The Consumer Complaints Blog

This is my story of Starbucks, their terrible customer service and lack of care.

On September 24, 2010 I was at a Starbucks with my mom. We were waiting for her drink to be made and decided to split a piece of pumpkin loaf. I bit into the loaf and felt a crunch, but I assumed it was one of the pumpkin seeds and bit again. I instantly felt a pain and strange feeling in my mouth. I spat the piece out of my mouth to discover a small grey stone. I immediately took the stones to the barista and she profusely apologized while filling out an incident report. I asked if she wanted to keep the stone, but she said no and wrote down all of my information.

It is now almost December and I have been playing phone tag with the corporation for months. I have spoken to 11 different people and have been given 6 different case numbers to which I have to report and explain this frustrating situation every time I call. Each person tells me something else and tells me to wait for a representative to call. I was asked the best times to be reached, but of course the only time I receive phone calls is to my answering machine while I am at work and they are rare.

I went to the dentist to discover my teeth were severely damaged to the point of needing filing and porcelain veneers. My teeth were perfect, my parents had already spent over $5000 getting braces, filing and bleaching. Due to the damaged teeth, other teeth are now becoming damaged as the sharp edges chip away at existing teeth. I now need the removal of my brace wire and cement, mouldings for my teeth, porcelain veneers and 8 teeth filed. All because I decided to trust Starbucks and their products that were tainted. I would like to believe that the high prices and friendly people ensure safe food, but clearly they do not.

How the stones got there I am not sure….was my food dropped on the ground? Were they baked inside? No one knows. All I am aware of is I am an extremely frustrated consumer that has realized clearly Starbucks as a corporation does not care about their products or consumers.

After writing this message I received a letter from Starbucks (Nov 29, 2010. It states “ It is with my sincere apologies that I must inform you that Starbucks does not feel we are responsible for your damages and therefore must respectfully deny any claim you may file as a result of this incident.” Not responsible? Was the product not sold over your counter, from your store? Did you not take my money? Are you saying you don’t care what is in your products or who eats it? What if I was a small child? What if I was a high power business man? Would you treat this situation any differently?
All I know is I will never purchase an item from Starbucks again. I will tell every person I know this story as a warning so they know the type of company Starbucks is, and to be careful before biting into any product they sell.

I never wanted a big pay out or attention, all I wanted was for my teeth: that were damaged eating a Starbucks pumpkin loaf to be fixed and returned back to the way they were. I was passed around for 2 months and now have been told that I don’t matter and my issue although due to their product, is not their responsibility. Thank you Starbucks for caring about the little people and the products you sell.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.