We live in a digital world in which the mobile phone or any electronic device is almost essential. Both to do paperwork, study, work or even for something as everyday as asking in a bar or restaurant. However, the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) and other organizations have warned that if a place forces to consult the letter only through a QR code, this is an illegal practice and as clients we have the right to claim.
Pandemia accelerated that transformation and popularized the use of QR codes as a quick and safe way to access menus and services without physical contact. But what was born as a temporary solution has remained in many establishments, and not always correctly.
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The physical and visible letter cannot disappear from any establishment
Little by little, physical letters are decreasing, although there is still the possibility of using them if we refuse to abandon the analog world. In addition to this practice, in order to expedite the process of asking for food and tails in the bar, there are already restaurants that even use the use of these codes to simply make the demand from our own mobile.
Thus, and as the Ministry of Consumer has already pointed out, the OCU now recalls that the prices of food, drinks and services must always be shown to the public through visible letters or lists. Other supports, such as murals or blackboards, can also be used, but in all cases the information must be available in Spanish.
The best option is a mixed model
The problem is that anyone can replace the QR of the letter with a sticker with a QR that leads to a fraudulent page. The problem is not that restaurants or any other entity use QRS, but the safety measures that mobile device users implement and the use they make of these devices.
Given this, the OCU recalls that a mixed model is the best option: physical letter available for those who ask for it and QR code for those who prefer to use it. This guarantees access to information to all types of customers, without excluding anyone.
At the time, lawyer Andrés Millán, known as ‘Lawtips’ in networks. There he explained that this practice can have risks. “We are here in a restaurant and we want to ask, but they do not attend to the table unless you scan this QR,” he said in a video posted on Tiktok. “And you escape it and make you download your own application, do not give you the letter,” explains the expert, referring to the fact that in that establishment there are no physical letters at the tables, only in the bar. After trying to use the web version of the restaurant, “Salta Error, does not work”, so “they are forcing you to download the app.”
Millán and his teammates pointed out that it is a “quite striking” practice, as well as “unusual.” And it is not only because we download a specific application, but because this implies giving part of our data. “There should, or there is anything, or there is a physical letter. Or at least facilitate an alternative, but what you can’t only have this at the table. Do not lead it to you, you don’t have to give your data to ask for a salad,” he said.
In addition to this, the OCU also mentions the custom of collecting concepts such as the appetizer, coffee milk or even ice, even when these charges are detailed in the letter. On the other hand, some establishments prohibit access to the bathroom to those who are not customers, including young or elderly children with urgent need. All of them are also illegal practices that can be sanctioned.