I’m tempted to dock them a whole bunch of points for overcharging me by a ton on the loose tea that I bought at the same time, and putting way more in the bag than I initially asked for. Anyway, I generally dislike the way Teavana does business, but it’s the only tea shop in the mall, and if I’m in the mall then an iced tea is my consolation prize. So I got the Blueberry Bliss to go, iced in addition to my loose tea.
This one is really, really good iced. I’d probably hate it hot, but I love the combination of cold and blueberry-roobois. I picked this having had prior good experiences with this type of flavor. The SA seemed really confused that I didn’t want it sweetened and commented that Western women didn’t usually take their tea plain (She was Vietnamese). What can I say? I like unsweetened iced tea. Anyway, I’d drink this again… next time I’m in the maul- that is if I decide to give Teavana any more business.
Preparation
People who liked this
Comments
While that stinks, that isn’t fair- I’d put a review up for that specific location in the places section.
It’s especially rude that she gave you the impression that she thought you were ordering it “wrong”. I can’t even tolerate sweetened iced tea so I probably would have come back w/ something smart like “Well, if you sweeten it I’ll to a spit take”. You’re lucky though. The only place I can get tea (not fast food “iced tea” or grocery store bottled) is at Gloria Jean’s. They do have a pretty good selection of Harney and Sons bagged though.
If it is the same vietnamese lady that manages the Teavana at the Willowbrook mall location. I have issues with her too she always puts way too much in my bag and looks at me wondering if I will notice and the first time I didn’t but now I’m on to her! She always looks at my selections and tries too make me blend various concotions too!!!! :(
Yes!!!! I think it must be the same woman- she acted like she didn’t know what she was doing, but it was totally a setup. And she was really pushing the blending thing. Ugh.
Teavana sounds horrible. I’ve read so many bad things about them that I’ll never buy from them.
I sympathize with the sales associate though…I imagine most Americans do order their tea sweetened, and she probably just wanted to double check.
The question was totally fine with me. Giving me about 10x the amount of tea I asked her to put in the bag wasn’t. She managed to confuse me with her questions until I wound up paying almost $40. I should have refused to pay, but I was doing that “oh dear, I don’t want to make a fuss” thing that I do. And I even went in knowing that all the employees there deliberately overfill the bags in order to upsell you.
The customer is always right. It also depends on if she asks “do you want it sweetened?” or “You don’t want it sweetened?”.
Lisbet, thanks for the upsell warning. I will deliberately do math before paying for my purchase. I got confused… you said “an iced tea is my consolation prize” so I thought she filled a tea bag, let it steep, then iced it or something… $40 for that would be INSANE!
Lisbet—I totally agree, that sucks about over-filling. I just meant regarding the question…if you’ve ever worked food/retail, I’m sure you’re familiar with the crap customers give you if you don’t prepare something exactly right, so it’s best to ask to double check. But yeah, eff Teavana. Over-charging + crappy tea = no business from me!
Lisbet, I go to Teavana all the time (I have a teenager who wants to LIVE at the mall) and so I know how she operates now. I always dread seeing her but I have to have me Zingiber Ginger Coconut so I put on my determined face and go to battle for my ZGC! LOL
Shanti, couldn’t you just buy it online (if, of course, you don’t mind the shipping- Idk how instore price compares to online+shipping)? That would be, of course, if you liked their teas. I’ve only tried two. I really like Sweet Oolong Revolution and Garden Aria is ok… it’s just not my cuppa- but I bet a person that enjoys hot fruit flavored white teas would really enjoy it.
Yeah Shanti, Teavana actually has some great teas and tea blends if you do not want to “battle” for your tea just order online.
Almost all the reviews of Teavana teas I read here are negative, based on the flavor :/ I’m not big fan of hibiscus, which they put in a lot of their teas, plus all the fruit they add seems extraneous. It’s usually the flavoring, not the fruit bits, that add flavor to the tea. Meh. But also, I’m not willing to support a company that treats its customers badly. Have you seen this before? http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=82428 It’s really disturbing.
*customers AND employees
Wow….. Shanti it seems like my experiences at Teavana were just the way they do business. I’ve never had someone sneakily get me to buy $40 worth of tea before, and am planning on writing an email to the company to complain, so they at least know that another customer is onto them.
Lisbet, you really should. I’m not one to complain about little things like incorrect steeping instructions (at least, incorrect for me) or misspellings, etc., but THIS seems like something really worth mentioning to them.
Okay, they just got an earful via email. The tea I bought is $10/2 oz so the lady must have given me 8oz even though I asked for 50g (about 1.75oz). Good lord.
Geez…that’s awful.
Shanti, The story you posted is SADLY not a new one when it comes to sales. In fact it is VERY similar to my experience while working with Mary Kay Cosmetics several years ago.
I realized in reading this later that it was very confusing- I bought two things at Teavana- the iced tea to go (thankfully no grief from them about making me a to-go drink, but I’ve never had a problem with that), and a bag of chai. The chai was what was the super overcharge aggravation.
Agreed. I just wanted it to make Red, White, and blueberry mojitos that I saw online in their recipes. They also put way too much in and kept asking “Is that okay?” at 4oz. and I said “NO”. I walked in and specifically told them which teas I wanted and that I only wanted 2oz. They need to stop saying that they sell it starting at 2oz because I’ve yet to find someone there who can correctly measure the tea I ask for.
Ugh, I am tempted to only buy from them online in the future so I know upfront exactly what I am getting. I probably ought to boycott them altogether but I am weak :)
yeah.. I was reading reviews though and someone recommended the website http://www.specialteas.com/ for their similar and much cheaper blends. They have just as much variety. Someone suggested it was the same tea, but I’m not sure that’s true. There are however very comparable blends like one called blueberry cocktail just lacking the rooibos of blueberry bliss. If you’re going to buy online I’m sure there’s plenty of options.
SpecialTeas and Teavana are the same company, owned by the same people and everything. (Some other companies re-sell the same tea made other companies, but SpecialTeas and Teavana are directly linked and owned by the same entities.) Personally I avoid both places because I’m unwilling to give them my financial support.
I did not know SpecialTeas and Teavana are the same 0_0 wow… whoops.
ooh. yeah. I personally prefer the same— to not buy from either.
While that stinks, that isn’t fair- I’d put a review up for that specific location in the places section.
It’s especially rude that she gave you the impression that she thought you were ordering it “wrong”. I can’t even tolerate sweetened iced tea so I probably would have come back w/ something smart like “Well, if you sweeten it I’ll to a spit take”. You’re lucky though. The only place I can get tea (not fast food “iced tea” or grocery store bottled) is at Gloria Jean’s. They do have a pretty good selection of Harney and Sons bagged though.
If it is the same vietnamese lady that manages the Teavana at the Willowbrook mall location. I have issues with her too she always puts way too much in my bag and looks at me wondering if I will notice and the first time I didn’t but now I’m on to her! She always looks at my selections and tries too make me blend various concotions too!!!! :(
Yes!!!! I think it must be the same woman- she acted like she didn’t know what she was doing, but it was totally a setup. And she was really pushing the blending thing. Ugh.
Teavana sounds horrible. I’ve read so many bad things about them that I’ll never buy from them.
I sympathize with the sales associate though…I imagine most Americans do order their tea sweetened, and she probably just wanted to double check.
The question was totally fine with me. Giving me about 10x the amount of tea I asked her to put in the bag wasn’t. She managed to confuse me with her questions until I wound up paying almost $40. I should have refused to pay, but I was doing that “oh dear, I don’t want to make a fuss” thing that I do. And I even went in knowing that all the employees there deliberately overfill the bags in order to upsell you.
The customer is always right. It also depends on if she asks “do you want it sweetened?” or “You don’t want it sweetened?”.
Lisbet, thanks for the upsell warning. I will deliberately do math before paying for my purchase. I got confused… you said “an iced tea is my consolation prize” so I thought she filled a tea bag, let it steep, then iced it or something… $40 for that would be INSANE!
Lisbet—I totally agree, that sucks about over-filling. I just meant regarding the question…if you’ve ever worked food/retail, I’m sure you’re familiar with the crap customers give you if you don’t prepare something exactly right, so it’s best to ask to double check. But yeah, eff Teavana. Over-charging + crappy tea = no business from me!
Lisbet, I go to Teavana all the time (I have a teenager who wants to LIVE at the mall) and so I know how she operates now. I always dread seeing her but I have to have me Zingiber Ginger Coconut so I put on my determined face and go to battle for my ZGC! LOL
Shanti, couldn’t you just buy it online (if, of course, you don’t mind the shipping- Idk how instore price compares to online+shipping)? That would be, of course, if you liked their teas. I’ve only tried two. I really like Sweet Oolong Revolution and Garden Aria is ok… it’s just not my cuppa- but I bet a person that enjoys hot fruit flavored white teas would really enjoy it.
Yeah Shanti, Teavana actually has some great teas and tea blends if you do not want to “battle” for your tea just order online.
Almost all the reviews of Teavana teas I read here are negative, based on the flavor :/ I’m not big fan of hibiscus, which they put in a lot of their teas, plus all the fruit they add seems extraneous. It’s usually the flavoring, not the fruit bits, that add flavor to the tea. Meh. But also, I’m not willing to support a company that treats its customers badly. Have you seen this before? http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=82428 It’s really disturbing.
*customers AND employees
Wow….. Shanti it seems like my experiences at Teavana were just the way they do business. I’ve never had someone sneakily get me to buy $40 worth of tea before, and am planning on writing an email to the company to complain, so they at least know that another customer is onto them.
Lisbet, you really should. I’m not one to complain about little things like incorrect steeping instructions (at least, incorrect for me) or misspellings, etc., but THIS seems like something really worth mentioning to them.
Okay, they just got an earful via email. The tea I bought is $10/2 oz so the lady must have given me 8oz even though I asked for 50g (about 1.75oz). Good lord.
Geez…that’s awful.
Shanti, The story you posted is SADLY not a new one when it comes to sales. In fact it is VERY similar to my experience while working with Mary Kay Cosmetics several years ago.
I realized in reading this later that it was very confusing- I bought two things at Teavana- the iced tea to go (thankfully no grief from them about making me a to-go drink, but I’ve never had a problem with that), and a bag of chai. The chai was what was the super overcharge aggravation.
Agreed. I just wanted it to make Red, White, and blueberry mojitos that I saw online in their recipes. They also put way too much in and kept asking “Is that okay?” at 4oz. and I said “NO”. I walked in and specifically told them which teas I wanted and that I only wanted 2oz. They need to stop saying that they sell it starting at 2oz because I’ve yet to find someone there who can correctly measure the tea I ask for.
Ugh, I am tempted to only buy from them online in the future so I know upfront exactly what I am getting. I probably ought to boycott them altogether but I am weak :)
yeah.. I was reading reviews though and someone recommended the website http://www.specialteas.com/ for their similar and much cheaper blends. They have just as much variety. Someone suggested it was the same tea, but I’m not sure that’s true. There are however very comparable blends like one called blueberry cocktail just lacking the rooibos of blueberry bliss. If you’re going to buy online I’m sure there’s plenty of options.
SpecialTeas and Teavana are the same company, owned by the same people and everything. (Some other companies re-sell the same tea made other companies, but SpecialTeas and Teavana are directly linked and owned by the same entities.) Personally I avoid both places because I’m unwilling to give them my financial support.
I did not know SpecialTeas and Teavana are the same 0_0 wow… whoops.
ooh. yeah. I personally prefer the same— to not buy from either.