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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@Beth – That is awesome to hear!
Why are the old paper coupons all over ebay? Does starbucks still honor them because people are still buying them.
Old ones are on eBay because they’re probably either fake or stolen, which is what the new $4 cards are attempting to mitigate. But, yes, the old service recovery cards are still to be accepted by stores.
If they’re fake though, no promises that a store will accept them. I’ve seen some pretty impressive fakes in my time with Starbucks, and I have ways accepted them, because I have assumed these people are buying them on eBay in good faith, not knowing they’re being scammed with fake cards the person printed themselves.
So I had some unfortunate incident a few days ago and I wrote to Starbucks corporate about it. Yesterday I got an email back, and instead of recovery coupon or card, they credited $5 to my Starbucks Card. Somehow they were able to look up my Starbucks Card maybe by email or street address, I don’t know how.
Anyway, I think this is a great idea, since Starbucks would save the cost of postage as well as of the plastic recovery card; and unlike recovery coupon or card, the $5 can be used over multiple times (not “use it or lose it”).
I was in a Starbucks three weeks ago at Broadway and Mollison in El Cajon, CA, and the guy working there told me that they would not be accepting the old ones anymore. Has anyone else run into this? I called corporate on the spot and they first told me that the store made a mistake and they should be taking it. Then heh double checked with a supervisor and said that stores should be taking the old certificate, but that in the end it was up to each store to decide. That seemed like a really strange corporate policy. He offered to send me one of the new cards, but it never came. Not surprised.
I’m still a little shocked by how bad a taste this left with me. So you gave me a card because I had a bad experience at your store, and then when I go to use it, you tell me that I can’t, and don’t give me any other options?
So I’ve gotten this recovery couple last week from Starbucks & I tried to use it today & the girl their told me it wasn’t activated.
Total lost help out ?
Seems the $4 off deal will save money for Starbucks, I see no value in the change for the consumer. If you purchase almost any drink other than a tall, you total will be $4 or more.
How do I use this coupon? Just like Jay, I was told the card wasn’t activated, and the barista didn’t accept it.
I am another person here who has a recovery card, tried to use and was told it needed to be activated. I can’t add it to my account. There is no number to call and no clues on the Starbucks.com website as to how to activate it.
Anyone….
Does this mean I can get 4$ off from my nest series of drinks as long as they cost over 4$? The barista keeps it after the first and only use? Will charge if the drink is less than 4$? If it cannot be registered why does it have a magnetic band and scratch number?
The main reason the switch to the plastic card is unethical partners were stealing the old recovery coupons and selling on eBay, etc for $3-$4 a piece. These came in packs of 25-so $75-$100 when sold.
The new card is $4 due to the fact that it can’t be added to your current starbucks account to earn stars as any reloads need to be $5 or higher and the system recognizes it’s a recovery card as well. And some new partners may not realize the card needs to be activated in the store when giving to a customer so if your card isn’t active, that is why-also a theft preventive device.
I remember back in the late 90s when a woman “paid” for her drink by taking a full PAL of service recovery coupons out of her purse. I asked very casually how she had come by them and she said, “oh my son worked for Starbucks. He quit but he bought me these before he left.” Didn’t envy my manager having to let the woman know she was carrying a purse full of stolen property and ask for it back…
If the recovery coupon isn’t activated the barista should be able to activate it on the spot (there’s a button on the POS where they activate gift cards and it’s below there), but since the practice is still relatively new they may not know. Honestly this new practice drives me nuts! We were told that even if someone had a bad experience you are still supposed to ask them for payment but give them the recovery card for next time. No offense, but the level of eye rolling I would receive if I followed that would be ridiculous. Ultimately, Starbucks has the policy of “make the moment right”, so if your regular drink is more than $4 you will receive 2 cards. I don’t quite understand why they switched to this system though. We had a “right now recovery” button that we used to use, maybe they think this will help cut down on waste but it seems like it would be just as easy to abuse this system as the last.
Good will is much better than $4.00. The old system was any drink complimentary since we messed up- wasn’t about the money. I have been buying a $5.65 drink everyday for many years, and another similar for my wife. The point is provide your drink of choice as good will, not a limit of $4.00. Finally used one I received months ago and was surprised because it did not cover my standard drink. My perspective on Starbucks service just dropped a big notch.
t for my wife