Starbucks Hong Kong

The Starbucks HK app is surprisingly poor for a company of this scale and reputation. The app is consistently slow and often stuck on loading screens. Errors are frequent, and I’m regularly asked to log in again for no apparent reason. More concerning is the lack of transparency around transactions and balance reconciliation. It is difficult to understand how the balance has changed or verify whether transactions have been properly recorded, which makes me wonder whether there could be errors. The mobile ordering experience is equally frustrating. After placing an order, it is sometimes unclear whether the order has actually gone through, leaving customers uncertain whether to wait, reorder, or check with the store. Overall, the app feels unreliable, poorly designed and not fit for purpose. For a global brand like Starbucks, I’m genuinely surprised that such a poor digital customer experience has been allowed to persist.

How is it that I can use biometrics to log onto my banking apps with virtually no trouble, but the Starbucks app requires me to waste time in line awkwardly logging in every. Single. Time I go to Starbucks. Why? Why does it log me out so frequently? Is this Hotmail in 1997? I’m also met, upon logging in, with a gift card balance that’s always wrong and a series of coupons that are either expired or not applicable. Apps should improve the quality of the customer experience; this makes it far worse. The ONLY redeeming feature of this app is that it gets you two hours of WiFi instead of SBHK’s ultra-stingy 30 minutes.

Doesn’t seem like there’s much motivation to get this app to perform basic functions. Surely it’s not that hard to keep it updated?