Ding Tea Augusta — Attraction in North Augusta

Having a career where customer service is paramount, it is disheartening that some businesses, especially the local businesses we all need to support, have forgotten about their most valuable asset—the customer.

I will preface this by saying today’s experience is just another of many poor experiences I’ve had at Ding Tea. I give a lot of grace these days, probably more than I should, but when there is an issue with visit after visit, I feel that it needs to be called out. Also, aside from today, I have left a tip of 18%+ on every visit. Not because of great service, but because I consider how expensive life has become and I try to pay it forward.

I’m not sure who owns this establishment, but I can’t imagine they’re there very often. My Google search tells me John Phan, Hung Nguyen, and Tim Nguyen, who also own the Martinez Asian Market. From constant register issues, the loyalty program not working, botching the order, and long wait times that are due to socializing, there needs to be a serious team meeting about culture and customer service.

Just to touch on my last 2 experiences, last weekend when I visited, I purchased a snack and 2 drinks. I very specifically gave my order with 2 simple requests on one of the drinks—light ice and extra boba. I even repeated it. The order was wrong when I got it. I went back in and explained that it was wrong. I was met with “I didn’t hear that” and no apology. Again, this is not remotely the first mistake they’ve made. Also, the loyalty system was down yet again. They promised they’d fix it when it came back up, but I knew better. They charged me another dollar for the extra boba and remade the drink. This time there was a little more boba, but normal ice. I decided it wasn’t worth my time and just left with the drink.

I come in today and order my drink and snack. I immediately notice that the drink credits were never added. Of course I didn’t expect them to have actually fixed it as they’ve said that before and never fixed it. I guess they think customers will just forget about it. I’m big on keeping your word, and I don’t forget when someone gives me theirs. Remember, this isn’t the first time, maybe the 4th or 5th, so I’m no longer chalking it up to an innocent mistake. I stand there and wait, for 15-20 minutes for them to make my drink. There was 1 customer ahead of me who had 4 drinks. In the past, I’ve had them make drinks at a very impressive speed, so I know it’s very possible to make a drink in a reasonable amount of time. The issue here was that 2 ladies came in, from church, and bought drinks. One or both of them worked there as they both went behind the counter after making the purchase. The young man making the drinks lost all focus on making drinks and started flirting with one of the young ladies. I stood there and listened to an entire conversation and finally got fed up. I saw him stop and go, mostly stop, while talking. He wasn’t remotely focused on making drinks and was the only person making them. I returned to the register and the young lady who was dressed in church clothes, not even on the clock, approached the register to see what I needed. I asked for my money back on the drink because I wasn’t going to stand there and wait anymore with my family waiting in the car for me. I expressed my discontent and they sent a young lady up to the register who didn’t know how to issue a refund and offered me a gift card. I went ahead and took the drink that was finally made after I asked for a refund, as I didn’t want a gift card.

I will never visit this establishment again. I will never recommend this establishment again. Luckily there are many other places in town who make the same drinks, so that’s where I’ll go.

For anyone interested, they are: Gong Cha Tea, Teaspoon Augusta, One Zo Bona Evans, Komma Tea (Augusta Mall), Paris Banh Mi, Mirin Fusion Kitchen, Hello Poke, Rooted Coffeehouse, Nori Japan, Build Yo Poke, Lily Coffee, Tea & Bread, Ubora Coffee Roasters, and...

Really hard to not like this place, however I’m not sure if I offended one of the staff members because she seems to always have an attitude towards me. The first time I placed an order with her she wasn’t pleasant and I noticed that everyone who ordered after me was getting their drink. When I went to the register to inquire about it the gentleman looked back at the girl who was now sitting on the floor and her response was “well I’m clocked out now”. The guy apologized and fixed my drink. The second time I ordered through her, I ordered the top fruit tea. When my drink came out it looked different than what I’ve seen in the past. When I asked another employee (the female with glasses) about it she apologized and said something on the lines of they had been out of the top fruit or they no longer had the top fruit. Either way, I was sold something the store didn’t even have and was given something...

My husband and I stopped by and really enjoyed our drinks. He had Strawberry with dragon fruit popping boba and I ordered the Galaxy Milk Tea No complaints on the strawberry-was very delicious! Galaxy Milk Tea drink was also delicious, however, I would sometimes get small, hard tapioca when I had my straw to where I could get the tapioca. My husband tried my drink and would also get them So we asked if it could be remade and the staff did The second one came out and same thing happened- we got some small, hard tapioca inside The staff told us sometimes the brown sugar sometimes gets hard but it didn’t look like brown sugar I just drank the rest of the milk tea and left the tapioca at the bottom. Was a little bummed out but it is what it is Overall, drinks delicious, clean environment, friendly staff and there are some games inside to play while you wait or just want to hang out...