTS by their providers,' said Janet Lo, CCTS assistant commissioner for legal, regulatory and stakeholder affairs, in a press release. 'Providers have a responsibility to inform customers about the CCTS on their websites, customer bills, and in their escalation processes. This year's report cards show some progress on website information, but customers are still telling us that they are not being informed by their providers.' The report cards showed 43 per cent of audited provider websites with a search function did not return search results for the CCTS, down from 52 per cent the prior year. All service providers the CCTS previously flagged for repeated non-compliance with the search function requirement had rectified the issue by 2024. In April, the commission published its mid-year complaints report, which revealed it handled 11,909 total gripes from customers between Aug. 1, 2024 and Jan. 31, 2025. That was up almost 12 per cent from the same reporting period a year earlier. The increase was driven by customers' issues with their wireless service, which represented around half of all complaints submitted, followed by internet issues, which accounted for just over one-quarter of total grievances. On Tuesday, the CCTS said it confirmed nine instances during that six-month period of service providers failing to implement resolutions to which they had agreed, or remedies that the CCTS ordered following an investigation. The commission said in all nine cases, it worked with providers to fix the issues and ensure the customers obtained the required remedies. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025. Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Telecom complaints watchdog highlights compliance issues in annual 'report cards'
Canada's telecom and television complaints watchdog is once again urging providers to better inform their customers about its services, as it says just under one-third were fully compliant with the organization's public awareness requirements last year. The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS) released its annual compliance report cards on Tuesday, measuring how well service providers have fulfilled their obligations to remain in good standing. The report said 32 per cent of the 65 providers it audited in 2024 were fully compliant with rules to inform their customers about the CCTS on their respective websites, compared with 35 per cent in 2023 and 18 per cent in 2022. Although most providers had some information about the CCTS on their websites prior to being audited, the watchdog said many of the issues it highlighted were about how and where the information was presented. Four-in-10 had "some" compliance issues while 28 per cent lacked any level of compliance, which was roughly in line with the results from the previous four years. The CCTS said it engages with non-compliant providers to help rectify the issues. In the past, it has publicly named companies with recurring compliance issues, noting that is one tool at its disposal to enforce the obligations. In more severe cases, such as a provider refusing to implement a resolution ordered by the watchdog following a complaint, it could consider expelling the company from its membership. That would prompt the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to get involved, opening the door for financial penalties. 'Canadians with unresolved phone, TV, or internet service complaints should be made aware about the CCTS by their providers,' said Janet Lo, CCTS assistant commissioner for legal, regulatory and stakeholder affairs, in a press release. 'Providers have a responsibility to inform customers about the CCTS on their websites, customer bills, and in their escalation processes. This year's report cards show some progress on website information, but customers are still telling us that they are not being informed by their providers." The report cards showed 43 per cent of audited provider websites with a search function did not return search results for the CCTS, down from 52 per cent the prior year. All service providers the CCTS previously flagged for repeated non-compliance with the search function requirement had rectified the issue by 2024. In April, the commission published its mid-year complaints report, which revealed it handled 11,909 total gripes from customers between Aug. 1, 2024 and Jan. 31, 2025. That was up almost 12 per cent from the same reporting period a year earlier. The increase was driven by customers' issues with their wireless service, which represented around half of all complaints submitted, followed by internet issues, which accounted for just over one-quarter of total grievances. On Tuesday, the CCTS said it confirmed nine instances during that six-month period of service providers failing to implement resolutions to which they had agreed, or remedies that the CCTS ordered following an investigation. The commission said in all nine cases, it worked with providers to fix the issues and ensure the customers obtained the required remedies. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025. Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
