Starbucks — Restaurant in Conroe

Have taken my friends here twice... I haven't bought anything, personally, but both times they refused to make my friend his drink the way he wanted it, claiming that the way he wanted it would 'alter the flavor of the drink' and it wasn't 'Starbucks standards'.

It was very obvious that the girl saying this with a plastic smile had no desire to actually accommodate and serve the customers...

I am an assistant department manager in the food service industry. In my department that I run, we have standards too, but I have always accommodated customer requests, within reason, no problem. In the end, the customer is the one paying for and enjoying the food/drink, and you should absolutely not refuse to accommodate a simple request, regardless of whether it would alter the flavor or not. My friend would have even gladly paid extra, but was refused.

It felt more like the girl was reveling in being able to have an excuse to refuse a customer. I have had people like this in my own department. Even before I was a manager, I got people like this removed from my department. If you don't like serving the customers and working with their requests, get out. You have no business being in this industry.

Also, I personally know several Starbucks managers, and am friends with multiple Starbucks employees. I have inquired, and they have told me that there is no such thing as 'Starbucks standards' that requires refusal to accommodate customers like this girl was glibly claiming, and accommodating customers is never an issue. It came off to them, too, that the employees at this location were being deliberately jerks.

It didn't stop there. Both visits, they also messed up his girlfriend's drink. This visit, she asked for a white peppermint mocha. She specifically asked to not have the dark chocolate on the whipped cream, because she's allergic. The barista gave her a white chocolate peppermint mocha with dark chocolate on top. When she told the barista she couldn't have it, in a possibly acting-too-friendly manner, dumped the drink and remade it. When we got to the car, she realized he had made her a white chocolate mocha, no peppermint. Hard to tell if this was deliberate or not.

All in all, from a customer service standpoint, this place is the bottom of the toilet of standards for representing the number one coffee chain in America. If these employees were in my department that I run, they'd all be in the office, and some of them would be just about out the door.

My friends aren't going to be going here again, and I'm not stepping foot inside again for at least several years, even if corporate manages to fix the problems here.

Absolutely disgraceful. A prime, shining example of everything that customer service standards...

First time at this particular Starbucks as I am traveling and stopped in. Had a great coffee and wrap. The red-headed girl who took my order was super nice and attentive. Everything service and food wise was great.

The only reason I didn't give a full 5 stars is that someone who is clearly corporate or management came in and started looking at the store. They did not seem to have the same happy attitude the workers did. They touched a couple of things around the store (clearly checking things) and then proceeded to touch coffee beans with their bare hands and knock them back in the coffee grinders. I understand that the coffee would be ground up and exposed to high temps, but it still makes it look unsanitary as they did not appear to wash their hands since they had walked in the store.

They also then proceeded to walk up and kind of quietly get onto the worker right within veiw and ear shot about something. Again, it just didn't seem very appealing. I'm all for quality control and making sure the store is up to par, but I feel you can do it without having it clearly visible to all customers.

Other than that,...

Today my daughter and son-in-law went to this location before a long road trip. It is important to note that my son-in-law is a deputy with constable's office. They were purchasing drinks for the road and some branded merchandise when my son-in-law made a comment that referred to him being law enforcement and the female attendant told them "we do not support police here". My daughter and son-in-law placed the merchandise back and declined to purchase anything at all. They left and went to the location on 336 S Loop instead and they were super nice to them and provided excellence service. I am both saddened and offended by this as my son-in-law risks his safety every day to protect people. My best friend is also a law enforcement officer out there putting his safety on the line as well. Is this Starbucks' stance on this or simply the team member's opinion. No one should be singled out and treated differently...