Dunkin' — Restaurant in Florida

I will start by saying that I have not visited this location for about a year due to previous (similar) issues. Today, I decided to give it another go as it is the closest location to my home and I wanted to surprise my children with a sweet treat.

I honestly shouldn’t be surprised that nothing at the store has changed.  I placed a mobile order this morning in the hopes that ordering ahead would help simplify the process. I waited in the drive thru line for over 20 minutes. There were 4 cars in front of me. Sure, I could have walked inside, but the purpose of having a drive thru is to speed up the ordering and pick up process. When I made it to the intercom the abrupt, clearly frustrated employee, proceeded to tell me that she “didn’t have half of the donuts that I want.” I thought well, that was a nice greeting. Then, she quickly verbalized the list of donuts that the store did have. I proceeded to tell her the donuts to replace. As the conversation continued, I pieced together that the store didn’t have ANY of the donuts that I originally ordered besides glazed. At this point, I contemplated just canceling the order but had already committed to reordering and paid ahead of time since it was a mobile order. I asked again, what donuts she had available. Again, in an abrupt and frustrated voice she listed the 5 donuts that were available. I finished the order and drove to the window. When I arrived at the window she just started shoving my order at me. There was no apology and there was no offer of a refund, which I am 100% sure would be a task that is completely unattainable for this staff. As for the other items I ordered, the bacon was cold and I’m positive the coffee was plain with sugar. Not the white chocolate speciality drink that I ordered. I can’t help but wonder if the attitude from the staff is due to them being paid below Floridas minimum wage which is currently $13.00/hr. $12.00/hour for employees and management is being paid almost unlivable wages at $48,000 a year. At least, that’s according to the sign that’s hanging outside of the wooden fence concealing the dumpster.  I suppose the saying “you get what you pay for” applies in this scenario. Rude, stressed, frustrated employees and incompetent management. This location is truly damaging the Dunkin name. Please refer to all of the 1 star yelp reviews. As a corporation, a LARGE corporation, employees and management should be compensated appropriately. This location might actually be able to retain employees that care about the business if they could at least afford the cost of living. I’m going to assume this is the reason for the Bradenton, Florida (Manatee Ave) location being in shambles, years on end. If someone in the corporate office slightly cares, assess the wages, compensate the employees appropriately and send resources to help this team become successful. Although, I’m sure corporate is more then satisfied collecting their paychecks on overpriced donuts and coffee while the employees and customers suffer. It’s truly a shame.

Thank you for your time and attention. I truly hope...

I'm a New England native, so seeing a Dunkin' Donuts on almost every corner back home was the norm. For a while, they died out down here, but have since made a comeback of legendary proportions. Perhaps other locations are better than this one; at least, I hope so.

We stopped here after an early morning ER visit for breakfast and my morning Joe, because let's face it... Wendy without coffee is something NO ONE should have to deal with. Because I had my husband with me in the car, and I didn't have his wheelchair in the car with us, we were unable to go inside to sit, or even order. Everything we ordered, we did on the Dunkin' app to save some time and walking back and forth to coordinate the order.

When I went inside to pick up the order, I was informed that a drink my husband wanted wasn't available because their frozen drink machine wasn't working. Trip one out to the car, since he also didn't have his cell phone with him. Got the new drink request from him, and I trekked back inside.

Now, I had already pre-paid this order using my Dunkin' app, so there shouldn't have been a charge for the replacement drink. Nevertheless, the cashier charged me for the second drink, which I paid, assuming (stupidly) that I'd be refunded for the first Coolatta we never received. I asked about the refund, and I was told, "We don't do refunds. I'd have to come back when the manager on duty was there." Well, that didn't sit well with me at all. After a bit of back and forth, another employee processed a "refund" and handed me the receipt. I kept both receipts—the original purchase, and the refunded replacement drink—because none of the employees looked as though they knew what they were doing outside of pouring a coffee, adding sugar/cream/flavorings, etc. Even that was sketchy at best.

This original transaction took place on December 12, 2022. As of today, a month later, I still have not received credit for that "refund." Now, it was only $5 and change, but that's not the point. The point is, I should not have had to pay for two drinks when I only got one. This location has done NOTHING to make it right, including the manager, Joel—who I was assured by either someone at corporate, or the district manager—would handle the refund personally. I've been offered a free drink and sandwich to make amends for the oversight. All I ever really wanted, though, was the $5.65 back in my checking account.

I really have no reason to return to this location for anything, and believe me, I won't be back. The coffee was terrible to boot—a medium hot coffee with sugar and cream is pretty hard to screw up—and the blueberry muffin was half-raw on the inside. So disappointing from a place that once...

This particular DD has been slipping for a year or more. Knowing that I could expect at least a 10-15 minute wait in the drive-thru, I placed a walk-in order today. I haven't gone to this DD in a while, previously being a daily customer. I walked in, and calmly waited by the in-store pickup area. After calmly waiting for approximately 5-10 minutes at the counter and alternating my gaze between the three workers there, one of them came up to me and asked what I wanted. I said I placed a mobile order. I was asked what I ordered, and I said that it was on the printer. I pointed to the printer, which had my receipt on it since before I walked in. The worker turned around and told their co-worker that I wanted something. They in turn asked me what I wanted and when I pointed out the mobile order receipt to that person they started my order. After several minutes of listening to the two of them complain about how I was staring at them, and how I should have told them what I wanted instead of "pointing like a kindergartner," I was handed a Luke warm "iced coffee" with a couple cubes of ice in it, and barely enough coconut creamer to change the color or sugar to sweeten the flavor. I wish this was the first time I had gotten similar service at this establishment, but it has been getting worse for quite some time now. I am not sure the blame falls squarely on the worker's shoulders at this point. Higher management and probably ownership has to be blamed at this point. There are way too many customers going to this establishment, and probably twice as many passing it up because of similar issues, for this to continue going on. I don't like posting negative reviews, and I usually reserve my judgement for ongoing issues. This is an ongoing issue. I did happen to be present at one point months ago when there was a lady there who seemed to be a regional manager on the phone outside the store with someone else complaining about the people there, but that was when they had a full crew of about 6 or so people working and they were still struggling to keep up. Shortly after that it seemed as though all of the people working at the time must have quit or been fired. It hasn't been the same since. I keep going back once every couple months and this particular DD seems to be Dysfunctional Doughnuts. Other DDs can at least get my coffee right, even if I have to wait sometimes. This one doesn't even seem to be able to handle that. If you want a black coffee, or doughnuts made somewhere else and delivered there, I guess this DD is okay if you don't mind the wait. Pretty much everything else they seem mess up so I don't think I'll be going back...