星巴克中‪国‬ ٤+

Being a foreigner in China can be difficult and frustrating at times (and also wonderful) but navigating this app is just great. I can use gift cards, order ahead and even get delivery (over 80¥ is free). Plus if you get your Starbucks green or gold card you can use your rewards with this app also. If you are a foreigner and visiting or living in China, and like Starbucks this app is a must.

The new arrangement is not a good deal at all, especially for gold card members. There is no reason to even try to become a gold card member they took the one benefit away and replaced with a lame attempt to seem like they are rewarding you. Instead of ten purchases for a free drink you have to get nine stars. A star is equal to spending fifty rmb. So you could buy a coffee and a croissant and still not earn one star. I had 53 stars. (That means I’ve spent too much money at Starbucks) and I had seven tear stars. Those are the stars that count to a free drink. Than my anniversary with them comes and the tear stars are zero! So any money spent to that free drink that is already not really that much of a deal anymore was just a waste. I know the 53 stars would be gone but it’s pretty cheap to also take the what’s already not that great of a reward away. To any new members it’s not even worth it to try to upgrade. You don’t get anything. Don’t spend more than you need to. It’s a waste of money. And maybe other smaller coffee shops will do better now. There is also no way to comment in the store or on the app. So I think they don’t care if you are satisfied or not. So different from the Starbucks of the past. Too bad.

Extremely frustrating experience with this app! After more than two years using the app with no problem and with over 2000rmb in gift cards on the account I bought a phone and all the gift cards disappeared! I tried to contact customer service several times but after a few minutes waiting the computer operator just says “our representatives are busy try another time”. I’ve left voice mails, and tried the online chat as well but it seems impossible to talk to anyone and even more impossible to resolve the issue or get any of the thousands of yuan I had associated with my account back. I had expected that when I installed the app on my new phone everything would be there and in fact, my transaction history, purchase history, favorites, location, and everything else are there. It seems intentional that only the gift cards would disappear. And of course, I no longer have the physical cards as I always pay using the app! 😡😡