Chatime — Restaurant in Hamilton

The staff members are friendly and nice but not very well trained. Their manager, Stephanie, seems to lack basic customer service as well.

I went to this location with my brother around 1:30 pm and finally ordered our drinks at 1:55 pm. We waited off to the side, and around 2:20 pm is when I asked for a refund because of the following reasons;

1. 4 groups that had ordered their drinks after my brother and I had received their orders before us.
2. The staff members did not seem to notice us waiting for a while.
3. The staff members were taking too long.

I asked one of the staff members for a refund and she asked her 2 other coworkers how to give a customer a refund. All 3 were unsure and called their manager. The manager on the one told Kole, one of the staff members, to tell me that they could not issue a refund. I told Kole that at this point my brother and I did not want the drinks because we had been waiting for so long and just wanted to go home. Kole understood and not too long after the manager called the store phone again and spoke with Kole. The manager kept on pushing the staff members to just make our drinks and send us away. I explained to them again that I would just like me refund because we were upset with the lack of good customer service.

After some time had passed Kole asked me to leave my email so the manager would do an e-transfer. I wrote down my email and left the mall. I understand that working in food services is quite stressful but to prevent these issues from occurring proper and thorough training must be involved, I do not believe the staff members have been thoroughly trained, which is also evident in regards to the other reviews from this store. I cannot bring myself to fully blame the staff members because of the lack of training they received, I do put the blame on their manager, Stephanie. It was evident that she also lacked some basic customer service when she first refused my refund. I understand that Stephanie is a business owner but the very fact that she only cared about her business and not exhibiting good customer service was quite eye opening. I would not recommend this Chatime location to anyone.

Response to the Owner's Comment:

1. there was no need to double-check if I still wanted my order because I had told the staff 3 separate times that I wanted to cancel my order and get a refund.

2. While on the phone, the manager seemed to really push the staff members to not give my money back, they seemed very uncomfortable because they knew I wanted a refund and Stephanie kept trying to push for a no refund.

3. I had to call the store hours later to remind them about my e-transfer, it did not happen "right away".

4. I understand that there was newly trained staff but it does not take a genius to realize that the same 2 people had been waiting for nearly an hour for their drinks. Again, 4 groups who had ordered AFTER us received their orders BEFORE us. I understand with more experience your staff members will become much more efficient with their work HOWEVER perhaps the store manager needs more training on basic...

So i have been coming to this location since forever but today i went there because i wanted water and it was $1 but she denied me to sell unless i have cash, i said ok i will buy a drink Iced tea with honey n coconut jelly i repeated my order twice but she forgot my honey did not charge me for it she said, i said no problem then i said “you forgot coconut jelly” she said “u didn’t paid for if so i left because they were busy n I didn’t wanted to create scene n when i tried i couldn’t drink that i brought it back now there’s different person and i said very politely that I haven’t drink my drink even half of it, she looks like she made a mistake to make it write cos it says on label “cc jelly” but she didnot add it n i paid $8 for drink small! Now she says yes but u weren’t charged for it but i will still add it as a favour, that was insulting i felt she treated me like i am asking for more than i paid for and its not only that it was first refusing for water, then not taking my order right n then claiming that they didn’t charged for the toppings n then acting like this at that point i was so done i left my drink “respectfully” there n left but i am not going there ever again…. They will not accept their mistake n will not respect the customer service code at all . Also the staff is not committed they were talking n giggling i was just waiting so in all...

Ordered Thai milk tea the first time when it opened last year and it was amazing. Ordered earl grey milk tea with regular sugar just now and I think they forgot to put any sugar and milk/cream. It tastes like water with a hint of earl grey, never experienced this before. At least I could tell how good their tapioca tasted with how plain the drink was.

Went a third time for Thai Milk Tea and it was even better than the first time. Super rich, creamy and strong tea taste. Updating my rating back to 5 stars!

Rating updated back down to 3 stars after ordering their Taro milk tea for the first time which was powdery with an unpleasant taste, didn't finish it.

Rating updated up to 4 stars after getting their Thai Milk Tea again a month later. I have a sad realization that I'm actually afraid to order any of their other milk tea flavours as I don't visit often and getting my drink made wrong is quite disappointing.

Final Rating: 3 stars. Ordered earl grey milk tea again and there's just something missing that gives it a watery taste, maybe not enough sugar...