Confetti cake, caramel shortbread, Snickers, Oreo birthday cake, pink sugar, and the classic milk chocolate chip were the cookies on the Crumbl menu for their birthday week at the end of September. These cookies created an utterly delicious lineup, and as a few Crumbl fanatics, we were thrilled to report on our favorite spot for a sweet treat. Unfortunately, we were met with nothing short of an incredibly crummy experience.
After making the 20-minute drive to the closest Crumbl location in Hanover on September 26th, we were disappointed when “SOLD OUT” was plastered across the door. Forced to leave empty-handed, we understood how many people were eager to try these cookies. We also recognized our faults, as it was close to 9:00 PM on a Thursday, so we made a game plan for the following day.
On Friday, September 27th, we returned to Crumbl at 1:00 PM, confident that arriving early would ensure cookies were still in stock. To our disappointment, we were once again greeted by the same “SOLD OUT” sign taped to the door. Discouraged, we had no choice but to leave empty-handed for the second time.
Later that day, we decided on a new approach and placed an online order after hearing that cookies had been restocked. The earliest time slot to pick up the cookies was 7:00 PM the following day, so we ordered the cookies, feeling confident we would finally get to try them.
Nonetheless, we were certainly wrong. Faced with misfortune again, when we entered Crumbl and requested the cookies we had ordered 24 hours in advance, the employee responded, “Sorry, we’re out.” When we prompted the employee with another question, wondering if they could offer us any form of compensation, she responded unsurely, saying, “You can probably get your money back online.”
After this experience, we couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of frustration regarding the entire situation. We were dedicated to getting our hands on these cookies and tried every method we could to fulfill our wishes, but we fell short on each attempt.
Furthermore, we weren’t the only victims of Crumbl’s service blunders. SHS senior Jane Ryan, who joined us on our final trip to Crumble, stated that the company’s continuous faults were “unacceptable.” SHS junior Isla Smith, who was eager to try the cookies earlier in the week, felt that Crumbl “needs to step it up in the future.”
The shortcomings in service could be attributed to a lack of materials and insufficient workers met with extremely high demand; however, a franchise that grosses over $1 billion annually should be able to combat these challenges the company faces. If service mistakes like these continue, they may harm the company’s credibility and popularity. By highlighting our experiences, we hope the company can recognize these flaws and prevent other customers from having as crummy an experience as we did.