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.

It doesn’t sounds like great service but sometimes the laidback attitude, is the charm of an independent over the slicker Costa/Starbucks type places.

You have not paid twice! They are refunding you.
Did you not learn subtraction at school?
Two transactions take away one transaction equals one transaction!
And as for flat white sounds nothing like long black, it will be because the buttons are next to each other on the till. Not because she misheard you.
If you get this worked up over something like this you might be better off not going out

My one wild and precious life, and this thread is the result!

I think I’ll let this experience go :)

The cafe agreeing to get me an emotional support goat would be nice, though.

Yes agreed. There’s a nice atmosphere in there. I’m not chill enough - especially after a coffee!

To be honest I want to get out of drinking coffee at home (like I am this morning). Going there is a bit of a walk.

Id have just given you your coffee, it wouldnt have been free it just would have been 40p cheaper than usual, the 40p would have covered the inconvenience of your having to come back to the counter a second time lol

Poor customer service. Firstly gassing to a friend and making paying customers wait while she does so. Getting a simple order mixed up.
The easiest route for everyone would have been to just give you what you actually asked for and refunded the entire amount as a gesture of good will.
They won't go bankrupt for a few pence

I hate this. I know it is such a small amount, but why if the mistake was made by someone else then I have to take time to check my bank account and make sure the money comes back in? It happened to me last week got charged extra in Tesco , about £11, had to drive back all the way to the bloody shop! What if it was my last £11 specially now so many people live paycheck to paycheck?

There was one in a tea shop in Yorkshire, same thing except the OP was treating her friend if I remember correctly.

Thank you!

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

I was thinking this.

No matter the reason the woman was chatting she could have acknowledged waiting customers.

All this this angst snd someone suggesting a "scathing review" over 40 bloody pence?

I can't believe you bothered to query the enormous overcharge.....

If I’m completely honest even if the service was crappy I wouldn’t have worried about 40p I would just want the correct drink and left it. Double checking any future orders there. But that’s just me 💸

I think you should work on being more resilient.

Or indeed a MN thread

You haven't paid twice at all

And then said “But you still need to pay for your Long Black”. Which I did.

And there's your problem! Why at that point did you not say - hang on, i'm not paying for something I didn't order.

🥱 🥱 Click bait headline. In essence, you’ll get your money back in a day or two. Get over it.

As a cafe owner, you are being vvvv U for assuming very busy = very profitable (hollow laughter)
😂

Or go one better and go back and ask her name for the newspaper article or possibly to report her to the police?

Nothing short of criminal making a mistake as a service worker really is it? Clearly she deserves to be publicly shamed (possibly flogged?) and never, ever allowed to work in hospitality again for the sheer distress she's caused today.

OP I'd skip the Labrador/cat/goat and go for the huge pay out for the amount of therapy you're going to need for this.

If this has wound you up so much you've posted on here, then I worry for you when a real disaster in your life occurs.
Mountain and molehill.

Well I had to query it because otherwise I’d have been handed the wrong drink!!

Of all the non-issues in all the world…..

I had similar in a museum - they overcharged me and then refunded me the whole amount and started again. This was on Thursday last week and the refund still hasn't processed, yet both amounts went instantly from my bank account. I don't quite understand that process

Yes definitely! And this thread is a bit self-sabotaging of me to be honest. If this is the worst thing that happened to me
yesterday then the day really wasn’t so bad!!