Nespresso Atelier Wien — Restaurant in Vienna

I am certainly not surprised that l am not the first one commenting on the horrendous and racist service that this store has to offer, especially at the coffee tasting bar. Several months ago similar experience with the same person, but l let that one go as for sure, we all can have a bad day, but this time… she should’t be working in customer service at all!!! Friday 27.9.24 at around 17:00 - l came to drop off recyclable capsules, so l decided to grab a coffee to go, to taste one of the new flavors they might have at this time of the year. I have waited min 15 mins for my turn (as the person serving was busy with 1!!!!! customer), the queue behind me was cumulating. It was obvious l haven’t bought anything yet (l was planning to, based on the flavors they have to offer), so she asked me if l have Nespresso membership card (fair enough, surely many tourists come by to grab a free coffee), which l said l do and was going to take it out of my wallet. This took max 5 seconds, but she started to serve people behind me, which were a group of 3 Austrians that have done their apparent shopping in the store. When l was waving the card in front of her face, l was told to wait, AGAIN!!! Finally another person that works in the store shows up and starts to prepare my coffee. While l was waiting, l decided to give the rude and incompetent (she didn’t mention pumpkin spice flavor that they had available since that day) woman #1 a little constructive feedback, how to serve customer that has been waiting for a while. Of course the millennial was extremely defensive and asked me if l want to teach her how to do her job, which by all means l politely declined as l wouldn’t dare (l wouldn’t even hire something like that from the first place), however l mentioned that since l have been working in customer service for over 20 years, l’d have waited for the customer to show me the membership card and wouldn’t make them wait again. This was surely the last time l have been to this particular store.

Suggestion to the owner. I understand many people come by for a free coffee, fair enough to have this perk just for clients with loyalty cards and the ones that make a purchase, however, what l’ve seen in the Nespresso store in Miami, they also have a coffee bar where by-passers can actually purchase a coffee to go. This way you don’t have to turn away potential new customers...

Shockingly bad service. I am here on holiday with my wife and we are regular users of Nespresso in the UK. We went in to see if they had any limited edition festive coffees, and if they did we were planning on buying some.

We walked in, there were 2 people working, one was with a customer and the other one looked at us and completely ignored us, no greeting or anything. I wait for the other lady to finish with a customer, I look up and smile at her, completely looked right through us.

I dont understand why in a city with such beautiful architecture that the people, especially within hospitality, can’t follow the same high standards for themselves. We found it so completely rude that us as tourists weren’t given the same common human courtesy as other people inside the shop who could speak the language.

Even if they thought language was a barrier, I had my translate app ready. And if they did think that, a customer facing job isn’t for them.

I then saw that there was an upstairs section and thought “maybe our custom will be welcome here”. I walk toward the stairs and a blonde lady looked at me as if I was going to rob the place. I politely asked “what is upstairs, is it open to the public?”. She then replied in the most condescending way “this is a coffee shop” whilst looking me and my wife up and down.

We found the entire interaction incredibly rude and unnecessary. If I didn’t know what the shop is surely it would be her duty to explain to me what it is and help sell me something or show some kind of customer service.

I get the vibe in here that if you’re a tourist then basically they don’t want your money. Stay clear and go grab some coffee from a local cafe and support a local business - which is what we should have done in the first place.

Avoid...

Big, spacious, bright and airy concept, feels comfortable to purchase coffee supplies or just to get a cup of coffee at first floor. Service is usually professional and they throw in a few capsules for test taste to recommend other flavours. However the coffee station on first floor could be better managed on busy days. It is generally good when there are not many customers but it got rather chaotic when there are many people. Customers were waiting around the table and a few seated. The poor staff (junior maybe?) was overwhelmed and could not keep up with the orders. They could not remember which customer ordered which coffee and which customer came first resulting in orders not just incorrect but also mix up. One lady raised her voice at the staff saying “if you are tired please rest” - obviously the staff is not able to take a break with so many customers, isnt it? Simple suggestion to improve on busy days maybe, queue management - it would enable the staff provide good service easily as they can serve the customer first in queue, complete their order then move to the next person thus preventing a mix up of orders. Queue also benefit the customers as they would receive their coffee first instead of feeling anxious why another customer who came after them but gotten coffee first. Just for the busy...