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As someone who has worked within the customer service industry for nearly twenty years, I have grown painfully aware of the good the bad and the ugly when it comes to the customer service in this great city that we call home, otherwise known as Portland.
Recently I wandered into one of those remote, unknown coffee houses, seemingly located on nearly every corner of the world, also known as Starbucks. Ten years ago it was THE place to go. It seemed as though everyone held a Starbucks product in their hand; a grande drip coffee here or perhaps a venti vanilla latte there. Thankfully the Starbucks fixation has waned a bit (much to their dismay I am sure) but in terms of their product, not much has changed. Starbuck’s biggest change however has been in the level of customer service exhibited by their staff.
In a time when the entire world is fixated on the step after next and the average person is more concerned with making it to their next appointment rather than enjoying a beautiful day, it seems Starbucks has also absorbed this mindset. They appear more concerned with corralling the herds of people through the ever revolving doors than providing quality service to the customer at hand. As a former Starbucks Barista, I have witnessed the gradual change and have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the transformation.
While visiting a Starbucks near my home, not so patiently waiting for my coffee, I found myself eavesdropping on a conversation between a Starbucks employee and a customer. The customer had purchased a certain coffee cup and was desperately searching for another cup to complement the existing item. After looking around the store and waiting to attract the attention of one of the five employees standing behind the counter carrying on personal conversations, she finally and politely interrupted them and inquired about the cup in question. They told her that they didn’t have the cup in stock then went about carrying on the conversation at hand. She excused herself again and questioned as to whether or not any of the other nearby locations may carry it. The employee, obviously annoyed by her persistence, told her that she did not know and again dismissed her. The customer, still eager and much more patient than I would have been, again excused herself and asked if the employee could give her the number of some nearby stores so that she could call them and look for the cup. The employee rolled her eyes and reluctantly retrieved a store directory and doled out a few numbers as the customer frantically wrote them down. The customer thanked her. The employee said nothing to her in response. The customer left the store and the employees continued their conversation.
Here’s what should have happened. The employees should have noticed the customer browsing through the merchandise and asked whether or not she needed assistance. Since the product was not available, the employee should have offered to call surrounding stores for the customer until all avenues were exhausted. There absolutely should not have been personal conversations taking place in the background and the customer should not have been made to feel as though she was an inconvenience to the employees.
Why do we allow ourselves to be treated in this manner? Why spend our hard earned money and valuable time at a business that doesn’t care about properly training their employees and placing their focus on the customer? Especially a massive company such as Starbucks, can they not afford to properly train their staff to treat customers like human beings?
As I exited the store, I glanced at their most recent posted customer feedback scores, which coincidentally were four months old, and their overall rating was “Poor.” Go figure.
This article is part of the PDX Customer Service series from ThePortlander. The column is written by Sabrina, a Portlander with over 15 years of customer service management experience and a business degree from Marylhurst University. She writes frequently about the good, bad and ugly of customer service in Portland.
That seems far more indicative of a shoddy manager than the Starbucks has a whole. I still conduct many meetings every month at a variety of Starbucks (many clients have the familiarity and feeling of "neutral ground" when inside a Starbucks) and have only experienced that at one store in the greater Portland area. I do think that as a whole the customer experience throughout all types of business as foundered quite a bit.
I personally think though that the majority of issues are caused moreso by hiring a more apathetic generation (yeah that makes me feel as old as it likely sounds) who don't care about representing the company but only about getting a paycheck.
The more we become a consumer culture the less focus is put on the individual experience, instead fixating on the bottom line.
From what I've seen Starbucks is still trying to focus on the customer but some bad eggs are focused on quantity over quality.
I'd recommend calling customer care, giving them the store address and requesting the District Manager's contact info could go a long way towards helping things change.
As many others out there I to was an employee of Starbucks, back when the company boasted the non automated machines and the idea that they would never be in grocery stores, and customer service was number one priority. We knew almost all our customers on a first name basis. This was at one of the busiest stores, so there is no excuse for bad service. Though times and hands have changed the customer service shouldn't. I haven't been to a Starbucks in a long time, for the simple fact that it is now fast food coffee not the comfortable, chill, relaxed place it once was.
Chris, you bring up a good point about being the manager. I am going to take 1 step back from the store level and suggest it might be the district managers. Out here in the west suburbs, I know of more bad Starbucks than good ones. It does sound like others have better experiences than I do so thats why I think it might be the mid-level managers rather than just store level or corporate level.
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Thank you for the blog entry. I've noticed that truly great retail customer service isn't all that common regardless of the business/industry. But more importantly, at least in my own experience too, I've that Starbucks customer service has gone downhill over the years. Perhaps the real problem is too many stores, and so many baristas/partners aren't there for any passion about the company or the coffee, but rather treat it just as a fast food job. What a shame. It's a lot more than that!
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The only Starbucks stand alone store in Columbia County is located in St. Helens. Due to a lack of consistent customer service, hours, quality, or consistent WiFi access in the local coffee cafes, I hang out at that Startbucks – a lot. They treat me well, know me by name, and provide a level of customer service and quality that most places in the Metro area could only dream of.