A woman says she booked a jewelry party for seven expecting a $700 bill, then got a $1,430 receipt with a ‘mandatory’ $350 tip she never approved

TikTok user Nelly Venegas says the business behind a $350 “mandatory tip” she never approved has issued a full refund and apologized. According to Venegas, the company said it was unaware of the charge and has never had a policy requiring mandatory tips at offsite events.

As first highlighted by BroBible, Venegas booked a permanent jewelry party for seven people and expected the total bill to be around $700. She said she didn’t feel the need to ask for the final price during the event, but the receipt she received later showed a $1,430 charge.

In a TikTok video that has drawn nearly 300,000 views, Venegas said she felt “scammed,” as the receipt was broken down into $1,000 for service, $80 for sales tax, and the $350 tip. She said she would have “absolutely” given a “reasonable tip” if asked, adding that tipping culture sometimes feels like it is going too far.

The phone call only raised more questions for Venegas

After seeing the receipt, Venegas called the company directly. She said the person who answered acted “kind of dodgy,” telling her the woman who did the party wasn’t in and that it would be better to speak with her the next day.

Venegas says the woman from the party called her from her personal number “within an hour,” and that she could tell she was “nervous.” The woman explained that the extra charge was a “mandatory tip.”

Venegas also noticed she had been charged for eight people instead of the seven who attended, which the woman agreed to refund right away, claiming she thought there were eight guests. There were also extra charges for bracelet connectors, including one Venegas said she needed because the woman cut her chain too short without measuring her wrist properly.

The TikToker used a company card for the event, which was sponsored by her husband’s company for employees’ wives. She wondered if the service provider knew it was a company card and thought no one would notice or care about the extra charges.

One commenter encouraged her to push back, writing, “The service is already overpriced. $100 for a thin chain is wild. I bet some have already broken.” Venegas replied that one girl’s bracelet broke just two weeks later.

In a follow-up video, Venegas read aloud an email she sent to the business. She said the situation became more “concerning” when, after her phone call, she received a second receipt that referenced a “mandatory tip,” something absent from the first one.

Venegas called this “extremely suspicious” and said no such agreement was ever disclosed or agreed upon. Because she couldn’t justify the tip on a company credit card, she formally disputed the payment and requested written confirmation of a refund, or she would dispute it with the credit card issuer.

As a bartender herself, Venegas said this kind of practice is “absolutely not” something done in the service industry, adding that she takes a lot of pride in being a good tipper. She admitted she could have handled things differently, but said that doesn’t change the fact that the woman took money that wasn’t approved, which she views as “probably unlawful.”

Venegas said she is usually non-confrontational about money, but her viewers pushed her to call it out. Automatic charges have drawn similar pushback elsewhere, including from a woman who disputed a 22% automatic tip at a Vancouver restaurant.

According to Venegas, the business owners replied with “sincerest apologies,” saying they were “unaware of this charge” and “have never had a policy requiring a $350 travel fee or mandatory gratuity for off-site events.” They issued a full refund for the tip, noting it was only their second offsite event and that they are now “reviewing procedures” to ensure all charges are “clearly communicated and authorized.”

Venegas said the owners’ response told her the woman who did the party “was totally scamming me, like this was intentional.” She believes the woman knew she was getting caught and was hoping Venegas would let it go.

Venegas said she was glad she didn’t name the business initially, giving the owners a chance to make it right, and commended them for resolving the issue.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify the jewelry artist’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from Venegas’s TikTok videos.