What in Coffee Chain Prepaid Cards Prompted This Starbucks Card Change?

Four university students found that with a 19 yuan Starbucks Card balance they could neither buy any product nor refund the remainder. They filed suit against Starbucks (Shanghai) Commercial Co. on June 19, 2023, and the Shanghai First Intermediate People's Court accepted the case. Starbucks later revised the terms, lowering the refund fee and removing the minimum charge.

Under the earlier rules, top-ups had to be multiples of 100 yuan, refunds cost 2% of the balance with a 20 yuan minimum, and extension management fees applied. The students argued these terms were unreasonable compared with prepaid cards from other tea brands. The updated terms now allow custom recharge amounts and cancel the extension fee, a change likely to shape what in coffee chain prepaid cards consumers can expect.

As a prepaid card product launched by Starbucks, the Star Gift Card has long suffered from issues such as restricted recharge amounts, high card refund fees, and the inability to clear remaining balances. Four university students discovered during their consumption that when the Star Gift Card balance was only 19 yuan, they could neither purchase any Starbucks products nor get a refund to clear the balance. After investigation, they found that prepaid cards from multiple tea beverage brands did not have such restrictions. So in June 2023, they filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, ultimately prompting Starbucks to update the Star Gift Card terms, lower the card refund fee, eliminate the minimum fee, allow custom recharge amounts, and cancel the extension management fee.

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Recharging membership cards for consumption has long become a common model, and Starbucks' Star Gift Card is no exception. Consumers can purchase Star Gift Cards according to their own needs, enjoying certain discounts while recharging for consumption. However, some university students noticed in actual use that when the Star Gift Card balance was only 19 yuan, they could neither buy any Starbucks products nor get a refund to clear the balance.

In addition, the Star Gift Cards in consumers' hands have other problems: the recharge amount must be a multiple of 100 and cannot be set according to consumer needs; refunding the card requires a 2% fee on the balance, with a minimum charge of 20 yuan.

After investigation, prepaid cards from multiple tea beverage brands did not have such issues in use — users could get refunds according to the actual amount without being charged fees by the brand. Therefore, in this university student's view, the terms of the Star Gift Card were unreasonable and infringed upon the rights and interests of consumers at large.

So this university student teamed up with classmates and filed a lawsuit against Starbucks (Shanghai) Commercial Co., Ltd. on June 19, 2023, which was accepted by the Shanghai First Intermediate People's Court, requesting Starbucks to fulfill its obligation of reasonable notice, to bold and blacken the dispute resolution clause in the Star Gift Card terms, and to cancel the card refund fee and remove the recharge amount restriction.

(Image screenshot from the Shanghai Songjiang WeChat official account)

In response to the consumer's claims, Starbucks updated the Star Gift Card terms on July 15, bolding and blackening the dispute resolution clause and attaching the Star Gift Card terms together with the platform notice within the purchase consent items. When users activate a Star Gift Card, there will also be a friendly reminder, allowing consumers to quickly understand the important clauses in the Star Gift Card terms.

As for the other two claims raised by the consumer, Starbucks could not immediately make corresponding improvements but promised to adjust the relevant terms within the time limit agreed upon by both parties. Under court mediation, the two parties reached a settlement, and the plaintiff chose to withdraw the lawsuit.

(Image from a Starbucks App screenshot)

Until November 6, the revised Star Gift Card terms officially took effect. The card refund fee was reduced from the original 2% to 1.5%, and the clause requiring a minimum card refund fee of 20 yuan was eliminated. The recharge function of the Star Gift Card was also adjusted — the recharge amount can be customized by the user, accurate to one decimal place.

In addition, the "Star Gift Card mandatory extension management fee" that plunged Starbucks into public controversy last year was also revised in this Star Gift Card terms update. Starbucks users' Star Gift Cards will automatically be extended for three years after the expiration of the validity period, with no extension management fee charged.

Many unreasonable problems with the domestic Star Gift Card were exposed by the media years ago, and it was repeatedly pointed out that before users purchased Star Gift Cards, Starbucks had not fulfilled its corresponding obligation of notice — some important clauses and information were placed in inconspicuous locations, and if users did not specifically look them up, it was simply difficult to know the "tricks" in the Star Gift Card.

Therefore, consumers had previously complained about Star Gift Card issues, but most chose to give up due to the high costs of litigation or arbitration, and Starbucks did not make corresponding rectifications after media exposure either. However, this time the university students' lawsuit against Starbucks prompted Starbucks to pay attention to the clause issues of the Star Gift Card and proactively make rectifications — perhaps Starbucks is gradually paying more attention to the feelings of domestic consumers.

Image source: Internet

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