Quebec targeted restaurant tipping, grocery store price presentation, leasing rules and door-to-door HVAC sales in proposed revisions to the province’s consumer protection legislation.
Most of the published accounts of the proposals focused on changes that would require restaurants to calculate tip percentages on the cost of the meal, excluding taxes. But there were also important changes affecting food sales inside a grocery store, with new requirements to improve the display of product unit pricing, transparency on whether groceries were taxable, and an increase in the costs to merchants if a displayed price did not match the price when scanned at checkout.
Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said the reforms being proposed would better protect the pocketbooks and spending power of Quebecers.
He attributed “growing pressure around tips” to the most notable change. With the growing use of handheld payment terminals, restaurants have the ability to pre-select common tip amounts, and to present them as percentages of the bill, including applicable taxes. On paper receipts, consumers may see both the pre-tax amount and the taxes, but when the terminal is presented, consumers are generally shown only the post-tax amount. The bill would force businesses to calculate tips on the pre-tax amount. So for a $50 bill, the standard tip presentations, would be based on that amount, not the after-tax amount of $57.50.
The bill would also improve the disclosure of unit pricing in grocery stores. Quebec is the only province that requires display of the per unit cost of items, though it makes no requirements for the units merchants choose, nor for the presentation of the pricing information. This allows grocers to choose inappropriate units, and more commonly, incredibly small type to display the required unit price. The proposal specifies a minimum type size of 16 points (or about 5.64 mm or 2.22 in. in height) for the unit pricing information, and requires merchants to use the same measurement for all “goods of the same nature.”
Quebec is also unique among provinces in that it requires merchants to compensate consumers when the displayed shelf price of a product does not match the price when scanned. Currently, an automatic price reduction of up to $10 on incorrectly priced items is required. The new bill would increase that refund to $15.
Other grocery store pricing changes include a requirement to show in signage whether food products are taxable or not. Rules around the tax treatment of groceries are generally not well understood by consumers. Regular prices will need to be marked more prominently when sales prices are advertised, and when there are special reduced prices for loyalty program members.
The bill would also limit the amount of “balloon” payments involving car loans. Many car loans have reduced periodic repayment amounts, leaving larger amounts remaining to be paid at the end of the loan. In some cases, consumers have been left with outstanding loan amounts that exceed the value of the car at the end of the loan.
Quebec also announced plans to make it illegal for door-to-door salespeople to enter into a contract for heating or air-conditioning appliances, or for decontamination or insulation services. Jolin-Barrette said these types of agreements lead to about 400 complaints a year to the province’s Office de la protection du consommateur.
Other changes include reimbursements for victims of debit card fraud, and tighter credit contract rules.
Grocers will be given a 90-day period to bring store pricing in compliance with the new rules, if the legislation passes as proposed.