Starbucks — Restaurant in Covina

I am writing to express my frustration with a disappointing experience I had at your Covina, CA location (611 South Citrus Avenue). I frequently visit this store, often through the drive-thru, but during this particular visit, I encountered what felt like unfair and inconsistent treatment. Wednesday, April 2nd at approximately 7:35am:

Upon entering the store, I needed to use the restroom urgently while waiting to place my order. A customer nearby informed me that I needed to request the key from the register. As I attempted to do so, the employee behind the counter asked if I was a customer. I explained that I was purchasing something but needed to use the restroom urgently. She insisted on ringing up my order before unlocking the restroom. I complied, ordered a Venti hot latte, paid for it, and only then was allowed access to the restroom.

Shortly after, I witnessed an older Caucasian gentleman enter the store, walk directly to the restroom area, and, without purchasing anything beforehand, have the restroom door unlocked for him by the same employee. When I pointed out the inconsistency, she simply stated that she was following the rules. When I continued to question the discrepancy, a person who appeared to be a manager intervened, stating that the reason the gentleman was allowed access without a purchase was that he was a regular and they knew him, whereas they did not know me.

I found this response to be incredibly frustrating and unfair. If Starbucks has a policy that restrooms are only for paying customers, then that policy should apply to all customers equally, not selectively based on familiarity with the staff. I visit this location regularly, albeit primarily through the drive-thru, and I don’t believe customer service should be based on whether an employee recognizes someone.

Although I understand the need to regulate transients from accessing store restroom facilities, there was nothing about my appearance or demeanor which reflected any possible transient exposure.

The situation was frustrating demeaning and overwhelming embarrassing. I am a 49-year-old father of two, am a contributing member of my community and am an AVP for one of the largest commercial insurance companies on the word. The fact that I was not allowed to use your restroom facilities even after I told your employee it was urgent, was beyond acceptable.

I would appreciate clarification on Starbucks’ official restroom policy and an explanation of how this situation was handled. More importantly, I hope Starbucks ensures that all customers are treated fairly and consistently, regardless of race, color or whether they are known...

Today was my first time at this location. I used the Drive-Thru. I placed an order for an Iced Coffee with caramel drizzle for my co-worker but didn't order the extra cream and sweetener that he apparently wanted. My fault. I called him before getting to the window to make sure I had the order correct. At the window I politely asked to please add extra cream and sweetener. They were confused because they were ready to give me somebody else's hot coffee of some kind. The guy says "did you have a separate order?" - "no, just the iced coffee." (Looks around and asks some questions to co-workers) - "You didn't order at the speaker did you?" - "Yes, I did." He was nice enough after that, apologized, then gave me the drink. I start to drive away and see that it's very dark and not getting any lighter because it turns out there was no cream at all. I walked inside and made sure it was done right. Not that big of a deal. But then I didn't get an apology or anything, just the lady telling me what she heard when I ordered (which was not what I said) and they handed me the right one. Nobody was really rude or unhelpful and they eventually got me the right drink but there's definitely some room for improvement on that experience. Recap:

Tried to give me the wrong order completely Didn't enter my order at all initially Asked me if I even placed an order Gave me the drink done wrong Replaced the drink with no apology

A simple apology and maybe some more smiling and a little more attention to detail is all that was lacking. Not a terrible experience but not a good one. Good thing I was...

I will be honest. This Starbucks is pretty great. I ordered free water and free WiFi and I was here for 6 hours. Here is my review. The customer service staff was pretty amazing. Since I was 💯 free loading on this hott August 1st. The staff here was able to create a good atmosphere. They don't seem all to happy but they definitely treated me right. Everytime I made eye contact with anyone here I was met with a smile. Even though I was free loading today I was treated right. This location definitely gets busy but the staff seemed to be able to handle the waves pretty good Parking is limited but thanks to the staff they knock it out. So if your looking for parking just wait a few minutes and someone will move. The seating situation inside is not to huge but the outside is really big and there are plenty of chairs and canopies that you can move. BIG bonus is that they don't have key pads on there restroom doors. The down side is they need to keep up with the bathrooms better. Overall Cleanliness was pretty good. Floors and chairs and outside are were kept up and I saw some regulars getting the special treatment. Which I think is great of the employees. Nice job...