Costa Coffee — Restaurant in London

Attempted to use a Vodafone rewards scheme that allocated users a free small drink. I ordered a Flat White - clearly listed on their drinks menu as a small drink - to be told this wasn't eligible for the offer. I did not have a major issue with this...however, when I suggested I purchase a drink that WAS eligible for the reward, I was (literally) shouted at by a barista asserting that she had already made the drink. I was, by fait accompli, forced to purchased the Flat White.

The issue regarding the drink and offer did not bother me in the slightest (it was not the baristas fault that the reward I was attempting to use to purchase a flat white was ineligible), since the drinks issue was minor and trivial.

What did upset me, however, was being spoken to with complete and utter contempt by the barista that had already made my drink. It was, emphatically, NOT my fault as a consumer, that the barista had decided to make my drink before I had been given a chance to actually purchase it (this was within the space of perhaps 45 seconds to a minute and a half).

It is unacceptable to intimidate a consumer into purchasing a product "because I have already made it" (particularly when we are talking about a small coffee - the cost of production being very little). I must emphasise that even this is not the cause of my distress - it was how I was spoken to and treated.

I felt both intimidated and belittled by how I was spoken to; as if the barista wanted to jump over the counter and to fight me! Perhaps the most disturbing issue was that the barista's behaviour was completely tolerated - I was left standing in front of a small queue of people feeling both embarrassed and intimidated.

I wish there was some mechanism available to consumers to report such behaviour to a figure of authority, but the barista was not wearing a name badge, so I am unable to provide further details.

If someone from management comes to read this review, please understand I am not writing this out of spite or pettiness, but in the hopes that some form of improvement in customer service may be made. Fortunately, I am a young and healthy male, and I am able to hold my ground when clearly being intimidated. It concerns me to think how more vulnerable customers may be treated.

This is the first complaint I have ever made, if that serves to emphasise how frustrated I am currently left feeling.

Apologies for the long complaint.

Thanks...

I was sat in this Costa having a drink when a blind man with a cane came in. I watched as he stood about a metre from the till with two customers in front of him waiting. He stood there for about 5 minutes- with several new customers walking straight past him, and skipping him in the queue- ignoring his asks for help. He was right in front of the staff and they did nothing to help him. It went on so long I had to go up to the two staff behind the bar to tell them the visually impaired man had been stood there a while and no one had helped him. The girl said ‘they were busy’ making the drinks of the people who had walked past him in the queue, and told me (21 year old female) to help him. I ended up having to explain to this man that the staff didn’t come to help him, and that I would. I had to take him to the till, helping him pay and get the drink he wanted, and helping him put all his sugars in his drink. That staff completely ignored his requests for help. It was so awful to see. I even had to help this poor man outside as they wouldn’t assist him. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour from both the staff there today. I couldn’t believe it. Other than losing my faith in humanity, the hot...

This has to be the worst experience I have ever witnessed in any coffee shop. Three disinterested staff behind the counter at approx 8pm, not very busy in store yet it was dirty around the till, behind the counter and the floor near where you collect your drinks. Whilst waiting for our drinks to be made another customer came in and ordered a drink and then asked where the toilets were for his young teenage daughter to be told that they were closed even though it was an hour before the store closed. One of the members of staff then suggested if she was that desperate to go then she could use a takeaway cup and passed one to her. We all looked in amazement at what we had just seen before us. If we hadn't have already paid for our drinks I would have cancelled our order in disgust. Safe to say we will never be back in this store again and definitely won't recommend this to anyone. I would even go as far as saying this will be the last time I use a Costa coffee shop. How they can treat a fellow human being in this way...