Have never noticed it happened in any particular country - although have randomly in a few restaurants - which went on the never again list. The only time is was unpleasant was a place in the tourist area of Budapest shortly after the wall came down. the staff had not yet figured out customer service - and we ended up paying what the menu said - since no one could explain any reason for the extra charges.

Interested to see what happens to us in Rome this Fall. Never hurts to pay more attention to your change.

We love Venice but SO checks every bill very carefully. Most of them have an error in the favor of the establishment be it hotel or restaurant.

Hi K,

>we call these events a 'tourist tax."

At a small cafe in Paris, the waiter took my 10E bill and quite transparently chose between giving me a 2E and a 1E or 2 1E coins.

He chose the latter.

It was what I would have given him for a tip, so I left it alone.

Much as I love Italy unfortunately I have found that this "tourist tax" does indeed exist.

There's a list of them here...

http://www.etoa.org/policyareas/tourist-taxes/italy

Rome was about the first to decide, almost 2 years ago...

http://en.turismoroma.it/oggi_a_roma/ultime_notizie/contributo_di_soggiorno

... about the same time they applied a €1 surcharge for out of town visitors at many of the city-run museums:

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/131960814

Worth remembering though that it's Italians who are likely to be paying the largest slice of those taxes!

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/138484674

Peter

We ate at L'as du Falafel in Paris this March—it was packed so they were taking orders and money in advance. We ordered two falafels—10 Euros—I gave the guy a 20 Euro note and he handed me the chit for the falafels and no change. When I asked for my 10 Euros he acted as if he didn't understand—I went and got my husband and suddenly he was very forthcoming with the change.

Nearly every place we ate during our week in Rome last fall, was suggested by our B&B hosts who called and made reservations for us at places they frequent. My DH always checks bills, so we would have noticed anything off -- and if there ever is a problem, we don't hesitate to point it out. I just don't recall our having any issues at all during that trip. We also had no problems at any of the other places we ate in 3 weeks outside Rome (Umbria, Cinque Terre, Cremona, Bellagio)

On the other hand, we find Italy is overall way more expensive than France, which wasn't the case pre-Euro.

Kawh, not sure where your trip took you in all, but I know you were in the south. My hubby and I found both in Puglia and Sicily that we certainly had to pay attention to our bills and the change given.

In Alberobello we bought a bottle of olive oil which was wrapped for us.
Sadly when we opened it to sample its rich goodness, we poured out water. Too bad we were too far away to return it.

Of course the really sad part is that it left a bad taste in our mouths for the town as well. It would be good if some of these merchants could realize that they are in fact ambassadors, either good ones or bad, for tourism in their area.

Also in Martina Franca we were asked by the proprietor of our b and b to give him a 5 star rating on tripadvisor. At that time he was #1 on TA in Martina Franca , although in reality the accommodations certainly were not up to a high standard.

Of course we also had some really good experiences in Puglia and I would recommend to go, as I'm sure you do too.

Hi SD,

>In Alberobello we bought a bottle of olive oil....<

I think that they were related to the very pleasant, little, gray-haired lady in Sarlat who encouraged us to try some of her excellent farm-made walnut liqueur. We bought a bottle.

She removed it from the shelf and wrapped it before our eyes.

About two weeks after we got home, we opened it.

Yuck!

Italy is the one country where I frequently settle restaurant bills in cash rather than use a credit card, precisely because of these issues. If I am paying in cash, I simply add up the menu items, add the pane e coperta and any other charges stated on the menu and leave that rather than the fictional amount I have occasionally been charged.

It's dumb of them, because I am a good American tipper, and the amount they add is often less than I might have tipped, even though I know better than to tip at American levels. So they miss out on the opportunity for a cash tip with no record for the fiscal police, in favor of attempting unsuccessfully to cheat me out of the same 10%. Maybe it makes them feel superior or something.

Rome is always the worst for me.

People try to rip me off at every turn, but I still love Rome with all my heart.

I am the fragance of the violet on the heel that has crushed it.

Thin

After our trip, I was reviewing restaurant receipts for information for my trip report and found that two resyaurants in Venice had under charged us.

"restaurants," that wasn't even Italian spelling