Vesti Baku
Visitors to a restaurant at Baku’s Ateshgah temple complex say they were initially charged 180 manats ($106) for an order that totaled 108 manats ($64) on the menu they used.
The group alleged that the restaurant operated a separate, more expensive menu for foreign tourists and corrected the bill only after four complaints, Vesti Baku reports.
The claims have not been independently verified. Journalists who sought a response from the restaurant said staff initially asked them to call again after two minutes, but later calls went unanswered.
Group Asked for the Regular Menu
The author of the complaint said the group visited the restaurant while touring the Ateshgah complex with friends from China.
Before ordering, one member of the group who spoke Azerbaijani fluently asked for the regular menu. According to the complainant, the Azerbaijani-speaking visitor knew that the restaurant allegedly had different menus for local customers and tourists.
The guests selected their meals using the prices shown in the menu they received. When the bill arrived, however, they said some dishes had been charged at twice the listed price.
Bill Was Recalculated Four Times
The group asked the server to bring back the menu used for the order and recalculate the bill. The visitors said each revised total was about 20 manats lower than the previous one but still did not match the menu.
Only after the fourth complaint, when the guests checked every item themselves, was the total reduced to 108 manats.
The difference between the original 180-manat bill and the menu total was 72 manats ($42). That was 66.7% of the 108-manat cost shown by the group’s calculation.
The dollar equivalents use the Central Bank of Azerbaijan’s official rate of 1.7 manats to the U.S. dollar.
Azerbaijan’s Rules Require Equal Pricing
Azerbaijan’s rules for restaurants and other public-catering businesses require customers to receive menu information about services, prices and payment terms before service is provided. They also require an itemized bill showing the dishes and products included in the charge.
The rules state that service conditions, including prices, must be the same for all consumers except where legislation provides a discount for a particular category. The government’s Competition and Consumer Market Control agency separately says menus must disclose each dish’s composition, quantity and price.
If substantiated, the visitors’ allegation of charging foreign tourists different prices would raise questions under those requirements. The television report did not include a response from the restaurant.
Vesti Baku