Starbucks customer protests being charged $1.43 for kids' $1.00 hot chocolate

David Martin questioned the barista at the Starbucks in a bookstore -- a Barnes & Noble, I'd guess -- about the higher price. "$1.43?" he asked. "But a kid's hot chocolate has always been $1.06, a dollar plus tax." The barista replied: Oh, that's because we have to put in a vanilla shot and that's an extra 35 cents." He continued his protest:

"Excuse me. The menu board says kid's drinks are a dollar. It doesn't say anything about a vanilla shot. I know 35 cents is a trivial amount but this isn't fair."

"I'm sorry sir.That's what I was told to do. However, I'll be sure to take this up with the manager when I get a chance."

Martin writes that another barista had the good sense to hand him a coupon for a free beverage, which ended the battle of the 35-cent vanilla shot. But he says he won't be back to Starbucks in a while. [I know many of you will point out that this occurred at a licensed store and not a company store, but most customers don't distinguish between the two; they only know of *one* Starbucks.] (Chicago Tribune)

Comments

[Jasmyn]

The only time I've ever charged extra for a kids drink is if they request soy and/or organic milk. But vanilla is part of the recipie, duh...

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

Be Knowledge is one of the Ways of Being in the Green Apron book.
Therefore, one should know that the recipe has vanilla syrup already priced into the drink just like classic is automatically priced into the drink as well.
The "Just Say Yes" policy is one way that Starbucks can remain legendary. It is unforunate but again licensed stores are diluting the true Starbucks brands.
On the portal, there is a list of new Starbucks opening every week. Last week, only about 25% of the new store openings were company-operated while the other 75% are licensed stores. Howard Schultz in his book, "Pour Your Heart Into It" points out that in the beginning licensed stores were trouble and needed considerable working with our business partners to make them truly realize what the Starbucks Experience was all about. However, it is still evident today that licensed stores are not getting it and failing to create the Third Place.

A kid's white hot chocolate and a kid's caramel apple cider are not a dollar, but the regular hot chocolate should be.

And honestly, I think this could easily happen at a regular store as it could as a licensed one. It all depends on the store's management or if there are dopes behind the counter.

[Deusx]

It has been my experience that due to incredible laxness in training, you are far more likely to encounter intolerable stupidity like the employee at the B&N (they are not partners the do not work for the company) showed. I had a friend who worked for B&N in Columbus and some of the stories he would tell me would just make me want to rip out hair (not necessarily my own).

I REALLY HOPE SEATTLE READS THIS SITE!
When you take pride in your job and company, stuff like this really brings you down...

[baristacee]

was the kid's hot chocolate actually for a kid? because a kid's hot chocolate is a dollar. a short hot chocolate is more.

i don't know what all the nonsense about vanilla is, though.

[June]

Licensed stores are a disaster because STBX is not hiring enough people to monitor them. They are in districts just like the "real" store but the districts are way to large to be covered adequately to keep the stands up.

My experience as a customer at Starbucks is limited to a few visits, but I do not see this legendary service that you refer to. Personally, on my last visit, I found the cashier rude, because I am not familiar with the lingo, the coffee was bitter, and the scone that I purchased was very dry and crumbly. This visit was not to a bookstore, or counter at another store, so I assume that it is a company store.

[coffeeguy]

I'm sorry to hear that to the poster above me.

Unfortunatly with a company this large some stores are very bad. But you can believe me when I say there are some amazing stores out there and it's those which improve our customers day.

[sbuxnewbie]

On the bright side, if you get crappy treatment at any Starbucks, just drop an email to the company via the web site.

My wife got crappy treatment at an HMSHost airport location, and when we emailed SBux, we got the standard auto-responder within 2 hours. To our surprise, we had a direct response within 12 hurs, from a real person, a letter with a few recovery coupons in it, and a follow-up email, asking if a) we'd received the coupons, and b) is there anything else we can do to entice you back to our stores?

At no time did we mention that I am a partner, so the response really did impress us.

The subject of the newspaper article, David Martin, should contact Starbucks with as much info as he can provide. (We used the receipt from the airport to show when and where the problem occured.

[Lori]

So how do we, the customer, know which store is a company-operated store & which is a licensed store?

[cornfrost]

Indeed, this is a case of a dope behind the counter. Vanilla is part of the recipe.
I wish Starbucks used some kind of hiring test that screened out dopey and difficult personality types. This would help prevent people like that from being hired in the first place. It is no fun for me when some idiot colleague does something stupid or wrong. Way too many partners have lousy judgment.
Lori, it is often difficult to tell company stores from licensed ones, but if a Starbucks is inside another place, like a store, airport, rest stop or hotel, it is likely to be licensed.

[Eric]

I am a long-time partner, and one sure-fire way I've discovered to determine if a store is company-owned or licensed (which I avoid like the plague; I will go to Caribou or Tully's before I go to a licensed store)is to note what kind of bottled water they are selling.
Ethos Water means you are patronizing a company-owned store, and you are good to go. If you see some other type of Random Water, be warned!
Although now that I think about it, I'm not sure what type of water they sell at Barnes and Noble, but if you're in a Barnes and Noble, you know where you stand...

[HopkinsBella]

I honestly feel sorry for Sarah.

If the board said $1 for a kid's hot chocolate, Mr. Martin was overcharged. However, starting your own crusade against Starbucks over this (while being essentially, admittedly a non-customer) is lame. Especially since he got the free drink coupon to quell his hissy fit.

[LSM]

I have just recently (in the last week) left my job as a licensed store manager and can confirm that licensed store recipes/prices include the vanilla syrup in the price. However, a hot chocolate is now $1.05 plus tax (I think this price is a nationwide US price). But again I'd like to point out that licensed stores are not categorically bad. I've been in plenty of really crappy company-operated Starbucks. In fact, almost hands down, the licensed stores in my area outperform (both on snapshots and in my experience) company operated. My DM had 14 (though at one time had 20) stores that were in her district. I think this is pretty similar to company operated districts. That said, I think Starbucks should push for similar hour allotment in licensed as there are in corporate stores (we are not allocated training hours in mine beyond the first 40 or if we decide someone should receive AST training when Starbucks does it in another store). While I have been in some really horrible licensed stores I don't think you should give up on them all. Some of us worked very hard (and had employees who mirrored our hardwork) to make sure we were giving the Starbucks experience.

[June]

So how do we, the customer, know which store is a company-operated store & which is a licensed store?

Posted by: Lori | Jan 14, 2007 1:56:48 PM

If they have name tags on, partners do not wear tags.

[NCShift]

Good night, just say YES!

[Monica]

Barnes and Noble sells Fiji water, at least mine does, and also doesn't even offer short sizes or kids hot chocolate. If someone orders a kid's hot chocolate, they get a tall, and it's marked as a KHC in the drink box so that barista knows to use 130 degree milk (at least in my cafe)

[Florida Barista]

One of the flaws in the Starbucks training process (atleast for regular stores) is that they train you on register before they train you on bar. This barista could not have been trained on bar yet and had limited knowledge. It is hard to know how to ring up rings properly if you don't know exactly what goes in them. Liscence stores do suck though.

[IMHO]

There is a misconception that ANY kid's drink is a $1 when in fact there are only 3 drinks that ring up as such: apple juice, milk (and that would be white milk either steamed or cold), or hot chocolate (which previously was listed as cocoa).

Before the new menus rolled (printed paper sheets) the old boards actually specified these 3 drinks as kid's drinks.

People have infered that anything else should be a dollar as well and the original story sounds like poor training rather than a stupid barista.

A kids chocolate milk = milk + vanilla when rung through correctly which is more than a kids hot chocolate. Sounds like the barista rang through a cold chocolate milk instead of a hot chocolate.

At my store, we explain that there are 3 kids drink options. If you want to customize those options, you'll have to pay the difference (like making a white milk into chocolate milk, or a kid's vanilla creme).

The POS is programmed to accept the Kids modifier *if* it exists. This is why a (kids) + (vanil creme) doesn't ring up.

Educating your customers helps... though I'd wish they'd just print the 3 options on the board.

Can't wait for someone to ask for a kids frappuccino and expect to pay $1.

[BNbarista]

I'm pretty sure that this didn't occur at a Barnes & Noble store since the article indicates that the author lives in Canada and we don't have stores there, kids drinks aren't listed on the menu, and kids milk (hot or cold) is $1.00, kids chocolate milk (hot or cold) is $1.25. That being said, the person at POS should have partnered with with the person they were working with, who sounds more experienced, partnered with their MOD, or made the decision on their own to satisfy the customer right there and debated store policy with their manager later.

As stated by Florida Barista, it is a mistake to put new hires on register. How can you effectively sell something when you don't yet know what you are selling? I was trained on register first and felt really lost & confused & I'm sure my customers felt the same way! I now train all my new hires on bar first so that when they get to register they will know that hot chocolate is made with vanilla. :)

As a licensed store, I know that we fall into a strange place of not really being one thing or the other. We don't get a lot of support from either Starbucks or our company. I think the quality of each store, licensed or not, comes down to the quality of the individuals that work there. It starts from the top and, as a manager, I think I do a pretty good job of giving my staff the training & support they need so that we can provide a good product. Sales are up so I think we're doin' okay! :)I know that we have customers who prefer our store to Starbucks, just as I'm sure there are customers who prefer the opposite. There are good & bad stores in every company. I'm trying to be one of the good ones. . .

[charleston,sc]

I work at a drive thru store in the area, and a few weeks back a guy ordered two kids white mocha's, and I went on to tell him that they are not at the kids price, but we can make it in a short, and at kid's temp. He said yeah awesome. So i did just that. When i handed them off he said, you better go ahead and give me a short since you charged me for an adults drink. So i explained it to him once more, and then gave him one of the " drink lingo" booklets.

[Deusx]

The easiest way to tell is that a liscenced concept has a sign saying "Proudly serving starbucks products".

If it is inside a supermarket or retail store, it is most likely not a corporate store either.

[just a barista]

Maybe David could be a big boy and go order a Martini somewhere. Jeeze the Bux is spawning some really wimpy male customers. We had one last week that had to phone his wife and ask if he could purchase a mug that was on sale. Ughh..... where are all the real men.

[cornfrost]

We occasionally get people who order a kiddie hot chocolate and then complain it is not hot enough. (Because, in fact, it's not for a kid.) I just do what they ask. It's not worth arguing with them.

The worst are the ones who complain their drink is not what they ordered. Then when you make what they ordered and take away the original "wrong" drink, they get all pissy, because they want both drinks. After all, the wrong drink is going to be thrown out . . . they don't want it to go to waste.

[Leana]

I order kids drinks very frequently for my 2 boys, ages 4 and 7. My kid's don't like hot chocolate unless it's very cold out, so we frequently order chocolate milk. They've tried to get me to pay the extra .35, but honestly, how is it ANY different than a hot chocolate, it's just LESS work for them, not having to heat the milk. I will just order a hot chocolate, cold. I'm not going to pay the .35 extra for chocolate when it's included in the hot cocoa at the same price.

[MartUK]

Hello from England again! Looks like it's a case of incorrect training here. The poor barista had obviously been confused with kids chocolate and chocolate milk.

Unfortunately, you get a lot of that. It's a matter of catching it at the time and making sure the mistake is not made again. And also letting the baristas know they can use their brains and not have to follow the rules blindly.

The most common mistake I get is people asking for a latte/cappuccino with an extra shot. Often the barista will just use the "add shot" button instead of the specific one for the relevant drink. I've had a customer have a go at me over the 1p difference.

I agree with Cornfrost. People who order an espresso because it's cheap and then complain they wanted a bigger drink are bad. Worse than that are the ones who don't complain, and then sit at the end of the bar, grumbling. This is why I always check that they know what they've ordered before handing it onto the bar.

[Janet]

Excuse me...I work in a coffeehouse and vanilla IS NOT an ingredient in a hot chocolate---Cocoa and milk are the two ingredients.At our store a vanilla shot is 50 cents extra - take it or leave it.

[Becca]

Yes, but Janet, you don't work at Starbucks, which, on this blog is what matters. Our recipe for hot chocolate includes vanilla, and thus does not cause extra.

[Becca]

Oh and since the story occured in canada, and with tax at 6%, I'm guessing Alberta, the LC was in a Chapters/Indigo, not B&N.

[Traci]

WOW.....i have been working for starbucks for a little over 3 months now and i just found this when a customer came in and told me about the 22-page how to order coffee thing..and I must say this is great! This thing about real and not real starbucks is a big problem because I have been to SO many different starbucks real and not and can honestly say that if i walked in blindfolded i could tell between a real and non real starbucks...the atmosphere, the smell, the taste and the way i am greeted, the way i leave..everything REAL starbucks are better

[J.J]

As a Shanghai locale, I have to admit my admiration to the rapid growth of SB in Shanghai when merely 6 years ago there were only 2 branches standing on the famous HuaiHaai Road. What I don't understand is how SB can actually price its products as high as those in US, given that we are still a third world country and 90% population in our vast city make a daily salary with which hardly two cups of Americano can be afforded!! Its unethical for what you pay the baristas is Shanghai is merely 70US cents/hr. Shan't it be that the benefit of low labor cost be passed on to the local consumers???

[Lou Sussler]

"On the bright side, if you get crappy treatment at any Starbucks, just drop an email to the company via the web site."

I'm glad you had a good experience with them newbie. I complained via the website once and the results were mediocre. On line at a Starbucks which was not my regular one, the woman behind me kept making those noises when someone feels they are too important to have to wait on line, huffing and sighing and muttering to herself. She was evidently a regular at that store because when we got close enough, she got the attention of one of the barristas who simply poured her coffee and handed it to her even though there were still 4 people ahead of her. She turned around and walked out without paying. The woman behind her moved up and commented to me "I guess it's all about who you know"

I got back to work and wrote a short note describing the incident. I wasn't outraged but was discomfitted. Starbucks responded to the email by instructing me to call an 800 number and recite a particular number. I did that and it became clear that nobody had even bothered to read the email because the woman I was speaking with read it right then and there.

She told me that they would address the issue and thanked me for bringing it to their attention. And that was that.

In all likliehood, I won't waste my time if I feel like complaining again.

[CDL Lover]

I received a free tall latte coupon at X-mas from my B&N membership card and when I ordered a toffee nut latte the barista said there would be a charge for the syrup, I was like, okay, but thought the syrup was part of the "price" of the tall toffee nut latte on the menu board. Whatever!

[Angie]

I have bought a huge amount of kids drinks at starbucks, i have 3 kids, i know myself that a kids drink is a buck plus tax, i also know that is comes with vanilla.....it is the recipe, and it does not cost more. I have stopped going to starbucks, i am tired of the price increases, i am also not wanting my children to become addicted(like me) and waste their money on coffee, at $5.00 a day for my drink plus tip ($155.00 a month if i only get 1 a day).
Although I love the atmosphere, the diversity anyone and everyone goes to that place, and there are few places like it, but at the same time, i feel like it is doing a dis-service, running small coffee shops into the ground, and contributing to obesity.

[June]

Angie, STBX does not sell a $5.00 cup of coffee. You may have not actually been going to a STBX.

[averrycafinatedbarrista]

what really gets my goat is that there is a button for all these things on the menue anyways. why should we be priceing things out differently if there is allready a button for it. strange.

[nosugarplease]

To the 6th poster: Who cares if it's for a kid? People should be able to order whatever is offered on the menu. People don't always want the regular item, not because it's more expensive, but because it's a smaller portion.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

If I get disgusted with the service at the store, I immediately call the Starbucks Contact Center right in front of the partners and inform of the situation. I go right to the top.

[Anna Mousey]

June
You can easily get a $5 cup of coffee at Starbucks. At my store a triple venti seasonal latte (PSL, {SF}CDL, GBL...) costs $5.18 If that is your daily drink, and we do have customers that come in and get that everyday, it could get expensive rather quickly.

[LG]

Adults should pay for short hot chocolates. Kids get a children's hot chocolate. I don't want to start a war over whether a kid is drinking it or not. So I just charge for the kids' version. I mean, who really cares?

And for the poster up there that said Angie hasn't been going to Starbucks regularly because there are no $5 drinks did not pay attention. She said she spends $5 on drink and tip. A venti frap with a shot is about five bucks. Venti white mochas with extras are about five bucks. It doesn't take much to hit that mark. My partner beverage - if rung up correctly - is over $6.

[Angie]

Actually my drink was $4.23 and i put the rest in the tip box, that's $5.00.

[June]

Ok, I am sorry but a frap is NOT a cup of coffee. Adding stuff to a drip is NOT a cup of coffee. Adding to the tip jar is NOT a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee is brewed (drip) coffee -tall, grande or venti.

[Angie]

Sorry i thought espresso was coffee? Guess living in Washington and i would know that my drink is NOT coffee(whatever) my drink has more coffee than a damn drip coffee, i drink a triple tall peppermint mocha, and you also must be one of those that doesn't tip, since those people make so much damn money putting up with anal people like you!

[Drinker]

I agree with what CDL said.

If I order off the menu, I should pay the menu price. Period.

If some syrup or other item is "required" to make the menu item, then it should be in the price.

Customizations obviously can cost extra because that goes beyond the menu.

[Drinker]

PS I agree with you baristas that Starbucks should kill this partnership beast. Starbucks is burnishing the B&N brand, not vice versa. Same goes for the grocery store locations. And particularly the airport locations, ick.

[Sally]

Sorry i thought espresso was coffee? Guess living in Washington and i would know that my drink is NOT coffee(whatever) my drink has more coffee than a damn drip coffee, i drink a triple tall peppermint mocha, and you also must be one of those that doesn't tip, since those people make so much damn money putting up with anal people like you!

My don't we have our panties in a bunch. Listen an espresso is NOT $5. Adding a tip does not make the coffee $5. Plaalzzz peppermint mocha a cup of coffee don't make me laugh. Three shots of expresso does not have more coffee than a venti drip. Wait, a venti drip would be more because of sheer volume, or are you talking about the amount of ground beans..you know never mind the statement "my drink has more coffee than a damn drip coffee" does not even make sense.
I really must be dense because what difference does it make how much money baristas make or tip for that matter.

[SeattleGirl]

Jan and Sally~chill out!! Good lord, there are meds for what you have!

[B&N Barista]

I work at a B&N Cafe and the X-mas member coupon was for a tall latte. A..plain..tall..latte. It may seem like the cashier was being petty by charging you for the toffee nut syrup addition, but we work under intense scrutiny for "loss prevention" (ya know, stealing from the company). If we are seen, overheard, or whatever giving away product to anyone we are literally risking our jobs. We don't have the "just say yes" policy to protect our butts (or jobs) when we want to help a customer. Take pity on your B&N servers because every aspect of how we interact with customers is scripted by corporate & gleefully enforced by management.

[OMG Barista Boi]

"my drink has more coffee than a damn drip coffee, i drink a triple tall peppermint mocha"

Lol, wrong on every level. Let's see here...your stupid drink has three shots of espresso, which would be (omg) 3 fluid ounces of espresso. A drip coffee could be anywhere from 8 fluid ounces (short!) to 20 fluid ounces (venti, duh). So even if you got the smallest size we offer and you left room for cream, that would still be about 7 fluid ounces of coffee, now wouldn't it? You must come from an alternate "bizzarro" universe where 3 is a larger number than 7.

Three shots of espresso doesn't even have a higher caffeine content than a tall drip coffee...40 mg per ounce of espresso versus 200 mg per 12 ounces of drip coffee. (Values are of course averages, so stfu if you're gonna nitpick those numbers.) Again, do the math here in Reality Land and you'll see that 40 x 3 = 120, and 120 < 200.

ANYWAYS, HERE'S THE PART OF MY POST THAT RELATES TO THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT: That partner/licensed store employee was poorly trained. It's unfortunate.