Latest news with #MarinaGiuberti
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Foreigners pay more in the city's restaurants, undercover reporters from French newspaper find
The clearly French customer was served a can of Coke for €6.50 ($12.65) and offered a carafe of water with his dish. Meanwhile, the 'American' was not offered a small can, only a medium or large Coke. When it arrived, it was half a litre and cost €9.50 ($18.50). As for the water, the 'American' received no offer of a carafe, which is free, instead having to fork out a further €6 ($11.60) for a small bottle of Vittel. The pair then walked to another nearby cafe-restaurant to test its policy on tipping. When it was time to pay, the French customer received the bill, which includes an obligatory 10% service charge. However, the 'American' client was asked if he wished to tip because 'service isn't included'. When he agreed to add a 10% tip via the card machine, he realised afterwards that the waiter had shielded the amount and discreetly increased this to 15%. Last month, Paris cafes were caught cheating unsuspecting tourists out of good-quality wine. An undercover sommelier ordered a glass of Chablis, costing around €9 ($17.50), but the wine being served was actually the cheapest on the menu – a €5 ($9.70) sauvignon. The customer was charged the higher amount. Wine merchant Marina Giuberti said: 'It's a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker and for the restaurant owners, who do a good job.' The Telegraph spoke to Joseph, a 21-year-old waiter who confirmed that some of the techniques were widespread. 'In one restaurant I worked I was instructed to bring spring water at €7 ($13.60) a bottle unless foreign customers specifically asked for a carafe,' he said. 'I confess I sometimes don't tell them that service included if they mention the word tip.' Parisian cafes are overcharging tourists up to 50% more than locals, according to Le Parisien. Photo / Getty Images Marc Mazière, the French customer, an economist, runs a blog called Radin Malin (shrewd miser), which helps people make savings in their everyday spending. 'It's daylight robbery,' he said. 'It's almost abuse of weakness. They know you're a tourist, you're probably tired and don't understand much. They exploit this to charge exorbitant prices.' Several American tourists quizzed by Le Parisien on restaurant rules thought that you always had to pay for water, as that was their experience. 'Usually they bring a bottle of water you have to pay for even when we say still,' said one woman sitting on a bench in the Tuileries gardens. Franck Trouet of GHR, a hotel and restaurant umbrella group, said: 'It's a disgrace to the profession. You can't even call these people waiters. 'You should know that in France, water and bread are free. One can refuse a bottle of water. 'The tip is to express thanks for the service if one is very satisfied. Above all, it is not compulsory. This is not the United States.' He said waiters' eagerness to increase the tip had been supercharged when Emmanuel Macron, the French President, decided three years ago to waive taxes on 'le pourboire'. Now, tips made in French restaurants and cafes using a bank card are no longer taxable. The rise of new pay machines that automatically suggest a tip of at least 5% has accelerated the trend to try and squeeze more out of diners. Many restaurants do respect the rules, however, and insiders say waiters in Paris' myriad of cafes, bars, and restaurants work hard for poor pay.
Metro
5 days ago
- Business
- Metro
How foreign tourists are charged 50% more in Paris than French customers
Americans holidaying in Paris are being charged an extra 50% more that French customers. Newspaper Le Parisien sent out one of their reporters dressed like a tourist from the USA as well as one of their local employees to a cafe near the Eiffel Tower. Both sat down and ordered the same dish – a lasagna, a Coke and water – but given drastically different prices when given the check. The obviously 'French' customer was charged €6.50 for their soft drink and given a carafe of water for free. But the 'American' was charged €9.50 for a large coke which was only half a litre. They were also made to spend €6 on bottled water with no offer of a carafe. The pair moved to a different establishment to test the tipping policy. The 'French' customer had a 10% service charge included, but the 'American' was told it 'isn't included'. When he agreed to add a 10% tip, the waiter discreetly raised it to 15%. Franck Trouet of the hotel and restaurant umbrella group GHR said: 'It's a disgrace to the profession. You can't even call these people waiters. 'You should know that in France, water and bread are free. One can refuse a bottle of water. The tip is to express thanks for the service if one is very satisfied. Above all, it is not compulsory. This is not the United States'. Parisian restaurants and bars were also found to be cheating tourists out of wine last month. A sommelier posing as a tourist ordered a glass of Chablis costing around €9, but instead was served the cheapest €5 sauvignon on the menu – and was still charged the higher amount. Wine merchant Marina Giuberti said: 'It's a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker and for the restaurant owners who do a good job.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: New £17 travel charge comes into force across popular Greek islands MORE: Lonely Planet founder reveals the Greek island tourists haven't destroyed yet MORE: Sunbed Wars 2025: Worst UK offenders revealed as mum-of-six sparks fury
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
The great Paris tourist rip-off exposed by a fake American
Hapless tourists in Paris are being charged as much as 50pc more than French customers, the city's leading newspaper found. After detecting online complaints from tourists about being overcharged, Le Parisien sent out one bona fide Parisian to a cafe on the Champ-de-Mars near the Eiffel Tower. It then dressed up one of its reporters as a typical tourist, sporting a T-shirt emblazoned with the iconic tower, trainers, dark glasses and a baseball cap, along with a passable American accent − albeit with a French twang. They both sat down at the unnamed restaurant and ordered the same dish − lasagne − and drinks, a Coke and water, and discreetly filmed themselves. The clearly 'French' customer was served a can of Coke for €6.50 and offered a carafe of water along with his dish. Meanwhile, the 'American' was not offered a small can, only a 'medium or large Coke'. When it arrived, it was half a litre and cost €9.50. As for the water, the 'American' received no offer of a carafe, which is free. Instead, he was made to fork out a further €6 for a small bottle of Vittel. The pair then walked to another nearby cafe-restaurant to test its policy on tipping. When it was time to pay, the French customer received the bill, which includes an obligatory 10pc service charge. However, the 'American' client was asked if he wished to tip because 'service isn't included'. Worse, when he agreed to add a 10pc tip via the card machine, he realised afterwards the waiter had shielded the amount and discreetly upped this to 15pc. Last month, Paris cafes were caught cheating unsuspecting tourists out of good-quality wine. An undercover sommelier ordered a glass of Chablis, costing around €9, but the wine being served was actually the cheapest on the menu − a €5 sauvignon. Wine merchant Marina Giuberti said: 'It's a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker and for the restaurant owners who do a good job.' The Telegraph spoke to Joseph, a 21-year-old waiter who confirmed some of the techniques were widespread. 'In one restaurant I worked [in] I was instructed to bring spring water at €7 a bottle unless foreign customers specifically asked for a carafe. 'I confess I sometimes don't tell them that service [is] included if they mention the word tip.' 'It's daylight robbery,' said the French customer,Marc Maziere, an economist who runs a blog called Radin Malin (shrewd miser), which helps people make savings in their everyday spending. 'It's almost abuse of weakness. They know you're a tourist, you're probably tired and don't understand much etc.' Several American tourists quizzed by Le Parisien on restaurant rules thought that you always had to pay for water, as that was their experience. 'Usually they bring a bottle of water, you have to pay for even when we say still,' said one woman sitting on a bench in the Tuileries gardens. Franck Trouet of the hotel and restaurant umbrella group GHR said: 'It's a disgrace to the profession. You can't even call these people waiters. You should know that in France, water and bread are free. One can refuse a bottle of water.' He said waiters' eagerness to increase the tip had been supercharged when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, decided three years ago to waive taxes on 'le pourboire'. Now, tips made in French restaurants and cafes using a bank card are no longer taxable. The rise of new pay machines that automatically suggest a tip of at least 5pc has accelerated the trend to try to squeeze more out of diners.
The Independent
04-05-2025
- The Independent
Paris cafes have been caught cheating tourists with cheap wine – here's how to avoid it happening to you
Picture the scene: you're on holiday, revelling in the joy of escaping (most of) the mundane elements of your life. Sitting in the bar of your hotel, you decide to splash out and order a glass of champagne – a real treat. The flute arrives, you take a sip, and something just isn't right... there's a niggling voice telling you it's not champagne. What do you do? Well, if you're me (because, well, this did happen to me), you feel a bit flustered at the thought of having to say something. You doubt yourself, question every aspect of your own tasting ability despite the fact you've been blind-tasting for years, and then finally say something – apologising as you do so. People-pleaser? Moi? Thankfully, the wine in question wasn't champagne (I mean, I knew it all along), and what arrived to replace it – without question, I hasten to add – most definitely was the real deal. But this isn't an easy situation for most people. Despite the rising rouge in my cheeks in the hotel bar that evening, I do have the confidence to know if the wine I'm being served is the wine I've ordered. Most people don't. And this is just one of the reasons why I've been fuming all week at the news that some bars in Paris have been found to be doing the dodgy – pouring a cheaper wine when a more expensive one's been ordered. An undercover investigation published by Le Parisien found that a number of venues across the capital were guilty of wine fraud, with examples such as a chablis (a premium, expensive white wine from Burgundy), sold for €9 (£7.70), being replaced with a more generic and cheaper sauvignon blanc being sold for €5 (£4.25) – whilst the customer was charged the higher amount. Marina Giuberti, one of the undercover sommeliers involved in the investigation, said: 'It's a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker, and for the restaurant owners who do a good job.' I think I might have been a bit more emphatic in my choice of words than Giuberti, but she's absolutely right – this does a total disservice to every link in the chain of wine production, not to mention giving a boost to the stereotypes about how tourists are treated in Paris, and the disdain the Parisiennes feel towards them. Come on, Paris! I know you're better than this. As a customer, it's always worth remembering that you have some inalienable rights when it comes to ordering and drinking wine. The waiter or sommelier might be positioned as the all-knowing seer, but the reality is that isn't the case; they're not demigods. I urge you to trust yourself. You might not have drunk as much wine as them, but who cares? There's a strong likelihood that you have a good idea of what you do and don't like the taste of. Did you know that you can always ask to see the wine being poured in front of you? It's actually the law in France, and no one has ever questioned me when I've asked for it to happen in the UK, either. Of course, there's nothing that's going to help you if they're 're-potting' the wine (this means pouring a cheaper wine into a more expensive bottle), but even in that situation, you can say, 'I'm sorry, this doesn't taste right to me – do you mind opening another bottle?' And then there's the joy of trying before you buy. Surely this is the great perk of ordering wines by the glass instead of going in head-first with a whole bottle? Any half-decent establishment will be happy to do this. When I owned a wine bar in another lifetime, we served a bar full of wines by the glass, and honestly, I was delighted when people wanted to taste them. It gave me a beautiful opportunity to talk about the wines and find out what styles they enjoyed, and nothing gave me greater pleasure than finding a customer's perfect pour. Good bars and restaurants will be pleased to give you a taster, and if not? Grab your coat and head somewhere that is. I hope that it doesn't taint your love for Paris. It didn't for me. Nowhere in the world does the 'bar a vin' better. For every dodgy place, there's a multitude of outstanding wine bars and bistros run by incredibly passionate, brilliant and kind staff who want to give drinkers and diners the best possible experience. Just let me know if you'd like me to share my little black book on the City of Light (and her great bars) with you one day...
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Wine warning as waiters caught serving cheap plonk to tourists in posh bottles
An investigation has uncovered that cafes in Paris, France, have been duping customers by serving cheap wine disguised as pricey options. The probe revealed that establishments across the French capital have been fooling patrons, including tourists, by substituting top-shelf wines with budget-friendly ones while charging premium prices. For instance, high-end chablis, typically sold for about €9 (£7.66) a glass, have been replaced with sauvignon, which costs closer to €5 (£4.26) per glass. The exposé was conducted by the French newspaper Le Parisien, which enlisted two wine sommeliers to identify when wines had been switched. These experts masqueraded as English-speaking tourists while visiting various restaurants, cafes, and bistros in Paris on behalf of the paper. Hospitality workers in Paris confessed to the publication that this deceit is rampant, particularly in tourist-heavy areas of the city. A seasoned waitress with more than three decades in the industry disclosed to Le Parisien: "You can serve the wine you want. People don't have the sense of taste to spot it. It can be beaujolais, Côte du Rhône, Brouilly or any other wine. A sommelier knows the difference, but the tourist has no idea. I sometimes even empty leftover wine into one bottle for the happy hour." One waiter confessed that he was instructed to serve a cheaper wine to avoid opening and potentially wasting a pricier bottle. He admitted: "The boss would tell us off if the most expensive bottle was going down too quickly. Only once did a customer discover the trick. He was a sommelier." Master wine merchant Marina Giuberti, one of the experts involved in the investigation, immediately noticed that a sancerre priced at €7.50 per glass had been swapped with a cheaper sauvignon listed at €5.60 on the menu at a venue she visited. Even after her complaint, the waiter served her another glass of the incorrect wine. She expressed her disappointment, saying: "It's a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker and for the restaurant owners who do a good job. We're in France, the home of wine. We have to give tips to the consumer." Experts advised customers, as reported by a French newspaper, to insist on having their wine poured from the bottle in front of them, a practice which is legally required in Paris. Jérôme Bauer, an Alsace winemaker and leader of the National Confederation of AOC (appellation contrôlée) wine producers, voiced his concern: "Cheating the customer rebounds on us, the producers, because a customer who has ordered a Côte du Rhône and gets served a Bordeaux wine will probably be disappointed and can turn away from that wine in the future."
