Ah yes, this place. The hubby and I were drawn in by the promise of cheap beer/wine at happy hour. The surly bartendress (we'll call her Mayvis because I don't know her real name) got us our drinks and proceeded to charge our credit card. As we stood at the bar, clearly waiting for a receipt of the transaction, Mayvis proceeded to stick both copies of the printed receipt in the register and go on about her business while expertly avoiding eye contact with us. We thought this was strange since every other establishment in NZ clearly showed us itemized receipts and asked if the amount was OK before proceeding with the payment, but we brushed it off and sat down.
As we were ready for another round, I went up to the bar alone and unfortunately met again with Mayvis who's smile quickly disappeared upon my approach. I ordered two more drinks and, as she was processing my card, I asked for a receipt. She looked slightly alarmed and simply uttered "GST?" to which I said yes because I wasn't sure what that meant (I'm a travel noob ok?) but I figured any receipt would do. She grabbed the receipt and walked over the register and took out a $1 coin and handed both to me and said "Here, I accidentally overcharged you". Odd, since I didn't witness any sort of 'ah-ha!' moment when you realized this...and the tone was anything but apologetic. More like annoyed.
When I got home I went back over our credit card transactions and she did indeed (I believe knowingly) overcharge us by $1 both times. However since she never said "That'll be $8.50", and the amount owed didn't show up on the machine for whatever reason, and we didn't get a receipt....there's really no way to prove how much you paid versus what you were supposed to pay! I'm not going to speculate motives or how often she was doing this...but if you're a tourist using a credit card at this establishment WATCH OUT and ask for a receipt!!! read more