New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on December 21, 2022) follows:
Starbucks recently came up with the eighth year of its Starbucks for Life game that offers customers sugar cookie-inspired beverages, holiday merchandise, and more.
Its members also get the chance to win more than 4 million prizes including Bonus Stars and exclusive merch to Delta Air Lines tickets.
Starbucks for Life ‘Not a winner’ prompt
However, several Starbucks for Life players (1,2,3,4,5,6) are repeatedly getting a prompt that says ‘Not a winner’ even after playing multiple times.
Reports suggest that the game is showing players the same message after the end of each turn. This has ultimately led them into believing that it is lame and rigged.
Some are even convinced that nobody really gets to win in this game as suggested by the barrage of complaints that has currently populated Twitter.
People calling the game a scam
The repeated failed attempts at the Starbucks for Life game have also prompted a number of players (1,2,3,4,5) to call it a scam.
Some claim that even after playing the game for years, they never make it past a certain number of bonus stars. This further adds to their belief that it is indeed a hoax.
Not just that, Starbucks for Life is also giving a ‘you don’t have enough plays’ message to some.
This message appears even for those players who haven’t played the game. Owing to this, the website doesn’t even let them sign into it.
Official response
Starbucks care has acknowledged the issue by responding to complainants’ tweets. In one of the statements, they clarified that it is not an error.
As per another statement, players may get a ‘lose’ message if they shake the globe, according to the Official Rules.
So keeping the above-mentioned tip in mind, players can keep playing the game in order to grab their prizes.
We’ll keep tabs on the latest developments and update this article accordingly.
Update 1 (Dec. 23, 2022)
06:11 pm (IST): Even though a number of people are dissatisfied because they aren’t winning anything at all. But it seems that those who win are also having issues redeeming their prizes.
Update 2 (Dec. 26, 2022)
04:52 pm (IST): When a player inquired about why their purchase didn’t result in an additional play, Starbucks care provided the following response:
Update 3 (Dec. 27, 2022)
06:13 pm (IST): Starbucks for Life players can verify the information regarding winning chances and other game rules here.
Update 4 (Dec. 29, 2022)
05:57 pm (IST): Starbucks is reportedly changing its reward program, making it hard to redeem some free drinks. And some users aren’t liking this change (1, 2, 3, 4).
Update 5 (Dec. 30, 2022)
08:31 pm (IST): Several Starbucks for Life users now report that the game is down or not working for them (1, 2, 3). Downdetector also reflects the ongoing outage.
The support team has clarified that the outage is because they are currently making updates to the Starbucks for Life game. There is still no ETA for everything to work normally again.
01:31 pm (IST): It appears that the brief outage has been resolved as the website is back up and running. A user took to Twitter to confirm the same:
Update 6 (Jan. 02, 2023)
01:22 pm (IST): One of our readers has shared they did not receive the free stars despite getting an email. The support team responded via email, saying they are looking into it. However, the rewards are still not credited for them.
Thanks for the tip: Michelle Baumgartner-Smith!
Update 7 (Jan. 03, 2023)
09:29 am (IST): Starbucks is now reportedly asking users to provide feedback for Starbuck for Life app.
Update 8 (Jan. 04, 2023)
12:15 pm (IST): This season’s Starbucks for Life has finally come to an end. However, it has left a sour taste in the users’ (1,2,3) mouths. Some deem Starbucks as untrustworthy and are submitting negative reviews.
On the brighter side, some fortunate ones were able to win exciting rewards through the game.
Update 9 (Jan. 06, 2023)
01:02 pm (IST): While many people were unhappy as they couldn’t win anything at all while playing ‘Starbucks for Life’, some lucky ones shared they won free flight tickets on the last day.
Update 10 (Jan. 09, 2023)
08:27 am (IST): To evaluate the experience of users with ‘Starbucks for Life’, the company deployed a survey through the official website.
However, multiple reports indicate that even the survey isn’t working properly, since its crashing for some users (1, 2, 3).
If you are experiencing this issue, there is a potential workaround:
Update 11 (Jan. 10, 2023)
02:23 pm (IST): According to a user, some are unable to claim their reward as they are getting an ‘under maintenance’ screen during the process.
Featured image source: Starbucks
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