K says a Starbucks employee mishandled his drink order, handing him a time bomb in the form of a hot chocolate cup that exploded all over his car. He says Starbucks apologized with a couple of drink coupons but is balking at paying to clean his car.
He writes:
Last weekend, I visited a local drive-thru Starbucks to get some hot chocolate — something I often do. When I reached out to take my drink, I noticed that the side had semi-dried liquid streaked down it. Thinking nothing of it, I took the drink from the employee’s hand. As soon as I did, the lid popped off and steaming hot chocolate drenched me, my seat, my dashboard, my stereo, and my floorboard.Luckily, I was wearing jeans and was not burned, but my car and clothes were soaked. I immediately started trying to mop the liquid off my electronics with the jacket I had been wearing, but to no avail.
So, I went and parked, walked into the store, and asked a manager about getting my car cleaned (I can wash the clothes). I filled out an incident report, got 2 free drink tickets and went home to try and clean myself and my car up.
I got one phone call from “Jared” in the Research and Resolutions department asking me to send them an estimate for a car cleaning which they “may or may not approve”. Fair enough.
The next day, I tried to call back with some questions and was told that I couldn’t speak to my incident manager directly, but would have to have Customer Service play the “go-between”. So, I asked my questions, they took notes, and I waited for a phone call “within 24 hours”.
I’m now going on 7 days, I’ve called 5 more times trying to get “Jared” to call me back so that I can get my car cleaned (it smells TERRIBLE). 5 promised call-backs and not a one actually happened.
From the looks of it, Starbucks is just going to try and ignore me. I’ve been a loyal customer for 6 or more years and they won’t even call me back to discuss having my car cleaned after drenching it in hot chocolate.
What’s the most egregious example of food packing failure you’ve seen at a drive-thru?
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You can complain and get your car cleaned if you spill your drink in the car? I could see it if the server actually spilled it, but it sounded like Mr. Consumer grabbed the cup wrong (or man-gripped the hell out of the cup to “pop the lid off”). I never grab from the lid. That’s why Starbucks has that cardboard circle thingy.
Cups just don’t explode when you squeeze them like a normal human being – how did the lid coming off throw hot chocolate all over the interior of the car? Stupid consumers.
This same thing happened to me. The barista had not put the lid on correctly and was holding it from the bottom of the cup when she handed it to me. When I took it from her, I had no choice but to grab the top half of the cup and the coffee (a very sweet one) spilled all over me, my car, and my leather jacket. I emailed Starbucks with my account of what had happened and we agreed to split responsibility. They gave me back 75% of my car cleaning expense in the form of Starbucks gift cards.
People who are too lazy to get out of their car to buy hot chocolate deserve what they get. Also someone’s petty gripes regarding a one off situation doesn’t qualify as a consumerist issue.