Too Much Ice Issue Settled

Posted on: 2016-08-24 2:07 PM

Ordering a cold drink means it will be served with ice, according to US district judge Percy Anderson.
 
In June, a California man named Alexander Forouzesh filed a proposed class action suit alleging that customers ordering cold beverages from Starbucks received less liquid than advertised as ice could take up as much space as 10 fl oz.
 
Anderson threw out his lawsuit and in his decision wrote:
 
If children have figured out that including ice in a cold beverage decreases the amount of liquid they will receive, the Court has no difficulty concluding that a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into thinking that when they order an iced tea, that the drink they receive will include both ice and tea and that for a given size cup, some portion of the drink will be ice rather than whatever liquid beverage the consumer ordered.
 
The judge also pointed out that since the cups used for cold drinks are clear, it is easy for customers to see how much ice they are getting.
 
Since the lawsuit was first filed, Starbucks has insisted that ice is an “essential component of any ‘ice’ beverage”. The company also reiterated that any customer unhappy with their beverage could alert their barista and get a new one.
 
Customers are also welcome to ask for light ice or extra ice when placing their order.
 
A similar case against Starbucks is still making its way through the Illinois court system. Chicago resident Stacey Pincus filed a 29-page complaint claiming that Stabucks’ cup sizes were deceiving customers since ice beverages contained less liquid than advertised. The complaint also noted that cold drinks tended to cost more than hot drinks and that the company was making more money off of customers buying iced drinks.
 
“I can promise you the ice issue is much ado about nothing,” Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, told CNBC in June.