Dunkin' — Restaurant in Florida

Negative Star rating if I could, doesn't even deserve one star.

During this afternoon’s rainstorm, I thought to treat my father to Dunkin’ Donuts off Solana Road in Ponte Vedra Beach. Lowering the car window to place our order, while the rain pummeled the car interior (given no covering from the elements exists), the employee taking our order kept cutting me off, “Is that all?” “Is that all?” So irritating is this “hurry up already” demeanor, I finally asked, “Tell you what, how about you let me finish my order, and I’ll then tell you when I’m finished.” The girl thus “let” me finally finish, only to then announce that “She couldn’t’ hear my entire order, and I’d need to start all over again.”

Really. The fact that this was an utter lie, intended to punish the customer for daring to ask that they be allowed to actually finish their order before being interrupted in staccato fashion with every single breath, was confirmed by the sudden outburst of riotous laughter heard through the microphone by the employee’s cohorts. (“Look at me! Isn’t it hilarious that I’m forcing this customer to have to repeat her order while getting doused in the pouring rain!”)

That this was an intentional diss was further confirmed when driving to the window to obtain our drinks and donuts, as a snarky “Charlie” proceeded to tell me the donuts I ordered weren’t, in fact, available, all the while with a mocking, sneering smile and laughing at us to her fellow employees. The distain was palpable. Before we’d even gotten all we sought, she slammed the window in our faces.

Driving off, in disbelief at what all had just occurred, I returned and entered the store, to explain that it’s unacceptable to treat the customer as such. Three young female employees stood defiantly as I shared that the intentional rudeness was not lost on me, nary one offering any manner of apology. To the contrary, “Charlie,” the young, nose-ringed female employee who’d taken my order, began laughing at me and openly mocking me, saying things like “how ridiculous I look” and accusing me of being upset (get this): “because I was jealous of her being happy.” Hello? “Jealous of her being happy?” Dunkin’ Donuts, where do you find these people? That’s right, her snarky, derisive smile and mocking laughter during the whole encounter was actually “happiness” and, me, being the miserable soul they implied, had to stop my car, get out in the downpour, and lodge my dismay at someone being happy. Of course.

I attempted to gain the manager’s contact information, only to receive simply a name: no way of actually REACHING him. Asking for more, the “manager” on duty TURNED HER BACK ON ME, said she had to take a new order, refusing to even acknowledge me as I attempted to get the information sought.

I finally left and soon afterward realized I could not find my credit card. So distracted was I by the rude conduct at the window I could not recall if handed my card in return or not. I searched my car, purse, nothing. Having no desire to ever interact with these individuals again, I simply called to follow up. They refused to answer the phone, forcing me to return in person. Asked if my credit card might have been found. No offer to take my contact information, refused to perform any search, nothing helpful at all. But instead, ACCUSED ME OF FABRICATING A MISSING CREDIT CARD IN ORDER TO ACCUSE THE EMPLOYEES OF THEFT. That’s right. In a final display of cocky defiance, “Charlie,” had the nerve to demand that I apologize to THEM (!) – Really! For what? The gall of not accepting being treated as such?!

Needless to say, unless you want to risk your day similarly ruined, steer clear of Dunkin’ Donuts Ponte Vedra Beach. There are plenty of great coffee options in Ponte Vedra Beach, my far-and-away favorite being Le Macaron. Were it not for the downpour today and wanting to simply use Drive Thru (that worked well...), I would have been at this charming PVB patisserie being treated politely and not openly insulted by staff....

I’m writing this to tell you about the disgraceful way I was treated by the staff at this location. After a lovely morning at the beach with my dogs, I placed an order using the app (as I have multiple times at multiple locations before) for this location, which is on the way home. When I got there, the drive through was around the corner, so I walked inside. There was an older white lady taking another couple’s order, and 3 younger African American ladies completing orders and manning the drive through. I went to the section for call in orders and didn’t see mine – so I stood between that area and the register and waited. None of the 3 younger ladies offered to serve me for over 5 minutes while I just stood there (the lady at the register was still helping the couple with a long/complicated order). So, I said, “Excuse me, I called in an order, Ken, #844?” …..no response….said excuse me again, no response, finally a 3rd time the younger employee in the rainbow glasses said, “What’s the name?” To which I replied, “Ken, order #844”. The employee then asked me in a condescending tone, “What’s the last name” To which I replied, “Why is that relevant?” (again, used the app and ordered countless times, NEVER asked this, and was generally perplexed) To which she replied in even a ruder tone, “Because I have 2 Kens” (shouldn’t the order number have differentiated this? but I told her…..) At which point she said, “We Don’t have your order” – So I said,” I have an order number right here” To which the employee in the purple glasses chimed in “You need to relax and watch your tone, someone else took your order”. To which I replied, “I need to watch my tone because of your incompetence?” Then it turned into a full-blown Jerry Springer episode. The employee in Purple glasses began SCREAMING at me “You will not disrespect me!!!!” multiple times, to which I replied, “I’ll respect you when you get my order right” She lunged at me over the counter and was going to walk through the door to physically assault me, but was restrained by the employee in the rainbow glasses. The employee in the rainbow glasses then said “You need to leave, we’re not serving you” . I said, “Fine, either give me my order or give me my money back” and held up the confirmation on my phone for them to see. I repeated this multiple times, while all 3 African American employees began screaming at me, and threatened to call the police, to which I replied, “Please do” While all this was happening one of the 3 employees (did not see who) slapped my phone out of my hands. This whole thing took about 10 minutes, so I walked out of the store to check on my dogs, who were in the car. (Thankfully it was still before 9AM and cool) At this point the employee (manager?) in the rainbow glasses locked the door and would not let me or any other customers inside. We waited for the police, who said there was nothing they could do, and I’ll have to contact DD corporate for a refund. I don’t care about the $7….but I will let Dunkin’ corporate, the Better Business Bureau, the franchise owner, and anyone else who will listen know about the rude, condescending way I was treated by the staff at...

This particular establishment has been a problem for years. The customer service has been bad every time I've visited; it's hard to even get the employee's attention to put my order in because they're usually talking in the back and not paying any attention to the front of the store. Their answer to this problem is, apparently, to close the registers and put in one kiosk. This absurd kiosk is not user friendly and often doesn't even have the options you want to order (even though the items are clearly available- plentiful on the shelf). This morning, after not being able to order the item I wanted- sour cream donuts- even though they were right there on the shelf in front of me- I gave up and asked an employee to let me order at the register. He didn't come back so, after several minutes, I gave up and left. I walked across the street to Winn Dixie and found a 4-pack of fresh plain bagels (the other thing I had wanted, but DD was out of them), sour cream donuts, and even some hot cross buns for Easter- all for less than what my order at DD would have cost me, if I'd even been able to order. I will not be returning to this establishment. There are too many other options in the area, with better food and much...