Woman sues Starbucks for $5 mil over too much ice in cold drinks

A Chicago woman Stacy Pincus, has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks for more than $5 million, claiming the coffee giant regularly overfills its cold drinks with ice instead of using the advertised amount of coffee or other liquid in its plastic cups. She accused Starbucks of  false advertising and consumer fraud, adding that they serve its customers “much less than advertised.The lawsuit alleges that an iced beverage advertised at 24 ounces contains about 14 ounces of fluid, and that ice isn't a fluid or beverage.

"A Starbucks customer who orders and pays for a cold drink receives much less than advertised — often nearly half as many fluid ounces," the lawsuit states, adding that the practice is "by design and corporate practice and procedure."

“Starbucks includes these three black lines on its cold drink cups to ensure that its employees fill these cups with less fluid ounces than are advertised on Starbucks’s menu for a given cold drink,” the lawsuit says. “In fact, Starbucks instructs its employees to provide its customers with fewer fluid ounces than advertised.”

In the lawsuit, Pincus also challenged Starbucks’s pricing, saying it charges more for cold drinks than hot ones. An average Grande Iced Coffee, advertised as a 16-ounce drink, costs $2.65, while a hot Grande Freshly Brewed Coffee costs $2.10.

“Essentially, Starbucks is not only underfilling its cold drinks compared to how they are advertised, but it is charging a premium price for them as well,” the filing reads. “Starbucks’s cold drinks are underfilled to make more money and higher profits, to the detriment of consumers who are misled by Starbucks’s intentionally misleading advertising practices.”

However, Starbucks dismissed the lawsuit as “frivolous and without merit.”

“Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any ‘iced’ beverage,” the coffee giant said in a statement. “If a customer is not satisfied with their beverage preparation, we will gladly remake it.”

Starbucks, has more than 23,000 stores worldwide, reported $19.2 billion in net revenue in 2015, a 16.5 percent increase from the previous year.

A lot of people think Pincus is only trying to get free money and that her lawsuit is dead on arrival at any court.
Some of their thoughts..