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Woman Sues Starbucks For $5 Million For Putting Too Much Ice In Her Iced Coffee Drinks

By Tara West
Published on: 10:48 PST, Apr 30, 2016

An angry Starbucks customer, Stacy Pincus, is suing the coffee giant for $5 million over icy beverages. The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks puts too much ice in their iced coffee drinks, giving customers 50 percent less coffee than that of a hot beverage of the same size despite being priced higher. The lawsuit against Starbucks claims that the company’s menu misrepresents iced beverage sizes by up to 50 percent.

The Daily Mail reports that Starbucks is being sued by one unhappy customer who claims the coffee company isn’t providing customers with enough coffee in their iced beverages. Starbucks customer Stacy Pincus claims that she receives up to 50 percent less coffee when she orders an iced beverage over a hot beverage. She notes that despite the Starbucks’ menu claiming four different size choices, Tall (12 oz.), Grande (16 oz.), Venti (24 oz.), and Trenta (30 oz.), a customer ordering an iced beverage never comes close to receiving the stated amount of coffee as nearly half of the cup is taken up with ice.

The lawsuit outlines the reasons that Starbucks should be held liable for putting too much ice in the iced coffee beverages, noting that the ounces described on the menu are “deceiving.”

“In essence, Starbucks is advertising the size of its cold drink cups on its menu, rather than the amount of fluid a customer will receive when they purchase a cold drink – and deceiving its customers in the process.”

While Stacy Pincus is the lead plaintiff in the case, she is filing a class-action lawsuit against Starbucks and is asking any customer who has purchased an iced Starbucks beverage in the last 10 years to join her efforts. Pincus is being represented by Steven Hart of Hart, McLaughlin & Eldridge in Chicago, who says that Starbucks should pay for their “deceiving” marketing and menus. In the lawsuit, an example is given of a Venti Starbucks drink. The lawyer claims that if a customer orders a Venti, expecting to receive a 24-ounce beverage, they will only receive 14 ounces of drink, and the rest will be ice. Therefore, he says the customer is only getting a little over half of the advertised amount.

“A Starbucks customer who orders a Venti cold drink receives only 14 fluid ounces of that drink — just over half the advertised amount, and just over half the amount for which they are paying. In the iced coffee example, a Starbucks customer who orders and pays for a Venti iced coffee, expecting to receive 24 fluid ounces of iced coffee based on Starbucks’ advertisement and marketing, will instead receive only about 14 fluid ounces of iced coffee.”

The lawsuit continues to blast the company for making most of its profits off of these “deceiving” drinks. The document points out that Starbucks charges more for iced beverages despite giving the customer less product and more ice. It was noted that Starbucks’ most profitable drink was iced tea, one of the company’s “deceiving” iced beverages with too much ice. To rectify the situation, the lawsuit says that Starbucks could change the ounce sizes on the menu to reflect the amount of beverage the customer will actually receive or increase cup size.

The charges against Starbucks in the “too much ice” lawsuit includes breach of express warranty, breach of implied warrant of merchantability, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and fraud.

Meanwhile, Starbucks says the lawsuit has no merit as customers ordering iced beverages should expect ice to be a major component in the drink. Furthermore, the company points to its longstanding police to remake any beverage a customer is unhappy with, meaning Stacy Pincus could have requested an iced beverage with less ice.

What do you think about the lawsuit against Starbucks for putting too much ice in their iced beverages?

[Image via Shutterstock]

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