Cold Stone Creamery — Restaurant in Coconut Creek

You know I have to admit that first of all, there were 7 ppl ahead of me & it only took me about 10mins to make it to the counter. After swearing off the Coldstones in Boynton because of all the bad experiences I had there, I had to say I was really impressed by this. It's taken 20mins in Boynton for me to get icecream w/ 4ppl ahead of me...

That said there were two situations that were handled very poorly today that I can't ignore.

1. Due to COVID, they have 5pp Limit inside at a time. They were very quick to correct a man and his child plus myself about this rule, and ask us to wait outside. We apologized having not seen the sign and returned to wait outside... later, I was dealing with a situation, and had to wait outside for a minute(after having already ordered). A woman was waiting outside for her opportunity to go in to pick up her online order, respecting the 5pp limit. These two men walked in, completely bypassing the SIX ppl waiting outside w/o asking a word to anyone; not even a glance. I walked in & said "Excuse me gentlemen, this woman was waiting first." One ignored me, the other said "no we don't have to wait, we're online orders" I said "I understand that. She is as well." He responded "well then she needed to be in here" I said "Well she was respectfully waiting as there is a 5pp limit indoors" ... As all of this was going on, NOT ONE of the employees intervened and asked the men to wait outside, or even asked them to allow the woman to pick up her order first. They just gave them their orders and let them carry on without a word. Now I'm not going to say it was a race thing but I definitely think those men were being entitled, & in the current climate of America, I'd think the manager, a fellow POC would look out for those being stepped on. But then again, he never quoted the capacity limit to these men/asked them to wait outside like he did me and the other African American man earlier... So maybe the kid[manager] is just as brainwashed by skin colour as the rest of the world...

Now, that was just me trying to help the really sweet Muslim woman out because 1)as a woman, I hate being ignored & walked all over by men, & 2)If someone is being unfair, I politely bring it to their attention. That those men couldn't take 3secs to ask a question to any of us women waiting outside before entering, nor could they be courteous enough to allow the woman her rightful spot after it was called to their attention that they skipped her? That's between them & God &/or Kharma!

Before that however, I ordered my dessert, was supposed to have a BOGO on myRewards account but they informed me it was strictly for online orders... I already had my desserts ready & waiting at this point (hence why I stepped outside of the store.. to try to place the order online.) After the incident with the two men & that sweet, patient woman.. it seemed like every one of the employees ignored me for as long as possible... In any case, when I was finally acknowledged, I explained the problem I was having & asked if they would be willing to just honour the coupon this one time. They said they couldn't do anything about it. I was picking up an order for someone else & it wasn't my money, so embarrassed, I asked if I could just get one of the two orders... I felt really bad and decided I'd just pay for the second icecream myself, not wanting to put the onus on them... You know they just gave me the icecream anyways? Even after I apologized and said I'd purchase the second one.. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate them making good on the offer but.. Why did I have to seemingly force their hand like that? If you have the liberty to offer decent customer service, why not do it the first time? Why let a customer who is being extremely polite and apologetic be embarrassed not once but twice? Does ColdStones take the $5 you didn't charge me out of your paycheck?! Just incase, I left a tip to make up for it. But seriously Coldstones needs to stop leaving teenagers incharge of their stores. They just don't know how to deal with customer...

I was there at around 1120pm on 4/20. The line was pretty long but my friends and I patiently waited in line to get some ice cream. While waiting, one of the employees named ZEINAE wasnt helping her coworkers at all!! She was just speaking to her friends in the lounge area and doing so, she snuck to the back of the counter and scooped ice cream and she was talking across the counter over a customer to ask what kind of ice cream they wanted. You know, she does this knowing there is a line, knowing there are people waiting but INSTEAD OF HELPING HER COWORKERS, SHE DECIDED TO GET ICECREAM ONLY FOR HER FRIENDS TO MAKE THEM SATISFIED INSTEAD OF MAKING OTHER CUSTOMERS SATISFIED BY HELP MAKING THE LINE MOVE FASTER. Doesnt cold stones have any cameras?? I looked around and I saw at least two cameras and one was behind the counter above the workers. Zeinae should be fired for STEALING ice cream for her friends! What kind of company lets their employees get away with that?? While being that said, a worker named elle and another tall girl and the guy wearing glasses (I couldnt read the names on the tags, elle was the only name that was bold enough for me to read....yes i looked at all the name tags) they did all the work and they did such a good job helping everyone out and working together. Those are the kind of workers this company should be proud of and not that other one giving free stuff and helping out, she was not a team player. I hope to not see her again when i go back that is soooo ridiculous letting her work there while shes giving away free ice cream to her friends. Look at the cameras once in...

After a lunch in the same plaza, we decided to pop into Cold Stone for some ice cream to go. There was small line when we arrived, and there was a customer at the register who was apparently having some sort of issue, and it took two (of three) employees to get it resolved. That customer left and said he'd be back in a little bit. Meanwhile, a line had formed, and a third employee came out of the back with a drink and went out the front door on break.

Employee #1 then stated she was sorry for the wait, and started helping the customers in line. It was moving along ok until there was an issue with one of the registers. Employee #2 was on the phone trying to get it figured out, and the customer who left then came back in. Employee #3 came back from break then disappeared into the back. She occasionally came out and was presumably working on online orders. Employee #1 who was assisting us told us to hold on so that she could go help him again. Finally, our order was completed and we were able to check out. It was sloppily done, with ice cream seeping out of the to-go lids, and a glob of my hubby's ice cream on top of my to-go lid.

This store is a mess. There didn't seem to be a manager on duty, the counter behind the register was in bad need of a cleaning, and the employees were very scattered. I'm hoping this is a one-off situation, because if this is the norm, I wouldn't visit again. I'll give it another try in the future, because I do love Cold Stone, but this experience was not...