ShizaMinelli

ShizaMinelli

I have the email to prove it!

Nothing at all in the email I get every year about there being limited store hours on FCD.

RvLeshrac

Bruce_A

"I can chime in the Ben & Jerry's at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles also closed a half hour early on Free Cone Day, with a crowd of people outside still. (No, they didn't run out of cones.) Since the entire store is glassed in, you could see the employees and manager talking behind the counter, while one unfortunate employee had to deal with questions while sweeping in front. In general, the management of the Ben & Jerry's scoop shops in Los Angeles has been really bad - dirty shops, uncaring/uninformed employees - so this doesn't surprise me. A shame, considering B&J used to be a very well run, concerned company from the top down."

Ben Popken

RTP. Did you miss the arbitrary shut-downs? The at-their-whim dispersal of the freebies?

Are you just thick in the head?

e.varden

rachaeljean

Dennis

I don't think this is new, but they really should announce the end time since "Day" could pretty reasonably be interpreted as "until regular closing".

opal

In other words, they don't know where the food they're selling you comes from and don't give a damn about the quality of their ingredients or how they're prepared.

bonzombiekitty

vermontwriter

LCR

freejazz38

Thank you Consumerist. A day very well spent.

smackswell

team gingerbread

My understanding of this event was that Free Cone Day is always from noon to 8PM. All, of our local media releases included these hours and we informed customers about Free Cone Day for at least a month prior specifying the time. At 7:20PM on Free Cone Day we put a volunteer at the end of our very long line to tell people that he was "last in line". I also stood at the end of this line and gave all the people that arrived and could not get in line a Free Small Cone certificate and a key fob for 10% off all future purchases. I gave out 186 Free Small Cone coupons before the end of the line reached the door. At that time it was 7:58PM. We let a few more people in until 8PM and then called it a night. What you have to understand here is that to prepare for the event we had to completely rearrange our service line so that cups and cones would be convenient for our scoopers. After closing at 8PM we had to basically put the store back together and clean up the huge mess left behind.

I too received a compliant via Ben & Jerry's corporate regarding us being closed at 8:10PM when our normal hours are until 9PM. It is most unfortunate that the Ben & Jerry's website did not have the hours posted, nor did the signage our shop received, but as a local franchisee I diligently publicized our Free Cone Day hours and attempted to make good with people whom showed-up before 8PM but would not be able to be served before the end of the event.

Overall, I feel our day was a wonderful community event. A lot of people got to help a very worth cause and eat some fantastic ice cream for free. I am not sure yet how much this event actually cost me but whatever it was it was worth it because giving back to the community is part of what Ben & Jerry's is supposed to be about. However, like the saying goes "no good deed goes unpunished". You can be sure that next year my signage will clearly have the hours of the event posted. For my fellow franchisees that didn't get into the true spirit of this event, I say "shame on you". To those of you who had a bad experience with this event I apologize and ask that you do not judge all of the franchisees based upon one bad apple.

Bubba1n2

[Abe Simpson] I can't wait to eat that monkey. [/Abe Simpson]

Cliff_Donner

jjason82

metaled

Well, i LIKE pretzel day.....

crazydavythe1st

Personally, not sure what to think. This sucks, but if it's anything like other ice cream franchises, the individual stores are usually pressured into doing promotions like this which are generally moneylosers for the franchisee. Great promo for corporate and stores in general, sure...and a great incentive for people to go to ben and jerry's, but still probably a moneyloser. This is in addition to the mindblowing fees and royalty fees. Sometimes they need to buy from certain suppliers that like to overcharge too. Et cetera. Ice cream franchising can be a horrible business.

Of course, that may not apply to whatever B&J is in question, but I'm just saying, if it does I can understand why the owner/manager would do such a thing. If it were my business, I'd probably fire that bastard that said that and give out free vouchers or something (if they ran out of ice cream). But it's not. And I can only speculate.

However, my local Ben and Jerry's was giving out free ice cream. Didn't like the flavor I got though :(

crazylady

It's not a matter of it being "just ice cream". When a company advertises something (whether it's as inconsequential as Free Cone Day or as enticing as 25% Off Flat Screen HDTVS), they have to make good on it.

It's "just ice cream," but it was enough to get people to take time out of their schedules and go out of their way to specifically patronize a place of business.

It is the principle.

It wasn't lack of supply in this situation, which would be understandable. It was an arbitrary decision by a manager, made without apology to customers who put themselves out to be there. And to a customer, every employee of a company--from the CEO to the janitor--is the face of that business, and don't pretend that it's not, you fucking corporate apologists.

I wouldn't go back to B&J ever again either. Not without a raincheck and a proper apology.

Man, sometimes the comments here get me more steamed than the corporate shenanigans in the articles.

humperdinck

They weren't obligated to promise anything....but they made the promise. I think people have a right to be upset if something is advertised but not honored.

camman68

[www4.law.cornell.edu]

If you do find a section of the code which states explicitly that the deception must be deliberate, please cite.

lemur

Arghh another meaningless post. At least convey your sympathies to the wronged party you mannerless chimp.

Uriel

I also think that it would be smart to post the ending time of the event at the store somewhere, so that everyone would be aware, particularly if the store has a normal closing time much later than the end of the event. When I was there to get my free cone earlier in the day, the a guy that worked there told me that they weren't even going to open the cash register that day, which to me implies that free cones would be available until the close of normal business.

Is any of this a huge issue? No. Like I said initially, it just seemed poorly executed to me. I would like to know if they sell the raspberry frozen yogurt in grocery stores, though, because it was delicious...

pssshwhatever

In other words, they don't know where the food they're selling you comes from and don't give a damn about the quality of their ingredients or how they're prepared.

Yeah... I'll stick with Haagen Dazs.

purplesun

MMD

Also, advertising a free cone day does, in fact, mean that the customer is entitled to receive one.

MMD

chrisjames

ChChChacos

ludwigk

B&J have their own marketing people who analyze how much a free cone costs them and how it affects their sales, etc. etc. and they don't need to be quantitatively convinced that pissing off customers is bad for future business.

But canceling free cone day part-ways through is pure evil and makes baby jesus cry.

ludwigk

Angryrider

"Crazy Dumped/Ex-Girlfriend Syndrome."

donkeyjote

It's really crummy to cancel it, unless you are out of ice cream, and then you should be giving rainchecks.

brettt

Sunshinelollipopsandrainbows

I was disappointed and upset, especially after seeing the look of confusion and disappointment on my nephews face. I promptly left and went to the Hilldale mall where they were able to serve me and a sincere smile.

Thanks to Hilldale employees, but I will never shop at the State Street location again and tell everyone I know not to go there because the store employees care more for their friends than serving customers whom they are PAID to serve.

Stupendous_Man

@LatherRinseRepeat: On the one hand, it's free. They're not obligated to give you anything really, even if there's no cut-off time stated anywhere.

B&J's press release is a form of advertisement. They can't advertise free ice cream and then later decide that they won't offer free ice cream. That is just illegal. If they do not specify limitations then it is reasonable to expect that the event lasts the whole day they advertised. If supplies are lacking and they do not state otherwise, then it is reasonable to expect a raincheck when supplies run out.

They can't argue that they are poor innocent lambs who know nothing about advertisement and made an honest mistake. There are some keywords that all people in the marketing business know how and when to use. If they don't use them, then they can't ask for a do over or say their fingers were crossed behind their back so it doesn't count.

lemur

I feel dirty for even addressing that comment.

valarmorghulis

There are plenty of great ice cream shops in the world. I love Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough, but I can get plenty of acceptable substitutes for B & J's. If I were treated badly by one manager of a B & J store, I would definitely go elsewhere.

Unless of course, B & J tried to make it up to me.

That's just how fickle us consumers are.

BTW... I loved the letter... and had no problems with the formatting. It was eminently readable.

erratapage

Otherwise, I think most of you are being ridiculous. Since this has to do with Ice Cream and not your cable bill, you cite it as irrelevant and post inflammatory comments. This site reports on issues like this, issues relating to customer service, if you don't understand that, you are at the wrong website.

Furthermore, here's why this is a big deal. It's false advertising, plain and simple. It doesn't matter whether it's over $2.50, $25, or $250. I wonder how you would react if you went to the grocery story because something was advertised as on sale and they refused to give it to you for the sale price. Well, I don't wonder...because I know you'd all be throwing a fit.

Third, I don't care which Ben & Jerry's it is, if it's in the middle of NYC or not. The store agreed to do Free Cone Day. You want me to believe they had no idea how many people would be rushing in?

Lastly: Yeah that little girl's parents now probably have to buy her an ice cream cone. So do all the parents that said, "Finish your supper, and I'll take you for a free cone!" How many parents had to pony up $2.50 because they promised their kids ice cream and took them to Macy's to find out otherwise? That sounds like an intentional money-making scam to me.

Oh, and I have a degree in English Education and had absolutely no problem reading her post.

Jbondkicks

es ay eL from en jae

Luckily, today is FREE CONE DAY again!! At Baskin Robbin's!!! Huzzah!!! (I kinda like their ice cream better... it's the Hershey vs. Lindt effect.)

[www.baskinrobbins.com]

rachaeljean

rawsteak

rdm

NightSteel

STrRedWolf

Of course, this is Baltimore's Harborplace where this B&J is in, so it wasn't much of a stretch to go upstairs to a Five Guys burgers and fries. "Get a couple of them grease bombs, lay you up in the hospital for three days" ERRRRRRGGGGHHHH! *thud*

STrRedWolf

[www.benjerry.com]

Brian D

Note that Karen doesn't actually say what time they cut the line off, I'd say 8pm would be a good guess though. I'd blame Consumerist (and Bargainist, which is where they linked to the free cone day "deal") for not specifically mentioning the hours limitation, which I knew from reading about it on a different blog.
Personally, I think the 8 hour limit is plenty of time for the poor employees to have to serve freebies to jerky customers. We waited about 20 minutes in line for our ice cream, and the employees serving were somehow still fairly pleasant about the whole thing, even though we got there about an hour before the end.
I, for one, will be going back to actually SPEND my money there. That 7 layer ice cream is too good!

Brian D

NYC Free Cone Day is a nightmare all around, as thousands upon thousands of NYC schoolchildren are brought to B&J's by their teachers. Why, I don't know. Possibly to learn about mob mentalities.

ekthesy

[/give me a break]

RagingBoehner

Serpephone

Pro-Pain

elislider

PDX909

And what is it with people complaining that they can't read this?? Wow. You have become too used to reading one-sentence, pithy comments online if you can't handle a whole paragraph!

synergy

socritic

The thing that really bothered me is that this particular B&J hires employees with disabilities, so I was really concerned about how they were being treated if they talked that way to their customers. (I work in the disability rights industry.)

I sent a complaint letter on their website and got a few coupons in the mail for free pints of ice cream. Wow, thanks, that really makes up for your employees' unprofessional and rude behavior. I haven't been back since.

am84

rytard22

NC106PH

Hey, give the worker bees a break.

Have to give them their free cones so they keep working in our salt mines without complaining. Plus they need something to do with their free time.

Meanwhile, let's go back to enjoying our not-free $100 steaks. :)

MichaelSF

People were still arriving and were like the rest of us here thinking that Free Cone Day would actually mean from normal opening to normal closing. We have been in previous years and free cone day was the whole time the store was open.

So after being depressed I decided to look up the other locations in Raleigh and figured the one near a college campus just couldn't function because of all the students showing up. So the next Ben and Jerry's was about 8 miles away in a shopping center. We went to that one (in Stonehenge Shopping Center) just to be greeted with a huge black marker on white bulletin board paper...that said they were closed. All of this was well before their typical closing time.

I fired off an email, etc to them...but expect no response. I'm like the rest..the huge banners at the stores and all the PR did not mention a time frame or *until supplies last disclaimer.

Definitely will be giving my business to B&R tonight ...and at least for me will not go back to a Ben and Jerry's scoop shop.

NC106PH

for the good of the nation they should invite you all back for double scoops of sftu and a boot to the head.

betatron

Free samples doesn't mean you are entitled to it.

Give Ben and Jerry as frickin break. It's not like welfare cheese or something.

ironchef

chrisjames

tdicola

digitaljdr

Incidentally I only eat B&J's once a year; free cone day.

idx

Derp

Alright fine you didnt get a free cone but you are going to write off an entire company after years of buying their products because one time, one manager irked you by not allowing you to get a free cone?

OMG!

parad0x360

That's the whole explanation. And he wouldn't let even the most persistent Reaganite customer through his Berlin Wall defense.

osubuckeyefan777

And kudos to this woman for this letter. If I was the one to read this from Ben & Jerry's, I would surely send some free coupons or something and a nice apology letter.

ChChChacos

EBone

TemplaBeans

This is not going well for B&J.

ChrisGriswold

For all of you who are saying Ben and Jerry's is ok if they ran out of cones due to "while supplies last"...think again.

This Ben and Jerry's had tons of cones and plenty of ice cream left; that played no part in their refusing to give out the free cones. Nelson said Macy's wanted him to stop the sale at 6PM, because lines were getting too long. Hence, he stopped the sale short.

It was completely false advertising. I called in and complained, and if they don't send me a coupon for free ice cream, I'm never going back to BJ's again.

osubuckeyefan777

To the New England lady in the original article: Midtown New York has more people living/working in that area than that part of Boston where you normally got your free scoop. Even moreso, since Macy's on 34th Street is a tourist fave.

azntg

Anyways, I think the letter was supposed to be tongue and cheek. But it came out sounding like it was written by a child, as Toof_75_75 stated. I'm sure B&J will send her some free coupons or something.

On the one hand, it's free. They're not obligated to give you anything really, even if there's no cut-off time stated anywhere. But on the other hand, it's bad corporate image to promise something and not follow through. I would think the manager had a valid reason for all this. I hope there's a follow up to this story.

LatherRinseRepeat

stephenjames716

DeafChick

AnderBobo

OMG, someone blamed the victim... that NEVER happens on this site.

GenXCub

forgottenpassword

Problem solved.

AMetamorphosis

[www.podcastdirectory.com]

It's a much better read though, in his books than hearing it live with a boisterous audience of his fans, I must admit.

scoosdad

I've seen the Macy's B&J, of course, and it's teeny - I would imagine they really don't have a lot of space for a run on the store like I'm sure they got. They should have more signage, it sounds like but...

basically, I don't understand getting a bug up your butt because a company that annually gives away a huge amount of product for free probably ran out at a particular location, and a manager may have been a dick (he was just trying to fit it with everyone else who works at Macy's - if you're polite, they'll ostracize you). I'm sure OP will get a coupon for her trouble.

And, it's not false advertising if the small print says, "While supplies last" - which I imagine it does.

camille_javal

Cant provide what you promise/advertise?.... then you need to pay & pay dearly IMO. Yeah, even if its because you ran out of free cones or are just getting taken to the bank by an unexpected deluge of customers wanting their free cone.

I am still curious as to why the manager said free cone day was over. I need closure!

forgottenpassword

I don't understand this concept, it's so much like racial stereotyping. Because the actions of one store/employee you feel you have the right to blame the entire company...

exkon

elmalf

dookas

Why ?

AMetamorphosis

bonzombiekitty

It's the companies choice to hand out freebies. I really don't understand the sense of entitlement here..

NeutralKate

B

That-Dude

suburbancowboy

20 pints -- whoa.

That-Dude

I went during the day to get my free scoop, and my roommate was unable to go with me at that time, so she wanted to go after we ate dinner. At a little after 8 pm, we walked over to the store and when we got in line, the old guy in front of us turned around and showed us a sign the B&J people had given him saying "I'm Last in Line." Actual employees weren't giving the customers the bad news, they were nowhere in sight and making a customer do it. The sign was legit because it was on the same kind of brightly colored card stock as the B&J menus - it wasn't just the guy joking around.

This particular location doesn't close until 12 am on weekdays because it's in the downtown bar district of a huge college town - it's not like 8 pm was their normal closing time. If it was, shutting off the free ice cream would be understandable. None of the event PR materials indicated that there would be an end time, and if it had, that would also be understandable, and my roommate and I would have gotten there earlier.

So no, it's not a huge deal because it's just ice cream, and I won't stop being a customer, but I do feel like it was handled badly. And in a town of 35,000 college students about to start finals week, you probably shouldn't mess with the free ice cream.

pssshwhatever

That being said, free is free! I'd wait forever for a free monkey. If this person wants a free cone, let them have a free cone!

nicless

missdona

Applekid

lightaugust

As much as I agree that this is trivial the fact that they are not honoring thir advertisement is the real issue.

AMetamorphosis

ffmariners

Hello Lisa,

Thank you for letting us know about a less than euphoric experience you had with one of our scoop shops. This information is very important in helping us to ensure our high quality standards.

Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any other questions. You can reach our Consumer Affairs department at (802)846-1500, 9am - 5pm EST.

We hope that all your future experiences with our scoop shops are as euphoric as you anticipate and deserve!!

Consumer Affairs
Ben & Jerry's

Here is the information we received from you:
----------------------------------------...

On 4/29/08, you visited one of our scoop shops (9301 E. Shea Blvd. Suite #110) in Scottsdale, AZ at around 8:00 PM.

Comment:
I was excited about free cone day today. I used the store locator on benandjerrys.com to find the closest Scoop Shop that was participating in the event. According to the website page for Ben & Jerry's 92nd & Shea ([www.benjerry.com]), the hours of operation are 11am-10:30pm. I arrived at the shop around 8:10pm to find the shop dark and a handful of other people outside complaining that the shop was already closed. The hours of operation sign on the shop indicated that the location was supposed to close at 9pm.

An employee came to the door and told us that on free cone day the shop closes at 8pm instead of the normal 9pm. After a couple other people said they drove long distances to get to the shop, the employee sympathetically allowed myself and approximately 7 other people who were still waiting to come in and recieve a free cone.

I want to commend the employees who were working at this store for doing this something extra to make myself and the other people happy. I hope I don't get them in trouble for writing this email. It would have been easy to ignore us after what I'm sure was a busy day for them and I expect that all the employees were eager to go home. Yet everyone had a pleasant attitude when they served us. Rather than disappointing potential repeat customers, they instead created goodwill for the shop.

My complaint is that no where on the website or the exterior of the shop did it say that this shop would be closing early today. In fact, the regular hours of operation on the website and at the shop don't even match. Ben and Jerry's seems quick to advertise free cone day but slow to offer additional terms and conditions. Obviously I relied on the website information being accurate when I made the trip to the Scoop Shop and would have left feeling very disappointed if the employees hadn't been so nice.

I hope that you will take some time to ensure that the hours of operation on your website are accurate, and in the future if a shop is closing early please try to publicize it early and prominently to avoid disgruntled customers.

lisa1120

joemono

B

In the end, it's just ice cream... although this particular B&J's reneged on their word, it doesn't make sense for you to take it out on the whole company... if you really love B&J's as much as you claim, you'll prob get over it.

fishing-ace

Toof_75_75

I was lost after the fifth time I lost place in your one paragraph...

RookOmega

AvWuff

GuJiaXian