Costa Coffee - West Malling — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

It’s no surprise at all to see the negative reviews on this establishment of sorts -it's a pity people can't give a lower rating than one.

Being a regular at the Aylesford branch (Quarry Wood Retail Park) where the customer service is second to none & the latte made to perfection, same with my occasional visits to the Kingshill branch, whilst in West Malling today for some appointments thought I’d dash in to pick up said latte – fatal error.

The level of aggression & frankly abusive & offensive attitude by the ‘barista’ was quite something (young female, tall with short brown hair, no name badge but not Eloise who served me a the til).

I was handed half a cup of frothy of milk with an espresso on the side –when I politely pointed out that it wasn’t quite what I wanted could it please be re-done, instead of an apology & hasty effort to remake it, I was met very aggressively with the comment well that’s how you wanted it?? !!!!

A simple latte appeared to be beyond her wit & intelligence.

A further number of disparaging remarks coupled with the aggressive, unapologetic & confrontational attitude continued as she went about throwing the cups around to head back to the coffee machine at which point I politely asked for a refund which she ignored, I then asked her to stop being so rude & to refund my money as I certainly was not going to hang around in this establishment nor accept a coffee made by her loving hands ( likely spat in for all the finesse & class she had) .

Continuing with her constipated reluctance to provide even the most basic level of customer service, she finally decided to arrange the refund again with no acknowledgement, please or thank you or apology. She then stormed off but not before I informed her that her attitude was an embarrassment to the reputation of Costas.

I picked up a lovely coffee at one of the many independent coffee shops in & around the High Street.

I then went about my appointments with some well-established businesses in West Malling where I unsurprisingly learned that many of them had stopped using this Costas for the very same reason - there appeared to be a revolving door recruitment policy with staff being hired & fired every day, with a store manager so desperate for staff, pretty much taking anyone who would work there regardless of how aggressive they were with customers.

Finding people with some manners, respect & self-respect might be a good...

Waited 10 minutes in a queue of 3 people to be served, then had to wait another 10 minutes for my Breakfast Bap to be cooked. While I was waiting, a customer compained she had been given a dirty cup instead of a clean one, then the Barista took ages finding her a clean one from 'out back'.

Went to sit down and every table was stacked with old plates and cups. Moved stuff away and sat in the corner. Costa wifi on my laptop took ages to sign up / get going (after giving them every single detail about myself to be able to sign up, including door number and gender???) then it proceeded to disconnect every 20 seconds, and you have to go through the login process yet again. I've been here for an hour and not been able to get anything done at all. I must've had to reconnect to wifi 30 times so far. I even had to reconnect to submit this review!!! If your wifi is terrible, don't offer it, let me have the chance to find somewhere good before settling...

Today's visit to Costa Coffee at West Malling was like a step back intothe past, before the UK discovered that good customer service benefits both the customer and the business. The staff were more concerned with clearing up towards the end of the day than they were in attending to their clientel. The young lady who 'served' a friend and me considered having here back to us and washing out a jug whilst asking what we required to be a perfectly adequate level of courtesy. On serving our order - two poor quality coffees - she delivered that expression beloved of the younger generation, "There you go." Tables with inverted chairs on them served to underline the establishment was close to closing, as was a small pile of swept debris on the floor, left in the middle of the cafe. "Work in progress," no doubt.

A disappointing experience, to say the least, and not to...