Pret A Manger — Restaurant in London

It's very rare that i leave a 1star review. And it's very rare that I am this disappointed. Firstly - the majority of the staff here are very polite and accomodating - and friendly - but it just takes that 1 - to ruin the experience - and when they ignore the chance to resolve the issue - that's when even 1 star is generous. I signed up for the coffee subscription at Pret - the first month is free thankfully. in the first week the ice machine broke on a warm day - these things happen and the staff were polite - so this was acceptable. But what Pret has to remember is that their subscription cost is high and coffee is not their forte, and - they have a lot of competition - both down the street and next door. Fast forward to last week, after a stressful day i went to Pret for a cold drink. I asked for a cold coffee. So did a fellow coffee drinker next to me. I was given a hot coffee. I told the person serving me who took the order - who immediately engaged himself in trying to upsell rather than getting my order right. What was his response? " well you should have said you wanted the iced one." He said this in an unbelievably rude tone. I handed the hot drink back and he ordered an iced coffee for me. He then asked me to pay for it as it was within half an hour of my previous subscription order. I told him not to bother. Seeing what happened, my follow coffee drinker also corrected the staff member - and said she wanted the ices version. Because hers had not been completed - she didn't have to pay for a second coffee. The subscription isn't free - there is a monthly fee - so why should i have to pay twice for the drink? what sort of customer service is this? Clearly the staff member struggles to understand coffee orders as both myself and this other customer assumed cold meant it would be from their....cold range? But he as too busy upselling. So i have cancelled my subscription. The employee could have provided me with the "not free" drink without me having to pay twice. Instead he threw both my hot and cold drink out - and i left, having had a subscription, but with no drink. Very very disappointed. I have cancelled my subscription minutes after this happened last Thursday afternoon. Have i returned since then even though i had 10 days left in my current month's subscription? No - as a matter of principle. Pret benefitted from me buying lunch there from time to time too - but after this extremely poor service - and of course being sold a subscription that doesn't deliver, why would i return? There is a real emphasis in upsell. Perhaps they should deliver what the subscription offers first - and offer certain staff members training on customer service, manners and politeness too. For me, there's Starbucks down the street or Costa from Sainsburys...

I have been to worst cafe with the most terrible customer service but have to say this is ‘THE WORST’ cafe I have been to...the dark lady with dreads were just rude and sounded like she did not even want to serve me making frustrating face when she could not understand what I am saying...I thought she might just not be in the mood but seems she can smile and laugh and talk nicely as that is what she has done right after taking my order with her colleague. I know this is a franchise and all but if your employee is going to laugh and smile with only work colleagues and then just become pure rude and not interested in your customer then there is a serious problem....very disappointing even thinking of cancelling the subscription as this is the only Pret I can go before work, might as well pay more to go better cafe with staff who is willing to serve customers...

Probably the worst pret in the area.

Massive queue and team not prioritizing customers is normal here. But today I've been charged for the wrong product and was asked to stand aside while they sort it. After 10 minutes of nobody even came to ask what's happening, I had to check 2-3 times before the guy in black shirt decided to talk to me. He refunded the product, charged for the other one, no apologies, didn't want to give me my receipt until I literally had to explain that I needed it and I'm in a hurry. He managed to have a semi sarcastic comment at the end which I didn't catch fully, probably for the best. Good ol' Pret hospitality is not the strength of this branch - if you have time, go for the Veggie Pret a few street down as they're always polite and kind, no matter how busy the morning is.

2 stars as the selection of the...