“Total tip was almost $80 – double what was expected.”

“Dear PoPville,

So, my husband and I went to brunch on Sunday and got a nasty surprise walking home.  Jackie O’s has a delicious-sounding “unlimited” cocktail service for two hours. Since I’ve heard great things about the four cocktails in the deal, we decided to go for it. The unlimited cocktails cost $55, so pricey, but I figured 4 each would break even.

At the end of the meal and a few more than 4 drinks each later, the hand-swiper billing came and since I didn’t see any Initiative-82 style charges, I happily added 20% tip. The surprise came when the email receipt arrived a few blocks on our way home. The receipt itemized every single cocktail and then at the end added a “discount” to bring the total cocktail price down to $110 (two ‘unlimiteds’). However, their system applied the 20% tip to all the drinks, pre-discount. So, instead of $22 worth of tip on the drink package, they charged us $60.80 in tips for the pre-discounted price. Total tip was almost $80 – double what was expected. Nothing on the menu alerted me to this practice.

Just a buyer beware to all “unlimited” drink package aficionados.”