Starbucks — Restaurant in Town of Penfield

Visited via the Drive Thru at 7:07pm (19:07). Asked the “barista” for assistance in throwing away a SEALED item, in exchange for the Frappuccino, as the garbage was clearly adjacent to the window station that she was working. To my surprise, the Barista’s attitude suddenly changed, when she sarcastically informed me that “[they] aren’t allowed to take anything back through the drive-thru”, but didn’t hesitate in between “have a great night” to then slam the window on me. Let’s discuss why this is poor customer service: The customer is always right. If I’m the paying customer of an $8.00 drink, do your job and comply with the customer’s simple requests. Customer service is needed to keep return customers. Corporate and management knows this. The item I was requesting to be thrown away was sealed, not contaminated, not visibly soiled, and not a drink with a lid or straw. In fact, it would have been less of an infection control risk to throw this item away than it would be to accept my credit card, or for me to hand back an incorrectly made drink (which unfortunately happens frequently due to untrained or difficult to train staff). It is easy to wash your hands, and should be taking place frequently in this situation. Staff should be washing hands when visibly soiled, or after every so many customers, while using a disinfectant to sanitize their hands in between customers. It would have been very simple for this “Barista” to simple toss the sealed and clean item into the trash, wash [her] hands, and go back to work. This would have been the most appropriate customer-service oriented option.

Please review this incident with the “Barista” in question, and advise her of the difference between assisting a customer with a reasonable request versus denying a customer of an egregious or infection related request.

By the way — the Frappuccino was also made...

I don’t normally rate Starbucks, I’ve actually never. But beginning to lose hope with this location. Every time I go in the morning they’re always out of something… from juice for the refreshers to chai for a latte, you name it. It’s disappointing to come almost everyday and you’re out of a product. As a former barista at a different location, it’s not hard to run to another store for a product or to even make sure the shift lead or manager is ordering enough of said product. While this isn’t the only issue, it’s pulling up to the window through drive thru paying card and having the employee hold the card reader straight up and down, how are you supposed to put your card in?? It would be easier to hold it at a better angle where the customer can insert their card without having to hang out of the window of their car or oddly bend their hand to insert it. I also understand the drive thru can get busy at times, but please teach your baristas to look at the ordering screen and make sure they’re handing out correct drinks for said order. I shouldn’t be handed someone else’s order everyday. But hey maybe this is why I can’t get my chai tea latte or refresher because they’re having to remake orders twice? Please do better and be better. I come to this location for the convenience of it being minutes from work but might start making the drive further to Hard...

It’s really baffling to me how a company thinks it’s ok to put this much ice in a cup for $5, there was a little under 3/4 of a cup of tea in this when I poured it into a measuring cup without the ice. That is just under 6oz of liquid in a 24oz cup. Now I get ice is important for an “iced” tea but this is scamming. When I ask for light ice they put maybe 1 or 2 cubes and it’s warm, when I don’t ask they fill it up to the top. There has to be some kind of reasoning for this - if they were running low on tea at the end of the day they could have suggested I get a smaller size so I didn’t spend $5 on nothing.

I write this review as someone who comes to Starbucks at least 4 times a week so the money adds up. I want to continue to spend my money here but something...