To feel a bit annoyed this is why I got rejected?

I’m honestly wondering if this is some kind of mad ‘test’ and the person who replies correctly gets the job?! But what the answer is I have no idea

Tell them they can deduct the cost from your train fare and ask who you should send the invoice to.

Post it without the postage paid and hope they will pay to get it delivered as they won’t know what is.

Which is ridiculous, because of course you wouldn’t pay in that situation. It’s not like going out for a break with colleagues. I think offering to pay for your own coffee would make you look a bit naive and unprofessional.

I’d definitely invoice them for your travel costs.

This 💯!
The cheek of that! What job was it for god sake? Take it to the tabloids and write an online review. No one is in a position to lose that amount of money £243.70 😮 How dare they treat you like that. They’re having a laugh at your expense. What can they possibly get from that? They sound horrid!

Some companies think it’s fine to treat you like shit. They even have someone hired specifically for that task - a ‘talent acquisition manager’ or some such. I’m sorry this happened to you. I was ghosted after four interviews, endless schlepping across town in uncomfortable clothes, late night prep and a verbal offer. The ‘talent acquisition’ doesn’t seem to extend to communicating with the unsuccessful people who spent days on their interview processes. Who knows what goes through these dickwads’ heads?

You are well shot but I agree with pp, send the coffee amount in small coins and be glad they didn’t offer it to you. Imagine working in a place where that was ok!

You definitely dodged a bullet with that company and not just because they asked for the reimbursement for the coffee.

A 5-stage recruitment process is completely unnecessary (I work in HR). It shows how poor the company culture is. No thoughts about budgets - this process is costly. You lose good candidates throughout the process due to the length of time it takes. There is no evidence to show that lengthy recruitment processes result in better hires. Timely hiring goes out of the window as there are too many people involved in the decision making process. It shows an organisation that lacks trust in its people, if you need 5 different groups of people to be involved in the hiring decision for 1 person.

My experience of a recent process that worked very well. 1st interview with hiring manager and a colleague. Competency based. 2nd interview with a Director and colleague to see if the individual was a good fit for the organisation. An £85k a year, quite specialised role. Said person got the job and is performing that well after 6 months, they are being promoted. The organisation trusted the hiring manager and Director to choose the right person.

Anyway, back to the coffee money. You have a few choices. Bill them for the train ticket minus the coffee cost. Ignore the request or if you really don’t care - just send them an e-mail asking ‘are you having a laugh?’

They should have paid for your train travel! Shocking that a 7th interview and their insistence it take place across the country for you and they didn't pay to get you there.

The coffee is a red herring. You should leave them scathing reviews about the whole process.

I would send the money to the higest person in the company and ask for proper feedback

“dear CEO as requested here is the 3:75 for the coffee apologies i assumed i was being offered it as x paid for everyone else “

i traveled by train to x hopeful that i had the requisite skills and aptitude i would appreciate some feedback to avoid future costly mistakes

Has OP been back yet?

Not sure I believe this is real.

But if it is, send an invoice for your travel costs with the price of the coffee deducted. Payment due within 14 days, thanks.

Don’t pay it

I don’t believe this at all either.

Sorry - they actually said - you were rejected as you didnt pay for the coffee? As in they didnt give you the job, because you didnt pay for the coffee?!

yes it’s normal from my DC experience too. They just got a 6 week paid summer internship after five stage process! Application, personality test, flash one way on line interview, technical assessment, interview. And it was the same for all the summer internships they applied to - not unique to this company.

If you are applying for a job in your local area, but the company insists you travel across country at your own expense to interview, or for any part of the hiring process, then I'd pass (Zoom, anyone?). And tell HR after spending £240 to travel for the interview you're shocked they want £3.70 back for the coffee the manager bought for you and the other applicants.
If true, you definitely don't want to work there.

I mean I actually work in HR so I do know something about what I'm talking about. Obviously HR is not an SME for technical roles which is why the Line is always on the panel and may request additional interviews with additional Line members if the role is a specialist one. I don't know how it's done in the UK but HR does not make the final decision on hiring any role - only behavioural suggestions. The Line chooses the final candidate based on their technical competence.

In addition to the first interview, there may be technical assessments, for higher level Client contract roles, the Client may also want to meet with the candidate. Then, my company is a joint venture and if the role is senior enough, there is a possibility of an additional interview with either parent company or the CEO.

Now, to be clear, our company doesn't have more than 2 interviews in general and I do think 5 is madness but my point is, there can be many reasons for multiple interviews that have nothing to do with HR.

ETA - And yes, recruiters spend a lot of time interviewing but for example, in my company at any given time, we have anywhere between 30 - 70 vacancies and 2 recruiters so unless it's a very senior role, there is rarely more than 2 interviews.

I don't believe this at all.

You don't want to work for them if they rejected you for that.

I really don’t think I believe this

Tell them they owe you £240 for the train fare, but you'll knock off the coffee.

I seriously hope they are reimbursing the train fare.

Every employer both my DC have applied to for pay for expenses .. Maybe it depends on the industry, and how professional/high ranking the job is. Maybe with lower ranking jobs - the employers don't pay expenses.

.

Wow. That is pretty shocking.

Did everyone else she bought coffee for give her the money there and then? I'm just clutching at straws as to why this is a reason not to give you the job.

Ask if you can pay in instalments!