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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