Coffees.gr — Restaurant in Athens

I do not write negative reviews often, but I feel the need to today. I have been a longterm customer and have always been extremely happy with my orders. I always purchase the exact same coffee beans and they are heaven in a cup! In Nov. I purchased two 1,000gram bags of my usual. I kept them sealed and in a dark room until I opened the first back in December. As soon as I opened the bag, I noticed the smell was off. Keeping in mind, I have been buying the same beans for years I know exactly what to expect. The acidic, bitter, almost chemical smell threw me off. Nevertheless, I put them into my coffee machine (built-in grinder) and proceeded to make my usual cup of coffee. After the first sip I knew something was terribly wrong. I ended up pulling multiple shots, with the exact same result. I assumed something was wrong with the coffee beans, so took all the beans out of the hopper and opened the second bag. It's important to note that both bags are from the same batch (same time stamp). I brought in other people to taste the coffee, lest it was my own tastebuds that had gone crazy! They too, had the exact experience.

Now, just as any normal person would do, I called the shop and in a very friendly manner explained what had happened. The interaction that followed both baffles and shocks me. I spoke to a Ms. L. Gelou, who upon telling her my experience, asks, "how do you know the coffee beans were off? And how do we know how you stored them?" Let me preface this by saying, I had said straight from the beginning that I am NOT looking for a refund, I just thought it was important to bring it to their attention. I had already explained to her just how I knew the beans were off. Even after telling her that I've been order the same coffee beans for 10 years, (meaning I am well-aware of what they should and should not smell and taste like)- her only answer was, "well you haven't been ordering with us for 10 years).

If Ms. Gelou knew the first thing about service, she would know to simply listen first to your longterm customer's complaint and maybe- just maybe try and see if a.) there could be something to their claim b.) don't blame the client. c.) don't be outright rude and indignant and finally, c.) when asked to be put in touch with your superior- don't ignore the request.

Ms. Gelou was rude, did not even pretend to try and get to the bottom of the problem and simply told me (without even knowing the batch number!) that they had no other complaints. Finally, when I asked her if I could speak to her superior she would not put me in touch with anyone, and simply kept saying I could only talk to her. I said that I would like to speak to the person in charge and she simply kept asking why. I realized there was no point in talking anymore and simply hung up.

Good service is really not that difficult folks! Truly. I don't know what kind of training goes into a position like Ms. Gelou's but someone clearly missed the training that covered 'service'! The two bags of wasted coffee beans are the least of my problems. After taking my machine to the Delonghi representatives to service, I was told that the oils of the coffee beans will not be able to be cleaned out of the grinder, which now leaves a horrible taste in every single cup of coffee I make. This means my beautiful coffee machine is now for garbage! Thank you coffee.gr. and thank you Ms. Gelou. It's safe to say that you've lost me as a client and I'll be sure to share my experience with all my fellow coffee lovers here in Athens.

ps- If anyone at coffee.gr is actually interested in ensuring the satisfaction of their customers and quality of their beans, please see photo attached for batch number. Finally, could you please educate your employees on the fact that it IS indeed possible for a bag of beans to go rancid and it ISN'T always the...

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