Why can't I get what I pay for at Starbucks?

[shelly]

Ummm...I must agree, there is a lack of customer service in BA. You pay a lot of money (in pesos) for not only good food, but good customer service. And I love Starbucks, but some Starbucks are good and some not so good. I went to the one on Fl. Ave and they were extremely nice, but the one in the new shopping mall...DOT not so much. The food here is so good it is such a shame that the customer service can't be too...maybe we should all get together and open one of our own and show them what customer service is all about!!!!

 

[steveinbsas]

I once walked out of Starbucks in Palermo, and a stray dog gave me a funny look. I gave it the bird. Hell yea. Then I cried.

Was that you in the stairs of the subte singing "I am, I said?"

(BA's fine, the sun shines most the time, and the feeling is pay back...)

 

[Napoleon]

Why are you going to Starbucks?

Probably because coffee sucks all kinds of ass in this country.

So Starbucks tastes like a gourmet owner-operated coffee house compared to the sugared ass-water that passes for coffee in the rest of the coffee houses in this town.

That's just a guess.

And compared to "Premium" coffee shops like Havanna, Starbucks' price per ounce is a bargain when comparing it to the thimble of coffee that you get for a third of the price. Do you realize how many thimbles of coffee must be consumed to even feel the buzz equal to the shock of static electricity received when taking your clothes out of a dryer in the winter? Well neither do I, but you get the point that Starbucks is a much better deal than Havanna.

 

[syngirl]

IStar -- You have been mislead. Starbucks in Argentina is not Official Starbucks. Nor are any of the Starbucks in South America. Go to the Starbucks official website and look up locations in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Cordoba, wherever you want in South America and you will see, NONE come up. Then if you google around for awhile you will find the Starbucks Argentina site that clearly states it is Ex-Official. In otherwords, nothing is coming from Corporate Head Office here apart from the rights to sell the coffee in the cups and have all of the pretty looking stuff that goes with it. Some other company has bought the rights to open Starbucks here and in chile. They get to look all pretty and I'm sure they're supposed to work with Starbucks standards but they don' necessarily.

Now I'm sure this is the way it is in most of the world outside of US/Canada, that Starbucks is actually owned by some other entity. However, in Argentina there are huge diferences in customer service and they aren't going to suddenly change that. They will sell the product but they arent going to manipulate their staff members into becoming nice North American barristas.

The Starbucks kids at the SCL airport are much nicer.

Anyway, at the end of the day, Starbucks sucks ass. As a Vancouverite I shun Starbucks and would love to open an Artigiano franchise here instead, however Artigiano is for true coffee lovers and the barristas are craftsmen... I don't know how it would ever go over here! Trying to source quality products and then train an Argentine staff to make artwork in their foam could be a phenomenal task. If Starbucks is 10 pesos for a tall here, Artigiano would end up being about 20!

 

[ghost]

If ya try.....sometime, ya just might find.............ya get what ya need.
Ha, but it's very seldom, in AR that you will ever get what you want, the way you want it. It's just counter to the culture.

 

[citygirl]

I'm not a fan of the coffee here either (thank god for mate) and yes, I can understand your frustration.

If you pay for something - it is reasonable to expect to get what you paid for. Especially if you are already paying a premium (a la the Starbucks prices) I hardly think istar is out of line by saying s/he (sorry, don't know your gender) is a little POed by not getting the service that was requested and paid for.

And yes, vote with your feet and don't go back.

Syngirl - that is really interesting about Starbucks - I had no idea.

 

[tangobob]

I can list dozens of watered down American type cafes bars or take aways, if you come to Argentina expecting what you got at home, then that is all you will get, but a watered down version.
Get out of the comfort zone, leave Palermo, Recoleta, and Porto Madero, you will find excellent coffee at a quarter of the price, The same goes for the food and clothing, furniture almost everything (except electrics which have a high import duty) Service will be better everything.
The tourist areas cater for tourists, Argentines do Argentine food best, live like a local or suffer.
For my sins I once went to TGIs, it was the worst experience I had in BsAs, I had to go and have a Steak just to make me feel better.

 

[iStar]

IStar -- You have been mislead. Starbucks in Argentina is not Official Starbucks. Nor are any of the Starbucks in South America. Go to the Starbucks official website and look up locations in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Cordoba, wherever you want in South America and you will see, NONE come up. Then if you google around for awhile you will find the Starbucks Argentina site that clearly states it is Ex-Official. In otherwords, nothing is coming from Corporate Head Office here apart from the rights to sell the coffee in the cups and have all of the pretty looking stuff that goes with it. Some other company has bought the rights to open Starbucks here and in chile. They get to look all pretty and I'm sure they're supposed to work with Starbucks standards but they don' necessarily.

Now I'm sure this is the way it is in most of the world outside of US/Canada, that Starbucks is actually owned by some other entity. However, in Argentina there are huge diferences in customer service and they aren't going to suddenly change that. They will sell the product but they arent going to manipulate their staff members into becoming nice North American barristas.

The Starbucks kids at the SCL airport are much nicer.

Anyway, at the end of the day, Starbucks sucks ass. As a Vancouverite I shun Starbucks and would love to open an Artigiano franchise here instead, however Artigiano is for true coffee lovers and the barristas are craftsmen... I don't know how it would ever go over here! Trying to source quality products and then train an Argentine staff to make artwork in their foam could be a phenomenal task. If Starbucks is 10 pesos for a tall here, Artigiano would end up being about 20!

I had no idea they were not corporate. This is what happens when you put your brand that you've spent millions of dollars on creating and fostering in the hands of someone else.

Thanks for the 411!!

And yes I agree Starbucks at SCL was much better! Let me guess... you tried them on the Air Canada stop enroute to Argentina?

 

[syngirl]

I know, I didn't realise about the whole Starbucks Ex-Oficial until a few weeks ago when I got up on a Saturday morning and decided to walk up and get one... so I looked on the website to see if there were any new ones closer to me, and to my amazement there wasn't a single one listed! So a bit of googling and find out this whole ex-Oficial thing.. at some point when I have time on my hands I want to figre it out, what's the dirty little secret of Starbucks Argentina, haha!

Yeah too many runs BA- SCL - YYZ - YVR this year... not going to do it again though, back to the slightly less complicated BA Dallas YVR or BA Mex City YVR runs.... otherwise it's just way way too many hours via Toronto....

 

[ssr]

Get out of the comfort zone, leave Palermo, Recoleta, and Porto Madero, you will find excellent coffee at a quarter of the price, The same goes for the food and clothing, furniture almost everything (except electrics which have a high import duty) Service will be better everything.

Excellent coffee? In Argentina? Doubtful. Sure, the presentation is always pretty nice, but they just don't have the beans down here to make a decent cup of coffee. I did just notice a Juan Valdez logo on a bag of coffee beans at Disco, though, so I might pick up a bag (and I'm sure it's going to be expensive) once I've finished the many pounds of coffee beans that I brought down here from the US because I was so tired of terrible Argentine coffee.

For my sins I once went to TGIs, it was the worst experience I had in BsAs, I had to go and have a Steak just to make me feel better.

Agreed. The TGIFs at Alto Palermo is almost comically awful. The service, the food, the prices; it's all bad. And they have a line out the door every weekend. Which is why it's rarely a good idea to take a porteño's advice when it comes to food. They don't have a clue.