Starbucks — Restaurant in Phoenix

Sadly, I have been a loyal Starbucks customer for far too long. I now deeply regret ever doing business with a company that has proven to be as greedy and inconsiderate as yours.

Today, I drove up to place an order, but my daughter texted me to say she would be a few minutes late. Since I was already in the drive-thru, I decided to simply request a cup of water while I waited so that we could order together once she arrived.

Keep in mind—we are in Arizona, one of the hottest states in the country. Yet, the barista at the window informed me that Starbucks’ policy is to refuse giving anyone water unless they make a purchase. There happened to be two police officers nearby, and I asked one of them about this. He confirmed my understanding, but another officer in the drive-thru sided with the store, saying that because Starbucks is a private business, they can make their own rules.

Well, if Starbucks truly believes it can “do whatever it wants,” then allow me to make something clear—you’ve just lost a customer for life.

I’ve heard that Starbucks is planning to close several locations nationwide, and frankly, this kind of corporate greed and disregard for basic decency might explain why. Any company that cannot even offer a cup of water deserves the financial struggles it faces. Especially to a long-time customer that is frankly embarrassed to say how many thousands of dollars I waste per year at this place and currently happened to have 316 rewards points so I could have still purchased a drink with my points and have gotten the free water anyway but it was the principal of the matter. If inventory with your plastic cups is a problem, I would’ve been OK with getting water out of a foam cup for all I care.

The employee at the window told me that her manager, Stephanie Grange, enforces this policy strictly and that she would be fired if she provided water without a purchase. That is unacceptable. It’s appalling that your company doesn’t even trust employees to make simple judgment calls that demonstrate basic human compassion. These managers like Stephanie need to understand that once you make a customer that Customer can walk in at any point in time and is already a customer before the purchase is even made and it is that easy to lose that Customer forever by placing and enforcing such an inhumane policy.

Starbucks has clearly lost its way, and I can no longer support a business that places profit above people.

Please spare me the “I am so sorry you had that experience” reply. I’m not buying it. You are not sorry you are GREEDY...

I go to the Starbucks daily every morning and order a drink today I decided to treat myself to a drink and a sandwich for lunch. I had 30 minutes for lunch and 15 minutes of it was waiting in the line when I finally get to the window I was charged incorrectly on my gift card. When handed my drink I asked if it was made with no water (it was a tea and looked really light). She rolled her eyes at me and said she would dump it out and add more tea. I was ok with that but then handed me my tea with more ice. I asked if she had added more tea or just ice to be told I would have to wait 5 minutes for more tea to be made. I asked for a manager/store info as now I have to get back to work. When the “manager” Monica came to the window. She had a different cup of tea with a different amount of ice, but now it was completely fully made. When I told her what had happened and how her barista at the window rolled her eyes I was told I was in the wrong and didn’t need to say anything. When asked about the new tea since they didn’t have any I got no response so I did not take the tea and gave back my sandwich asking for a refund. When I tried to give my card for the refund there was nothing to scan since it was charged wrong everything had been taken off my card. So I was told by Monica I didn’t use it obviously to pay. Umm yes I did. But I do not know what you want you scan now and I’m not going to put more funds on for you to refund me after already being charged incorrectly. Monica put a refund on a store credit card gave it to me and refused to give me her managers name or number telling me only I could call corporate before shutting the window I’m sorry if you are unhappy but treating customers rudely rolling eyes incorrectly charging them making orders wrong then lying saying you fixed something when in fact you added more ice which is not what I ordered is not ok and you really should do better. I wasted 30 minutes of my time in your line for no reason at all and to be treated...

I have been to this location three times since it opened. The first time my drink was incorrect. The second time my drink was ready when I arrived and I was welcomed. Today was by far the worst experience I have had at a Starbucks and I get Starbucks 7 days a week. I wasn't welcomed when I walked in but my drink was ready. I wanted a personal cup filled with ice water. I waited in line for a bit and the person in front of me was taking a while deciding what she wanted, so I walked to the drink pick up. The barrista making the drinks saw me but continued to ignore me, did not acknowledge me at all and made every effort to avoid eye contact with me. I stood there for 5 minutes. Went back to the line, which now had two people in front of me, and asked another worker if I could please get my glass filled with ice water. She took it to the barrista who proceeded to ignore her request until she went back a second time and asked him. I got my water with about 10 ice cubes in it. This is not a typical Starbucks experience, but none the less it happened. I will not ever return to this Starbucks, there are many others in the area with friendly, helpful staff. In addition, the way this Starbucks is set up you have to cross in front of drive thru traffic to get to the entrance, which is...