PAUL South Kensington — Restaurant in London

Stopped in on Friday morning to get 2 coffees. It was quite crowded with minimal room to stand whilst paying and waiting for the order to be prepared. Nonetheless this was expected for the area. However, once I paid and after a good few minutes of waiting the staff let me know my transaction hadn’t gone through. I was called back in between the rush of other customers to quickly tap my card again. Once I did this I immediately checked my banking app, and I could see 2 pending transactions for the exact same amount, suggesting I had been charged twice. I let the staff know and showed them the 2 charges but they refused to refund me and insisted they had only charged once. When I asked for the receipt for the first transaction, the one they insisted hadn’t gone through, they refused to provide it, stating that they couldn’t do that. Both transactions went through and I had to go through the hassle of contacting the bank to raise a dispute to get refunded. Absolute horrible service and they had absolutely no clue how to respond in this...

I popped in with a friend for a coffee and a snack before visiting an exhibition at the V&A museum. Bad idea.The shop was not busy, but neither of the 2 counter-staff servers looked up or acknowledged any customers as they entered. There was no indication of where customers should queue, or if there actually was a queue at all, or where customers should wait for their drinks. As we waited (ignored, but hopeful) in front of the counter, other customers drifted in and were served ahead of us. Our order was finally taken and we waited for our coffees.We were asked, none too politely, to move; this was the only communication proffered by counter staff. All outside tables were taken, so we went upstairs to find seats. We managed to find an unoccupied table; another group was seated at a nearby table but all other tables were littered with the detritus left by previous customers.The tables had obviously not been cleared for hours (please see picture). Our coffees and cake were actually pretty good, but customer service was...

Setting aside the fact that it was less than a pleasant experience and I was treated in a less than respectful manner, I am worried that the staff behaviour was rude towards me as a customer ( just because I had tried to use my points from the Paul’s app in order to purchase a cake). Apart from rolling their eyes at me and telling me that they haven’t got any of the ingredients for the cake that I have ordered it left me appalled. What kind of patisserie doesn’t have the ingredients to bake the cakes they advertise on their website?! Irrespective of the bitter aftertaste, I am sure that this approach towards me personally at that moment is not reflective of Paul’s values and how Paul’s treat all other prospective customers. On a personal note, I was horrified about your staff’s approach, which I believe did a disfavour to the Paul’s patisserie as I do love purchasing their cakes which are of great quality. Needless to say, I will not...