Starbucks Korea's refund policy conditions frustrate customers amid boycott

An office worker in Seoul visited a Starbucks this week, expecting a hassle-free refund after the company promised full reimbursements on Starbucks card balances following the “Tank Day” controversy — only to be turned away and leave empty-handed.

“I went because I heard that I could receive a refund [for my card], with no conditions attached,” they said. “I had no idea that there were other requirements.”

Earlier this month, Starbucks Korea announced that it is offering full refunds on Starbucks card balances — with “no usage conditions” — from this week through June 14, a policy reversal driven by the growing consumer boycott. Previously, customers had to spend at least 60 percent of their card's loaded balance before they could request a refund for the remaining amount.

But there seems to be limits to the policy reversal. As of Thursday, Starbucks cards that were received as gifts online — in the form of vouchers or exchange coupons — and then registered to the Starbucks app cannot be immediately refunded; they can only be deregistered from the app.

In the worker's case, they had received a voucher via KakaoTalk for their birthday, and they loaded it onto the app in the hope of getting a full refund. Normally, gift cards originating from KakaoTalk can only be refunded for 90 percent of their value.

But the store informed them that they would need to either make a small purchase or add more funds to the card before a refund could be processed.

The worker said that when they spent 10,000 won ($6.50), the store refunded the voucher's full value of 60,000 won. “I found it puzzling that [the store] asked me to buy something or add more money [to the gift card] when it was going to issue the refund anyway,” they said.

Other people have begun asking questions about how to handle KakaoTalk vouchers on online community forums.

Separately, some online users are sharing a workaround known as “card cashing” to exploit the temporary refund window.

One post in an online community described topping up a Starbucks card to meet the credit card spending threshold, then requesting a refund the same day. The amount spent is charged to a credit card, and the refund is deposited directly into a bank account. The scheme has a limited scope, however, as many credit cards do not count gift vouchers or prepaid cards toward spending requirements. Starbucks Korea also suspended sales of anonymous prepaid Starbucks cards during the refund period.

“Starbucks Korea is strengthening monitoring of abnormal activity, including attempts to convert balances to cash or repeated refund requests, during the refund period,” said a company spokesperson. “Refunds may be restricted or denied if such activity is detected.”

The company drew criticism last month after its Tank Day tumbler promotional event. “Tank” is used in far-right online communities as a nickname for Chun Doo Hwan, the former Korean military dictator whose crackdown during the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement left hundreds dead.

The promotional materials also used “Tak! on the desk!” The phrase recalls the infamous police statement issued after student activist Park Jong-cheol’s death by torture. “Tak” is Korean onomatopoeia used to describe a sharp sound, often from one object hitting another, similar to the English language’s “bang.”

BY IM SOUNG-BIN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]