Krispy Kreme — Restaurant in Lakeland

Absolutely unacceptable experience. If I could leave zero stars, I would. We came to this Krispy Kreme specifically for HOT, fresh donuts. We waited thirty minutes in the parking lot, patiently, because their hot light—the beacon that’s supposed to promise fresh-off-the-line donuts—was scheduled to come on at 7 AM. We got in line, excited, ready, and what did we get? Ice. Cold. Donuts. Every single one of them. Cold as if they’d been sitting out for hours.

So we go inside, politely, and ask about it. We get told, “Oh, they’re not ready yet. You’d have to wait.” What was the hot light on for then? Isn’t that the entire point? And why did we have to hunt down this information instead of being told upfront? They weren’t busy. They had plenty of time to be making fresh donuts. There were two customers in 30 minutes while we sat there waiting for the hot light to turn on. But we felt bad so we went said never-mind and went back to the car, however we just couldn't stand for ice cold donuts that we spent $13.78 on if we weren't even going to eat them.

And when we did go back in? We were more polite than we had to be. We even apologized for changing our minds and said we’d wait for a fresh batch. The woman at the counter couldn’t have cared less. She gave us attitude from the second we walked in—refusing to even look at the donuts we tried to return, which we hadn’t touched, because we wanted to be honest. She told us to throw them in the trash. Like our twelve-dollar order was garbage, and so were we, apparently.

After that? She rolls her eyes when my friend points out we ordered specialty St. Patrick’s Day donuts—not just plain glazed. She couldn’t be bothered to open her eyes and look at what was literally right in front of her. She hands over cold specialty donuts anyway. No explanation. No time estimate. No care at all. We ended up with the exact same thing we would’ve gotten if we’d just left the first time: cold, regular donuts that weren’t what we ordered. All that waiting and not a single part of it was worth it.

Krispy Kreme, if you’re going to run your hot light as some kind of bait-and-switch scam, at least staff your store with people who can explain why. And maybe train them not to treat polite customers like they’re a problem. We were more patient and respectful than anyone else probably would’ve been, and still got zero respect in return.

This experience was a joke. We didn’t get what we paid for, we were treated like we were a hassle for asking, and we wasted our time and money on something that should’ve been simple: hot donuts when the hot light is on. You failed at the one thing you’re supposed to...

This location sold me 3 hot glazed donuts ,which I never received. When I paid the cashier Paige she said “there were no hot donuts” she asked if I could pull up and wait she will bring them out to me. I waited 25 minutes then I had to circle around the car line back to the call box because my daughter was wanting her donuts, even after waiting 25 minutes. The girl that answered the call box was not Paige. She said there where “no more glazed donuts” so I responded “ ok well I paid for 3 hot ones and I waited for 25 minutes what can I do? Do I receive a refund or can I exchange?” She says “well I don’t know what the other girl told you but we don’t have hot glazed.” So a second time I asked “ I paid already and I’ve been waiting so can I have 3 hot donuts of a different kind, chocolate glazed?” She said “pull up” I originally paid at 7:18p 3 hot glazed donuts to be handed, 3 COLD chocolate glazed donuts at 7:58. The cold donut was just as disgusting as the service I received. My daughter ate her cold donut and I felt bad making her wait that long for not only it to be a completely different flavor but a cold donut. We live in clermont fl so it’s an hour before we can get home and pop it in the microwave. We come to Lakeland every two weeks and we will never come back to this location. Please hire friendly staff and we will stick to our home location...

We purchased a dozen of Pumpkin Spice donuts on 09/11/2024 and when my family and I tasted the donuts they tasted like pure sugar. No flavor of Pumpkin or spice. Just plain sugar. We contacted the store over 10+ times, no response. We proceeded to submit an inquiry online. We didn't hear back so we called the store the following day on 09/12 2x, last call @ 4:54pm. The Manager disconnected the call on my daughter. I proceeded to call the Manager to request clarification, he indicated the donuts are made with pumpkin extract. Explained the ingredients do not coincide with advertised flavor or ingredients, Manager advised to receive a refund you had to bring back all the donuts. How can we bring all the donuts if we tasted some of the donuts the day of purchase. Not realistic, we can bring back majority but not all 12. I was not about to drive 25 minutes to be disappointed. The Manager disconnected the call without any notification and or greeting not once but twice. Manager was rude, tone was inappropriate and not only hung up the call on my daughter but also hung up on me. This is very disappointing and bad Customer service. This Manager needs to be retrained on how not to treat customers. Will not be visiting this store or using them for any fundraising needs in the...