Using Points to Pay for a CET Restaurant Meal

Had a delightful dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Friedmush this evening at Old Homestead Steakhouse at Caesars.

They were generously treating and opting to pay with points. When the bill was presented, there was a shortfall against the available point balance in their account. At that point Mr. Mush asked us if tax was normally included or not on a comped meal as it was showing on his bill. In our experience at MGM, the comp is pre-tax. However, we thought there was recent legislation in NV that made comps taxable to the casino so it only made sense that the tax was "collected" via the comp. When the waitress reappeared, Mr. Mush asked the question and was told that it's a CET policy (or system glitch as I think she referred to it) to charge tax in instances where the available comp balance woudn't cover the entire bill.

The rediculous part was that the waitress knew this and the shortfall was only something like $1.92. So instead of just not ringing in a coffee and perhaps putting it on a separate check, she opted to run everything after she realized he was less than $2 shy and therefore would add tax to the entire bill for another $25 or so. I now wonder if she was doing that hoping that she'd make another $5 or so in tip as some people calculate tips on the total, after tax bill? Perhaps it was just ignorance on her part and I'm reading too much into this?

We tried every angle to make this disappear to include paying cash for the overage, etc. but it was too late. One last minute approach....could they share the cost amongst two CET TR cards and make the tax disappear? Waitress disappeared to query the manager and returned with an affirmative response.

Ms. Fedomalley happened to have my TR # in her iPhone negating the need for me to go to the players club to get it. Being the magnanamous guy that I am, I dug deep into the $30 balance in my comp account to get this handled so as to avoid having to pay the sales tax. My contribution? $1.

What a dumbass system!

Anyway, just a warning which is more relevant the higher the bill is when you're looking down the pike at 8.1% sales tax. If you don't have enough $ in your comp account to cover the entire bill, you may want to save that "money" for another time.

Dan

Maybe something is changing soon???

I'm guessing your server entered your items into the computer and the computer said the bill was xx$$$. Sometimes glitches happen because the computer says x and the server is trained to do what the computer says and not think on their feet. If their is a problem, they're supposed to get the manager.

My experience, the check comes with the total including tax. They then remove the tax when paying with points. If this had been me, I would have said, I would like to use my points and pay cash for the difference.

Your post made me get up and find my receipt from January 1, The Range at Harrahs Laughlin. When the bill arrived, it showed a total with tax. I gave my server a $25.00 dining credit coupon and said I wanted to use my points for the balance. Apparently, I left him the wrong copy as I have the signed copy. Bottom line, they removed the tax and used my points for the balance.

Sorry, you felt it was a hassle. Perhaps a new law went into effect January 2???

Hi Lisa, Mr. Mush could probably fill in the specifics better than I as the initial conversation from the waitress was with him.

I believe the sequence of events happened like this:

1. Waitress presented bill.
2. Mr. Mush presented TR card and instructed her to pay it with points. I suspect that he thought that the actual presented receipt for signature would be exclusive of sales tax.
3. When the bill came, it included the remaining balance and thus the bill was taxed. This apparently was a "glitch" in the CET system and not some mandated state requirement.
4. Mr. Mush asked if a coffee could be removed from the bill, paid for in cash and the bill recalculated to reflect this which would have been lower than the amount of TR credits and thus sales tax free. Her response was that it was "too late".
5. At that point it was suggested that we pay with two different TR cards and that became an acceptable solution.

To be clear, it wasn't the end of the world and Mr. Mush was quite ok to pay it. It was less a matter of money and more of principal. Silly "glitch" that perhaps a more clued in waitress would have picked up on as she clearly knew why the sales tax was being charged. A simple heads up that would have said "hey, if you pay for the coffee on a separate tab, you can save the sales tax". Maybe I'm just being too critical.

In any event, it doesn't amount to a lot of money on a small check but $25 or more in sales tax saving just by ringing something in differently is nothing to sneeze at. I've done a lot more for a lot less!

Dan

Dan summarized perfectly.

The amount short on comps was $1.08. I jokingly said I ordered a $30 cappuccino.

And the rub was she knew exactly the situation because she recited the $1.08 shortfall off top of her head when asked about the taxes on the comped amount. Ironically she would have earned a bigger tip if she would have approached me and explained that she had a manager make the cappuccino go away or presented me with a check for one of the side dishes or just the cappuccino to avoid a 9 percent premium.

Lesson learned: Know your exact comp balance prior to pulling the card out of your wallet and give explicit payment instructions to server or just save the comps for smaller charges that will cover the tab entirely.

The food was outstanding, including the best garlic toast presentation ever, seafood platter as an appy, sole filleted tableside, etc. And the company was great. Dan and I were on our best behavior. Nothing to worry about with the ladies.

This is a good thread, Dan, because it demonstrates how to avoid losing 9 percent value on your comps at CET.