Joe Beans

Review: Drive thru operation. Drove to window to buy a 16 oz. Smoothie. Advertised as $4.45, 16 oz.Grande. List of flavors at window with poster for "FEATURED OF THE WEEK Pineapple Upside Down Cake Smoothie". Showed picture of product. No other information. Ordered featured smoothie. They asked for $0.80 ABOVE the advertised Smoothie price of $4.45, charging $5.25 + tax. I told them the advertised price for smoothies was $4.45. The team leader, [redacted], came to window to tell me that the featured smoothie had added ingredients and therefore was a higher price. I mentioned I did not see it advertised at a higher price. The only smoothie pricing for 16 oz. size was $4.45 and that was the price I expected to pay. She told me she could not sell me the featured smoothie for $4.45 but I could order another smoothie off their "regular" list. I asked her how the consumer was to know about the higher price and she told me they tell you when they collect the money. I then told her they needed to advertise the price difference and asked if there was someone else I could speak to. She suggested Facebook. She later asked for my name/number. I gave her my business card.Desired Settlement: Have them correctly advertise pricing on featured items. It is unacceptable to advertise higher priced items under normal pricing. I believe this to be consumer fraud, bait and switch, or some other illegal advertising scheme.

Business

Response:

At Joe Bean's, we offer not only industry standard drinks, such as lattes and mochas, but we also give the customer the opportunity to customize and build their own drinks. Because of the many options we offer, it would be nearly impossible to list and price every single drink that we can produce; with that being said, we also understand that, to a newer customer, pricing on some drinks may be confusing. Currently, our menu boards state that flavor shots; milk substitutes, and "extras" do add up to additional costs on certain drinks. Again, however, we recognize that to a customer who isn't familiar with our pricing, this may seem a bit vague. Several months before this incident occurred, we recognized that our menu could be improved and made more specific. We are happy to report that we have submitted final proofs for these boards and that the new menus should be going up at our stores in a matter of weeks. The specific smoothie that this customer requested is priced on these new boards, and we hope that this will eliminate any future confusion. Another facet of this situation is that of customer service. While the barista that served this particular customer did offer smoothies that were standard price, we believe that she could have handled the situation in a better manner, As a result, this employee has been re-trained on how to better educate and serve the customers we value. It should also be mentioned that the employee did obtain the customer's contact information, and the owner of the business contacted this customer the same day that the incident occurred. The owner and the customer were able to discuss the situation in question, as well as ideas as to how this type of confusion could be avoided in the future. We never enjoy hearing that a customer has had a negative experience with us. However, we recognize the value, of customer feedback in improving our business. We hope that our new, more detailed menu boards, as well as the opportunity to educate our employees, will help us to avoid these types of incidents in the future. Sincerely, Linda S. Brown CEO

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.Regards,[redacted]