Aaron N.
Yelp
I've been going to this specific location occasionally since it's the closest bakery to my house. Holy shit.. how did customer service go downhill like this??? Note: As someone who works in Customer Service myself, I normally do NOT have the energy to put up a 1-star review on Yelp, but this experience pushed me to the edge.
I took both my parents to stop by for a quick bakery purchase, and since they have a BOGO special for 3 drinks (Boba Milk Tea, Sea Salt Cream Green Tea, & Matcha Latte), I decided to make the purchase and hopefully get a milk tea (w/o boba, 30% sugar, less ice) and sea salt cream green tea (less ice).
Once my parents got their breads and went outside to wait for me, I ordered and spoke to the Customer Service Team (agent at the front was Marissa). When I asked to get the two drinks based on preferences, they told me that the two drinks have to match and not mix. STRIKE #1: Since when did free drink have to match exactly the 1st drink? There are 3 available drinks for the BOGO, right? That's why it's called "Buy One, Get One (Free);" if there are multiple drinks in a BOGO promotion, it's supposed to be mix & match... I then changed my mind to get 2 milk teas w/ 30% sugar and light ice, and then Marissa told me, "So for BOGO, we offer only either 100% sugar or none." STRIKE #2: Out of all the times going to a Sunmerry Bakery getting their BOGO promos, I've ALWAYS been assisted with sugar adjustments on my milk teas. Why does it have to be 100% or 0%? Why did this location stop doing this? Mind you again, this is their regular milk tea, and yes sugar level can be adjusted to either 0/30/50/80/100.
Ok fine, so I stuck with 2 milk teas with light ice, but Marissa told me that the boba is not ready. I asked her that I don't want boba, just the milk teas. So she double-checked with the other staff and was able to confirm that we can omit the bobas. However, she entered "Boba Milk Tea" onto the register without putting "no boba," because I guess their system apparently doesn't have an option to omit the topping. They were out of boba and are making the batch that I won't need to care about. This is where the 3rd strike comes in.
Mind you, there were 6 middle-aged Asian women were waiting in-line right behind me to order their drinks not on the BOGO, so theoretically, I should be getting my drinks 1st before them. So I waited and waited and noticed that Marissa and the other staff member making the drinks that they were having trouble sorting out the tickets. Then once they started sorting everything out (for a good chunk of 15 mins), they made the drinks and handed them over to those 6 women. Did they forget my drinks? I asked the 2nd staffer to see if she can update the status of my drinks, but she kinda saw my receipt and went away to handle other drinks. I then suddenly realized that the word "Boba" was on my ticket, and they were actually waiting on the Boba that I didn't want. I pointed out the confusion to Marissa, and she said she told me that the boba is still currently being made. I clarified with her that I never wanted the boba; she added "Boba Milk Tea x2" to the ticket, so she would remind her team to disregard the boba!! She didn't tell them... So I waited little over 30 minutes for my two simple drinks, because not only did my ticket get disorganized, but Marissa also didn't bother to keep tabs on my drinks that I never boba (and she notated "Boba" onto my drink...). She FINALLY started on my drinks, but once she finished them, she just placed them on the counter for me to retrieve. No formal apology, no gift card, no guarantee for free drink, nothing. This entire waiting period after my purchase is STRIKE #3. If you're going to do a weekly or monthly BOGO, please ensure that your customer service agents have good memory and go out of their way to ensure great customer experience for every buyer as much as possible. Please staff at least 3 people in the drink counter to make sure the drinks are correctly made in-order and efficiently. If you know you have made a mistake, please own up to it and make it up for your customer in any additional way to improve their experience. This location in Temple City made me and my parents wait a whole 30 minutes for this bizarre BOGO experience.
Too bad I still have to get their coconut raisin breads just for my mom (because she likes theirs), but I will be going to a different Sunmerry location. STAY AWAY from this one in Temple City! It will save you the drive, parking headache, and poor customer experience that they're apparently fine with now. Judging by this entire yelp page, they don't check the reviews at all, so I wouldn't expect them to take negative experiences like mines & many others' seriously.