Had to pay twice in cafe, as they got my order wrong

[CoffeeDrinker2023]

I called in to a decent coffee place yesterday morning. As usual it was busy and all the tables were full. The lady at the counter was chatting to someone she obviously knew, while me and the person behind me had to wait. Maybe this went on for 3-5 minutes.

I told her I wanted a Long Black, paid for it, then moved to the other end of the counter where they make the drinks. But I looked up at the board and realised I’d been overcharged for my drink. It turns out she had imagined I’d said Flat White, so had charged me that higher price.

She then corrected the order with the baristas and told me she could refund me. I said you can just give me 40p in cash? But no she said, they are cashless.

So I thought she would refund me the 40p back to my card. But actually she refunded the whole price of the drink. And then said “But you still need to pay for your Long Black”. Which I did.

So essentially I had to pay £6.60 to get
my £3.10 coffee. And I’ll have to wait till later in the week to get the £3.50 back.

I’ve been to this cafe a dozen times before (never ordering a flat white!) and she’s probably seen me there before. AIBU to think she should have either just refunded me the 40p, or if the system didn’t allow that then she should have given me the Long Black for free to make up for her error?

It is a busy and surely very profitable cafe by the way, though it is an independent.

This

This is the on the many many problems with a cashless society

It won’t have been taken from your account instantly…

It make terrible business sense to refund via your card. I'm sure I'm charged about £1.50 to make refunds, or cold even be more. So by the time they have paid 5p on the first transaction, £.50 refund and another 5p for the other transaction they has lost their profit.

This is such a non-event. If your budget is so tight that it is a problem to wait a few days to get your £3.50 back, you might want to reconsider buying take-out coffees.

I'd have found it more annoying that I had to wait while she was chatting to whoever she knew.

I think it's fair to say we all mishear, make mistakes or misunderstand things on occasions (or at least I do), and it works both ways and sometimes you have to be understanding. Sounds like she did her best to rectify the matter.

I

So because someone made a simple, innocent, human mistake you should get something for free?
We all make mistakes, you’re being OTT.

Maybe she couldn't hear you very well from up on your high horse?

Visa payments are always taken out instantly by my bank, even though the transactions are in Pending for a few days. When it moves out of Pending in a day or two I figure I’ll get the refund.

Refunds should be made in the same form of payment. You can't refund cash if a purchase is made by card.

Plus if they are cashless how is she going to give you cash?

Depending on the way their system works they could possibly have refunded the difference, but if theirs doesn't work that way then obviously you have to pay and wait for the refund. I work for a major supermarket and our refunds can take up to 4 working days to show up in your account.

It really isn't. It would have been exactly the same 20 years ago if you paid by card your refund would be to the same card.

Yes l agree. Though to be fair it sense for a business like this, a hip cafe which mostly attracts a young crowd who I think are often doing laptoppy jobs.

Somebody made a mistake that really had no impact at all. I think we need to rise up and take to the streets in protest.

Yes but there might have been a bit of discretion, “Here’s 40p from the till”. Then manager remembers at the end of the day when cashing out so there aren’t any issues about the toll being short.

Till not toll

Yes it will take until whenever the payment moves out of the Pending section on my online banking.

The other thread was a lunch, i think.

OP had to pay double the amount for her lunch because of a mix up.

I couldn't get her up with an extra 40p, or the fact that it might take a few days to go back in my account.

I'd be more annoyed that I had to wait for her to finish her conversation before ordering (unless they had a backlog of orders)

For goodness sake 3 quid??
Something similar happened to me at Tesco except it was the till freezing halfway through the transaction and pending but not taking the money. It was £135. Luckily I had enough money to cover paying again and hoping that the pending would clear overnight (which it did).

Obviously if that was my last £135 I would have been in trouble but it wasn't so I didn't make a fuss, what's the point?

YABU. They refunded you the error then charged the correct price.

Someone who will struggle massively with the loss of £3.50 for a few days isn't someone who is gonna be in a cafe spending £3.50 on a hot drink.

OP are you a perfect human who has never made a mistake in your entire life?

YABU. Misleading title and a non-issue.

Someone who clearly has never worked in hospitality...

One life! Living on a planet in infinite space!

I'm not sure why this thread has brought out so much cuntishness, OP.

The service was clearly shocking, you are entitled to a TA coffee even if you are cash-strapped (and to pay for that coffee only) and not to be faffed around with the promise of a refund that might or might not eventuate.

Sounds like the cashier had her head somewhere else, too.

I hope that you get your refund. If not, leave a scathing review and try and describe the person as much as possible.