Its morning, yet I'm pitting Dunkin Donuts. (I must be pissed)

[Count Blucher]

Dear Dunkin Donuts,

Its time to get a new Supplier: the old one makes a crappy product. No, not you're Donuts, although I have no doubt they may have contributed to more deaths annually than AP ammo. No, not your coffee, which came in most expensive, but at best "inoffensive (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20070203/1036231.asp)" in a recent national taste test, well behind McD's.

No, I'm pitting you for something else you sell, something that you trot out as 'special' and 'high quality'. I'm pitting you for something bright and shiny and appealing to the half awake working people who just want their coffee and to get to work before starting time. I'm pitting you for your merchandise, specifically your high-quality "Stainless Steel Travel Mug (https://www.dunkindonuts.com/images/products/sstravelmug_detail.gif)".

First, you make us wait in these long-ass lines, making us smell and desire your baked goods.... baked goods that do nothing but contribute to heart disease and make us fat. I didn't walk into your shop wanting ass-enlarging donuts, but damn me if I wasn't craving them by the time I walked out. And I start to look around and lo-and-behold…there's a stainless steel travel mug to hold my coffee! It won't put fat on my ass (your condiment additions may vary) and it will be a treat that I can spend money on that (supposedly) won't shave years off my life. Plus, this mug is vacuum-sealed with a stainless steel beverage compartment, so it will last almost forever, right? Certainly, it'll last longer than the red plastic mugs you usually trot out. So, I bought my coffee and I bought your mug, the one proudly displaying "DD" on the side. I brought it into the office and I went about my day happy. Until it broke.

It was empty and on a counter by the office coffee machine when I brushed against it, moving it off balance. The floor of the coffee room is lined with linoleum (not the hardest of substances a travel mug might be expected to bounce onto, and certainly more forgiving than asphalt). The cup bounced and, to my credit, I caught it in air after one bounce. Most of it anyway. The cup part was in my hand, but the cheap-ass plastic handle was skittering across the floor like a ping-pong ball being played with by a cat. I looked at the cup and found that there was more than a handle missing: there was now a thumb-sized hole on the plastic shell housing the vacuum seal where the handle used to be glued. With the vacuum seal gone, almost the whole purpose of the stainless-steel liner was gone, as the coffee would get cold just as fast, if not faster, than any other mug.

Look, I'm a coffee drinker, not a travel mug design engineer, but Dammit, Don't you think you could have built these mugs a tad stronger? Caffeine addicts on a Monday morning are not the daintiest of creatures on Og's green earth, as you should well know. If the handle was designed to be break-away, might you not have designed it to break at the glue-point, so as not to yank a chunk of plastic out of the shell along with it and ruin the mug? How the hell do you test these things, anyhow? The store wouldn't replace it; they couldn't as there were none left (but they didn't seem like they would anyway). I wrote to the customer feedback area of their website, Dunkin Donuts.com (also conveniently printed on the mug) but I've heard nothing. Maybe this rant is as weak as their coffee and maybe this is all just sour beans, but all things being equal, I feel like I got burned.

[kaylasdad99]

I saw a commercial last night for some maple sausage-flavored breakfast sandwich at Dunkin' Donuts (watching [adult swim]), and went online to find directions to my closest location.

I can't even find one in California.

[silenus]

Nope. No Dunkin' Donuts out here in God's Country. You'll have to make do with Farmer John Maple Breakfast Sausage and make your own breakfast sandwich.

As for the rant - I make it a point to never buy a travel mug heavy enough to hurt if it lands on my foot. Sorry yours was so crappy.

[Contrapuntal]

I saw a commercial last night for some maple sausage-flavored breakfast sandwich at Dunkin' Donuts (watching [adult swim]), and went online to find directions to my closest location.

I can't even find one in California.
Can you get these? (http://www.jimmydean.com/products.asp?p=3&i=5)

[clayton_e]

I broke their new plastic mug.. had it for a month. It looked pretty sturdy.. nice quality, I thought.. Dropped it down three stairs and it broke into a nice mess of coffee and a few pieces of plastic.

As I look on their website I see there is no link to purchase this specific mug. I guess they realized the quality level of their mug as well.

[Count Blucher]

I broke their new plastic mug.. had it for a month. It looked pretty sturdy.. nice quality, I thought.. Dropped it down three stairs and it broke into a nice mess of coffee and a few pieces of plastic.

As I look on their website I see there is no link to purchase this specific mug. I guess they realized the quality level of their mug as well.

I know, I know, why would I want another one? It'd probably end up holding pens, pencils & hi-lighters on my desk anyway. Or maybe I'd just treat it like bone-china and still use it. Its just that it should hold up to at least one day's normal wear & tear... :(

Edited to add: they do sell it. (https://www.dunkindonuts.com/shoponline/Product.aspx?CategoryId=MERCH&GroupId=MER08) Now I'm embarassed because I thought I paid a whole lot more...

[kaylasdad99]

Can you get these? (http://www.jimmydean.com/products.asp?p=3&i=5)Well, yeah, I suppose I can, but my point was really that the commercial put DD back into my mind, and now it turns out that they don't have 'em here anymore.

Where am I going to go to find donuts with handles, NOW???

[robby]

I saw a commercial last night for some maple sausage-flavored breakfast sandwich at Dunkin' Donuts (watching [adult swim]), and went online to find directions to my closest location.

I can't even find one in California.
Well, they certainly make up for the lack of stores in California here in New England. We've got them here about every 100 feet.

And I'm not exaggerating by much either. Using their store finder, I come up with 111 Dunkin Donuts locations within 20 miles of my office here in Connecticut.

We've also got Starbucks, Tim Hortons (http://www.timhortons.com/) (who recently took over the Bess Eaton chain), and smaller chains such as Dandy Donuts and Honey Dew Donuts.

[tdn]

Well, they certainly make up for the lack of stores in California here in New England. We've got them here about every 100 feet.
We've also got the Best Cops in the World, who find bombs where others do not.

Coincidence? You tell me.

[kaylasdad99]

And by "bombs", you surely mean "Lite-Brites," do you not?

[wring]

you dropped the thing and expected it not to break? Why do you hate America?

[Count Blucher]

And by "bombs", you surely mean "Lite-Brites," do you not?

And Mayor Thomas M. Menino still hasn't managed to capture Milton Bradley, although there have been frequent sightings in Faneuil Hall. Rumor has it that the City Cops had him trapped in Toys R Us, but let him go. Oh, if only we'd had the Staties handling things instead of relying on local authorities... :smack:

I heard that when asked about Milton Bradley, Mayor Thomas M. Menino says now that he now doesn't think of him often and that he has more pressing affairs of City to attend to... :D


you dropped the thing and expected it not to break? Why do you hate America?

Hate is such a strong word. I just refuse to pay to have America dry-cleaned. :D

[Heffalump and Roo]

I know, I know, why would I want another one? It'd probably end up holding pens, pencils & hi-lighters on my desk anyway. Or maybe I'd just treat it like bone-china and still use it. Its just that it should hold up to at least one day's normal wear & tear... :(

Edited to add: they do sell it. (https://www.dunkindonuts.com/shoponline/Product.aspx?CategoryId=MERCH&GroupId=MER08) Now I'm embarassed because I thought I paid a whole lot more...

You're not gonna return it? Even if you don't have a receipt, they should remember you. . . you just bought it.

I didn't look to see the price. Would it cost more in travel expense to return it?

At least you'll get to whiff more of those yummy donuts. Strawberry glaze. . . yum!!

There aren't any DD's where I live either. :(

[DianaG]

La la la la la... I shan't hear a bad word about Dunkin Donuts. There are five of them within walking distance of my house, and at each of them they have my coffee ready when I get to the counter. The day after MCAS day, one of the employees said to me "You know, I wasn't sure whether to say anything, but your daughter was in here for an hour yesterday, during school!" (She was released at 11:00a that day.) Just the other day, another employee told me "She comes in every day with the same boy... he seems nice, but have you met him? They spend a lot of time together!" (She does, he is, I have, they do.)

Around here, Dunkin Donuts is my eyes, my ears, AND my fix. Truly a boon to the neighborhood.

[Uvula Donor]

I still use a Dunkie's travel mug I bought 14 years ago. It's faded and a little beat up, and the lid has a strange scratch that looks exactly like a dog hair from the yellow lab we used to have, but it still keeps my coffee hot for hours.

[Count Blucher]

Heffalump and Roo, I tried to take it back. I was told 'no more' and got a shrug. :mad:

Still, it had/has the best spill-proof top for coffee I've ever seen on a travel mug. But do I suck it up & get another one? They have a copper one listed that's damn tempting...or is this just my 9AM caffeine addiction talking? So hard to think...need coffee....

Mmmmm....coffee...

[Pushkin]

I remember there used to be three DD stores in Belfast, if I was off the bus in time on a Sunday evening I could grab a chocolate doughnut from the Lisburn Rd. one before heading for my room in the halls of residence.

They're all gone now and have been replaced by a mini-market and at least one of the other two by a coffee shop. The mini-market one was initially replaced by a poor facsimilie of a DDs who used their doughnuts for a while before bringing in their own inferior product.

Some of my then housemates came back with a tray full of the chocolate ones after a night out, they'd drunkenly asked a delivery driver for one and helped themselves to a tray :dubious:

[DanBlather]

Well, they certainly make up for the lack of stores in California here in New England. We've got them here about every 100 feet.

And I'm not exaggerating by much either. Using their store finder, I come up with 111 Dunkin Donuts locations within 20 miles of my office here in Connecticut.I grew up in Boston and I miss DD. Starbucks out here are everywhere. I alrerady new there were 63 within 5 miles of my house. I checked and found there are 213(!) with 20 miles.

I had to get up early this morning and went to a Starbucks that is open 24 hours. At 5:30 AM it was packed. There were 4 policemen and women sitting around a table working on their reports. That's the NW for you: instead of coffee and donuts it's lattes and scones.

[Squink]

the cheap-ass plastic handleThey could get away with using cheap ass plastic if only the fuckers would put enough of it at the stress point where the handle joins the cup. I've lost a couple of expensive travel cups to really minor bumps, and am convinced that the engineers and moldmakers who designed the damn things were actually football scholarship dropouts.

[Count Blucher]

They could get away with using cheap ass plastic if only the fuckers would put enough of it at the stress point where the handle joins the cup. I've lost a couple of expensive travel cups to really minor bumps, and am convinced that the engineers and moldmakers who designed the damn things were actually football scholarship dropouts.

Too true. But that lid with the plastic slide on top is so Awesome! You could hold a full cup of liquid in it, flip it upside down, and get maybe 5 drops a second coming out. Any other travel mug I've ever seen/used would give you a full stream/pour out, if not a full instant spill-out.

[FuriousGeorge]

And Mayor Thomas M. Menino still hasn't managed to capture Milton Bradley, although there have been frequent sightings in Faneuil Hall. Rumor has it that the City Cops had him trapped in Toys R Us, but let him go. Oh, if only we'd had the Staties handling things instead of relying on local authorities... :smack:


And now Milton Bradley (http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/playerpage/127049) has fled to Oakland, California. Extradition hearings are penidng...

[Count Blucher]

And now Milton Bradley (http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/playerpage/127049) has fled to Oakland, California. Extradition hearings are penidng...

Luckily, California isn't ruled by a right-wing strong-man, with strong ties to Bush, yet holding on to his position despite the opposition of the vast majority of its citizens. Luckily, there isn't a mountainous region in the eastern part of the state, a 'no-man's land' where it would be easy to hide...

"Musharraf"
"Bless you!"

[waterj2]

Well, they certainly make up for the lack of stores in California here in New England. We've got them here about every 100 feet.

And I'm not exaggerating by much either. Using their store finder, I come up with 111 Dunkin Donuts locations within 20 miles of my office here in Connecticut.

We've also got Starbucks, Tim Hortons (http://www.timhortons.com/) (who recently took over the Bess Eaton chain), and smaller chains such as Dandy Donuts and Honey Dew Donuts.Yeah, from my zip code, 334 Dunkin Donuts locations within 20 miles. I also just now found a new one just down the road a bit that I've never even seen before. I think it's in the MIT student center, though, and not being an MIT student, I'd never really think to go there for coffee.

[Waverly]

Have you consulted the Barista? I’m sure her or she will be surprised to learn that their mugs can’t survive a minimum of 3 bounces on the floor.

[Guinastasia]

I got MY stainless steel travel mug from a funeral company. Beat that.

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

We've also got Starbucks, Tim Hortons (http://www.timhortons.com/) (who recently took over the Bess Eaton chain), and smaller chains such as Dandy Donuts and Honey Dew Donuts.

Tim's? Bwahahahaaha - you, too, shall be assimilated!

Seriously, Tim's doughnuts and coffee are way, way, way better than DDs.

[The Vorlon]

I for one welcome our new Tim Horten overlords.


The Goat Feltching mouthbreathers at DD make my hazelnut coffee tast like it got raped by blueberries.


Dammed flavor squirter.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Tim's? Bwahahahaaha - you, too, shall be assimilated!

Seriously, Tim's doughnuts and coffee are way, way, way better than DDs.
The first time I had a Dunkin' Donuts cup of coffee I spit out the first mouthful. Tim's has spoiled me.

Oh well. I can get a double-double after only seven hours' drive, I guess I shouldn't complain.
:(

[congodwarf]

Have you consulted the Barista? I’m sure her or she will be surprised to learn that their mugs can’t survive a minimum of 3 bounces on the floor.


Not only can they not survive 3 bounces, they can't handle 1 trip through the dishwasher or more than 1 week of use.

I bought two. The first broke the first time I put it in the dishwasher. Note: It did not break when I ran the dishwasher. It broke when I PUT IT IN the dishwasher. The other lasted 1 week and 3 uses. I didn't bother reporting it to DD because I'm supremely lazy and no one got hurt.

And FTR, 63 locations within 20 miles, which surprises me. I thought being so close to Springfield MA would net me more locations.

I used to work for the Food distributor for Tim Horton's. Out of curiosity, I had a coworker bring me a cup of coffee (she lived in RI, we don't have many in MA). I was considering buying some of their coffee since I could get it at a discount. Boy am I glad I didn't buy first. It was nasty, vile, disgusting, ohmygod bitter coffee. I can only imagine that making it myself wouldn't improve the taste.

[congodwarf]

Damn, it's too late to edit.

I forgot to say, DD isn't pretentious enough to have Baristas. When I worked there, my manager told us we were called Peons (yes she was kidding). We didn't really have a title other than counter worker or baker. Anyway, regardless of title, they wouldn't care. They may replace the mug but they wont care. Unless someone gets hurt. And since the lid really is so good, there's not much chance of someone getting hurt unless they're really trying.

[Quiddity Glomfuster]

Boy am I glad I didn't buy first. It was nasty, vile, disgusting, ohmygod bitter coffee. I can only imagine that making it myself wouldn't improve the taste.

Bitter? No way! I'm a coffee wuss - hate bitter things and can't drink coffee from most places; Starbucks being the worst of all. Tim's is very pleasant and not bitter at all. Maybe she pulled a stunt on you or maybe you got old beans or something but I can't imagine Tim's coffee being bitter.

[Waverly]

I forgot to say, DD isn't pretentious enough to have Baristas. The DD's by me could stand to be just a *little* more pretentious. And cleaner.

[Count Blucher]

I got MY stainless steel travel mug from a funeral company. Beat that.

Well, if you've got to go, you may as well go with style. (I'm just glad their mugs weren't a promotion to 'drum up business'. Stick around for a while, will ya? :D )

I'm wondering if that isn't a whole other thread: Who has the best/ most durable spill-proof travel mugs for a reasonable price? (no 'Hammacher-schlemmer' $1000 models please)

[Cheesesteak]

This thread makes me wonder why companies put their name on such shoddy merchandise.

I worked at Radio Shack for a while about 15 years ago, and they had a promotion where you could get a free RS flashlight if you brought in a coupon. Worst promotion ever, the flashlights were the cheapest, most unreliable products of any kind* I've ever held in my hand. A huge proportion didn't work right out of the box, we actually had to do quality testing in the store before giving them away. I can't imagine how many failed after knocking around in a drawer for a month or two.

I can only think that the first blackout of the season had hundreds of people cursing Radio Shack because the flashlight they were relying on didn't work for shit. Nice advertising, guys.


* Maybe the pack of 10 water pistols for $5 I bought at Duane Reade gives the RS flashlight a run for its money. Maybe.

[Count Blucher]

*Update*

When I wrote this thread, the store had offered me no redress and I had recieved no answer from a letter that I had emailed to the corporate website. Since then, I discovered that listed on the website is an 800 number for product issues. This morning I called that 800 number and reported the issue as it occured. The operator agreed with me that this never should have happened, but indicated that they had no mugs at corporate to mail me. Instead, they are mailing out to me gift certificates for the equivolent value of the mug in the hopes that I can find one at a different store location in my area.

If I had owned Dunkin Donuts, that's exactly how I would have handled it. I couldn't possibly ask any more of them, and given the result, I can't in good conscience pit them.

So, what happens now?

[The Vorlon]

Check the local Stop & Shops that have a DD in them--one of them just might have the mug