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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

WIBU to be annoyed in this cafe?

582 replies

Hoppinggreen · 06/02/2023 18:42

Went for lunch today at a local cafe. I was paying as a treat for my friend. Bill was about £30.
When I went to pay the person on the till made a mistake and over charged me by £10. It was actually a lot more complicated as she mixed up my bill with someone else then tried to add on someone’s takeaway but that was basically it.
After a lot of discussion between 2 staff members they said the only thing they could do was refund and charge me again. No problem I said.
So they did the refund and I said it hadn’t appeared back on my banking app to be told that I had to wait up to 10 days to get it. I was then expected to pay again.
I (calmly) said that I wasn’t happy about that as I would have paid £70 for a £30 lunch until the refund arrived. I was told there was no other alternative. I said again that I didn’t think this was reasonable. The staff member who made the mistake kept apologising and I said that it was a simple mistake and everyone made them so she really didn’t need to be upset about it. The other staff member said that I just needed to pay again and if I hadn’t received it in 10 days to call in.
There was a queue at this point so I said fine but I wasn’t happy about it. The staff member then told me that I had “upset” her colleague and was very short with me. I said again that I didn’t blame her for a simple mistake, it was the lack of resolution I was annoyed at. I did not raise my voice at any point and was very calm and measured. We left and I could hear the staff member telling her colleague she could come out now (she had vanished into the back as apparently she was too upset to deal with me) since I had gone. I left feeling as if I had done something wrong, honestly happy to be told I did
Was I unreasonable being annoyed at this? It won’t cause me any issue financially but I’m a bit miffed at being £40 out of pocket due to their mistake for up to 10 days. It might come earlier I know

OP posts:
ChocolateCroissantCafe · 07/02/2023 09:42

Cross post with everyone else who believes people are allowed to eat out on a limited budget.

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 09:42

DragonHouse · 07/02/2023 09:39

Cashback is, again, an entirely separate transaction with its own process to accurately appear on auditing trails.

It’s not randomly giving out £10 notes with no trail.

Show quote history

Nobody is suggesting that this should be done 'randomly' and 'with no trail'

What Blossomtoes is saying that there should be a process designed and in place to work around situations like these

GoodChat · 07/02/2023 09:46

People who don't have £70 in the bank would check the payment amount before they pay...

AllOfThemWitches · 07/02/2023 09:47

I mean, no one said they weren't allowed to. Thread's a bit of a joke though, I'm willing to bet if someone actually posted that this had just happened in McDonald's and had left them unable to pay for essentials, they'd be very much admonished by middle class mumsnet. 🤣

AllOfThemWitches · 07/02/2023 09:48

GoodChat · 07/02/2023 09:46

People who don't have £70 in the bank would check the payment amount before they pay...

Everyone should be checking.

GoodChat · 07/02/2023 09:50

Absolutely @AllOfThemWitches. I don't know why you're being ganged up on!

Floralnomad · 07/02/2023 09:51

GoodChat · 07/02/2023 09:46

People who don't have £70 in the bank would check the payment amount before they pay...

People who don’t have £70 in the bank are pretty unlikely to be buying their friend lunch for £30 in the first place .

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 07/02/2023 09:54

AllOfThemWitches · 07/02/2023 09:47

I mean, no one said they weren't allowed to. Thread's a bit of a joke though, I'm willing to bet if someone actually posted that this had just happened in McDonald's and had left them unable to pay for essentials, they'd be very much admonished by middle class mumsnet. 🤣

Well that would be people taking the same “poor people should never do anything considered a treat or non essential” as permeates so many threads

GoodChat · 07/02/2023 09:55

Not necessarily @Floralnomad.
It might be something that someone's saved for especially. But that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Mooloopoo · 07/02/2023 10:02

Sorry but there’s always a way to give the refund of the difference, chain or not! Depending on the time of the month, I may not have the money to pay out £70 in the hopes I would get a £40 refund at some point. I just wouldn’t have the money in my account, it wouldn’t be possible for me to magic another £30 to pay again! What if someone had their mortgage doe to come out of their bank and they didn’t have enough money due to paying that extra £40, that would affect their credit rating and incur a charge. Not everyone has lots of money to cover the mistake made by a shop

Catspyjamas17 · 07/02/2023 10:03

It doesn't sound like you were rude and unreasonable but understandably said that you were not happy. Many businesses now seem unable to do an instant refund even where it is their error. So they keep the cash in their bank and get the interest. Nice.

If it were up to me I'd do a tweak to existing consumer protection legislation to say that refunds must be instant in this situation.

Tootsweets84 · 07/02/2023 10:03

Jesus Christ the replies on here are ridiculous. OP stated the cafe was a small, independent business, not a chain. Chances are they have a local accountant who comes on once a year to reconcile and file their accounts and file their tax return. All this 'two separate cash sheets' business is nonsense. You simple have a debit on one and a credit on the other and the accountant posts a journal at year end. It isn't going to make any difference to the accountant or HMRC that £10 had to be moved from one nominal account to another. A £40 deficit for up to ten days could make a huge difference to OP though. The cafe needs to retrain it's staff to use common sense

OneTC · 07/02/2023 10:04

I've worked in tons of places, independent, chain and franchise.

Only getting able to refund a whole transaction shows some serious misunderstanding of their role on behalf of the cafe. You'd do a separate transaction for the refund and that's it. If it's EPOS there will be a refund heading, allowing for manual input. If they're not using EPOS you can key in the refund direct on the handset.

The only reason they would have such a stupid rule is because they chose it. It doesn't present a difficult bit of accounting. I wouldn't have offered cash but someone having to wait a few days for a tenner isn't the same as making them wait for 40 quid. You (or your manager) would do the refund, you'd charge the other person their 10, you'd print off every relevant receipt and stick in in your shift end bag AND THAT WOULD BE IT.

Any other course of action is nonsense and extremely poor customer service, and it sounds like there'd be loads of people who'd just roll over for it? I wish we had customers like you lot 😅

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:06

@AllOfThemWitches - I bet those chastising you have never had the situation where they had £70 to last them for the week! Virtue signalling. You are 100% right about the McDonalds scenario too.

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 10:09

The only reason they would have such a stupid rule is because they chose it. It doesn't present a difficult bit of accounting

Or because they have hired 'Computer Says No' type 'consultants' like DragonHouse

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:14

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 10:09

The only reason they would have such a stupid rule is because they chose it. It doesn't present a difficult bit of accounting

Or because they have hired 'Computer Says No' type 'consultants' like DragonHouse

Or more likely as a small business they’ve bought an off the shelf package and either not trained their staff properly or have chosen to have a system to prevent as much staff theft as possible give they likely have high turnover of casual staff. 1 pissed off customer occasionally vs staff being able to pocket cash, hmmm what to choose, what to choose.

GoodChat · 07/02/2023 10:15

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 10:09

The only reason they would have such a stupid rule is because they chose it. It doesn't present a difficult bit of accounting

Or because they have hired 'Computer Says No' type 'consultants' like DragonHouse

They're working in a small cafe on minimum wage. If they haven't had proper training it's not great but it's not exactly their fault.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 07/02/2023 10:15

At the end of the day it's the café's responsibility to charge the right amount and, if it gets it wrong, to correct the mistake without inconveniencing the customer. That's assuming it wants to stay in business, of course

The simple truth in a couple of sentences ...

Blossomtoes · 07/02/2023 10:19

DragonHouse · 07/02/2023 09:39

Cashback is, again, an entirely separate transaction with its own process to accurately appear on auditing trails.

It’s not randomly giving out £10 notes with no trail.

Show quote history

Obviously not. It’s still all done in a single transaction and your patronising assertion of superior knowledge which flies in the face of common sense and logic isn’t convincing.

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 10:20

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:14

Or more likely as a small business they’ve bought an off the shelf package and either not trained their staff properly or have chosen to have a system to prevent as much staff theft as possible give they likely have high turnover of casual staff. 1 pissed off customer occasionally vs staff being able to pocket cash, hmmm what to choose, what to choose.

Show quote history

A rigid unworkable system will not prevent staff theft. Plus, cash is not the only thing that can be stolen by staff in a cafe

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:22

I love all this well no cash is the death of a business, 1 pissed off customer will be the end of their business. Like we all live in some tiny rural village and the local businesses rely on about 5 people’s trade.

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:23

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 10:20

A rigid unworkable system will not prevent staff theft. Plus, cash is not the only thing that can be stolen by staff in a cafe

Show quote history

A rigid system that can not be overridden will reduce theft. It’s about reducing risk where you can.

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:25

Blossomtoes · 07/02/2023 10:19

Obviously not. It’s still all done in a single transaction and your patronising assertion of superior knowledge which flies in the face of common sense and logic isn’t convincing.

Show quote history

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I really hope Blossomtoes is the head of the ICAEW. That would be amazing.

unsureatthispoint · 07/02/2023 10:28

ChilliBandit · 07/02/2023 10:23

A rigid system that can not be overridden will reduce theft. It’s about reducing risk where you can.

Show quote history

Reduce your customer base, that's more like it

gogohmm · 07/02/2023 10:33

You can reverse the payment, it comes through as quick as the payment went out! I have a merchant account