A Starbucks Toffee Nut Latte Saga…

 

 

Once upon a time, i fell head over heels in love with a starbucks drink called the Toffee Nut Latte…

It is basically a latte with toffee flavour, what makes it special though is that they add little sprinkly sugary things on top that make all the difference. If you are lucky and starbucks is not busy and you are going to sip it right away… you get the little sprinkly sugary toffee to crunch under your teeth, making a heavenly contrast between the smooth sweet hot liquid and the brittle sweet toffee flavoured little toffees… best drunk when you are sitting outside in a rainy day looking at the clouds or while walking down a busy london street swamped with shoppers…

Ok so what is this post about?

You see, the most important thing about the toffee nut latte is those little sprinkles. Without them its just a flavoured latte… however, those little ones tend to melt very very quickly in the heat of the drink. So if i know im going for takeaway or the place is kinda busy, i ask for a bit of extra toffee… and i am always granted the pleasure with a smile… no questions asked. Either in london or in Kuwait. and that went on for years…

So… what happened?

One day, back in 2005, i was with a friend at starbucks, it was just the right day for a toffee nut latte, and if i crave something i crave it so bad i turn into a monster if i do not get it. So we stand in line, heart pounding at the thought of drinking my yummy latte, its smell is surrounding me because mostly every one in starbucks was ordering it that morning, it was a work day too… so its my coffee fix of the day and my breakfast. and i am not a coffee person. 

and the guy at the counter made a fatal mistake.

So i give him an earful, march back to my office, and get the customer service contact email for Starbucks of USA … and send them a complaint…

Here is it… mind the spelling mistakes ( i was very VERY furious o didnt get my morning coffee yet)… i submitted via an online form on Monday, November 21, 2005 8:48 AM

Subject: My starbucks complaint!

 

Good morning,

 

I hope this complaint reaches Kuwait ‘s starbuks customer service. Today I have had my worst experience at starbuks ever. I work in ******* therefore i rely on starbuks to provide me with my daily cup of coffee everyday like most of my colleagues. When the toffee nut latte is in season, I always order it with extra little toffees on top because by the time I get to my cup the original portion is already melted and im left with the extra sprinkle I have paid for. This has been the case for the past two years and until yesterday. When I asked the guy at the counter for my tall skimmed milk toffee nut latte he was fine but when I asked him for extra toffee he was silent for a moment then went over to his manager (yes his manager) and asked him something about toffee nut. He came back a moment later telling me there isn’t any little toffees at all. I said fine and I changed my order to cream brule latte.

 

This morning however, I had the same guy to order from, the first thing I asked is if they had the little toffees and he said yes we have them with the usual starbuks smile. But when I ordered “Extra” toffee he went blank for a moment, rushed inside for his manager (again and yes for his manager) and came back to tell me “Sorry ma’am we have do not have the small toffees today!”.  

If he told me “You have to pay” or had just told me “Sorry company policy doesn’t permit extra toffee” I would not have been insulted and would appreciate it. But to lie to my face two days in a row is intolerable! He had just told me they had the toffee! Why when it came to the extra part did he consult his manager and what kind of manager asks his employee to lie! I told the guy that you have just told me you had the extra toffee and I was so angry but the manager was no where to be seen so I came up to my office without coffee and tried to find the number for my local starbuks place but couldn’t find it.

 

It is just a sprinkle of toffee I do realize that but the most important thing in a business is to treat customers right not to lie to them two days in a row!  

Needless to say im never ever going into another starbuks again. Not in Kuwait anyways.

I would really like this complaint to reach someone. Lying openly to customers is not something to be taken lightly. 

Thank you,

 

Ms. **** ****

Kuwait

Merely an hour later, some manager in Local Starbucks of Kuwait from al-Shaye3 company contacted me apologizing for the managers behaviour. Then the manager himself called me in my office, apologized and offered me a free drink of my choice. 

It was good customer service. Even though i had to go all the way to USA for it… Still that year i didn’t go back for another cup AT ALL from Starbucks. I went and drank it in the UK with all the little toffee sprinkles my heart desired without any barista lying to me!!!!!!

************UPDATE************

So i went on Thursday to starbucks in Keifan, the one next to the big gym, i ask for extra toffee, and they tell me “Oh well we dont have the toffee, we only add extra brown sugar now!!!!!! LA WALLAH?

Then they said, well ok do u want extra caramel on top?!

DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT A TOFFE NUT LATTE SHOULD BE LIKE!????

That’s it. I will not have it again in Q8, if it’s not in London then no need for it…

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