Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Waco

I placed an order via the app on my way into work on 6/17/25. I placed it just after 7am (their stated opening time). It said my order would be ready at 7:11am. I arrived at 7:15am and the store was locked up tight and dark. No one was there. I also could not cancel my order, so I had spent $15 and had no breakfast. I found their customer service number online and called and they said they would process a refund. They also said via an email that "Your valuable feedback allows us the opportunity to improve the experience for all of our guests and has already been provided to cafe management for appropriate action." So either the customer service is lying or the cafe management does not follow up on these things. Because according to customer service, the management has known of this issue since 6/17/25 and they only replied to me (via this Google review) on 6/30/25 and seemed to know nothing about it. Where is the disconnect?

Today is 6/26/25 and I still do not have a refund or even an email stating I will get a refund. I've called back twice and still no refund. This seems to be a poorly run location. The times I've gotten food there they were normally out of common ingredients. This fiasco has sealed the deal. I will not go back to the Waco TX location. BEWARE OF THIS LOCATION.

Edit: I cannot reply to a reply, so I'm editing this. I went to the link the owner provided a few days after this happened and got no response at all. But because he asked in his comment (below), I submitted the form again today (6/30/25). We'll see if they contact me this time. I will update here.

Edit 2: It is 7/2/25 and the owner has still not contacted me despite using the form and giving him all of my contact info on 6/30/25. I also called customer service again this morning and they confirmed the refund request is still "in process" as it has been since 6/17/25. It seems that corporate moves slowly--or not at all-- as well.

Edit 3: It is 7/7/25 and it has been a week since I submitted (again) all of my contact info via the form as requested in the reply. No one has reached out to me and I still have not gotten my refund. I'm beginning to wonder if they reply to reviews on Google making it SOUND like they care, but literally do nothing beyond publicly replying. Time will tell.

Edit 4: It is 7/14/25 and no one has contacted me despite asking for--and receiving--my contact information 2 weeks ago. It has been almost 30 days since I initially reached out to customer service and I still do not have a refund. At this point I can't decide if corporate bureaucracy is to blame or if it simply corporate policy to screw over and ignore customers.

Edit 5: It is 7/16/25 and it has been a full month since I reported the problem and asked for a refund. Because I've been ignore for a full month, I filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's office today. We'll see if that gets me anywhere. The lack of customer service has been appalling.

Edit 6: It is 7/21/25 and I filed a complaint with the BBB this morning. All of this could have been avoided if they'd just handled my original complaint promptly instead of ignoring me. Good customer service isn't that hard.

Edit 7: 7/31/25. The BBB said that they contacted the business and have received no response. They have issued a second request for a response. It sounds like Tropical Smoothie Cafe does not care and would rather lose future business than refund my $15 after essentially stealing it. I then called corporate again to inform them of the continued lack of response from the local franchisee. They've apologized and have promised to try different avenues to get me my refund. We shall see. At this point, it seems to be the local business owner that is the problem.

Final edit: 8/2/25. I finally got an email from the owner and he issued a refund. There was no explanation or apology, but roughly 6 weeks after the incident, I did...

Probably the third time I've been to this location. Shame on me for expecting improvement after a couple of visits. Even if you bundle a food item and a smoothie your total will approach $20. Keeping this in mind, you're getting portion sizes that don't justify the price. Our salad had wilted lettuce, sparse toppings, and a tiny bit of dressing. I imagine the line inside the bowl was the fill line. There was at least an inch of space before hitting it. So $20 for just a smoothie and a tiny salad, and I'm asked to tip? No thanks, especially if the staff just give you side eye as you walk in and don't acknowledge you as you enter. My husband and I were still hungry and ordered a couple more smoothies to take the edge off. They were great, but again, two smoothies for $20 seems steep. I can get fresh smoothies with pressed juice from local chains for that price. The employees behind the line looked miserable and seemed irritated they had to work. The ones sitting down waiting for their ride didn't look the least concerned as the ones working were getting a rush. Please consider a break area so it doesn't look like employees who are off the clock are just leaving their teammates hanging during a rush. I asked a female employee for a fork so we could actually eat our salad but she made a point to gesture me over to her teammate before she realized I made a very simple request and gave me one. To summarize, I understand fresh foods can cost, but they are charged at a markup to profit. I'd feel better if I got the value I expected for the price point, but the skimpy salad and the attitude that came with it was no good. Keep up the great work on the smoothies, they were delicious, just expensive knowing any added juices were from concentrate. As far as service, I don't understand why people would repeatedly overpay to be treated as if they didn't matter or as if they're a nuisance. I've been behind the line as a manager - my food quality, sanitary practices, value, and most importantly my customer's experience is always a priority. Consider these points and perhaps take a hint from this and other reviews and make...

I just went through the drive through and honestly one of the worst customer service experiences I have had in my life. It was around 5 pm on Aug 1, I asked the guy taking orders twice not to put avocado on my wrap bc I have an allergy and did not want them to forget that part. I'm fine with food being prepared alongside the avocado just I don't want to accidentally eat it. He then tells me "I heard you the first time" as I was trying to explain about my allergy and then went on to repeat "I heard you the first time" approximately 10 TIMES. I normally would not say anything but he was being so aggressive and rude out of nowhere it scared me. I then asked him at the window why he was being rude about my avocado and he seemed embarrassed. He then said I guess you don't want your food and LOCKED the window and would not give me my food?? I was just sitting in my car waiting and so confused. He was sitting inside the window laughing at me the whole time while the line was waiting. Like LAUGHING, I then started crying bc I wanted my food. I had asked for them the manager before he locked the window and they said there was none. Eventually, a different guy came to the window and helped me. He said the guy who was so rude was just the shift manager and he would tell the real manager. The guy who locked the window was African American and had dreads (for identification purposes). I am writing all this so no other young girl goes through what I went through, being bullied and crying because of a...