WIBU to be annoyed in this cafe?

[Hoppinggreen]

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

What solution though? The only other solution if you are unwilling to pay is to get the food for free, is that what you would expect?

They could have taken her name and address.

Utter bollocks. Can’t believe you paid again.

Well firstly they haven’t refunded me. I only have their word that I will get my money back.
I only agreed to their solution because they said it was the only thing they could do after several minutes of discussion and my parking time was running out - possibly I should have realised it would take time
As for not being polite only one of us was there so you can believe me or not but I repeatedly told the staff member there was no need to be upset as it was just a mistake and I was calm and polite at all times

And agreed to wait 10 days for OP to return and pay the £30 she actually owed. I agree.

I thought it was pretty well known refunds take longer to be processed. They couldn’t just give it to you out of the till because the system records what’s done by card and by cash etc.

YANBU to be annoyed, but I am sure you have made mistakes in your working life. I would be interested to get the other side of this one. I think it’s unfair people are calling the woman a wet blanket, OP could have been a bit of an arse to her for all we know.

Staff member was being pathetic, hiding in the back.

They should have just given you £10 from the till, o agree. And if that wasn’t possible it’s a ridiculous system.

I'd have been annoyed too op.

There were definitely easier ways to deal with this that didn't leave you out of pocket.

What if you didn't have £70 in your account?

It's infuriating when businesses make mistakes and expect their customers to be needlessly inconvenienced by it.

I've had a couple of circs like that. One was railway station. I literally gave up on the money after trying every possible way to resolve it. I just ran out of energy.
Had it again in a petrol station when I was charged for the wrong pump. It was a fiver difference from the pump I actually used. I was told it would have to be refunded, would take 10 days and I would have to pay for the correct pump again. I literally said no. Backed up by another customer who confirmed that I had said the correct pump number. I just stood there. They said they would call the police ( what you going to tell them, you owe me five quid).
After a stand off they got a form out and completed it and handed me the fiver. So perfectly possible all along.

The only options I would have accepted were a cash refund or a refund back to my card for £10.

I wouldn't have agreed to pay in full again.

I voted YABU and am in the minority it seems. But the point to question the bill is before you pay not after. They refunded you, refunds do take time, in the meantime you pay the correct bill. No different from any other shop really.

They have though. When you pay them the money doesn't hit their bank account instantly. Does that mean that you haven't paid them?

Sorry your day was spoiled by this appaling customer service

I hope you got the names of the staff?
I would write an email to head office complaning about the way they handled the situation - not the mistake - but how you were made to feel and how this overpayment will possibly impact your monthly budget (even if it won’t)

If the head office does not write back offering an apology (and maybe a voucher etc) then I would take to social media and write an honest review.

Was it a big chain or a small independent place?
Was the food worth it?

Is there any actual reason why refunds take so long when purchases happen almost instantly?

Everything online says it's a choice by the business either to hang on to your money or so that they can make the necessary checks that items have actually been returned and so on, but I don't know if it's true.

It has come out of my bank though and I could show them this on my banking app.
As it’s a debit card isn’t that effectively cash?

Small independent where I have been a few times before. Food was good but not worth £70

But you haven’t paid £70. You’ve paid £30 and annoying had to wait around for £40 to come back to you. It’s crap but you are acting like they’ve stolen from you.

I haven’t gone into all the details but the bill was very complicated due to them confusing it with another bill and trying to add someone’s takeaway coffee on so I didn’t actually realise until it was too late, I probably should have checked to be fair

£70 has left my bank account

"It has come out of my bank though and I could show them this on my banking app.
As it’s a debit card isn’t that effectively cash?"

No the card companies will do one transaction per day to that business (according to BoE website anyway).

They said they would call the police ( what you going to tell them, you owe me five quid).

The police would do nothing in that situation anyway. It’s a dispute over what monies are owed, not theft - it’s a civil matter.

I realise that the cafe don't program the banking systems, but WHY do refunds take so long? There's no technical reason for this: if payments can go through straightaway (at the very least show as pending and then clear the following day), what's the purpose of deliberately withholding people's rightful refunds? It's the exact same system as with payments - it's just that the money is going in the other direction. It sounds like the old cheque clearing system, with banks artificially clinging on to archaic timescales for as long as they possibly could until they were forced to bring in modern systems.

Even if they couldn't open the till and give you a tenner, there's no good reason at all why they couldn't have refunded the difference - even if that did take ten days to come through. Why should you be punished for having been overcharged £10 by being overcharged £40 for ten days? How is that fair in anybody's world? Yes, I'm sure it's a headache for them balancing their systems; but it's their problem to solve, not yours. If it's such a monumental faff, maybe they could work on being more careful to charge the correct amount in the first place.

I have also realised that other my my friend as a witness I have no proof at all they owe me £40

Yes. And you agreed to a 40quid refund with a 'no problem'. The problem here is that you don't seem to understand how refunds work when you pay by card. They aren't instant, they have never been instant, the shop can't make a card refund be instant. Unless you have a reason to believe the shop didn't put your refund through then you are blowing a simple, every day transaction way out of proportion but you will know from again not to say 'no problem' if it is in fact a problem.

And £40 is coming back! £70-£40 = £30.
I get it’s annoying but is it really worth this much angst. It will take a day to reach them, a day for them to process it and a day for them to send it back most likely.