Thursday, October 3, 2024

I ordered a warm muffin with my coffee at a Melbourne café – then the bill arrived and I couldn’t believe my eyes

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A young man has been left hot under the collar after he was charged a ‘heating fee’ for accepting a waitress’ kind offer to warm up his muffin.

The man said he was ordering his second coffee at the Melbourne café when he decided that he’d have the treat on a whim.

‘We [the man and the waitress] agreed that the guilty pleasure of the white chocolate muffin would be worth it,’ he wrote on Facebook.

‘I was asked if I would like it heated. [It was a] cold Melbourne morning, sure why not?’ he added.

But when he got his bill he was shocked. Opting to have the $7 muffin served warm had set him back $1.

A young man has been left hot under the collar after he was charged a ‘heating fee’ for accepting a waitresses kind offer to warm up his muffin

The man complained the ‘heat standard’ charge was a complete surprise.

‘They just add it to the bill without telling you,’ he said.

While he understands margins are tight with the cost-of-living crisis and expenses ‘going up’, he says customers should get a heads-up about extra charges.

His coffee, a long black, only set him back $4.50. His decision to have the muffin added another $8 to the bill.

The man’s Facebook post attracted more than 1,000 reactions and 850 comments before it was deleted – with most people as shocked as he was.

‘I can’t believe they charged you $1 to heat a muffin,’ one woman said.

Others debated the core cost of the muffin.

‘For $7 it must have been the best muffin ever – I would never pay more than $5 and even then it would have to be loaded,’ one woman said.

‘I would go red there and then. I would be furious,’ said another.

Others advised the man to go to the ACCC because charges should be made apparent to customers.

‘They are supposed to say “that will be an extra $1 is that ok?”,’ they advised.

The man said he would be looking at his receipts more closely from now on – adding most people don’t pay attention when they are at cafes.

The man asked if anyone else had been slugged with a similar charge after agreeing to have something heated at a café. 

Daily Mail Australia has approached the café for comment. The customer did not wish to comment further.

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