Starbucks is phasing out the paper Customer Service Recovery Coupons. The Customer Service Recovery Coupon is card that baristas might give to customers who, for one reason or another, feel that their Starbucks experience missed the mark. There’s never been a hard and fast rule as to when a customer might be given a Customer Service Recovery Coupon. In fact, they work best when there’s some surprise element to them!
The old certificates were often thought of “free beverage certificates” because they entitled the customer to his or her next drink free. The new Customer Service Recovery Coupon entitles the customer to $4 off their next purchase and it looks like this:
You might also notice that they’re no longer made of paper. These new certificates are now plastic cards, similar in size and shape to the Starbucks cards that can be loaded with money. However, these cards cannot be registered.
Earlier this year, I did a short article on old Customer Service Recovery Coupons. The old version (meaning current version up to just now) of the Customer Service Recovery Coupon (the free beverage certificate) looked like this:
You too can probably think of lots of pros and cons to switching to a $4 off certificate. Off the top of my head, here are a few advantages: Since the new card is plastic, not paper, it’s not likely to be reproduced with a good printer (I think the occurrence of counterfeit free beverage cards was low, but I certainly understand that it probably happened enough to concern Starbucks). Because it’s 4 dollars off the next purchase, there’s more flexibility for the customer – he or she could use it as a discount on buying merchandise or food too. The card prevents customers from getting over-the-top beverages as a free beverage. I also think the occurrence of that was rare, especially in light of the fact that what a customer can order is somewhat limited by the size of the cup. One concern is that the new $4 off coupon will be much harder to get. There might be many more customers who walk out the door feeling like there’s no incentive to come back again, following a poor experience.
On the downside, $4 off a drink could feel “chincey” to some customers. There are plenty of customers who have a usual drink that is over $4, so in effect the new Customer Service Recovery Coupon doesn’t cover a free drink for those customers. The next one isn’t really “on us” in that case. If a customer had a particularly egregious experience in a Starbucks, a $4 recovery card is again going to seem really tiny, in comparison to the egregious experience.
Of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The best thing Starbucks can do is to train partners about customer service: understanding that not every customer wants the exact same experience, but at the end of the day, most customers want both a great experience and a great beverage, and both are very important. The esteem of the brand is based upon what people say when they walk out the door of the store.
Starbucks is known for training baristas on the LATTE method of handling unhappy customers. This good customer service is probably far better than any $4 certificate. It doesn’t matter how much a certificate is worth, if it’s handed off with rolling eyes, customers will still leave unhappy. If a store has embraced the idea of creating enthusiastically satisfied customers and inspired moments, the times that a recovery coupon will be needed will be rare.
The LATTE method of handling unhappy customers is this:
- Listen to your customers.
- Acknowledge the problem and Apologize.
- Take action to make it right.
- Thank the customer.
- Explain what you’ve done (And/or encourage them to come back again and escalate to someone above you.)
Overall, I think it’s a good switch to have the $4 off coupon. One more thing about it though, as the years go by, no doubt prices will go up at Starbucks. There may be a point when Starbucks has to re-evaluate whether it makes sense to increase that dollar amount to $5.
Please weigh in.
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Here in the UK and Ireland you only get a coupon if you complain via email etc. Therefore it’s really hard to get one and most baristas don’t know how to add them to the register/till. As you say the old ones entitled you to a free beverage, any size . The newer coupons only entitles you to a free Tall beverage.
Like everything I think I have mixed feelings about this change. I have been in situations where at a SB where the partners know me if something goes wrong, they will often offer me a free drink. I also know if you are seen as a regular customer, the partners will make an effort to make you happy. This should be done regardless whether you are a regular customer I know that. I am sort of sorry to see the customer recovery certificate go away because I know customers will feel cheated by the offer of $4 off or whatever amount they put on it.
Ouch. Another cheap move by Bucks. What is going on? Are they struggling financially or just trying to cut the corners? This is not the type of service I would expect from Bucks given the fact that I consider Starbucks customer service to be one of the best ones in business and first they cut free soy and syrup, then no incentive for store survey and now this… I do appreciate the flexibility that the $4 certificate may provide but it appears they’re keep cutting the corners for the customer experience and deserved incentives. I’m sorry if I come off a bit harsh, but this is quite disappointing. Oh, I almost forgot, the discriminatory personalized offer that bucks offered earlier which provided significantly more incentives and perks for those who weren’t a frequent visitor or a gold member also really left a bad taste in my mouth. Hmm… What’s going on?
I think this is a terrible replacement for being ‘comped’ a drink or experience or whatever went wrong. The only time recently (last 10 yrs maybe?) that I’ve received a ‘comp card’ was for a drink that was made incorrectly, sometimes more than once, and the drink itself always cost more than $4.00. For one thing, I always have 4 shots in a tall drink so that brings the price of any bar drink up considerably. Additionally, this guarantees one must come in and spend money again, highly unlikely the next purchase is exactly $4.00.
I do understand how it’s best for Sbux, of course. I’m just saying that for me, and any comped experience I’ve ever had, this wouldn’t even cover the ‘fail’.
Well, as is mentioned above, that IS the main drawback with the new cards: It looks cheap and doesn’t cover the cost of many, many drinks. For a corporation so big, it sends the message, “we can’t even give you a free drink” for some customers.
But I still am not at all alarmed. I just want my baristas to open to being knowledgeable, engaged, and genuine! A genuine smile and we’ll make your drink right means a lot more to me that any Customer Service Recovery Coupon.
This was a really great move to cut off the counterfeit recovery cards, but you are correct that it feels cheap to put a value on it, even though now it can be used towards food or merchandise. In Colorado we will keep this under strict control, because CO is a state where if you have less than $5 on a gift card or store credit, we have to cash them out if a customer requests. We can certainly afford four retail dollars worth of product, but handing out four dollars cash will add up very quick.
This seems counter productive to Sbux’s theory of its not about the coffee, it is about people. This concerns me. Will be interesting to see what the stock market reflects of this move. From a business standpoint, probably a wise move financially.
In my experiences there have been friends of baristas who have given stacks of recovery coupons to their friends. In one case we even had to stop honoring them for a customer because they had a recovery coupon each day.
In other instances there would be customers who would give an incorrect drink order on purpose just to get a recovery certificate. Yes those weren’t many, but just think if it it happened twice at my store…what if it happened twice in each store…every day.
I have no idea why starbucks is going away from the free drink recovery certificate but I do know that if it bothers you then just ask the barista to make you a new drink. Is two minutes of your time worth ruining your entire day? I’d hope not.
I’m a shift at a store in MI. remember, if your drink is made wrong, all you have to do is tell your barista and they should remake it for you, no problem! Starbucks just had that printed all over the cups. Sounds like these recovery coupons are for reasons other than when you’re in the store, or have already left and can’t have it remade or for any other experience they may have had and not satisfied with. But even if a customer calls and says their drink was made wrong, at least at my store, we ALWAYS take their name down and offer to remake them a new one next time they’re in no charge. But you’d be surprised how many customers we’ve had that DEMAND coupons, a refund, and free drinks-all of that-from one unsatisfactory visit. It gets absurd. Remember your baristas are human and mistakes can happen 🙂
@Kristian: the problem that I’ve experienced with the partner (or another partner) remaking a drink is that often if it’s not up to par the first time (ie: great foam, the way I like it), then it’s not done correctly the second time. So that’s actually more Sbux product and time (on both ends) wasted. And that’s just one example, the foam.
I think overall, I don’t see Sbux, in its huge self, going in the right direction: just say yes, good coffee, good service, connection etc.
$4 off is a insulting and cheap idea on the part of Starbucks. Coupon fraud can easily be countered by using holograms or watermarks on the coupon paper. Also if employees are comping all their friends with free coupons then that’s a failure of the management, NOT the program. This is the same with customers trying to ‘cheat’ the system. A good manager should know what’s going on in their shop and employees. They should also have the training and experience to know how to deal with ‘cheating’ customers.
Honestly the proposed new coupon would make me LESS likely to re-visit a problem SB.
Thinking about it the odd part of this change is around here I have seen virtually no recovery coupons. I have not seen any customers using them nor have I seen any partners giving them out.
@Jeff – That’s a whole ‘nother animal. I’ve watched before my very eyes partners giving free drinks to friends. If that happens even a few times a day at stores, it’s just a huge of a loss to the corporation as any problem with fake paper certificates.
Just a few things in reply to everyone’s comments:
Washington requires cash out as well but it isn’t considered a gift card (is my understanding).
I love this idea for several reasons. I will see recovery certificates given out when no real recovery is needed, like someone has to wait an extra 30 seconds in a rush. Or they wanted vanilla but forgot to order it. I see majority go to our regular customers–one went because his cup discount was forgotten…and then fixed. In seconds. It drives me insane. This is also going to be a way to track how many are coming from certain stores–valuable information that Starbucks can use to identify either overuse of the incentive, or legitimate customer service concerns.
It will also give the shift supervisors more awareness of what’s going on with customer service throughout the shift.
About the amount…as anything you can’t please everyone. I’ve had people refuse free drink certificates because they dont get beverages. Some still just get drip coffee. Others get more complex beverages. It all evens out.
@Rachel – I’m not a resident of CO, but laws regarding gift card redemption probably don’t apply here. These are given out with a promotional value, not a payment value (because the customer never exchanged money for the new card, they can’t get a refund for its value).
There’s still nothing to prevent a good barista from doing the right thing and giving you a free beverage when necessary. I took a beverage to go last week, and my cup leaked right along the cup seam, it was a very obvious defect. I brought my cup in to give the store team in case they wanted to report the matter, all they wanted to do was give me a new drink for free while apologizing profusely for a mistake that wasn’t truly even theirs.
Great customer service, no Service Recovery Coupon needed.
I’m on the fence about this. Our store practice is to refund your purchase, remake your beverage, and give out the coupon. That could be over $10 depending on what the original beverage was and what will be purchased with the Recovery Coupon. As in any service recovery, there will always be those who abuse the system. We have one customer who has a deck of recovery coupons. We had another who routinely would call stores to complain that all four of her venti frappuccinos were made incorrectly, even though no such purchase had been made, and would demand coupons and a refund to her card over the phone. Four dollars does seem a small amount but added to whatever recovery is done at the store level, it could be enough.
Valerie – When I wrote this article, I forgot to mention the many other tools that partners have to make the experience right. That’s really important. Right now recovery. refunds. And drink remakes. Combined with all of that, this maybe just fine.
When someone shops at Walmart they are treated like a suspected thief at the customer service desk… When one shops at Nordstrom’s one is treated like a valued customer. Both retailers have ” good and bad” customers. Which one is Starbucks emulating?
I shopped once at Walmart…took one bad experience of bad treatment and never been back. I shop regularly at Nordstrom’s and often pay a somewhat premium price for the goods to get the consistent premium shopping experience. I can say the same about Starbucks. I am a regular (sometimes more than one visit per day) at various Starbucks around my area. Will drive extra distance and pass other coffee shops to get to Starbucks. Why? Because Starbucks is a consistently upscale coffee experience. Be sure your “recovery” program to make customer experience a good one is on par with an upscale coffee experience.
Refund, remake, and coupon is WAY too much! Wow.
I am by no means tight with the recovery cards, but they are indeed SERVICE recovery coupons, as it, to recover poor service. If a drink it not satisfactory, then we just remake it and that’s all.
The cards are to recover poor service, not incorrectly made drinks. Being out of a product, missing someone’s drink (
There is a button on the POS to “recovery right now”. I would use that a lot when someone with just a tall coffee would be waiting in drive-through behind a car with 15 frappuccinos, but I don’t believe that comping the drink, plus handing a recovery certificate is the correct choice.
Melody-I’m very familiar with all the recovery tools. We are very closely monitored by our SM and DM as to how many comps and recovery coupons are rung up. If it seems like too many, we get called out on it. We have been training a lot of new partners recently so I have comped several orders because of excessive wait times. Our recovery coupons are locked up in the safe. If we do hand one out, it’s one that we had gotten previously and had hidden next to the register. I think I would vote to keep the coupons otherwise this could get to be as divisive as the refill policy.
I don’t know……I hate conflict in a Starbucks experience. No matter what happened. I messed , you messed up, the customer ahead or behind you messed up. Once I worked for a Store Manager that used them for a really traumatic experience. A vehicle messed up (ya know plowed threw the store and knocked the pastry case across the cafe) no one hurt, but really freaked out. Those were great “On-The-Spot” acknowledgement that we want to make it right. The card won’t convey “a message” like the coupon did.
I worked foraStarbucks for 7 years. Fortunately for me I was trained when the LATTE method was still a thing. That way for treating customer recovery is no longer in the training. Newer partners don’t know that information. Since I was trained that way I also added that into the training when I had new partners. But that was my own doing. I wish that Starbucks would add that acronym back into their training materials.
On the customer recovery note… I like the old recovery coupons but some partners abused them. Even when I was a partner Id been given recovery coupons before for having a “long wait in the drive thru” but really it wasn’t any longer than it should have been.. They were being handed out like candy. I think a lot of partners don’t understand how to properly deal with dissasatisfied customers so it was almost like a “here, have a free drink, and leave me alone” tactic. Hopefully this new $4 off coupon is used less generously and partners start understanding customers needs when it comes to service recovery.
@Lindsay That acronym should be brought back to barista training. But the majority of the need to use these special recovery certificates would disappear with expanded, excellent barista training and accountability.
Lindsay-I agree completely with you. When I was managing I made sure all my baristas knew and understood the importance of customer service and recovery of situations. Now, it’s a struggle just to make sure the new hires know how to make drinks. One of our customers came through and said that she had been told by a barista at another store if she wanted the shots on top of her caramel macchiato, she had to ask for it to be made “affogato”. Our standards are not being taught effectively and that includes customer service. Recovering a situation needs to be done promptly and graciously, card or coupon.
Will the old recovery certificates be valid indefinitely? I have a drawer full I’ve saved up over the years to use on the expensive venti drinks that I rarely get…
I think it’s a smart business move on the behalf of SB and quite frankly I’m not a huge fan of SB. That said- I’ve received the coupons when the drive-thru went fubar and took like 20 minutes AFTER I placed my order.(I assumed something backed them up inside or technical difficulties and am pretty laid back for the most part). I’ve also received them when I emailed a concerning complaint about the quality of their smoothies … not their service or presentation- the chalk quality of the actual smoothie. Both times- I did NOT feel entitled to said coupon and was surprised to received them. I think SB is constantly adjusting because it’s good business from the bean counter standpoint. I do however think some of the policies sorta groom people to expect certain things and in turn know how to milk the situation. Whereas the baristas are stuck between a rock and a hard place, because all it takes is for an unhappy customer to complain about service and get even more validation and coupons. THAT is when it’s a problem in my book. I think this is a good thing for the baristas from a customer service standpoint. It will probably have growing pains as do all transitional phases. But I think people (customers) need to get over themselves and not expect a handout for every little bump in the road they encounter in a luxury like a coffee shop. Which IS a privilege to be able to afford. But that’s just me. ..
@Melody – I have a question that I did not see answered in your post or the comments.
What happens to the outstanding Recovery Coupons? I have a couple, are they now just bookmarks?
In the past I have actually refused when a Recovery Coupon was offered even though my beverage was remade to my satisfaction.
I’m disappointed. My normal drink is a quad iced venti latte. Generally its a $5.50 drink. On special occasions I will get a fifth shot. So yeah this $4 off is ridiculous. Cause almost every drink that might get screwed up is going to be over $4.
Is this coupon reusable? What if you get a plain drip coffee and pay this this voucher? Can you use the difference towards another drink some other time?
Yes Brian. It works like cash and you will have a balance left for a second drink. That being said makes this even better than the old RC. Two drinks instead of one for some people.
First, haven’t read the comments yet and so hope this isn’t too redundant.
Second, a few thoughts. I’ve only had a bad experience a couple of times and the first of which was due to me getting in near close with the partner being too tired to remember what I said and so consequently I didn’t find out about my drink lacking sweetener until after they had closed and I was ~15 minutes away on foot. That time I talked to customer service and they sent me 2 free drinks, I would have been ecstatic for 1 if it was sent quickly.
The second time I had an issue was recently, I bought coffee from an inside Safeway. Not only was there an unground bean in my coffee and some grounds, but the coffee tasted horrible which made for a bad shopping experience as they were too busy to deal with me when I first went back to talk to them. I had only a couple of sips, and no place to throw it away while shopping so at the end of the trip I made my way back and pointed out my issues, noting I was no longer shopping and it was a miserable experience. I just wanted acknowledgement that I had a bad experience, and as manager I assumed she would be experienced enough to do that. After asking her to dump my coffee she finally got just how little I enjoyed it, and gave me a free drink.
So assuming that it gets harder to get a coupon, well, I’m not fond of that thought was my experiences weren’t made better by the response I’ve gotten. Still, if it’s a flat $4 off an order then I am very likely to use them to get my replacement coffee free and a food item discounted. Not quite as nice as my fiancé getting a ~$5 drink for free from my unfortunate experiences, but it may feel less embarrassing to use (like you owe me) and more like you are simply using a gift card.
Interestingly, Licensed stores will be hanging on to the paper coupons until further notice. We can redeem the new ones, but we only issue the free drink coupons.
Doesn’t much matter to me. It’s been years (not an exaggeration) since I’ve seen a free drink coupon, and I’ve had plenty of poor experiences in that time. Baristas as a whole just don’t care about customers anymore, and moves like this indicate it’s a top-down mentality.
My thoughts mainly echo those above. I will admit that my initial reaction was “$4 is not enough!” but when I take a second to think about it, what Melody said above is true – it’s not meant to take the place of the basic customer service behaviours – I’ve actually had very few interactions with customers that LATTE hasn’t solved, and with those other interactions, getting a free drink next time hasn’t always been a great solution – I accidentally dropped our last vegetarian option for breakfast on the floor after taking it out of the oven. After offering her a vegetarian lunch option on us, and having her decline it, I refunded her, but offering her a free drink coupon, while nice, didn’t exactly fit the situation. The $4 card is more versatile, which I like.
Also, Melody, in our current training, the A stands for Apologize and ask questions (clarifying what the problem is, so that when you take action to make it right, you can :)). This is the step that I highlight most often with my team – they so badly want to get on to problem solving, or explaining that the new partner thought “S was for Skim not Soy” etc. that they forget the basic “I’m sorry – I’m going to make you another one right now. Tell me what I can fix :))” I have on a couple of occasions seen a customer bring up a problem, seen my team set about fixing it right away for them, but neglecting to inform the customer that they were doing so – oi!
@DadCooks – I believe the action item told us to continue to accept the old paper ones until further notice, but if I were you I would plan to use them sooner rather than later!
@Rebecca B. – thanks for answering my question.
@Rebecca Thank you – Great comment, as always. I’ll fix my LATTE acronym in the blog article when I’m home later.
I really hope I’m not mistaken, but I think Corporate is trying to figure out how to stop coupon abuse both by Partners and Customers. The highly counterfeited Orange card stock ones we will probably honor as long as the button exists. These new cards might be better because managers know there’s so much more one can do to recover a situation one on one with a guest and without a coupon (to me the coupon said “go on kid git outta here”) I want to prove I can make your drink right or just make your day. A manager will be able to correct the cost of a drink over 4 (but only a manager, right). That forces the Barista to give the recovery to the manager (where it should be) if it’s involving something a Barista can’t fix on-the-spot like a drink. What I have seen change is more signage that says “let me fix that drink right now for you”. I get customers TELLING me when to give them a free drink I’ll ask how can I fix this situation for you. They just want the coupon. I feel slimy give those out. I think the choice of 4 dollars is to prevent the “other” scam of loading a gift card and turning around and cashing it out. Customer service send loaded gift cards of different amounts (at least that’s what customers tell me) as recovery.
I forgot to add that someone commented something really interesting that I hadn’t thought of on your facebook post Melody – that the $4 card moves the cost of customer recovery to the store that made the original error, not the store recovering the situation. This will lead to more gracious recovery for the customer using the card. I do not always see partners acting concerned that someone is bringing in a recovery certificate, and truth be told, if your store is across the street from a store that *is* careless, and *does* hand out certificates like candy, partners (and managers, haha) can have a hard time when it hits *their* bottom line. I have a drivethrough across the street, which, up until a couple months ago, had a manager that coached his partners that speed was *everything* – didn’t matter if the drink was wrong – they could go to my store to have it remade. He is no longer with the company, thankfully, but the careless attitude of his partners is his legacy, sadly, and it takes a long time to change that. It’ll also mean more accountability for the stores that *are* handing them out too often, and a better method for DMs to pinpoint which stores need help problem solving service issues.
I’ve gotten recovery coupons twice in my life, but I’ve never used them. I don’t know why, I just never did. I’m not even sure where they are now… But a few days ago, I got a rather lumpy green tea latte and I sent off a tweet about it. I wasn’t expecting anything but Starbucks actually tweeted me back about it asking for details. I ended up just mixing my latte myself to break the lumps so I didn’t escalate it but this post makes me think. If I had actually emailed them back, and they sent me one of these cards (although, $4 doesn’t actually cover the cost of the drink), then I probably might have used it. A card is much easier to carry around then the recovery coupons.
i always get green tea lattes with lumps and hate it
I knew it. Starbucks was going to combat those insanely expensive freebies by limited and completely eliminating the guest recovery. I’m sure reducing counterfeiting is an incentive, too.
I’ve received two guest recovery coupons. Both for a horrible experience and a 15 minute wait during a non-peak time. (In my case, the barristas were chit chatting about a cute guy and forgot about my order… true story.)
This is yet another check on my list of dissatisfaction with Starbucks. The prices have risen. Customer service has declined. I hate that new app. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to fall. I live in a city where SB is the only coffee shop. There aren’t any locally owned shops. I’m a coffee junkie. I really need Bucks to do better.
@Skyscraper710 – I find it unusual that a town with a Starbucks does not have any Independent Coffee Shops (Indies). There might be a business opportunity there for someone. There is a business statistic that Indies that locate close to a Starbucks do better than Indies that are far away. There seems to be an unexpected symbiotic relationship where each is benefitting the other.
@Skyscraper710 – If you’re going to a Starbucks that is missing the mark, you might want to try contacting the store’s district manager. Look for the “share your thoughts” pamphlets in stores, or when you call Customer Service make it clear that you want your feedback to get to the DM.
I’ve seen lots of people make comments about expensive drinks, that are the multiple shot creations that have a price tag into double digits. Sure, it’s great to limit that. I agree. Those episodes tend to be very memorable but as a percentage of the time that happens – probably nearly a fraction of a percent. And even the many drinks in the $5 to $8 range, Starbucks can easily recover considering profit margins and profitability of the brand. Likely baristas who give their friends a free drink here and there is just as damaging. I really don’t think the move to these cards was any ONE reason and so pointing to the expensive drinks is one piece of a larger, multi-faceted stories. They can now track which stores give out the most recovery coupons. Starbucks can squelch counterfeiting. Starbucks can limit the costs of drinks. The card has greater versatility. There’s more – it’s got to be a combination of many reasons that lead to this.
Melody, I love the idea of the card except I don’t get why they are not re-loadable. It seems like a waste of plastic. On a different note it is indeed harder to get I guess. I got a coupon when a new partner had a major problem grinding coffee for my purchase, and once for waiting a long time cause my order was missed. That’s how much I don’t complain.
But the other day in Oregon I noticed my regular drink was super watery. I went and asked, turns out the machine was having issues foaming the milk. They finally used the machine at the drive through. By the time I got it my husband was finished with his drink and pastry! The two baristas had little eye contact, seemed embarrassed and just handed me the mocha with a meek apology… Not to mention the cute blonde behind me got a coupon after her drink was re made. I was not rude, angry, or anything. Come to think of it, they gave the girl a coupon so they didn’t even have the card! Sigh.
here is my thing…Say i get my beverage here on long island, its normally 4.25…when I go to NYC there prices are jacked up, like in Penn Station…I dont go to NYC often, so if I get a bad Beverage in NYC where that same Beverage is now 4.95, or 5.25 Depending how they Ring it….How does that 4 dollar “ON US” do for me when I spent more on in it NYC than I do at my regular location!
Plus you could buy those recovery paper certificates on Ebay or Craigslist too
Will I still be able to use my old recovery coupon? ? I’ve had it for a few months and just haven’t been back to use it.
I have one word: eBay. I have personally turned in several folks who had way too many coupons for sale. As s stockholder I’m thrilled this process will be changing! Check eBay if you doubt me!
I received my first $4 recovery card last week because my drink order had gotten lost in the shuffle. I went back to the same location to use it this morning and they told me the register said it “wasn’t activated” and there was nothing they could do and I should call Starbucks. They also told me I should try coming back later to speak to a manager. When I called Starbucks customer service, it took the rep a long time on hold to I guess figure out what this card even was — she kept asking me “how much money I’d put on it” and I had to keep explaining it’s supposed to come preloaded with $4. Finally she said I had to take it back to the store where I’d received it for them to activate it properly. All this runaround and it won’t even cover a full drink…
Elizabeth – I’m sorry, that shouldn’t have happened. The in-activated cards are supposed to be kept under lock and key, to stop precisely this kind of situation from happening. Likely a well-meaning partner thought that all the cards were loaded, and grabbed one, not knowing any better. As an SM myself, I would want to know about this, so I could ensure my whole team was better informed, and this couldn’t happen again. If you feel up to it, sending the SM a quick email, or chatting with them the next time you see them would be extremely helpful 🙂 Also, they are probably very capable of fixing the problem for you at a store level too, whereas the average partner wouldn’t have that capability!
the store where I work will even generally remake a customer’s beverage even if they drop it. We want a satisfied customer – no matter what.