Ben & Jerry’s — Restaurant in Charlottesville

The products, as always, are great; this rating specificly pertains to the in-store service and antiquated online payment system.

I am an admittedly obese ice cream cake connoisseur, and while I typically make and eat my own cakes, I do like buying BJ's every once in a while (who doesn't). The cakes are great even if I have to pay a higher price to accommodate their inflated margins. What really grinds my gears, however, is how each purchase is accompanied with a coupon for $4 off your next purchase. Seems great, right?

WRONG. It is a misleading ploy designed to beguile the unsuspecting consumer. After a delicious cake you want to go back for more, especially at a discount, but the coupon is not equipped with a coupon code and there is no place to mention that online. Can you call in your order? I tried that, and they simply tell you to order online.

A rational consumer would "abandon cart" at this point. Unfortunately, as a self professed obese ice cream cake connoisseur, I just could not fathom going without BJ's for another day. I mentioned my coupon in the notes, entered my CC info, and had faith they would take care of it on their end.

I came into the store and saw my note printed out on the cake box. To confirm, I asked if they gave me the discount. They replied no: once a payment is taken online, they cannot issue a credit. Why would they not just call, cancel the original order, and create a new one on their end with the discount applied? Why would they offer a coupon that cannot be redeemed on their mandated ordering system? When I was in the store, why not offer a commensurate free ice cream scoop, if indeed the transaction was irreparable? Management had multiple opportunities to rectify the situation and either lacked the mental capacity or lacked the fortitude to resolve this horrific injustice.

Some of you may read this and think it's just $4, big deal. Nope, it's the entire price of the cake (which would not have been purchased otherwise) PLUS the opportunity cost of not spending that money elsewhere. In my particular case, the opportunity cost was $40 worth of vegetables that could have saved my life and cured me from my obesity and imminent demise. Alas, no more BJ's for me.

UPDATE: likely as a result of this review, coupons are no longer given for...

I was just visiting the area for a college tour, and decided to stop and get ice cream. I went in and the store looked kind of empty because they took away the seating for COVID, but I think there was somewhere to sit outside. The guy behind the counter was very friendly, and explained when I asked what the flavor chocolate therapy was. I decided to try it and it was heaven! I wish I lived closer to a Ben and Jerry's but maybe it's for the best that I don't. I would definitely recommend this as a place to get ice cream. To rank it along other chains, I would say it is above Baskin Robbins to me, and I don't really think it is below anything besides ice cream places that I don't think are chains. It's...

The ice cream was delicious, of course. But the service? I didn't care for it. They were neither helpful nor friendly. And this is the first Ben and Jerry's I've gone to where they didn't offer samples. Maybe because it's in a college town? But even worse, you couldn't see the ice cream itself, which sometimes just gives you a better idea of what's inside. You could just look at this one menu on the side and pick from that. It's the people who worked there had been kind or helpful at all, it maybe wouldn't stood out so much. But for the price of the ice cream I would not go back to this particular store and instead I'd just go into the grocery store and...