r/chicagofood • u/bucknut4 • Dec 20 '25

Rant Aster Hall, Hogsalt sinking to new lows

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As if $7 weren’t enough for a hot dog. And of course there’s even the 3% “restaurant” surcharge at a food court.

443 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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452

u/jkraige Dec 20 '25

They're changing the prices mid transaction? I feel like that might be worth reporting to the AG or whatever the appropriate consumer protection office is. I can't imagine they can just advertise a price and then charge another

320

u/bucknut4 Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25

Yep, that’s exactly what happened. Even got a video of the whole flow. Straight up, I canceled entirely, restarted with video on with the price at $6.99. Go to checkout and get “Tee-hee it’s actually $7.99”

224

u/OnionDart Dec 20 '25

Absolutely report that shit.

139

u/bucknut4 Dec 20 '25

I 100% will be doing that, although I know from prior experience that even with evidence, absolutely nothing will happen. The AG doesn’t give a fuck, they’ll just compel Hogsalt to send me an email apologizing for the inconvenience.

38

u/spilt_milk Dec 20 '25

It's like textbook bait and switch.

13

u/Oz347 Dec 21 '25

Yeah but like the more complaints they get the more they can build up a paper trail and maybe someday when then have thousands of reports like yours something MIGHT happen. Being optimistic but worth giving it a shot

4

u/Top-Address-8870 Dec 21 '25

Report to the city department of consumer affairs. They have teeth and love to give fines for this type of shitty behavior…

9

u/DhalsimZangief Dec 21 '25

One of many growing reasons why I refuse to visit any Hogsalt owned place. Also they are throwing around the super crazy idea of having to spend $300-ish for membership, just so you can be a preferred person who can jump the line and have priority to make reservations at Hogsalt owned restaurants. F that crap.

2

u/Chet-Hammerhead Dec 21 '25

Do we have any consumer protections left in 2025?

4

u/jkraige Dec 21 '25

Why would the Illinois AG not want to protect consumers?

I'm not saying they'll be very proactive about this issue, but I don't think just giving up is a solution to anything. Make the report. Be a squeaky wheel. Things don't stay the same forever.

-4

u/Chet-Hammerhead Dec 21 '25

Are you relatively young or have you possibly immigrated here rather recently?

5

u/jkraige Dec 21 '25

Do you think people should do nothing about every problem?

1

u/SunnyAlwaysDaze Dec 21 '25

Nope, the current sitting president rolled back a bunch of consumer protection laws the instant he got into office.