Claim: Starbucks issued coupons via e-mail good for free iced grande beverages.
Example:[Collected via e-mail, 2006]
Hi Everyone,
Starting today until September 30th, please join us in "surprising and delighting" our family and friends, while introducing you to our iced beverages. Attached is an invitation for a complimentary iced Grande beverage. Please forward this invitation to everyone in your email address book.
Origins: Recipients are well-advised to treat retail coupons circulated via e-mail with suspicion, because the coupons often turn out to be phonies created by pranksters or real coupons
that someone has reproduced and circulated without authorization (and which are therefore not accepted by the retailer).
The Starbucks coupon for a free iced grande beverage (valid until 30 September 2006) reproduced above was legitimate, if only in a limited sense, and if only briefly. We called the Starbucks Regional Coordinator whose name was listed on the e-mail to check, and she'd obviously been getting quite a few calls about the matter, because her phone line rolled over to a voicemail message that included information about the coupon. The gist of the message was that the coupon was genuine, but only for company-owned Starbuck outlets in the "Southeast region." However, a follow-up call to Starbucks' Customer Relations department yielded the information that since many coupons were e-mailed outside the Southeast region, the company had extended the offer to include all company-owned Starbucks locations in North America.
However, according to a 29 August 2006 press release,
Starbucks has since changed its mind about honoring the e-mailed coupon anywhere:
Starbucks Response to Free Iced Coffee Email
An email offering a free Starbucks iced coffee was distributed to a limited group of Starbucks partners (employees) in the Southeast United States on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 with instructions to forward to their group of friends and family. Unfortunately, it has been redistributed beyond the original intent and modified beyond Starbucks control. Effective immediately, this offer will no longer be valid at any Starbucks locations.
We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience as a result of this offer.
Taking advantage of the withdrawn Starbucks promotion, the rival Caribou Coffee chain announced a few days later that they would honor the voided coupons on 8 September 2006 by giving free medium Cold Press iced coffee, iced Americano, or iced tea to persons presenting Starbucks iced coffee coupons at Caribou outlets from noon until the close of business that day.
Last updated: 1 September 2006
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/starbucks.asp
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