Starbucks Coffee — Restaurant in England

Met an ex colleague here for a catch up. Both paying customers. 10 days later get a parking penalty for £100. Parking conditions clearly stated on the signage it says. Not that I noticed. On street view I can see a sign on the slip road as you exit the dual carriageway. Not clear there are charges and not exactly the best place for it. I guess there are others but not that I saw or mentioned when I made my purchase. Who expects parking charges at a coffee shop on a dual carriageway you can only get to by car, and where there is no other benefit to parking there. There is nothing else there. So lesson learned. My fault for assuming like a service station parking is free and not time limited. Poor practice by Starbucks. As others have commented they are using the type of enforcement company that will pursue you to the ends of the earth. No point speaking to staff either so I'll pay. Needless to say I won't be using Starbucks products to wash away the bad taste. Not here and not ever again. I don't know how much Starbucks will get after the enforcement company take there cut but I hope they enjoy it. It'll be the last money they'll see from me and anyone else I...

Such a shame, the only starbucks that I have seen with a nice warm fire. The staff all looked up at me waiting to be served and then focused on what they were doing, 1) doing a stock take, 2) filling up syrup bottles and the last person was working on drive thru orders. But the other two looked at me and carried on doing their own thing for 5 minutes, I became fed up with this and asked "is anyone going to serve me" .. huffing and puffing followed by the attitude of they are doing a massive favour for me. I also said the banana bread was dry and the woman who I spoke to shrugged. This place is trash, why come here to be over charged with extortionate prices only to be treated like you get all of your order for free of charge. Thanks for proving that the hospitality trade has become very desperate since covid and lockdowns. No wonder AI and robots are replacing jobs... starbucks will end up like the banks... there will shops with vending machines instead of people......

I should have posted this poor review two weeks ago after receiving mediocre service from the bored-looking staff and being served a lukewarm rather than a "hot" chocolate at the Starbucks in Ringwood Road, Ferndown. However, what would have been a 2-star review then is now further downgraded as I have since received a £100 penalty charge notice for overstaying the 1.5hr free parking limit. This will magnanimously be reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. Regrettably, I did not see any warning signs; otherwise, I would not have spent any longer there than I had to.

Having done some research since receiving the PCN, I find that these (and many other UK Starbucks) car parks are owned by third parties who have similarly caught out other patrons. Clearly, Starbucks does not want to encourage its customers to stay as long as they want to buy their food and drink! Suffice to say, I will never again visit a Starbucks whose food and drink isn't a patch on...