Caffe Torelli

I love coffee shops, but I detest rude customer service. I experienced some bad service yesterday when I visited a little tea room with some friends in beautiful Cambridge. One friend ordered a cake, and asked to replace the ice cream with custard. She got the cake with (cheap, instant) custard rather than ice cream as requested, but then got charged additionally for the custard! So, our other friend and I egged her on to complain out of principle. The staff became very confused, thinking she was complaining about the added service charge rather than the custard charge, but with the help of four (!) waitresses, it eventually got sorted out.

Then, this afternoon I went our for a coffee with Veggie Hubby in a new cafe (Caffe Torelli) and experienced rude customer service. In October/November I was working in a job that sometimes involved dealing with angry members of the public complaining about very petty things, so perhaps I am guilty of doing the same here, but there is something quite satisfying about writing a complaints letter. Here it is (as I don't want to write out the whole situation again):

I have never been into a Caffe Torelli before, so was keen to try it as an alternative to Costa/Starbucks, especially as it is a new cafe.

I was very disappointed by the way the staff dealt with their customers. One employee was rude to the lady in front of me when she asked for a cake 'from the middle' of the display. It was obvious to me what she was asking for, she meant the cake in the middle, but the employee couldn't understand her, he was pointing to different cakes around the edges, and laughed at her, saying 'perspectives can vary as to what is the middle.'

I got served by a different lady whose attitude was also very bad. I noticed that she had charged me £2.50 for my eat-in regular mocha rather than £2.25. I told her she had charged me incorrectly, and she was very rude towards me. She said in a very patronising way that there were different prices for eating in and eating out. I understood that, but she was treating me like I was totally stupid, using big hand gestures, and seemed quite aggressive. Actually an eat-out regular mocha is £2.00, and an eat-in mocha is £2.25. I eventually got her to realise her mistake, but she was unapologetic. Although the mocha was fine, I did not enjoy it due to the way I had been treated. I also noticed that when I was drinking it, she was in a bad mood all the time, shaking her head, not smiling, and shouting at the other staff members. I shall not be going back.

I have never felt compelled to make a complaint about customer service before, but I do think your staff need more training about how to treat customers and act more professionally in public.