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

114 replies

BrightOrangeDahlias · 31/12/2024 22:40

This has happened several times over the last few weeks or so and it's really starting to annoy me! It's when I order a "fancy" coffee or hot chocolate etc, usually from the seasonal range, paying a price premium for it too. It never comes with all the bits it's bloody supposed to!

It's happened in Costa (gingerbread latte that came without the cream and gingerbread man, they'd run out of both). At a service station on the motorway the other day, Starbucks (who I usually avoid) fleeced me five pounds fecking thirty (!!!) for a Chestnut Praline Latte that was missing the cream and sprinkly bits. I handed that back and asked whether I could have the extra bits I'd paid for and the man grudgingly produced a squirt of cream and muttered they had ran out of sprinkles. And today, thought I'd be ok in a local independent and asked for a s'mores hot chocolate, which was missing any type of topping. This time they were out of cream, and the guy said "you have to ask specially for the marshmallows as they're not vegetarian so we don't put them on unless you ask us to". So why have a fecking massive telly behind you advertising them with marshmallows on then?!?

Fair enough that shops run out of things, but if you've run out of half the ingredients, don't let me order it and then charge me for something you're not going to give me!

It's not me, is it?!?

OP posts:
iwasntexpectingthatoops · 01/01/2025 08:52

Costa dell gingerbread lattes year round, you have to ask for the Christmas one.

Simonjt · 01/01/2025 08:44

Cherrypickled · 31/12/2024 22:59

Making it extra hot burns the milk, But if you liked burnt milk,crack on.

It burns the coffee too, so people who ask for extra hot are actually asking for their coffee to be purposely ruined.

AsTheLightFades · 01/01/2025 08:40

HoppityBun · 01/01/2025 01:12

True but they look pretty and if I liked that sort of thing, they’re the sort of things that I’d like

Of course, product meets demand, and if you like those frou-frou-ed types of drinks, brill.
They are just so very far removed from a cup of actual coffee!

Sidebeforeself · 01/01/2025 08:34

Didn’t mean that in a snippy way

Sidebeforeself · 01/01/2025 08:34

OP - all I can think about are your arteries!

AsTheLightFades · 01/01/2025 08:32

Cherrypickled · 01/01/2025 00:17

Could be worse.I could be someone like you.

Hanlon's Razor

HoppityBun · 01/01/2025 01:14

Grahamhousehushand · 01/01/2025 00:00

Because the optimum temperature for getting black tea to infuse is btw 90-100c so it's always made with boiling water.

And the suing people over hot drinks thing is an urban myth. There is a genuine case from the US of someone successfully suing McDonald's for serving coffee at a drive thru far too hot so when it split as they drove off they sustained severe burns but importantly a) a number of other people had already been injured, MacDonalds had said they wd sort the coffee temp out and hadn't b) it's foreseeable that serving very hot coffee to customers in moving vehicles places them at risk, this doesn't apply in coffee shops and c) it's the US where claims for personal injury are usually taken by medical insurance companies recovering the costs of the treatment the injured person received.

The idea that Costa can only serve lukewarm coffee here due to this is nonsense.

I seem to remember that the poor woman eventually died of her injury

HoppityBun · 01/01/2025 01:12

AsTheLightFades · 31/12/2024 23:59

@BrightOrangeDahlias as a coffee drinker who sticks to Americano with milk, i find the need to put tonnes of cream and 'sprinkles' just a ridiculous concept! Coffee's look more like puddings, bearing no similaritity to a simply brewed cup of decent (i.e. not starbucks or costa) coffee.

True but they look pretty and if I liked that sort of thing, they’re the sort of things that I’d like

ThinWomansBrain · 01/01/2025 01:05

even the smell of milk in coffee makes me feel unwell - they never go far wrong with espresso or black americano.

BrightOrangeDahlias · 01/01/2025 01:00

AsTheLightFades · 31/12/2024 23:59

@BrightOrangeDahlias as a coffee drinker who sticks to Americano with milk, i find the need to put tonnes of cream and 'sprinkles' just a ridiculous concept! Coffee's look more like puddings, bearing no similaritity to a simply brewed cup of decent (i.e. not starbucks or costa) coffee.

They all have their place though, don't they? After a meal, I'll get a 'normal' coffee. On a bog standard cafe visit I'll usually get a tea - generally an earl grey, or even a lapsang souchong if it's a posh place. But in the last few weeks I've been feeling festive and thought I'd treat myself to a faffy coffee or hot chocolate with all the extras. Except I've just ended up feeling miffed and short-changed each time.

OP posts:
hazelnutvanillalatte · 01/01/2025 00:55

I never get drinks from chains anymore. Starbucks especially always half-fills the cups and the prices are insane. Last time I went was over three years ago. Not worth paying silly prices and invariably feeling annoyed and ripped off.

BrightOrangeDahlias · 01/01/2025 00:55

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 01/01/2025 00:16

@BrightOrangeDahlias went into subway once for lunch with mates and after getting my coffee, found out there was no sugar in the whole place!! they werent getting a delivery for two days!!!!

Now that's really taking the piss!

OP posts:
ThisUsernameIsNowTaken · 01/01/2025 00:30

LaughingCat · 31/12/2024 23:06

Oh my god, yes, this, 100%!

This has happened several times to me recently, and always when I order the seasonal drink. Tell me beforehand that you don’t have the stuff to make it (I’m obviously still annoyed that Nero’s didn’t have the pistachio whipped cream last week).

Last week or any week it's been advertised! We got it served with flat white cream, which collapsed almost instantly, and sickly sweet hot "chocolate". We threw half of it away because it was undrinkable.

2025willbemytime · 01/01/2025 00:19

I've had one hot hot chocolate in all my life and McDonald's never has milkshakes. They are my treat for driving five hours and most of the time they are sold out.

Cherrypickled · 01/01/2025 00:17

AsTheLightFades · 01/01/2025 00:08

😄😄😄😄😄
Oh dear!
Such a sweet comment

Could be worse.I could be someone like you.

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 01/01/2025 00:16

@BrightOrangeDahlias went into subway once for lunch with mates and after getting my coffee, found out there was no sugar in the whole place!! they werent getting a delivery for two days!!!!

Trainstrike · 01/01/2025 00:14

I'm a tea drinker and absolutely detest it when someone pours half a cup of milk into my tea on my behalf. I try to avoid places where they put milk in for you but sometimes it's unavoidable so I always specify "just a splash" or "please just the tiniest amount". They still dump a pint of milk in.

I never used to complain but now I ask to remake it. You can always add more milk but not the other way around so I don't understand the need to add so much!

I feel better now.

AsTheLightFades · 01/01/2025 00:08

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

😄😄😄😄😄
Oh dear!
Such a sweet comment

Cherrypickled · 01/01/2025 00:05

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

AsTheLightFades · 01/01/2025 00:03

This reply has been deleted

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You have your charming pants on tonight then? Fuck kindly then, you are wrong. The word is scalds. Scolds is to tell someone off.
Better?
Happy new year

Grahamhousehushand · 01/01/2025 00:00

Skiptogetfit · 31/12/2024 23:31

But tea is usually hotter than the surface of the earth for at least 30 mins after you buy it. Why’s that, if cafes are worried about being sued?

Edited

Because the optimum temperature for getting black tea to infuse is btw 90-100c so it's always made with boiling water.

And the suing people over hot drinks thing is an urban myth. There is a genuine case from the US of someone successfully suing McDonald's for serving coffee at a drive thru far too hot so when it split as they drove off they sustained severe burns but importantly a) a number of other people had already been injured, MacDonalds had said they wd sort the coffee temp out and hadn't b) it's foreseeable that serving very hot coffee to customers in moving vehicles places them at risk, this doesn't apply in coffee shops and c) it's the US where claims for personal injury are usually taken by medical insurance companies recovering the costs of the treatment the injured person received.

The idea that Costa can only serve lukewarm coffee here due to this is nonsense.

AsTheLightFades · 01/01/2025 00:00

oakleaffy · 31/12/2024 23:54

Burnt milk tastes FOUL.

{As does burned porridge or custard}

Have I missed something? Your reply bears no relation to my post

AsTheLightFades · 31/12/2024 23:59

@BrightOrangeDahlias as a coffee drinker who sticks to Americano with milk, i find the need to put tonnes of cream and 'sprinkles' just a ridiculous concept! Coffee's look more like puddings, bearing no similaritity to a simply brewed cup of decent (i.e. not starbucks or costa) coffee.

Cherrypickled · 31/12/2024 23:57

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

umberellaup · 31/12/2024 23:56

Try ordering tea with no milk, you get half a cup of water instead of full one.

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