Love Starbucks. Especially love drive-thru Starbucks. But this, my neighborhood Starbucks, has a long-term, well-known problem with its drive-thru design that regularly results in serious and costly damage to customers' cars. When turning right into the very narrow drive-thru (as most people do), it is simply impossible to see the curb to gauge the turn properly. The rather odd and seemingly unnecessary curb is too low to see and avoid hitting yet weirdly tall so that it inflicts costly auto body damage when one inevitably scrapes it.
Curbs are intended to be bumped. Indeed, that is their purpose; one knows to stop when a tire bumps a curb. This, in turn, is why they regularly are lower than the full height of a car tire. The standard curb certainly is not high enough to cause body damage. Is this not common sense?
For the owners of Saticoy Plaza and Starbucks, evidently not.. It is absolutely stunning how many have seriously damaged their vehicles because of this well-known, long-term, obvious, yet still existing issue.
Today, it was my turn to be indoctrinated. The foot-long scrape on my car's passenger side is deep, ugly and, without question, expensive to repair. The staffer at the window and later, the manager exacerbated this already maddening situation; they both casually stated, " ...it happens all the time". Perhaps they developed immunity to these complaints because they both offered no real concern, solution or assistance. Indeed, the offensively blasé manager actually shrugged her shoulders, stated it wasn't Starbucks' problem, refused my request to contact Starbucks Corporate about this tortious circumstance and told me to call the parking lot operations manager. She did not, however, offer contact information for the operations manager and clearly had no intention of looking for it. What a shockingly poor display of managerial and people skills. What an equally poor display of the much-admired Starbucks brand experience.
Adding insult to injury, I realized as I drove away I received a Mocha instead of the Tall no-foam latte I ordered. I hate Mocha.
So, in summary, the curb itself is coated with so many different car-paint colors and deep scrapes in the concrete it qualifies as modern art. More significantly, it verifies this is a frequent, foreseeable, preventable and well known hazard. Whether or not the manager is aware, Starbucks has a role in rectifying this ongoing, costly risk to their clients' property. Indeed, only Starbucks customers enter the Starbucks drive thru. This means Starbucks need consider negotiating with their landlord on their clients' behalf to lower or, better yet, remove entirely the poorly embanked, blind and ridiculously-high curb. It also should show good faith and neighborhood loyalty by ensuring those of us with damaged cars are compensated fairly for their breach of duty. In any case, it seems very likely to me both Starbucks and the landlord are jointly and severally liable for negligence. I am hopeful one of these parties steps up and makes this situation right without involving complex legal proceedings. If I must, I will hold both accountable and they can battle it out with one another to determine who is primarily at fault. Either way, I am the innocent, damaged party that deserves compensation. If this is not resolved swiftly and satisfactorily, I am prepared to pursue this matter fully.
I am collecting signatures and other verification from neighbors that also have car damage from this drive-thru curb. I am encouraged. I just got started and already the list of signees exceeds anything I expected. If you experienced a similar incident at this Starbucks, I am interested in hearing from you.
This truth is simple: A cup of coffee is just not worth this expense and trouble. read more