Starbucks steams customer
SAN FRANCISCO (AD — lerwmy Domain says
Starbucks owes him an espresso machine ami
the world an apology.
Unhappy about the coffeehouse chain's han
dling of his complaints about two defective
espresso makers, the San Francisco Hay area
dive-shop owner has spent 510,000 on Wall
Stroet Journal ads demanding that Starbucks
apologize to customers everywhere
Unless the company comes through. Domain
said, his slow roost of the booming Seattle-based
company w ill culminate in a two-page Journal
ad spread packed with other Starhui ks uiv
tomers’ complaints of snooty servers and weak
coffee
"Unfortunately . most people don’t have the
financial means to do it," Dorosin said Wednes
day, adding that all he wants is "human decen
cy."
Starbucks denies some of the basic allegations
in the dispute over the two espresso machines,
but said it has offered cash refunds, replacement
machines, gifts and personal apologies to
Dorosin.
"Wo did even thing we i mild to n-< tify tlunsit
nation that was reasonable." said spokeswoman
( beri Libby, who t ailed Dorocin'i dmath a
little hit unreasonable "
"We’re disappointed we were unable to please
him,” Libby said.
The trouble fiegan brewing at a Berkeley Star
bucks in April, when Dorosin splurged on a 5-‘W
espresso maker for himself and a 51B9 mni tune
as a wedding gift for a friend
The clerk failed to follow the usual practice
of offering half pound twigs of coffer with large
purt bases and whim Do rosin madr an issue of
it. the clerk refused to < ompromise even with a
free cappuccino. Dorosin said.
Do rosin said he was even more steameii when
he got a t all from the friend saying the wedding
gift was rusty and missing parts, and when his
own model slopped pumping water
He contac ted the coffeehouse manager, and
then corporate headquarters
The COmpaB) Hid the bride's ni,)i hme was
new. hut mav have rusted after test brews at the
factory Starbucks denies any parts wen* miss
ing
"1 said. 'Look all I want is a replacement
of the mat hines and a letter of apology to the
bride that you sold her a used machine with rust
ing parts.'" Domain said "Jus! give her the nicest
machine that you have and we'll cell it even '
The nicest machine sells for Sii.4'tS. accord
ing to Starbucks, which reputed that proposal
"In a nutshell it comes down to he wanted the
$2.5(10 machine for a S2(X) machine. ' Ubby said.
"We weren't able to do that."
And. she said, "We < an t apologize to him for
selling used goods because we did not sell used
goods."
Starbucks did offer to replace both machines
with S2t’><i models
Dorosin says the company meant for him to
swallow the $.10 price different e between the
replacement and his higher-priced machine,
though the company said it offered to make up
the different e in cash
"I just snapped," he said.
Computers will share
Oregon medical records
SAI.KM (AP) The formation
of a statewide computer network
to share rnedic al records elec -
Ironically could improve health
care at the risk of losing some
privacy.
The Oregon Medical Electron
ic Network, called OMEN, will
connect doctors with insurance
companies and government offi
cials, beginning in the fall
At the national level, Equifax
and ATAT have announced a
joint venture to t reate a network
that links doctors, hospitals, lab
oratories, pharmacies and nurs
ing homes from coast to coast
The system's developers hojie
the network will allow doctors
to make disc ovaries shoot health
patterns In a community
For example, a database cov
ering Marin County. Calif,
helped researchers learn that
menopausal women who took
estrogen by itself faced an
UK re,ised risk of hroait i am er
Because of the study, doctors
know to add balancing drugs
The system also will allow
emergency room doctors instant
access to a patient s computer
ized medical record, in< reasmg
the speed and ai curat v of diag
nosis and improving treatment
Oregon llnallh S< ioni cs Uni
varsity has collected informa
tion on its Lifetime Clinic
Record for the past year, amass
ing 7 million medical observa
tions The information vvtll
eventually allow researchers to
test whether treatments allowed
patients to live longer or better
"Our academic department is
pretty excited about this.” said
Inn Klert, the university hospi
tal's spokesman
Hut Jacqueline Xehner. the
director of ()()() medical
records for Kaiser I’ermanente
Northwest, is worried altout the
potential for abuse of databases
"It's loss of i ontrol of very pri
vale information given in confi
dent e," she said
Ipsi^incq, companies already
have used databases to avoid
costly cases, even using t output
ers to separate the healthy from
the sick
National insurance firms ere
ated the Medical Information
bureau to identify and ext lude
patients who would i ost them
money Today. 750 to HOI)
insurers rely on data from the
bureau
qjuvgft wg
Er~
-JJ »1 ifil-itria i
pa
at
ISDD REWARD
If you have information leafing to tfw arrest and conviction of any local
FAKE ID manufacturers, you coaid receive a reward up to $500
Cal 1-800-525-8477
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