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

I fucking hate the refund policy 10 days bollocks. I'm still waiting for a refund from ASOS for a service that they now fail to deliver on. They should have given you the cash and made a note of it. Idiots.

@knowitmore - Asos are really poor for refunds. If you message them they tend to give it to you the next day in my experience.

It didn’t say £70 at any point.
It said £40, which was apparently wrong and I will be getting that refunded within 10 days.
Then I paid £30
So while I am £70 out of pocket the card machine never said that amount

Change 70 to 40 - same point stands.

Somewhere in the organisation there is a jobsworth who is not customer facing who has decided to invoke the most complicated refund system which puts you out of pocket. I would have refused to pay and told them to call the police.

I agree with the £10 out the till solution and they could have sorted it at the end of the day. But I think you were a bit unreasonable in (albeit reluctantly) agreeing to the refund, they process it and then at that point get annoyed about paying again. What did you expect them to do after they had processed the refund? They couldn’t reverse it.

Yes, when I process a refund I have the option to do cash or card too. However standard cash handling procedures are that the refund must match the original transaction.

It’s nothing to do with “more work”. It’s breaking cash handling policy and is gross misconduct, which means they can get fired on the spot for it.

The “jobsworth” is probably the owner/finance person who is responsible for making sure there are controls in place to stop theft/ staff tampering especially in a business that likely has a high turnover of casual staff. They’ve chosen to prioritise the much more likely risk of theft, over pissing off the odd customer who doesn’t understand how refunds work. Can’t say I blame them.

They need to train their staff better though.

They have, they’ve stolen the interest on the money!

Honestly some people on here must work in cafes too.

Totally appalling lack of flexibility. I’d have refused to leave without my £10 or made them wait for their £30… but I’m very bad tempered.

Interest! Are you joking?! On £40 for a couple of days?? I am sure they are laughing all the way to the bank with that…

If I was prepared to be banned from the cafe I would have told them, once I’d realised I wasn’t going to see the refund immediately, that I would pay the £30 I owed them the next time came in after I’d received the refund.

It’s not an unreasonable stance. They’ve had the banking system pull the £40 from my account already. It was their mistake. They can wait until it’s back in my hands before I give them the £30 I owed them.

I’d leave my name and address and tell them if they wanted it sooner they could send me their bank details and I would transfer it as soon as the refund had landed in my account. Alternatively, I would come in and pay as soon as I could after the refund landed, but would deduct the cost of the journey/parking/etc.

But if I like the cafe, I’d suck it up, be annoyed and just rant on MN!

And you would be welcome to explain to the police how stubborn you are. They would still treat you as though you were a thief who hadn’t paid if a refund had been issued.

Of course it's not!

• cash out if the till
• refund her the £10
• cakesbto the value of £10
• cafe credit

plenty of options that don't involve the op being £40 out of pocket until a refund is processed.

Standard fuck up processing is to put things right. Standard refund process ain’t relevant here.

I used to be a department manger at JLP (nearly 30 years ago!) and I can tell you the customer was queen.

It all sounds very strange to me. I don't understand why they couldn't have just refunded you the 10 pound, either in cash or a card refund. The whole paying again and refunding the first payment is ridiculous.

Cash handling procedures are thankfully not the same as they were thirty years ago.

The “customer is Queen” is a ridiculous sentiment.

Really, treat your customers like your business depends on them?

Well the customer here is funding a fuck up. Flexibility of thought was needed. Clearly, not everyone is equipped with that…

watch out pru its all kicking off!

You really have no idea what you're talking about do you?
What exactly would I be attempting to deprive them of? You can't even get the police to attend burglaries in action. They won't turn up to a petty squabble in a cake shop 🤣

Did you even read the post ? They didn’t tell her the refund would take up to ten days until after she agreed to it. Funny isn’t it, how the customer has to pay up immediately, but the retailer can refund at leisure. I was behind a customer at the supermarket checkout and a similar situation arose. The customer couldn’t afford to pay for the shopping if she was going to have to wait days for a refund of the wrong price applied, so had to leave without the groceries while the retailer retained her payment. Utterly wrong in this day and age - especially in an era where you can make a bank transfer and have it land with the recipient in a couple of minutes. Why can’t retailers do the same thing ?

I know exactly what I’m talking about. I manage a restaurant and have had this exact situation happen.

I don’t know where you live but the police do come out in our area when people refuse to leave the premises or attempt
to steal.

Yup and I worked in retail for 20 years.
She didn't attempt to steal. Go back and read it again.

The customer is King or Queen is the only sentiment to have if you want your business to be successful.