Common Ground - why are they rude? Post Reply

[coldatchristmas]

Hi
I have a whinge!

Why is Common Ground on Wandsworth Common so messy and the staff so unhelpful???

Whenvever I go in they always seem to want to make me grateful for just being allowed to breathe their air!!!

The final straw was on a recent Saturday morning when I asked for a takeaway coffee and I asked for it at the inside counter! They said they only did takeaways outside and I that I would have to stand outside in the rain!

We then had an argument where I said I can see the coffee machine, I can see the paper cups why won't you serve me? They were 3 of them stood behind the bar doing nothnig!!! They still refused!!!

Anyway next time I am going to Crumpet and will walk across the common with my coffee even if its cold and damp by the time I get to tennis.

Hummph!


CAC

[tooposhtopush]

Coffee is good when they can be bothered!

Know what you mean though! Its the lack of competition!

[Nightingale Triangle]

Yes, always rude and service very random too! Always get white bread if I ask for brown and vice versa, childs meals never look the same twice.

Mind you be careful at Crumpet as I just had my wallet stolen from my bag there recently. Apparently it happens "all the time" but they still don't seem to see the need for CCTV ...

NT

[tooposhtopush]

I love Crumpet! Their food is scrummy.

I hadn't heard of anyone having their bag nicked but I suppose thats London for you.

Which Crumpet was it?

TPTP

[Nightingale Triangle]

Northcote Road. An Eastern European looking woman with a child stopped for the quickest coffee ever at the table me, and dipped in to my bag when we weren't looking. I didn't feel unsafe as she had a child with her but apparently it's a regular occurance! Just as I was calling to cancel my cards another couple of mums said it happened to them a few weekd earlier in Crumpet - a woman distracted them by fussing over one of their babies' while another pickpocketed them!!

The manager was really nice but considering the amount of business they have, you'd think they could afford to protect their customers with a camera. The police said I was one of many calls from Crumpet, and that more purses/wallets are stolen from the back of buggies than anywhere else!!

[tamara]

its called Prestige and its set up by the old Amandine manager! Isn't it strange that they can get one place so wrong and then the manager can go off and get something so right. It is really nice but they're not so kid friendly, they said to a friend of mine that they had too much furniture for buggys...

I love crumpet, I'm sorry you had your bag stolen but I do think thats probably just London.

[campxyz]

common ground - why do i keep coming back when the service is awful and slack and the offerings humdrum and overpriced? 'cos it's the only place on the common! catch-22!

[sarahrobe]

Not only are they a bit unsmiling and at worst rude, the cakes and biscuits are over-priced and a massive disappointment. If, like me, the highlight of your day is tragically a good cappuccino and a sweet treat then Common Ground isn't the place to go. The coffee is good but the biscuits are so hard there's no way my kids could eat them, yet I'm told they're baked fresh on the premises each day. Still it's a lot better than Wimbledon Park's cafe which is a missed opportunity. It could be fantastic!

[Nightingale Triangle]

I think I keep going back because I actually really like the Smarties biscuits (buy for toddler, eat most myself) and the lovely hot chocolate!

[KatherineHepburn]

Totally agree.
How can a place so overstaffed be so terrible when it comes to quality and service. It is without a doubt a great place to meet up and hang out but the service is terrible, the food utterly hit and miss and the place is really dirty.
The staff are pretty young though so maybe that has something to do with it? Part-time work so don't give a hoot really.
I cannot believe that they sent you outside for a take-out coffee - how mean!!

RE. Crumpet. It must be such easy pickings. The place is chaos and I for one always leave my purse and phone in the changing bag. OOps. It wouldn't take much to distract me right now either. Thanks for mentioning that..I'll keep an eye open in future.

[onthecommon]

Hi,

I am the owner of Common Ground.

Thanks for the feedback on staff at Common Ground. I will certainly be having a word with the perceived rudeness and give appropriate training. We do get a variety of feedback on the staff (both positive and negative) and I will review what has been said here with the full-time and part-time staff and provide training.

With regard to the take away coffee issue, we have a policy at the weekend to serve take away coffee from the outside stand only. There are a lot of reasons for this. On a Saturday and Sunday we do get extremely busy and can/do make several hundred coffees in a very short space of time both for those sitting in and those wishing to have take away for football, tennis etc. To keep queues moving and ensure and good and quick service, we keep inside for those that are staying in, providing table service. If people do come inside for takeaway we do ask them to go outside as it means they will know for the future and will stop queues gathering inside (I will ensure this is done in more polite manner in the future). I am sure this can seem frustrating and I apologise if this is the case but we do it to make sure we are able to serve a lot of people, all with different requirements, quickly.

With regard to other comments I will look into them all and deal with them.
We do try to provide an excellent service to all the people that use Wandsworth Common and we are always adapting things for which your feedback is essential.

If you have further issues please feel free to email me at info@commongroundcafe.org.uk

[lally]

Hi there, I am putting this post up about Common Ground. I have been going to the cafe for a long time now. On and off and I always find that the cafe is busy on the weekends. I know people come on here and always say the bad side of thing at the cafe. I just like be the odd one out and say. That when I go even it is so busy the staff very hard to have people that are waiting for there food and drink some people are just rude and not even look around and see that it is busy.

I do fill for the staff as than smile and not be rude. I think that is not always a easy thing todo.
Any way I can go on here. It is a shame that people do not put up good things over than just bad.
I guess very easy to say bad things.

I ask people to come on here and do a nice post for a change.

I am not saying all good as on the odd day I have gone it has been not the best. I think that it is hard when you go to the cafe for a drink with a friends and you see all the staff standing around and you what to get served and there just stand talking or just reading. So I agree with some of the posted put you have to be fair.

The food is good and I always love a fresh cake after my lunch a lemon drizzle is lovely.

Many Thanks Common Ground you help even in small way.

[moops]

We went to Wandsworth Common on Sunday afternoon (like the rest of Nappy Valley!) and decided to go to Common Ground Cafe to have an ice cream and get my Son a packet of crisps. I have always been underwhelmed by the cafe but we decided to give it another go and I have to say, nothing has changed!

I asked what crisps they had and the Woman behind the counter told me they just had Kettle chips, I turned to my Husband to ask if our Son would like them and she interrupted saying "Do you want them or not!?". I told her no I did not want them and she said "fine" and just threw them on the counter behind her!

We then went outside to get an icecream and were entirely ripped off for a Cornetto that they took from a six pack that you buy from Sainsburys.

For such a big cafe in a great location, it really disappoints. They could do soooo much with it! The few cakes they had on offer looked old and dry and really not appertising, I couldn't see anything there that appealed to me, which is a shame as it would have been a nice end to a lovely day!