BH
Brenda Hernandez
Aug 16, 2026
I’ve been a loyal Dunkin customer since at least 2013, and I don’t use the word “loyal” lightly. In college, I was literally known as the Dunkin girl. I did presentations about Dunkin because I loved the brand that much, and friends and family have given me Dunkin-related gifts over the years because everyone who knows me knows how much I love Dunkin.
I started drinking Dunkin’s matcha about two years ago, and when I began driving Lyft in October 2024, stopping at Dunkin after work became part of my routine. I was going almost daily. My regular order became a large Protein Matcha, and the price I had consistently paid at these locations was $7.35.
Then the pricing started getting weird.
One day, a male employee tried to charge me over $8 for the exact same order. The next day, a different employee charged me $7.35. When I asked why the price had been different the day before, she said she didn’t know.
When I came back again and the higher price returned, it was the same employee. This time, she told me she was charging it the way her manager had instructed her to.
Because that made no sense, I went to another Dunkin just a few minutes away, next to the car wash. I spoke directly with the manager there, and at that time my Protein Matcha was $7.35. When I returned to that same location later, suddenly I was being charged over $8 there too.
That’s when I stopped going to both locations.
Then this past Friday, I drove to a Dunkin about 15 minutes away that is owned by the same franchise. The employee there told me the drink should be $7.35 at all of those locations.
I understand that Dunkin prices can vary between markets and franchises. That’s not what I’m describing. These are locations within the same franchise, where I’ve received different prices for the exact same drink, sometimes from one visit to the next, with inconsistent explanations for why.
And I’m very familiar with Dunkin’s matcha pricing. In the two years I’ve been drinking it, I’ve ordered it throughout San Antonio and in Houston, Dallas, Corpus Christi, Boston, and other cities while traveling. Apparently I’m also not the only customer who has questioned being overcharged at these locations, based on other reviews.
So, allegedly and in my opinion, I believe something potentially improper may be happening with the way customers are being charged. Whether earnings are being manipulated, someone is pocketing the additional money, or something else is happening behind the scenes, I obviously can’t prove. But the inconsistent pricing, changing explanations, manager-directed charges, and confirmation from another location within the same franchise are suspicious enough that I believe Dunkin corporate and the franchise owner should investigate the transactions and point-of-sale practices at these locations.
If everything is legitimate, an audit should be able to establish that.
What bothers me most is what this has done to a relationship I’ve had with Dunkin for more than a decade. I have two Dunkin locations less than five minutes from me, yet now, when I want my Protein Matcha, I drive about 15 minutes to another Dunkin because I don’t trust that I’ll be charged correctly at either of the locations closest to me.
And when I don’t want to make that drive, I now spend my money at another establishment that doesn’t even sell matcha.
Someone who was known as the Dunkin girl, did college presentations about Dunkin, received Dunkin gifts, and remained loyal to the brand for more than a decade now chooses to drive three times farther or skip Dunkin altogether because she doesn’t trust the pricing at the two locations closest to her.
I wasn’t asking for a discount or special treatment.
I just wanted to trust that I was being charged the correct price. Note the picture is from the location near the car wash (not this one) but as a visual representation of the price minus the protein milk.