I actually created a yelp account just to write a review of my treatment earlier today at the Starbucks located at Hayes.
I have been a loyal Starbucks since 2005, and enjoy a Venti Iced Shaken Espresso (formerly Starbucks DoubleShot on Ice) near daily since the drink came on the menu in about 2006, and I've never had trouble ordering, only occasionally having to politely ask the barista to put forgotten cream or classic syrup in the beverage.
Since the Hayes location has opened, visiting this location has been nothing but trouble. The shots always taste a little more bitter and burnt from this location. And it's very rare that I am given classic syrup in my drink, despite gentle and subtle reminders at the drive thru. "Ice shaken espresso with cream. Keep the two percent and the classic" is the exact phrase I use, to be clear. I've always chocked the errors up to it just being a new location with a younger staff, and it's reasonable to expect that it's simply a learning curve, and improvement will come with time, so I wasn't deterred, despite consistently having to park my car to go inside or running through the drive thru again to ask for missing classic syrup.
Despite this being a regular occurance on my weekends, I have never treated anyone behind the counter rudely, or with disrespect. I have never spoken to a manager, nor have I created an online account to complain. Until today. Events are as followed:
Today, around 9:30 or so, My husband and I did our usual Saturday Starbucks run and I ordered my usual drink, the Venti Iced Shaken Espresso, with a splash of cream, 2% and classic. Upon receipt of my beverage, I parked the car and took a sip.
Despite having the drink made to my preference, the espresso itself was unbearably bitter and burned tasting. I let my husband try it to make sure I wasn't being picky or petty, so he took a small sip and scrunched his face in disgust, as if he just swallowed a war crime. I decided to go inside and have it remedied.
I walked into the store and stood at the takeaway bar and I felt like a ghost, as nobody acknowledged me. In my head I shrugged and decided to stand in front of the register instead, hoping for better results.
A petite woman with wiry strawberry blond hair who appeared to be in her mid 60s finally acknowledged me and asked what the problem was. I told her about how the shots tasted burned, and that I couldnt drink it that way, and then asked if they could re-make it.
Instead of apologizing and fixing it immediately without question, she responded coldly and curtly, "Well, you're the only one who has complained about. Nobody else has." And then when I re-iterated that it was undrinkable, she replied in a condescending tone, "Well, the drink has 5 shots of espresso, it's going to be bitter." When I didn't turn tail and leave, she finally spoke in a hushed tone to one of the other baristas about re-making my drink. Then she said that she was going to make it on another machine but "didn't think that was going to make much of a difference."
I received my new drink, which tasted bland, creamy and watered down, and still undrinkable, but on the opposite end of the spectrum undrinkable. Like coffee flavored creamer.
I drove the 13 miles to the other end of the county, Gloucester Courthouse to get a new drink. This new location fixed it and made me a new one despite that drink not being made at that store. And it tasted exactly as it should have. Moreover, the barista at the Gloucester Courthouse location basically shook her head and smiled and told me that this is a common thing for people to go to the Courthouse location and have their drinks from Hayes remade.
I am writing this to tell you why I will not be back to the Hayes location, and hopefully regional or district management can provide additional training to this store.
Specifically, I suspect the espresso machines are not cleaned out as often as they should be, and the woman whom I've interacted with has no business at Starbucks, as her brand of customer service is one I would expect from the Post Office or the DMV, or even from Nurse Ratchet, she was so rude.
Thank you for your time and attention regarding this matter. I will be copying and pasting this to other outlets, as a courtesy, because this location is wholly not representative of the service I have gotten at other stores, and urgently needs attention.
Yours truly,
Sam read more
