E C S Company

In 2012 I purchased an "elite" card for $25, which was supposed to enable me to earn points toward free smoothies across all locations. (Since Emerald City Smoothie is a franchise, the standard punch cards only work at specific locations, and thus this "elite" card is supposed to function as a sort of punch card that works at all locations (along with providing other benefits).) However, the card barely ever worked when employees swiped it, and thus in February of 2012 I contacted Emerald City Smoothie's corporate headquarters to request a refund or a card that worked. On February 17, 2012, [redacted] the manager of the Capitol Hill location, contacted me to resolve the problem. I met him in the store and he took my card, gave me a free smoothie, three full paper punch cards, and one punch card that was half full to compensate me for the times my "elite" card had not worked. He also said he would contact me again soon to either give me a new elite card that worked or issue a refund if Emerald City Smoothie could not resolve the many problems it was having with its "elite" cards. I never heard from [redacted] again. Although this frustrated me, I ultimately let it go because he had given me the equivalent of 3 1/2 free smoothies on the punch cards, which together with the free smoothie he gave me that day added up to a value of more than $25.

However, on June 21, 2013 I went to the Capitol Hill location and attempted to redeem my one remaining full punch card. The woman noticed that I had another card that was half full and said "oh, how about if I transfer the punches from both cards to a gift card instead? That way you can use it at any location!" I agreed, and she supposedly transferred the punches to the gift card. She then said "oh, sorry, I can't use the gift card for this smoothie because of how I rang it up; do you mind just paying for this one and redeeming the free one next time?" I agreed to this and left. About 2-3 weeks later, I attempted to use the gift card to get a free smoothie at the Columbia Center location. The man working told me that the gift card had a zero-dollar balance. I couldn't believe it and thus confirmed that the gift cards were supposed to work at all locations, not just the location where the customer had received it. He confirmed that yes, gift cards were supposed to work at all locations. Thus, the woman at the Capitol Hill location had not correctly transferred the punches on the card to the gift card, so the inadequate remedy I had received as compensation for the "elite" card that NEVER WORKED was now no remedy at all.

At this point I have spent $25 on an "elite" card that has given me no benefits, and Emerald City Smoothie's response has been entirely inadequate. The newest problem with yet another electronic card from ECS also leads me to conclude that ECS has never resolved the problems with its gift cards, which I assume is why [redacted] never contacted me again--he probably knew none of the cards would work and did not want to give me a $25 refund, as he should have done.