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.

👏

True!

I hope the work-from-cafe people taking up tables with their laptops are made to buy at least one drink every hour, or else hosed down and/or poked with a shitty stick until they leave!

Great idea! First step is for me to go back there with a local newspaper reporter and a photographer. Then pose for a photo with a very sour look on my face!

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

Assuming you are referring to my post, given I used those words, do engage your comprehension skills before you jump in. I suggested a scathing review if the refund did not eventuate. That was the entire refund and not 40p.

though with someone with your obvious attitude I'd probably dig 40p out of tips or my purse and give it to you tbh, because I seriously cannot be arsed with this over dramatic reaction when something goes slightly wrong, and is put right but the customer feels like something free needs to happen because they've been greatly wronged and it's completely ruined their day/week/life, and someone needs to pay!!!

Yes to all of this. I'd just give you 40 fucking pence from my own purse to make you go away.

I'd off told her not to worry about it who can be bothered with all the messing for 40p

If you are so skint you can't wait for a £3 refund you probably shouldn't be buying coffees.

Woman made a mistake. 😳

This.

I can't imagine making such a fuss over a 40p refund to begin with. It's 40p. Let it go.

Is it just me who would have let the initial 40p go rather than fuck around getting my card back out

I do take your point, it seems to lack common sense. But at least you’ll get it back

Poor customer service. Firstly gassing to a friend and making paying customers wait while she does so. Getting a simple order mixed up.

When you have a customer chatting away to you while other people are waiting, you basically have to shut down the conversation without telling them as much. Not everyone takes the hint.

All these people saying OP getting annoyed at 3 quid which hasn't refunded yet. Its the priniciple, i'd be annoyed too. The cafe is not going to go bankrupt by rectifying their mistake without taking additional money from a customers account. And yes it will be refunded (we hope) but the point remains that it is currently not available in op's account should she need it.
So what that its only £3. should make no difference if it was £3 or £300, the customer is currently the one being inconvenienced.

The cafes mistake. therefore the cafe should be the one out of pocket, not OP. They could have spared a black coffee in the name of a good will gesture in rectifying their mistake. solving it quickly, at very little cost to themselves and leaving a customer satisified and likely impressed at their service. Instead they have left a customer short in their account and pissed off.

I would’ve just said don’t worry about the 40p refund and got on with my day.

It’s 40p, you can’t even buy half a freddo for that these days.

Thanks! You say it better than I could but that’s how I feel too.

Anyway I should probably stop replying to this thread :).

The member of staff got the order wrong. Mistakes happen and I think most people understand that.
All I want when a mistake happens is for it to be corrected, and not disadvantage me. I don’t need freebies or compensation for my inconvenience.
In this case OP is without £3.90 for a few days, and I assume most people could afford to be short by such a small sum for a few days.
I don’t like the general principle though. If the same process is applied to much larger sums it could cause genuine hardship.
I don’t work in banking or retail, but I can’t see why a process of instant
( within a few hours) refunds should not be made the norm. The technology exists to make instant transfers, so why can’t the business make such a payment to the customer? ( even if they make a separate payment and keep the initial wrong one). It really is up to the person/ organisation making the mistake to put themselves out to correct it so that it doesn’t cause problems for the customer.

Tbf for the sake of 40p I'd have just left it 🤷‍♀️

No. Definitely not just you.

What a tone deaf thread OP. Not many people can afford to even buy 1 coffee nowadays, let alone two. Dont rub it in.

Im sorry, I just couldnt resist. 😆

She wasn't pestering for her 40p back! If she didn't say anything then she would not have got the correct drink.
It's not difficult to comprehend

Start an social media campaign, form a picket line outside, wave placards and intimidate customers, stage a dirty protest in their kitchen and call environmental health...

Or be thankful this even makes the top 10 of your list of problems

I am fascinated by you OP

would love to know the background to someone so bothered by this. Job? Partner? Children? Friends??

YANBU. It’s a service industry and you received poor service. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The mistake was due to the assistant not paying proper attention so in terms of customer satisfaction, they definitely should have done something to salvage the situation and have you leave a satisfied customer.

I’m old and in my experience U.K. customer service has always been pretty crap, so I’m not surprised that so many posters accept poor service as entirely normal.

You sound like hard work. I really hope you never make a mistake in your life, especially not professionally.

YABU to be so highly strung and awkward over something so insignificant. Move on and get some perspective.

I’m old and in my experience U.K. customer service has always been pretty crap, so I’m not surprised that so many posters accept poor service as entirely normal.

Yeah and attitudes towards poorly paid hospitality staff aren't great either, are they.