Starbucks, AT+T and Customer Service

So normally a header like that would be followed by a rant on how bad an experience I had with customer service.
On the contrary, Im quite pleased today. Im sitting at my “local”, which, if this were written by any other Englishman would mean The Pub, but mine is a Starbucks Coffee House and for the longest time Ive been frustrated, nay, outraged by the insane charges to get internet access. Lets face it, coffee is not cheap here so forking out another $10 for 24 hours of internet service has never been an option. Especially since that 24hrs runs like the LeMans circuit – it stops 24hrs after the start!.

It should be free internet for anyone buying a coffee, right?

Well, now Starbucks is switching from T-Mobile to AT+T but thats not the good news. If you frequent Starbucks at least once a month then get yourself a gift card,

register the gift card online and you will create an account for the wireless service at AT+T hotspots. That gives you 2hrs a day at the hotspots, plenty of time to surf and write blogs or do your college assignments.

Not only that, you will get free refills on regular coffee when you use the card. So not exactly free internet service but really not far off. Just as it should be.

Now for the customer service.

I couldnt log in to my account so I called the number on the screen for AT+T and aside from the fact that the guy spoke and understood english (US) he was very efficient and polite. Score one for AT+T
Then I went to get my free cuppa but was told that my card was’t registered. Well I didn’t want to mess up their “system” as they’ve obviously put lot of thought into this so I called 1-800-starbuc and again was met with a very cordial representative who verified the card was registered and for my trouble (a phone call) will be sending me some vouchers so I really do get my free coffee. Woohoo.

So the economy is down, perhaps all customer service teams have been instructed to try extra hard to retain what business they have left.

I wonder if I can get the Mocha Latte Java Chocolate Frappucino with whipped cream on those vouchers