I enjoyed an excellent serving of iced Tazo Passion courtesy of Starbucks. Unfortunately, I had first to wrangle with the minion (a barista) of a mastermind (Howard Schultz). Unbelievably enough, I was denied yet again my free refill (on a Frappuccino) by an employee ignorant of her very own company’s policy. She was very insistent that ONLY if I started with an iced coffee could I have a refill, and then it would have to be coffee, not tea. Since I am the refill maven (as documented here at Steepster), who has consumed dozens of free cups over the course of the past year, I asked her whether the policy had changed. She said “no,” it had always been the same policy since she started working there and that she had worked there longer than any of her colleagues. Her smug certainty prompted me upon my departure to call Sbucks customer service to find out what was going on. In fact, I was right and the barista was wrong, so I turned around and went back into the store and handed my cellphone to her so that she could be disabused of her false beliefs about the refill program. It’s really too bad that such a generous refill policy is severely marred by the poor training of baristas. This must be the tenth time that I have had to argue about the company’s very own policy (explicitly detailed on their website)! It really compromises the overall experience to be treated as a lowlife criminal shoplifter by poorly trained/ignorant baristas.
End of rant.
The Passion was quite tasty—not sure, though, whether it was really worth that ordeal! I did enjoy the tangy red infusion while walking a couple of miles to run some errands in the very nice walking weather we had today—in the 60s (not 40s, thank goodness!).
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Good for you for phoning the company. That was terrible service.
That reminds me of my troubles to get the AC Perchs shop to sell me less than 100g when I’ve been told by THE OWNER on Facebook more than once that I should be able to buy 50g and that they had had a talk with all employees about this. And yet, they still wouldn’t sell me less than 100g. To be honest, I’ve lost all desire to shop in there now. I’ll continue to use the webshop and eat the shipping fee (which wasn’t honestly that big to begin with) and shop from the comfort of my own home. That’s how much I don’t feel like going in there anymore. On the website, I know where I stand. I abhor talking to strangers on the telephone, so your solution wouldn’t work for me, unfortunately.
Thanks, keychange! The experience was so unpleasant that I actually sent an email to Howard Schultz. No response yet. lol
You are right, Angrboda: it really does deter one from returning. Probably a form of operant conditioning: if I go to Starbucks and request a free refill (their idea, not mine!), will I be treated shoddily? Not worth the gamble, really. It would be one thing if this happened only once, but it has happened repeatedly. When I first started ordering refills last year, I used to carry around a print-out of their policy to show to surly baristas. After a while, it seemed that at the stores which I frequented most of them knew the policy. But still this sort of thing happens on occasion, and it’s not just the new employees, as my experience yesterday revealed. I don’t know, some of them seem to really have a chip on their shoulders. What do they care if a person takes a way a cup of tea or coffee for free? Probably costs the company a dime.
Good for you for phoning the company. That was terrible service.
That reminds me of my troubles to get the AC Perchs shop to sell me less than 100g when I’ve been told by THE OWNER on Facebook more than once that I should be able to buy 50g and that they had had a talk with all employees about this. And yet, they still wouldn’t sell me less than 100g. To be honest, I’ve lost all desire to shop in there now. I’ll continue to use the webshop and eat the shipping fee (which wasn’t honestly that big to begin with) and shop from the comfort of my own home. That’s how much I don’t feel like going in there anymore. On the website, I know where I stand. I abhor talking to strangers on the telephone, so your solution wouldn’t work for me, unfortunately.
Thanks, keychange! The experience was so unpleasant that I actually sent an email to Howard Schultz. No response yet. lol
You are right, Angrboda: it really does deter one from returning. Probably a form of operant conditioning: if I go to Starbucks and request a free refill (their idea, not mine!), will I be treated shoddily? Not worth the gamble, really. It would be one thing if this happened only once, but it has happened repeatedly. When I first started ordering refills last year, I used to carry around a print-out of their policy to show to surly baristas. After a while, it seemed that at the stores which I frequented most of them knew the policy. But still this sort of thing happens on occasion, and it’s not just the new employees, as my experience yesterday revealed. I don’t know, some of them seem to really have a chip on their shoulders. What do they care if a person takes a way a cup of tea or coffee for free? Probably costs the company a dime.