Ben & Jerry’s

We were very excited to try our first Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop while on vacation in New Hampshire this week, but were severely disappointed by the horrendous customer service we received at the shop in North Conway, NH on Thursday, June 25^th around 4pm. The 2.5 stars rating on Unilocal should have warned us away.
1) The shop showed evidence of chronic issues, with the brownies we had in our three brownie sundaes all being extremely stale and the drink cooler being absolutely empty.
2) Employees showed they were unfamiliar with the menu when we attempted to order the ‘Neapolitan Dynamite’ flavor combo advertised in their own window and were rudely told ‘We don’t have anything like that.‘
3) There was no system being used by the three employees (two young women and one young man) to keep track of customer orders which led to multiple order and billing mistakes in just the roughly 15 minutes we were in the shop:
a) Two of our three orders were made incorrectly, with toppings on sundaes we’d ordered with no toppings.
b) They attempted to only charge us for two of our three orders, requiring customer correction to get it right.
c) Another customer in the store had one of our brownie sundaes inaccurately added to her bill, and the male employee was quite rude and dismissive when she first question the total. Only after she returned to the counter to confront him about it for a second time did he admit the error, saying ‘There were so many sundaes being made back here I just assumed one was for you.’ He offered her no apology.
d) A male customer ordered and paid for a large cone with one of the female employees. The male employee then tried to make him pay a second time, and expressed derision and rude doubt when the customer protested that he’d paid already.
4) During a slow period the three employees could be clearly heard by customers discussing their belief that the batch of strawberry ice cream was bad, with a strange pink film across the top and appearing to be poorly mixed underneath. As we had ordered the strawberry and were currently discussing at our table our disappointment in it, we spoke up to ask them if something was wrong with it. Caught by customers talking poorly about the product on the sales floor, they lied and said they’d only been discussing the picture on the lid.
5) The ‘strawberry’ ice cream we received was so poorly mixed that it contained almost zero chunks of strawberry and had almost no flavor. At first we actually thought they’d gotten the order mixed up and given us a scoop of vanilla, the flavor was so bland. During the point 4 discussion of the possibly poorly mixed ice cream, I stated that it «was the least ‘strawberry’ strawberry ice cream» I’d ever had. One of the women very condescendingly replied that no, it was probably just the most natural strawberry I’d had because you don’t use artificial dyes, the implication being that I just can’t recognize high quality when I taste it. When a customer is politely and calmly bringing a problem to your attention, the response should never be to tell the customer how they’re wrong and not even attempt to offer a resolution.
6) At the end of our intensly disappointing visit, one member of our party went up to ask for a Comment Card. He was simply told there was none; they made no attempt to ask about his issues and resolve them on the spot, nor did they offer us an alternative way to provide feedback like suggesting this webform. He then asked for at least the store number so we could accurately report the problem, and they happily jotted down and handed him the phone number.
We are a group of three adults who consider ourselves ‘foodies’ and we were all profoundly disappointed in our experiences that afternoon. It was the only time on the whole trip that we received such treatment, and the fact that it was attached to such an upstanding brand as Ben & Jerry’s was shocking. Between stale brownies, poor quality ice cream, and toppings we didn’t want we ended up leaving with more than 50% or our orders uneaten.
We felt that this feedback is sorely needed by that scoop shop location.

Filthy filthy filthy, I have never seen such a dirty restaurant. From the rugs in the entryway to the rubber mats behind the counter to the old spills all over the cabinetry, I have never seen anything like this. The owner of this franchise ought to be ashamed, time to start paying attention to your business!!!

These girls crank, they should make at least 50 an hour. And yes there is a line and no I wouldnt stop here in my way to the airport. But seriously if your in NH in an ice cream line and you are in that much of a hurry, go home. Kid size is big enough 3 $.

I love me some ben and jerry’s but the girl behind the counter was SLOW, and I think my ears may have started bleeding from the ABBA and Usher songs blaring out of the speakers.