The House Husband

Thank you for your email regarding your recent visit to our unit in Waterloo. The service that you received in this store absolutely does not reflect the Nero standard, and I have taken appropriate action to ensure that this matter has been dealt with immediately. It’s clear that they have failed to understand the importance of delivering correct and polite service at all times. This is of paramount importance as part of our training and there is no excuse for any member of our staff being rude to our customers.

The manager of this store is usually very proud of her customer service, so it’s really disappointing to hear that on this occasion we failed to achieve her usual standards. I would like to apologise again for what are unacceptable levels of service. I can only hope that you may consider coming back to us at Caffe Nero. To this end, I would like to send you some VIP coffee vouchers which are redeemable in any Caffe Nero. This is not to excuse what has happened, but simply to ask that you give us another chance to restore your faith in us. I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a postal address.

I do thank you for taking the time to write to us. It is only through such feedback that we can improve.

I hope that we can continue to welcome you into our stores again soon and serve you in the manner that you have come to expect.

I look forward to hearing from you

Kind regards

I am writing this in order to possibly save another customer suffering as I have.

I have been a loyal Nero’s customer for many years. I like the coffee better than any of the other chains and, up until yesterday, thought the service was pretty good. Every day I visit the Nero’s wagon at Waterloo for my ‘on-the-train’ home coffee. I am generally asked if I’d like a loyalty card but, I argue, surely I’m being more loyal without one as I’m not after the free coffee.

Anyway, that’s beside the point. Up until yesterday afternoon, the staff at Waterloo have generally been very good. OK, there’s times when things can get a bit hectic and it’s hard to mask being flustered. I’m not unreasonable, I can understand that, and, to some extent, empathise. Generally, though, the staff are usually cheerful, helpful and desirous of my custom. In fact, I applied to be part of your disc thing a while back because there’s one guy at Waterloo who I think is exceptional and who I’d be glad to give a disc to.

So, there I was yesterday, having been squeezed like a pimple off a very hot Tube train, needing a coffee for the rest of my journey home. There was a bit of a queue at Nero’s but that’s fine. It’s the mark of a good, successful business, surely. So I joined the queue. I did notice the dominance of iced coffee posters everywhere but thought nothing of it.

There were two baristas in the wagon. One asked me, in my turn, if I wanted an iced coffee. As I didn’t, I said “no, thanks.” Instead of then asking what I DID want, he went straight to the person behind me, the one behind him and all the way to the end of the queue.

Ok, I thought, it must be quicker to do them all at once and I’d be served once they were all on the go. Finally I managed to get to the head of the queue where the (trainee) barista asked which iced coffee I’d ordered. I told him I hadn’t ordered an iced coffee and that I wanted a grande hazelnut latte. He looked away and then proceeded to ignore me.

I looked at the guy behind me who was clearly about to get his coffee and said, “I’ll try Costa’s then” which I did. And which I shall do from now on.

This email is in no way meant to infer that I can be bribed, cajoled or enticed back to the Nero fold because I can’t. When I get bad service, I go somewhere else. Simple as that. No, this email is to try and help someone else avoid what happened to me.