The day I clicked “like” on the Facebook page for Teavana was the day my husband told me he was leaving me. 
Ardent, passionate Teavana drinkers for years, my spouse had recently had a falling out with the company, so the timing of my endorsement could not have been worse. Our favorite tea of all time is the Earl Grey Creme. The company had changed the blend with a noticeable difference in taste. Annoyed, my other half went straight to the company’s website and left a comment.
Interestingly, the comment never showed up. Is Teavana moderating out comments it doesn’t like? The incident caused me to investigate the company’s use of its website and social platforms.
The brand seems to be getting the social piece only half right — allowing its community to comment on the website is great, (if comments are displayed) but there doesn’t appear to be any interaction. No questions are answered by the brand. On Twitter customer service is active; on Facebook, the conversation is updated frequently by someone posting on behalf of the company. Why not manage the website the same way?
So, to stay married, we’re switching to another tea company, unless Teavana can save the day.
I have a huge problem with Teavana’s selling techniques. Their tea is tasty, but every time I’ve gone into a physical store I leave extremely angry. No, please don’t put put my tea in a tin after I said I don’t need one. No, I don’t need a magical teaspoon that will measure perfectly every time. No, doubling the quantity of tea I’ve asked for (and charging me for it) is not okay. Yes, I know there is an extremely loose connection to ::insert type of tea:: and curing ::insert disease:: but please don’t think I want to hear about how drinking 3 cups a day of your most expensive blend made your depression, diabetes, brain tumor, etc go away almost immediately.
Originally, I emailed the company about my experience, thinking maybe it was just one store with pushy managers/sales people, but after doing some research it looks like this is how selling is taught in those stores. Teavana is into selling product, not into building customer relationships.
@christinerobyn That’s interesting — I hadn’t even taken into consideration the retail stores (since we have to travel about an hour to get to one). But I agree — the focus on customer relationships is absent, and damaging.
Oh, bummer! I just discovered Teavana and their completely overpriced tea. Ask me about my Christmas shopping experience with them sometime. I am no slouch when it comes to gift giving, but when the clerk told me my two (smallish) tins of tea flowers would be $240.98, I almost had a heart attack. Needless to say, she had to shovel some tea buds back into their cans! But, I still bought some, because their peach modo-whatever is FABU.