to be fed up of coffee shops never giving me what I've ordered?

This is exactly my experience. A year or so ago I had a chai latte from Starbucks which was absolutely delicious. Probably the nicest chai latte I've ever had.

This year I decided I'd treat myself to another one to celebrate finishing my Christmas shopping. Ordered it as a take away along with a slice of banana loaf cake.

Took my first sip a few minutes later in the car and it was horrible. Tasted like lukewarm water with a hint of chai. Banana loaf was dried out- more so on one so they presumably gave me the single pre-cut slice that was already laid out and had gone very dry.

Wish I'd saved my money.

If you went to a restaurant and ordered a side of chips and they didn’t come, they wouldn’t charge you for them

Missed the edit window to add this to me PP, @satsumaqueen, but depending on the place you may be surprised

I've had this happen - in a chain of course - and obviously mentioned it as soon as the meal was served, only to have them peer closely at the plate as if I'd somehow squirrelled away the missing items
Only when this didn't help did they revert to the truth ("we've run out") with the usual "nobody else has complained" ... presumably an isolating tactic designed to shut us up?

I can't believe this is a common thing! Why wouldn't they tell you half of your order will be missing

Because they know it'll create angst @YellowRoom?
So much easier to say nothing and rely on the British thing of quiet grumbling but nothing said ... and if it is to pretend "nobody else has complained" (how often have we all heard that one? )

Reminds me of when I ordered chicken goujons in a pub type of place. The menu said they came with a side salad. My food arrived - no salad. I asked about it and they seemed really put out that I wanted what I’d paid for.

I hate this too, my son when he was potty training once had to to use his potty in corridor in full view of the street (as the corridor is glass windows) and other Costa customers because someone was pissing around in the only toilet. No idea what they were doing as when they finally left the toilet it didn’t smell like they’d been in there nearly 20 mins! Luckily some kind ladies on a coffee date came and held their coats up for him to give him a little bit of privacy. He would had wet himself otherwise, poor little boy.

I think you are well within your rights to ask for a refund of the difference, think it’s really bloody cheeky for somewhere to charge you extra for something and then not include it.

If you went to a restaurant and ordered a side of chips and they didn’t come, they wouldn’t charge you for them. Coffee shops just seem to think they get away with it.

And I have to say a coffee shop running out of squirty cream isn’t acceptable to me. It’s not like they are running a restaurant where there loads of different meals and ingredients. It’s literally coffee, flavoured syrups and cream. That’s literally all they have to stock. Place like Starbucks and costa in particular will know exactly how many of each type of drink they sell, so make sure they order in enough to cover demand.

I have a Greggs near my place of work, don’t go in there often but on the odd occasion I do on my lunch, I ask for a steak bake and every single time ‘sorry we’ve run out’….It’s 1pm, get yourself together and start ordering more in, they are obviously very popular with the people who use that particular shop. Drives me way more nuts than it should but you help the things that annoy you lol

For us weirdos that like a more tepid coffee, I learned a while back that in Starbucks at least (not sure about Costa) if you ask for a 'kids temperature' you get a cooler coffee.

I bought one of those fancy Ninja Luxe Cafe machines so I make everything at home now. It was expensive, but worth it for us.

I can't believe this is a common thing! Why wouldn't they tell you half of your order will be missing. There's no other situation that i can think of where not getting what you've paid for would be reasonable/done frequently.

I've just remembered a couple of years ago I went into my local Costa to drink in with a friend. It's not somewhere I go regularly if I can avoid it.

They were serving the hot drinks in paper takeaway ones as they hadn't had time to do the dishes/dishwasher had broken or something . I asked if they would be charging takeaway prices then? But got a snippy "no" from the stressed out manager, and my frienf thought I was being a bit OTT. I felt it was a rip off to drink my tea out of paper when I was paying extra to sit in and drink it out of porcelain (I dislike the taste of tea drunk out of plastic or cardboard). This has since happened again, so I always check they've got mugs before ordering a sit-in tea.

I do, I like the taste

It seems so petty to quibble over a squirt of cream or some sprinkles or whatever, but when it happens every time it's really annoying

But surely it's precisely because folk don't make a fuss that it keeps happening?

I don't use chain coffee shops because I won't pay £££ for a hot drink, but chain restaurants are getting as bad, so now I just use independents where it's much less frequent - and if they do run out you get an apology rather than a "what are you complaining about" sneer

I did this in Costa the other day, had a warm chocolate too many times, so asked for a super hot chocolate. To be fair, when it came, it was too hot to drink, so perfect, as far as I’m concerned!😀

I hate when you get given a latte no matter what you ordered. Cappuccino? Latte. Flat white? Here’s a latte

I only go to the chains now if I specifically want a milky syrupy drink

Absolutely with you OP.

I often take super skinny DD to Costa for a frappe with cream. App says made with full fat milk and I specifically ask for cream on top. She needs the calories and dairy.

Depending on the barrista they often switch it to a diet version with skimmed milk and whip.

Local cinema don't even sell full sugar coke on tap. Ask for a standard coke and you get sugar free.

How will they provide accurate ingredient, calorie and allergy information if buying from a shop rather than using their regular supplier??

They were CF - you were definitely in the right. That’s a case of staff failing to think somewhat creatively and acting like robots .

They’ve been told they must charge for mayonnaise so they can’t envisage any situation where this wouldn’t apply.

And tbh they should have told you there was no dressing before they gave the salad so you could decide if you still wanted it or not.

Years ago abroad took kids into MacDonalds for lunch- I ordered a Caesar salad. When I was given the salad there was no Caesar dressing - they had run out. Ok I said I’ll have mayonnaise instead. They tried to charge for the mayonnaise! I argued should be free as they had run out Caesar dressing - nope they wouldn’t back down. I marched all out without any food- my husband said it was only a few cents but it was the principle!

If the "extras" were missing, I would return the drink and ask for a full refund. They should have made this clear to you at the time of ordering.

When it first opened back in the dim dark mists of time, Starbucks was a coffee shop. It was pretty good in comparison to the alternatives in cafés, if you actually liked coffee.

For the past 15 years or more it’s been a “hot drinks with frou frou bits in” place packed with young teens. Because that’s where the mark up is, and all the profit.

Not being able to actually provide all the frou frou bits is ridiculous of them.

Milk salts at a certain temperature, which is why they try to avoid a certain hot temperature. I think it's 165f, don't know 😂 it's been a While

Think of the stress and money you would save if you took a flask.

I like homemade mint hot chocolate, no
coffee chain is going to provide as good as my own. Probably costs about 25p or less, including boiling the kettle.

That’s appalling and theft

I was once presented with a stone cold latte in a local independent. Not to mention it being the only time I have ever been charged extra for decaff!! The server suggested that he could put a bit of hot water in from the kettle! I said that really wouldn't work and asked for a fresh one. Which was tepid. Have never been back.

Complain - they’ll send you vouchers