[wordup] Starbucks hoax. Ha Ha.

[Adam Shand]

From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22433-2002Jul17.html

Starbucks: Coupons Are Fake

By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 18, 2002; Page E01

Starbucks Corp.'s new cool and creamy drink is not complimentary.

That's the message the Seattle-based coffee company sent out to its
store managers nationwide in response to an Internet hoax that cost
Starbucks a few of its own bucks.

Counterfeit coupons were circulated illegally by e-mail earlier this
week by an unidentified source offering a free 12-ounce Creme
Frappuccino, a blended beverage introduced by Starbucks this month that
tastes a lot like a milkshake.

When Starbucks learned of the hoax on Tuesday afternoon, it immediately
notified authorities and got word out to its stores to stop redeeming
the coupons, said Audrey Lincoff, a company spokeswoman.

But because of the three-hour time difference, store managers in the
Washington metro area got word of the prank just before closing time,
after some of them already had handed out freebies.

"We gave away lots and lots of them [Tuesday] because we didn't know,"
said one Starbucks employee in the District, who asked not to be named.
"It's hard to believe this is real. We've run out of the vanilla Creme
Frappuccinos. It's all gone."

Lincoff, the company spokeswoman, declined to offer an estimate on how
much the hoax may have cost Starbucks. But she said the coupon
redemptions were "limited" because the company moved quickly to block
their use.

The fake coupons looked very much like the ones Starbucks and radio
station Z104 mailed out to Washington area residents recently as part of
a legitimate promotion. Those coupons went out by regular mail and were
double-sided.

The fine print on the fake coupons claimed that the offer expired
yesterday.

That's why Ilana Barash rushed to one of the downtown Starbucks stores
late yesterday afternoon. Her uncle, knowing that she's a
self-proclaimed Starbucks addict, forwarded the coupon to her.

When she noticed the expiration date, she went to one store on 14th
Street NW, only to find that the Frappuccinos were sold out. She made
her way to two more stores before calling it quits.

"I just want a Frappuccino," the 18-year-old law firm intern said. "I'm
even willing to pay for it, but I can't find it anywhere."

Starbucks, which has about 4,300 stores in North America, has not
encountered this kind of problem before and encouraged consumers to call
its customer relations department if they have any questions, said the
company spokeswoman.

Apparently, not all customers are dealing with the hoax gracefully.

"I can't tell you how many times I've been cussed out today," said one
Starbucks employee in the District, who did not want to be identified. A
stack of the fake coupons sat on his counter. "Some people are getting
really mad even when I explain it to them."

Johanna Spangenberg, 31, did not get hot and bothered. When a friend
forwarded the coupon to her, she was suspicious. Why, she wondered,
would Starbucks give away this relatively expensive drink? Depending on
its size, a Frappuccino can cost anywhere from $2.65 to $3.65.

"I called one of the stores to ask them if it was real because I didn't
want to walk down the street on this hot day for nothing," said
Spangenberg, an account executive at Stratacomm, a public relations firm
in the District.

Spangenberg shared the bad news with colleagues John Fitzpatrick and
Kelly Hysan.

Fitzpatrick, 36, said he was disappointed.

"My gut told me it wasn't real," Fitzpatrick said. "My wallet was hoping
it was."

© 2002 The Washington Post Company