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AIBU?

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Original poster

Starbucks St Albans SHAME ON YOU!

217 replies

StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:22

After dragging my two preschoolers (one with asd) all over town house hunting we take them into your cafe for a promised drink and marshmellow lollipop.

DH has to queue for ages as you only have one member of staff serving. My children sit quitely, well-behaved and expectantly.

You tell my DH as he is ordering that you close at 6pm (earlier than published time)but that he is welcome to sit down. It is 5:58pm. He orders.

As SOON as the children receive their consumables one of your staff members comes around saying that you are closed. We say politely 'okay'. A minute later we are told that you really need to close and can we now leave.

We point out that we were sold our items and told we could sit down. You tell us that you have already let us stay there for 5 minutes and that we were told that you were closing. You tell us that there was obviously some mis-communication but it wasn't from you because you were very clear.

We mention to our autistic ds that he needs to finish his drink but he gets distressed at the implication that the promised milkshake is about to be taken off him. This results in a meltdown making it difficult for us to get his coat on. All the while one of your member of staff is arguing with us and telling us to hurry up making ds (And now dd) more distressed.

Your member of staff tells us that she is now not being paid for the time. I tell her to take it up with her managers.

And I'm taking it up with you here!

OP posts:
onepieceoflollipop · 30/10/2010 21:25

I would have asked for an immediate refund. If this was refused I would have asked for the staff member's name (s) and made a note of them.

I would have (in either scenario) immediately sent an e-mail to Head Office to complain.

dexter73 · 30/10/2010 21:25

That is bit crap. They should have given you a take-away if they didn't want to wait while you drank the drinks they had just served you.

alexisfaith · 30/10/2010 21:26

YABU for knowing your DS has autism and might become distressed by a sudden change of circumstance yet STILL sitting him down in a cafe at 5:58 when you are fully aware it closes at 6pm.

However, I will add that I think when you ordered they should have explained their 'policy' and suggested that you take your order in takeaway cups/paper bags. I think the opening times mean you can get served til 6pm, maybe they should say 'but if seated you must vacate by then'.

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:27

We wouldn't have had a takeaway. The kids needed to sit down. It's not as if St Albans is short of cafes, we could have gone somewhere else if we had known.

I did ask for a refund. Got bollocks about calling some complaints line if we have a problem and that they can't give us a refund for 'our' miscommunication. Hmm

OP posts:
SarfEasticated · 30/10/2010 21:28

outrageous - complain to the head office - poor children.

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:29

Yes, I KNOW what sets my ds off, and being allowed to sit down and drink his drink, is not one of the, which we had believed was what was happening. If we had thought for one second they had meant 'you can sit down because it is 5:58pm, but you'd better not be sitting down in 2 mins time' we'd have moved on.

OP posts:
gaelicsheep · 30/10/2010 21:30

Oh now come on. Think of the poor staff member having to work a whole 10 minutes of time unpaid. Poor dear!

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:30

They were closing early apparently. I don't think it is usual for them to be closing at 6pm anyway.

OP posts:
Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:31

Well, that is sad gaelic but it is an issue for her to take up with her manager, not take it out on customers who in good faith handed over their money and PAID EAT IN PRICES!

OP posts:
dexter73 · 30/10/2010 21:31

If the cafe serves you at 5.58 even though it closes at 6 they must be aware that it will take you, at the very least, 10-15 minutes to drink your drinks and eat your food, so I think it was their fault for serving you if they weren't prepared to let you have a reasonable time to drink/eat.

Guacamole · 30/10/2010 21:31

Ooooh gosh, I might get slated here, but...
If they told you they close at 6pm (what is their published time?), why would you order at 5:58pm and expect them to allow you to stay in store until you have all finished your drinks? I would have ordered it to take away (which might not have been an option for you with 2 children) or I wouldn't have ordered.
In fact, I'm extremely impatient I would have given up in the queue if they were arsing about with only 1 barista.
Anyway, if you feel really badly treated that's fine and your opinion, so complain, see what they say?

gaelicsheep · 30/10/2010 21:33

Stark - I was being ironic. She was being totally pathetic!

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:33

I suppose I thought they were closing their til/serving hatch etc. You know, like last orders etc. I mean, they SAID we could sit down. How was I supposed to know we were only alowed to do it for 120 seconds?

OP posts:
MaMoTTaT · 30/10/2010 21:34

Guacamole - usually I'd agree with you - but the OP states that the person serving them told them they could still sit down.

Why tell them to sit down if you know full well 2 minutes later you're going to go and tell them to go??

reallytired · 30/10/2010 21:34

they should not have sold you the drink and not allow you to drink it.

"and that they can't give us a refund for 'our' miscommunication."

maybe there was a miscommunication, but the customer is always right. They should have given you the drinks in takeway form or not at all.

The person who served you should be disciplined for poor service. It was THEIR mistake that they served you. They should have taken the consequences.

The autism is irrelevent. What happpened was unacceptable.

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:34

LOL, yeah I know. But I do feel a bit sorry for all waitresses and shop staff with their dire conditions of work sometimes (no idea if this applies to Starbucks but it would seem so).

OP posts:
scottishmummy · 30/10/2010 21:35

but why order at5.58 to sit in when shop close 6.you are out of order expecting to have leisurely slurp at closing time

you chose to order at closing time,so cant complain you got bums rush

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:36

Yes, the autism is irrelvant but need to explain why my ds was kicking off so easily. The staff wouldn't know the cause, but they sure as hell saw the consequence and they should have backed off to let me deal with it.

OP posts:
reallytired · 30/10/2010 21:36

I worked full time in a pub when I was 19. There were 15 minutes drinking up time. Surely a coffee shop should have something similar.

onepieceoflollipop · 30/10/2010 21:37

Did they opt to serve it in mugs rather than take away cups? How odd that they did this and didn't comment that you only had 2 minutes to get it down you.

MaMoTTaT · 30/10/2010 21:37

I think some "catering establishments" are slightly better than the retailers, in that they do pay past "last orders" time.

I know my mum worked in catering in various guises and was actually paid for time (and expected to be there as well) after they'd stopped serving.

Original poster
StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou · 30/10/2010 21:38

It wasn't closing time. Kids had been sat there for ages waiting for promised lollipop and milkshake. They were closing early and only told dh when he 'eventually' got to the till. It was not IMO reasonable to THEN change our minds and leave. It would have not been easy to explain to ds either.

It was certainly not clear even when dh got to the till that they didn't really mean we could sit down.

OP posts:
MaMoTTaT · 30/10/2010 21:39

reallytired - that's what I was thinking of - a drinking up time thing.

Like restaurants where the kitchen closes at 10, but the place doesn't actually shut until 10.30 or something.

Guacamole · 30/10/2010 21:39

I know the person serving said that... but seriously I wouldn't have bothered personally. They have to clean up and what not, I'd assume they'd get the hoover out, the mop and the bucket and start sweeping around me and generally making me feel uncomfortable and generally hinting it was time to leave.
I wasn't there, but there's obviously been some misunderstanding between the server and the customer so definitely complain.

ummagumma · 30/10/2010 21:39

Im a bit confused here.. Your dh had to queue for ages. So I take it there were others in the queue getting served at say 5.50, 5.55 etc immediately before your dh. These people too would not hae had enough time to finish their drinks. Were all these other people getting take-aways?