Not so much an entry more a documentary of my recent feud with costa coffee. This is the email I sent them after visiting their brand new branch in Leicester's new Highcross shopping centre.

Just popped into your new Highcross cafe in Leicester. Whoops, won't be doing that again. I usually go to the other one in Leicester near the clock tower which I have never had a problem with before. Well that's a lie, there was this one time when I asked for a massimo frescato and was served a normal sized one and charged for large, but when I made the barista aware of the error he promptly apologised and filled it up again for me when I have finished. That's customer service.

However today when I asked for a large expresso caramel crunch frescato, which is not still on the menu but is still available, I was informed there was no Vanilla something. I asked if it could be replaced with the vanilla sauce from the bottles and was told this was not a problem.... So no problem there, it will still taste vaguely the same I was told. However when I watched the lady behind the counter make it, this is what she did.

1.Put a cupful of milk in the blender.
2.Filled blender 3/4 with ice.
3. Tried to get caramel sauce into the blender, but it would not come out. Normally when this happens, the people at the clocktower branch run the bottle under the hot water and this frees it up easily enough, but the kind lady at the Highcross branch just gave up afer a tiny amount had come out.
4.Blend the above
5.Ask me what size I ordered, give me a dirty look when I say large as if I`m lying. Pour icey mixture into plastic cup.
6.Squirt 1 pump of vanilla essence/oil onto the top of the mixture so it sits on top of the rest.
7.Hand me the above cup of ice and milk.

At this point i reminded the lady I asked for the expresso version, and asked if there were any biscuit bits left to go on top since she had forgotten these as well.

8.Make the expresso and meanwhile drop biscuit bits on top of my icey mess.
9.Pour expresso over the top, however since she took the lid off, it just all landed on top and ran over the edge, luckily she had seen this coming and was holding the cup over the bin already. So I still didn't have any expresso.

At this point the girl on the till announced that they might have made it wrong, but she made no attempt to correct her co workers mistake, and gave me a small smile instead.

10.Wipe expresso off her hand with a paper towel, kindly leaving me with the sticky mess on the outside of the cup.
11.Hands me the sticky cup.

So after pretty much giving up on trying to teach your staff how to make one of the drinks from your menu, I head home. Well it was like drinking snow. If I want to drink slush again I know where to go.Needless to say, I`m feeling a bit disappointed having just paid £3.50 for a cup of ice.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Joe.

And the response I received a while later...

I write further to your email regarding your visit to the Costa
Coffee Store Leicester, New Highcross.

Firstly, please accept my sincere apologies for the poor quality
drinks you received on this occasion. All the events you
described are unacceptable. I can only apologize for these
shortfalls. I fully appreciate how disappointing and annoying
these events must have been for you.

As a result, I have made the Area Manager aware of all your
comments in order that he can take these issues up with the store
Manager.

I do understand your disappointment and I hope you will
appreciate that your experiences were not typical of the usual
high standards offered at Costa. I would therefore as a gesture
of goodwill like to send you a Costa Card with £5.00 credit on
for you to use at your convenience. If you would be so kind as
to forward you full postal address I will send the card on to
you.

Thank you for contacting us and once again, please accept my
apologies.

Yours sincerely

Sadie Flynn
Guest Relations Advisor

So they coughed up. Fabulous darling.

Yes i know the picture's broke. The website where it was being stored has taken it off because it was costing them too much, too many visitors or something. I cant find a backup of it either so i`m going to have to make a new one.

Free Hit Counter

mail me?

The holding place for older, crapper entries...

What was or what is?

The shiny and new guestbook

The crappy and old guestbook