I'm done with Dutch Bros. because of this and the other White City location. I can't remember this location ever getting an order right the first time. The employees are way too focused on playing around with each other and/or flirting with some of their customers and not nearly focused enough on paying attention and moving people thru the ever present lines. Read the reviews from J.G.G. and Satori S. Both are spot on.
I've seen a male employee give a female customer several drinks (in the SUV ahead of me) and then refuse to let her pay. When I pulled up next, after listening to the employee waste time with the customer, the employee happily asked me to pay for my single drink. I guess I wasn't his type... and then he got my simple order wrong and had to remake it. I thought he messed the order up because the music was blaring so loud he couldn't hear me but I now believe he just cares more about acting and being cool than paying attention to customers.
I wrote to the Dutch Bros corporate office after that experience to complain and to make some helpful suggestions on how they could improve their customer service. As hip as Dutch Bros tries to be, it took 2.5 weekdays to get a response to my email which was sent via the Dutch Bros website using their Contact page. That's TWO AND A HALF WEEKDAYS to respond to a customer service inquiry. In 2016. From a hip, plugged in, progressive company like Dutch Bros. I would be lying if I didn't say I was off-put by that.
The response was to let me know that my email had been forwarded to the local Franchisee for follow-up. Later the same day I received an email from a representative of the local Franchisee stating "we will be addressing the issue" and offering to send some free beverage coupons. That was on April 1. I didn't write for free beverages, but I thought it was a nice gesture so I sent my mailing address the same day (4/1/16) and thanked the representative for the hospitality. That was also on 4/1/16.
I had not received the coupons nor had anyone followed-up with me since 4/1/16 but I stopped at this location a couple weeks later to get a beverage and see if anything had changed. The music was at a much lower volume but I was greeted by a young male employee who is young enough to be my son with "hey dude, how's your day going"? I'm a lot of things, but I'm not anyone's "dude". Then the employee proceeded to double check my order not once, not twice, but three times. Each time he would dance (literally) to the area where someone else was making my drink and then he would dance back to the window to re-confirm with me. It was irritating, probably more so because he greeted me as "dude", but I appreciated that if he couldn't keep a two beverage order straight for more than a couple seconds, at least he was doing the right thing and double checking with me before proceeding.
I appreciated it up until the moment that he checked my order for the fourth time and announced they made the order wrong and would have the corrected order out in a minute or two. When I pulled up to the window there was one car behind me. By the time I received my order, there were 4 cars in line behind me. All because my new "dude" friend, and/or the young female employee who actually made my drinks, couldn't focus long enough to get a simple order right. Unreal and the end of the line for me as a Dutch Bros customer.
Oh, and the coupons that were promised on 4/1/16? I check my mail daily and as of 4/15/16 there were no coupons from Dutch Bros. I honestly don't know why I was surprised by that. In hindsight, the bigger surprise would have been actually receiving what they promised to send in a timely manner. A company that takes 2.5 days to respond to a customer inquiry in this day and age of Millennial Instant Gratification, everything about my experiences with Dutch Bros has been underwhelming.
So I wrote again, this time directly to the people CC'd on my responses from 4/1/16, advising of the latest round of customer service issues and to let them know I didn't receive what the local Franchisee promised to send. I told them I don't want the coupons anymore because I will never spend money at a Dutch Bros again. The response was "I just wanted to let you know I did check our records and your cards were sent out". The Franchisee is local and I'm local. I can receive mail from Asia in less than 15 days so I will donate my coupons to a homeless person if/when they ever show up. Perhaps the bubbly and inattentive Dutch Bros employees will be able to brighten that person's day.
I have been frequenting The Human Bean (behind The Apple Peddler at the intersection of Hwy 62 & Hwy 140) and Starbucks on Hwy 62. Both have provided excellent service, friendly employees and great beverages. I spend my money with those companies now. read more