Starbucks removes stars from rewards account after making a mistake, leaves customer in debt: ‘Just big and greedy’

Over the weekend, several Starbucks customers thought they’d hit the lottery when they found a QR code that allowed them to redeem a free 200 stars.

Many people took advantage of their surprise and bought drinks with the unexpected rewards. However, that joy was short-lived, as Starbucks quickly found out what had happened and reverted things back to normal. 

“Starbucks accidentally gave me enough stars for a free drink, but they caught the error, and now they’re making me work off my star debt,” said Josh Casto (@bohrmagnezone), whose tweet about the situation received over 127,000 likes. “Just big and greedy.”

“On Saturday, April 22, a QR code for bonus Stars given to attendees at an in-person event spread online, going beyond the intended audience,” a Starbucks spokesperson told In The Know. “The Stars redeemed through this code have been removed from ineligible accounts. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Once Starbucks realized what had happened and fixed it, it left Casto and several other customers in debt. 

“Same here!! I got the 200 stars and got a drink and now I’m in star debt,” said @JoshMur42594702.

“They’re gonna fix it, right? I don’t want star debt in addition to real debt,” said @bakedbrie23

The easiest solution for customers to get back to where they started is just to buy more Starbucks. 

The Starbucks rewards program gives out one star per every dollar spent. However, rewards can only be claimed on these levels: 25, 100, 200, 300 and 400. 

There will be opportunities for customers to earn themselves out of debt quickly, as Starbucks has promotions throughout the year that give out double stars. Those are randomly chosen, so until that day comes, Starbucks customers will have to spend in order to get back to zero.

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