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Original poster

Strange Chain Coffee Shop Experienve

90 replies

rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 18:52

Went into a very popular coffee shop chain today and ordered a medium iced latte, (clearly said medium, twice). The server said £4.35 please and I tapped my card before the price on the wall behind him stated a medium iced latte was £4.00. I questioned this and the server looked nervous and stumbles over his words, at which point the barista jumps in and said “oh we’ve had price increases that haven’t been updated yet”. I thought this was bizarre as the prices were shown on tv type screens. She started making my MEDIUM latte (in a medium size cup), at which point I glanced at my receipt to see the server had rung through a large (which in fact was priced at £4.35). I immediately said “hang on you’ve charged me for a large”. Both the till sever and the baristas faces seems to drop and the barista started rambling about price rises, miscommunications (all of what she was saying didn’t make sense), then shouted to the till server “ok give her a refund, GIVE HER A REFUND”. I had paid by card so expected to be refunded this way, but instead a very panicked and guilty looking server dived into the tip jar to pick out 35p refund. I again questioned that there weren’t any price rises… as the price on the screens was, in fact, correct. To which I got bombarded with loads of verbal diarrhoea which didn’t make sense. So I left with my coffee and my 35p.
It was all very very bizarre, and from the reactions and behaviour of the staff I’m pretty sure it was some type of scam (I’m not sure how but I am convinced that it was), and that they probably get away with it all the time.
Edit: apologies about the typo in the heading, it was obviously an experience

OP posts:
Stickortwigs · 10/05/2025 18:53

Maybe they’re pushed to upsell to a large but think actually giving you a large drink would make you notice?

Nomoreidea · 10/05/2025 18:56

I ordered a drink in Costa today, said "just a small one please" and was charged for the larger one (medium). I was given a medium one though I think. I just didn't want that, both for the price and the calories!

Original poster
rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 18:57

But they gave me a medium and charged me for a large? It was so bizarre and definitely something not right going on with how the barista immediately jumped in to speak for the till server.

OP posts:
DinoLil · 10/05/2025 18:57

Have you seen the online videos where people buy a small drink and pour it into a medium and a large cup and it's all the same amount? No idea how true they are, but wouldn't be surprised.

WiddlinDiddlin · 10/05/2025 19:07

DinoLil · 10/05/2025 18:57

Have you seen the online videos where people buy a small drink and pour it into a medium and a large cup and it's all the same amount? No idea how true they are, but wouldn't be surprised.

Those are just stupid video tricks to get engagement/shares etc, if you actually take a small drink and pour it into a medium or large cup you will see the difference.

@rocketman84 sounds like the staff are running a scam, but if they're charging you for a large and putting it through the till as large, they can't steal the money, its the coffee/stock that will have a discrepancy at the end of the day...

So perhaps they've realised they've had too many free drinks/given too many freebies away to mates and need to hide a loss of stock by selling larger drinks than people have actually ordered.

.

Original poster
rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 19:11

@WiddlinDiddlinyes, i was trying to think how they could make this work as a scam and couldn’t work it out. Without a doubt there was something fishy going on though.

OP posts:
ChompandaGrazia · 10/05/2025 19:14

rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 19:11

@WiddlinDiddlinyes, i was trying to think how they could make this work as a scam and couldn’t work it out. Without a doubt there was something fishy going on though.

Because it’s all card payments it’s unlikely they’ve got their hands in the till. I wonder if they get a bonus or something like that based on how many large drinks they sell.

Daisydiary · 10/05/2025 19:14

Report it to their head office. I did this with a Costa who clearly had a scam going on when Vodafone did deals with them. They’d make all the drinks and then all of a sudden, the machine wouldn’t accept the QR codes for freebies. The choice was pay cash or not get a drink. By the third time it had happened (not just to me, but to others in the queue too), I made a complaint.

B1indEye · 10/05/2025 19:20

WiddlinDiddlin · 10/05/2025 19:07

Those are just stupid video tricks to get engagement/shares etc, if you actually take a small drink and pour it into a medium or large cup you will see the difference.

@rocketman84 sounds like the staff are running a scam, but if they're charging you for a large and putting it through the till as large, they can't steal the money, its the coffee/stock that will have a discrepancy at the end of the day...

So perhaps they've realised they've had too many free drinks/given too many freebies away to mates and need to hide a loss of stock by selling larger drinks than people have actually ordered.

.

Show quote history

No chain coffee shop is counting the stock every day, there would have to be a huge discrepancy in the amount of coffee they ordered in for anyone to even notice

I dont suppose it's a scam as such, more an underhand way to increase sales in the hope that customers won't notice.

It would probably annoy me enough to let the heard office know

DoItLikeAWoman · 10/05/2025 19:31

I don’t think the cup stock is counted anywhere. Many times I’ve been served with one cup inside the other when my drink is too hot. Sometimes I have asked for a spare cup and been handed one with no problem.

at an ice cream parlour once they turned down a request for an extra cup as they said their cups were counted.

Delphiniumandlupins · 10/05/2025 19:46

Perhaps the scam is giving friends (or themselves) a large drink for the price of a medium?

HunnyPot · 10/05/2025 19:50

It sounds unusual but if they are charging you for a large, putting it through the till as a large, and giving you a receipt I can’t figure out what they would be doing.

Usually drinks have more than a 35p increase between sizes.

Maybe they make a mistake and couldn’t be bothered or didn’t know how to correct it on the till?

Disappointedneighbour · 10/05/2025 19:51

Maybe they have targets for the number of large drinks they sell. The ruse is that they've worked out that most people won't question the error, so they get their sales easier than if they just try and honestly upsell.

B1indEye · 10/05/2025 19:55

HunnyPot · 10/05/2025 19:50

It sounds unusual but if they are charging you for a large, putting it through the till as a large, and giving you a receipt I can’t figure out what they would be doing.

Usually drinks have more than a 35p increase between sizes.

Maybe they make a mistake and couldn’t be bothered or didn’t know how to correct it on the till?

If that was what they are doing they are increaaing sales because the customer only intended to spend. £4, say they get a bonus if sales hit a certain amount they need to get each customer to unwittingly pay more than they intended to, much easier to upsell than get extra customers

Original poster
rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 20:04

Disappointedneighbour · 10/05/2025 19:51

Maybe they have targets for the number of large drinks they sell. The ruse is that they've worked out that most people won't question the error, so they get their sales easier than if they just try and honestly upsell.

Yes I think it must be something like that. Also to give the refund from their tip jar i thought was strange

OP posts:
Original poster
rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 20:06

HunnyPot · 10/05/2025 19:50

It sounds unusual but if they are charging you for a large, putting it through the till as a large, and giving you a receipt I can’t figure out what they would be doing.

Usually drinks have more than a 35p increase between sizes.

Maybe they make a mistake and couldn’t be bothered or didn’t know how to correct it on the till?

a medium was £4.00 and a large £4.35. I double checked

OP posts:
evtheria · 10/05/2025 20:09

DoItLikeAWoman · 10/05/2025 19:31

I don’t think the cup stock is counted anywhere. Many times I’ve been served with one cup inside the other when my drink is too hot. Sometimes I have asked for a spare cup and been handed one with no problem.

at an ice cream parlour once they turned down a request for an extra cup as they said their cups were counted.

Edited

CN chain does (or used to) do a packaging stock take, once a month, where approx. numbers for things like paper cups were counted. Wouldn’t be an issue if customers wanted an extra cup or a different cup size to the drink (eg a regular Americano in a large takeout cup) though.

OP: to me I think it’s one of two things. Either they honestly just got your order wrong, and were flustered enough/reluctant to get a supervisor over who could authorise a refund on the till (in some cases no. refunds are tracked and questioned), or they were going about upselling in a very weird way, that probably takes advantage of most people not questioning it.

MILLYmo0se · 10/05/2025 20:11

rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 20:06

a medium was £4.00 and a large £4.35. I double checked

Show quote history

The price list was 4.35, did you ask how much the large is now given their excuse was not-updated price increase. I'd have asked them to punch in a large on the till to show me the 'new' price. Either it now comes up as over 4.35 or they are lying

Original poster
rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 20:18

MILLYmo0se · 10/05/2025 20:11

The price list was 4.35, did you ask how much the large is now given their excuse was not-updated price increase. I'd have asked them to punch in a large on the till to show me the 'new' price. Either it now comes up as over 4.35 or they are lying

Show quote history

I did try and she started ranting on about prices making absolutely no sense. My receipt was for a large @ £4.35, and a medium was £4.00 so by issuing the 35p refund they agreed with this, and therefore the prices shown on the screen were exactly correct ( the price rise thing was BS, I could tell by the way she was saying it - you know when you just know that someone is lying?). Kind of wishing I had pressed a bit more on it but there was a queue of people forming behind me and I seemed to be getting nowhere with it so I left

OP posts:
WhatsTheEffingPoint · 10/05/2025 20:53

Sounds like they cocked up every which way and panicked. The refund from the tip jar was probably the quickest and easiest way for them to deal with it as they would most likely have needed a supervisor to process a refund, which would have notified them of the server messing up. Maybe this server was new or on a warning notice, when there's a queue of people waiting to be served and it's a busy environment it can be quite daunting and let's face a lot of younger people work in these places who haven't quite got the hang of saying yup I effed up, I'm sorry let me fix that for you.

malmi · 10/05/2025 21:06

They may earn incentives for persuading customers to upgrade. So they push medium and the till prompts them to ask “would you like to upgrade to large for 35p?”. They are incentivised to hit the “upgrade” button.

Original poster
rocketman84 · 10/05/2025 21:12

WhatsTheEffingPoint · 10/05/2025 20:53

Sounds like they cocked up every which way and panicked. The refund from the tip jar was probably the quickest and easiest way for them to deal with it as they would most likely have needed a supervisor to process a refund, which would have notified them of the server messing up. Maybe this server was new or on a warning notice, when there's a queue of people waiting to be served and it's a busy environment it can be quite daunting and let's face a lot of younger people work in these places who haven't quite got the hang of saying yup I effed up, I'm sorry let me fix that for you.

Yeah, I do get that mistakes happen. And if he had said “oh sorry yeah I’ve accidentally charged you for a large” I probably would have thought nothing more of the situation. It’s the fact that the lady barista jumped in to make up lies about price rises etc. which told me it wasn’t a genuine mistake

OP posts:
WiddlinDiddlin · 10/05/2025 21:31

I agree that making it look like they've sold more large drinks is probably it.

I just have in the back of my mind a time in the dim and distant past when one of my friend group worked for a big chain fast food outlet that rhymes with Kurger Bing...

They managed to give away sooooooo much stock (not just as cooked food items but uncooked, to cook at home, we ate soooo many and invented our own burgers... ) that there was a horrible day hurtling towards them when the rarely present manager was actually going to notice the huge discrepancy in expected stock vs actual stock vs takings.

I mean the guy was feeding pretty much a streets worth of people on burgers to be fair, it was a ridiculous situation to get into!

This is less likely with coffees/milks/creams/syrups... but folks do some daft things!

SallyDraperGetInHere · 10/05/2025 21:42

malmi · 10/05/2025 21:06

They may earn incentives for persuading customers to upgrade. So they push medium and the till prompts them to ask “would you like to upgrade to large for 35p?”. They are incentivised to hit the “upgrade” button.

Yes, I imagine it’s a branch target, where everyone gets rewarded, so dipping into the tip jar occasionally is a cost they make up in overall sales

Bitteralmond · 10/05/2025 21:58

I am a retailer and I prefer to give small refunds in cash because my card machine provider charges 50p to process a refund. Maybe the staff get told off if too many card refunds are processed.