Costa should make it clear that cream or marshmallows cost extra

They are supposed to. It's an extra unless it's a Speciality/Seasonal

Well, no, because in most shops things are more clearly priced.

If you go into almost any shop the price on the item/shelf is what you pay. There aren't additional costs.

As a pp said, if you go into a restaurant and ask for cheese on your pasta or sauce or pepper, you still pay the price on the menu. In most places that menu will be written down so you can read it as slowly as you need to. It's not on a brightly lit screen, rotating round so you can only see the price 1/3 of the time.

Coffee shops of this kind are quite unique in this pricing structure/menu display.

If the picture shows a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, that's how it should come! Because that picture is selling you the product - sneaking in extra costs is underhand, especially when you consider the cost of coffee shop drinks!

"Do you want a flake with that?" when a child and a parent are buying an ice cream.

And that question should be asked to the child, not the parent, so the child says yes and the parent doesn't have time to say "No" or doesn't want to be seen as the parent who has to say "No"

Italian restaurants are missing a trick when they ask if you want Parmesan on the pasta as they serve it to you.

Maybe it should be an extra on the menu

Because sometimes things are offered as an extra to the item you've ordered and are free, e.g. cheese for your pasta dish, sugar or milk for your coffee. The categories of extras that fall into free and not free are not so discrete that there can never be any confusion.

Why would you even think it's free?!

I think if someone is struggling to read a menu and prices when ordering something they probably need a carer or an interpreter to help them buying things in all shops, not just Costa.

Imo Costa menus say very clearly that marshmallows and cream costs extra. When you read the hot choc price it's literally right there (one price with and one without) - I don't get why pps are annoyed by this. It's not hidden or anything

You'd have to be pretty naive to not expect marshmallows etc to cost etc, but, equally, it's plainly obvious they staff there are told to ask in a really offhand way that is intended to catch people out who either don't know that it's an extra charge or who aren't really listening.

It's not "do you want marshmallows as well? That's 50p extra", it's "do you want marshmallows" in the same way as you will be asked if you want ice in a soft drink in a bar.

I mean, you can understand perfectly why they do it but it is slightly underhanded.

It’s hardly a shocking new phenomenon…in my first waitress job, 23 years ago, we had hot chocolate for one price, or hot chocolate with ‘the works’ (cream and marshmallows) for another price. Expect to pay extra for anything over and above the baseline product. It’s a business.

I've always known cream and marshmallows is extra! It says on the board when you look at drinks to order

Do people really not read prices and get annoyed at the baristas because they haven't read the menu?????

This is at best a very optimistic view of the process. In actuality, it is merely the business jargon trying to sell you on upselling. You tend to encounter this usually when you've already made a selection and communicated it. It's tiresome to have to reiterate the choice, because someone is trying to argue you away from it to earn themselves more money. It's insulting.

"If your customer can afford the cost and wants the best solution, they will choose the upsold items." This line is frankly outrageous in its presumption.

I'm a a market town so we only have charity shops and coffee shops. There's one clothing shop on the High Street. If you live in a big town or city lovely local indis can't pay the shop rents. If I go into my two closest bigger towns there's not one indi coffee shop.

I'd have to agree about the rolling menu as a dyslexic. I struggle with a science degree so I'm sure plenty of other dyslexics do. Plus the other vulnerable ND people. I find Prof Cox talking about black holes easier to grasp than a bright rotation menu.

We aren't all masters of the,English language speed reading suporters of indi start ups. Not by choice, we're struggling to speed road and process. This might come as a massive shock when we age and sight and processing speed drops off. Some might understand then that dome people could never speed rwad a menu at distance and speed.

It is inconsistent -Starbucks frappacino include cream on top but they always ask if you want it.

It makes for a very transactional purchase -do you want x blend -how much? Sprinkles? How much? Can you imagine that in subway? Or burrito bowls? They should make it clearer what's included and what's an optional extra.

Upselling is entirely different to this. People know when they are being sold something. Whereas this is ambiguous because Costa is the only shop that charges extra. Starbucks doesn’t. The independent coffee shop I use on a Saturday doesn’t.

For-profit business uses upselling tactics and marketing to increase revenue. So shocked.

There must be a place where businesses don't need to make money, and services are fully functional and provided by the state but only modest taxes are due, so small as to be unnoticeable, and no effort is needed for people to keep themselves informed of what is available. That's where we all need to move to.

Surely this is a one-time issue though

The first time you go to Costa, you say "yes please" to cream. Then you realise you've been stung for an extra 70p, and so the next time you are there you say "no thank you".

People have different tastes. In other news water is wet.

No it's not and they don't.

I don’t mind Costa either. All these syrups and add ons a bit of a mystery to me. I only ever have a straight cappuccino with no sugar or chocolate on top, or a cortado.

This! Costa is the favourite ‘coffee’ shop of people who don’t actually drink coffee.

Yeah right. Go back to your imaginary Australia of lovely family owned and run cafes 😂

I've lived in more than one state and travelled extensively in Oz and every single suburb in every single state is a copy paste fast food chain stamp.

There are 102 McDonald's in Perth city alone. One hundred and two fucking shite chain slop joints in one city!

Fuck right off with your fake moral foodie superiority bullcrap.

Such as where?

They use vegan marshmallows now which are not the right texture for hot chocolate. Try Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate theirs are really nice. I steal sips from the children. They do a breakfast deal for a £1 with a drink so it’s a nice treat for brunch.

The giant board that's really bright and moves and changes too quickly?