Letter to Nero

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.