Starbucks — Restaurant in Merritt

I've given up on this location. It is the worst Starbucks I've encountered anywhere in the world. I would often stop here for a quick iced Chai tea latte on my way to/from Kamloops & Vancouver all summer 2021.

Sometimes they would be out of ice, other times they would overload my drink with ice despite my request to go easy on the ice. That's no big deal relative to when a staff member came out and placed a "Closed" notice on the order microphone as the car in front of me was driving up to place his order. This was at 3 pm. No walking to the end of the line-up; just blatantly doing it in front of everyone with no apologies or explanation. There were at least 6 other cars behind me waiting in the long gauntlet drive-through line-up. They wouldn't open the drive-through window and also stuck a sign up there saying that they adjusted their hours, although that sign said 5 pm (see attached time-stamp photos). And they would lock their main doors, so forget about walking-in to order.

I made a formal complaint to Starbucks corporate about this behaviour and their regional manager contacted me to apologize. Apparently they've had problems with hiring, which is hard to understand why McDonald's & Tim Horton's drive-throughs in the same location don't seem to have the same problem. One would think that Starbucks would be more appealing as an employer.

I thought I'd give them another chance after talking to them about the problem, but throughout Sept & early Oct they were consistently closed despite their posted hours saying otherwise. So I wouldn't waste any more time even trying this place. You shouldn't either. Hopefully this place shuts down for good rather than continually frustrate already weary drivers hoping for a...

Service and attitude were terrible. We ordered one cold beverage and one Java chip frap. We waited almost 15 minutes for 2 beverages when there are only 2 customers in store, but that's okay, not a big deal. We ordered Java Chip Frap and one pineapple passionfruit. When it comes to pineapple passion fruit, u can pick lemonade or coconut. We asked for coconut, the stuff No! Water or lemonade! We didnt get it, then we said it said coconut or lemonade on the board. They said No! I mean no what ??? Just tell me u are out of coconut water, how hard???? Another issue is we purchased two starbuck cups and used them for ordering, since the cups are new with user manual inside the cup, the staff didn't take it out and they pour the drink into the cup and soak with that paper lol. They took it out in front of customers and then served u the drink, lol. Then someone did the Java chip frap, then put it on the table for 10 minutes without serving it or even put into the cup. The frap became watery. When the staff put the whip cream on then served it, we asked if they forgot to put chocolates syrup on it. The staff said, "No! It never comes with chocolate syrup." I was looking at the photo on their web, and I was like, ugh??? When we bought the cup, and we asked if they can wash the straw a bit if possible, they replied, do it in the washroom ! I mean i dont mind do clean it myself but you can reply in a more friendly way. The whole experience was terrible and the worst thing is they don't even care and respect their job...

I checked to make sure that they are open for a stop on my way back to Vancouver, luckily they were open until 8 and it was only 7!

When we got there and tried to order, we noticed signs that said that they had no ice, so no drinks that contain ice could be made. No problem, we thought we would just get something hot instead. We waited behind a vehicle for a few minutes, and they eventually moved up. No problem, they're probably having a tough day and they're short staffed, let's give them the benefit of the doubt!

As we move up, no one is answering at the speaker, so we move up after 2-3 minutes of trying. On the window someone left a note that read that they are now only open 8-5. Well, the genius who put the note up didn't realize that they should probably put it on the speaker to order, and not the window that you pay at.

A queue of cars ended up forming behind us, and guess what? The car after us thought that we must have ordered successfully and it ended up waiting to make an order too.

Congratulations Starbucks Merritt, you've successfully made a disappointment machine. Spreading sadness amongst one of the hottest summers...