P and I stopped by this new tea place on the way home from class the other day. I thought we could use a cup of tea after a big meal at our usual pasta place. We ordered some white tea (they didn't have vanilla) and then drifted over to their wares, where we grabbed an infuser mug (above in green). The woman behind the counter rushed over to explain the different tea accessories and why one is better (and more expensive) than the other (because you can perch it on the edge of the mug and just leave it to steep on itself).
Okay. It's so hard to be objective when ultimately we left with a sour taste in our mouths. We were looking at their displays of loose leaf tea and the helpful woman stepped in and explained how the system worked. You could either purchase a pouch or grab a bag and fill it from their dispenser. Usually, she said the loose leaf tea was a better deal than the vacuum packed pouch. We grabbed a paper bag and filled it with loose blueberry white tea. The sign beneath said, "2 oz pack $3.95 Loose $3.45". Clearly, the loose was a better deal. I even encouraged P to fill the bag with more tea to make it about 2 ounces.
While walking out the store, mug and little (and it was little) bag of tea in tow, I glanced at the receipt and noticed that P had paid $6+ for 1.85 ounces! So P went back in and I stayed outside thinking this was going to be short and sweet. After a few minutes, I went back in because it was getting cold outside. The woman behind the counter called her manager, who said that there was a misprint on the sign beneath the tea and it was supposed to say 1 oz pack instead of 2 oz. Also, the price published for the loose leaf tea is always per ounce, and he really doesn't want this to be weird.
I'm not clear about what happened next as it was getting late by that time and I really just wanted to get home, but they ended up charging back the $6 that they had taken off the card. Ladies and gentleman, this is a perfect example of bad customer service. P and I swore that the next time we were in a similar situation we would be better consumers and insist on the published price. And if we ever have our own little store someday we would train the staff to always accommodate the customer, especially in a situation where the customer is obviously right.
I love my mug and the blueberry tea was delicious, but I am never going back to that store again. From now on, we are going to Teavana for all our tea-related purchases.
