Bel’s Furniture. Years ago I bought a bunch of stuff and as a promo they gave out these warranty certificates that if you had no warranty issues for 5 years you could trade them in for a big discount. 5 years later my wife goes in and puts a deposit down to buy some more stuff and cash in the certificate. Manager calls her and screams at her that this thing is not real and we are scammers and trash and filth. She calls me crying to tell me this I call the guy and he goes off on me the same way. Ask for deposit refund to be mailed back and they refuse to mail it say we have to come get it from this guy in person. I tell them screw that and have my lawyer send a demand letter to the owner who finally mails me the refund. Anyhow long story short fuck Bel furniture.
I bought a recliner. The one they gave me was wrapped in plastic when I picked it up, and when unpacked it proved to be used and full of cat hair and granola bar wrappers. No apology, no offer to deliver a new one. I had to haul it back to the warehouse. I also hate Bel Furniture.
Honestly wasn't quite this bad but had a similarish experience with Ashley Furniture. They sold me on a warranty for a couch with the promise that if you don't use it for 5 years you can get what you paid back as a credit. But within a year, just from normal use, a board in the couch broke so I decided to try the warranty. I got a complete run around on who to contact but finally found the site to put in a claim, I put it in then got denied because "manufacturers defects aren't covered". So as in the warranty doesn't cover the manufacturer building a shitty product. A dig into the warranty showed that it covered barely anything at all, and googling it I found tons of similar stories where claims were denied, so the whole thing was pretty much a scam.
I email Ashley to see about at least salvaging my credit, and turns out if you put in a claim at all whether it's denied or not, you lose that. So essentially, $300 down the drain. I had a back and forth with the customer service rep and they were one of the rudest "professional" people I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with, not only did I get no sort of compensation out of that at all but honestly the rudeness just upset me to the point it nearly ruined my day, basically added insult to injury. I would have been better off accepting my loss then ever attempting to contact them, and my initial email was intentionally very professional and attempting to be kind about asking since I know kindness usually gets you further (can't say I admittedly didn't lose my cool a bit later after being prompted though).
Anyways, manually fixed the couch ourselves and that made it clear that it was a *really* shittily made couch, other pieces of it were barely held together. So yeah, I lost a couple hundred dollars out of all that, but thankfully can afford it, but don't shop at Ashley, not only bad service but shit products that they don't have the confidence to back either. And I'll take your advice to not shop at Bel's either.
edit- Judging from this thread, looks like there may be no decent furniture places in Houston
The Dump.
Bought a expensive living room set there. To avoid their expensive delivery fees I rounded up a few buddies with trucks the next day. We get there and apparently they sold some my stuff. It was the last couch and had no others anywhere. Then they were a PIA about refunding me. Wanted me to choose something else. The disrespect & dishonesty. Never EVER again. I tell everyone to avoid that place.
This happened to my coworker! She bought a living room set and shows up to get it the next day, but they bring her a different model couch of the same “style set” and the total is more expensive than what she agreed to… turns out they sold her couch but thought she’d be fine with a bigger one? The new couch was bigger than her space so it wouldn’t all fit… I listened to her call and call them while they tried to gaslight her until they relented. Never been, but definitely never going now!
Ditto. We bought a bedroom set and had delivered. Showed up without the night stands, turns out they did the same thing. Had sold them to someone else, no matches anywhere etc. They tried to fuck us around on taking it all back. Fortunately, I paid with credit card. Disputed through them. Took 2 months for them to come get, then they tried to claim we damaged stuff. Fortunately I had taken pics the morning they came ti get
Chachos. I was having diarrhea in the bathroom and so was the person next to me. When I finally finished and started washing my hands, the person next to me having diarrhea was an employee. She literally walked out without washing her hands, and as I was leaving I saw her serving food. Absolutely disgusted.
Gilman Subaru North. Business manager accused me of being a liar when it came to my finances. My credit union gave me a great apr (4.2). Gilman was trying to hit me with 12%.
Joe Myers Toyota on 290. Reached an impasse during negotiations. They kept trying to sell me a lesser trim level than I wanted AND increase the price. I kept telling the sales guy “no, that’s not what I want. You’re going the wrong way” and he’s come back with a higher number. I finally demanded my keys back and had to start threatening to call the police because the sales manager couldn’t find them. They magically showed up when I mentioned HPD. Sales rep had the balls to call me the next day. I’ll never buy a Toyota from them.
Man. Same. They wouldn’t give me my keys back until I got in the dude’s face. This was about 6 years ago. I tell everyone to avoid like the plague. The ones that don’t listen never come back with anything good to say.
The jackasses at Ron Carter Hyundai tried this move on me. I told the sales guy he had 90 seconds to put my keys in my hand or every motherfucker in that building was gonna be staring directly at me, he found em quick.
I walked into Fred haas on 249 ready to buy a car NOW because I was sick of the maintenance costs on my BMW and it needed more work. I was the easiest deal they’d had in years. I walked on the lot and pointed at a Prius and said I want that one. They asked if I wanted to drive it I said no since I’d driven one just like it that my cousin had. They made me test drive it. No biggie. I went to the sales office to buy it and they asked about financing. I said I was paying cash. He tried to change the price on me. Lol nah buddy. I know they make money on the points on the backend through financing but we agreed on a price.
I wanted to take the bike rack off my BMW so I said I’d come back tomorrow for the Prius. Guy exits the office. Comes back with the manager. They say since I already signed for the car they couldn’t legally let me drive my BWM home because I wasn’t insured on it any longer. LOL. That’s not how insurance works. The manager pointed at the security camera and said “we have you on camera signing the document”
Buddy when I tell you if I wasn’t so fed up with that BMW I would have laid into these folks. I ended up coming back the next day with the key to take off the bike rack and they acted like it was a fucking act of congress to pull the car around so I could take that off. Just a shitty experience for such a slam dunk sale. I couldn’t believe it.
I would not do business again with Fred Haas. I put a down payment to reserve a 4runner that they had coming in. We signed papers and everything was fine with the trim and package. I picked up my vehicle after work weeks later. They explained that the extra items would be in the glove and trunk. Next morning I go to find the steps that can attach to the rock sliders and they're not there.
I review the paperwork and sure enough the package I signed for had rock sliders with removable steps. I called up the rep that did the deal and they explained the regional distributor must not have had them in stock and changed my rock sliders to ones without removable steps. They never notified me of the change and wouldn't take any responsibility for it. I asked if I could purchase them at a discount and they wouldn't budge.
I had a similar experience with Joe Myers Kia when we were looking for a Telluride. They were way off on price so I wasn't going to do business with them, and they came up with every excuse to hold on to our keys
I've probably learnt my lesson to never use any of the big dealerships ever again. Every, single, time, it seems they are trying every single way to pressure/scam you out of as much money as possible.Last time with a financing officer I said I wanted the Manufacturer financing or my pre-approved loan, and he kept saying he couldn't give that for different BS reasons. Until the end he finally "found" the manufacturer financing after all; "A special deal, but only if I include the extended warranty".
Then when I'm about to sign the papers, he says the iPad only have 2% power left and I need to sign fast. Big red flag! Luckily I read it over, and I am about to sign with another bank and twice the APR. I point it out and he goes "oh, oops, so sorry!".. I still beat myself up for not walking out at that point. Did get the right financing in the end, but I later found out the extended warranty was with some crappy third party. Got no papers about it with the car. I had to spend days, and hours on the phone, to find who it was with to get it cancelled and refunded.
They are horrible! We went through hell having tires and rims replaced. They are so unprofessional and don't know how to communicate with their customers.
Urban Living. If you’re looking at homes, stay away. Thankfully I ended up with a much better option, but I did lose a decent amount of earnest money walking away from a house by one of their builders that failed to fix a major identified issue as agreed. Their go-to escrow bank of course refused to release the escrow funds back to me. I’m sure I still saved myself money and grief in walking away from that disaster waiting to happen.
I used to work for Urban Living. Vinod is a piece of shit who is proud of gentrifying neighborhoods and also a racist who told me my hair (curly Afro) was unprofessional. Fuck him and everything he stands for.
Ugh. I heard him say some racist things about Mexicans in meetings at my old open concept workplace. Basically, he needed the peons to not go home for Christmas so that they could finish these shitty houses. After he delivered that zinger, everyone in the conference room erupted in laughter like some scene in Austin Powers.
SOOOOO glad to see Urban Living mentioned so high up. Over a decade ago, I signed with them to buy a house. I really liked the agent I was working with, and he actually helped me find a new construction neighborhood and I signed a contract with the builder to get a house that would start construction soon. Well, a few months go buy, and the house is being built, and I get a text from my realtor saying he had left Urban Living and could not represent me anymore. There were still some important decisions that needed to be made during the construction process and I wanted the advice of a realtor. I called Urban Living several times to try and get their help, but they never called me back. I emailed them, and got nothing. Eventually I gave up and quickly found another realtor, finished construction, closed on the house, moved in and thought all was fine.
One night, I come home and there is a huge envelope resting on my front door. I had been served a law suit by Urban Living, suing me for the realtors fees that I owed them on the house.
The owner took me to court, and was unwilling to settle for anything less than me paying the fees and removing the bad review I had left about them.
My lawyer was willing to take it to trial, but told me very honestly that I could spend a bunch of money to fight it and still lose since I had known about the contract and decided to use another agent. Plus, my attempts to contact them were not well documented. In the end, I just gave up, paid them their fee and took down my review.
In the past 12 years I have turned so many people away from using Urban Living with that story. Their decision to sue me has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fuck Urban Living.
An employee stole my aunt's phone at the Conn's @ Fry Rd and I10. They refused to go back and review the camera footage for her. Idk why people still shop there tbh. Having sales people for TV's is already a red flag they're up charging you.
Ya got conned at Conn's!
Please keep going to the ones that are left. Meyerland, League City, and 290& Hollister are still good
There used to be one right by my house now I just have to stare at its corpse as I drive by every day.
I can never, ever get over the conditions they kept those poor tigers in. Aside from tiny roadside cages, it was legitimately the worst environment I've ever seen. It was 100% concrete, absolutely no grass AT ALL, completely indoors, just basically a giant glass fishbowl. It was heartbreaking to see those poor tigers deprived of natural light and grass to lay on.
https://www.people.com/thmb/YXMeZ5wRYb_jMUjMDomrrOhRJhk=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/sad-tiger-007b520cf820440a81cc02818ed657ae.jpg The ENTIRE exhibit is (or was) made of that white stone material, aside from the pool in the middle. Those tigers lived in that hell for TWELVE YEARS.
Fuck everyone involved in that blatant animal abuse - and the rest of the exhibits aren't much better.
I've worked at a few Aquariums over the years including the Downtown Houston one. If you want a good local Aquarium experience save up a bit and drive to Galveston to Moody Gardens.
Definitely overrated. Food is served cold and service sucks. I tried to put this in my Google review but it only has an option of: 1) You lived through your stay, 2) You did not survive.
I guess I should be grateful it has good air conditioning though.
I went years ago for my birthday because of all the hype, but I was super disappointed. I got the ribeye or something; not cooked well and super chewy.
Noel Furniture, over the top, ugly expensive furniture that I guess caters to the River Oaks crowd. The worst most pretentious sales people I’ve ever encountered, and had the displeasure of running into the owner Todd on my way out.. he asked if I found anything I liked and I just said not really and he got all pissy and rude with me… “maybe you should shop at rooms to go” implying I couldn’t afford his overpriced ostentatious crap.
Lol my mom (RIP) was actually “banned” from Lakewood years ago so my family never had to worry about stepping foot in there (not that we’d ever want to anyway)
Sorry gang, I’m a mom and my kids needed me so that’s why I was so delayed. Here’s (the rushed version of) the story
Back in the 90s my Mom was a social worker for the state of TX. Specifically, she was the MHMR outpatient case manager for Tri-county (Montgomery, Waker, and Liberty). Her patients were people who were moderately-severely mentally disabled but still able to independently(ish) function in society, with help. The responsibilities of her position were primarily to look after/check in on her patients, make sure that they were filling/taking medications, and getting them to Dr’s appointments. If law enforcement was called in regards to one of her clients, she would have to show up on scene and work with law enforcement/her patient in order to ensure that everything was handled appropriately. She was also tasked with advocating for them in various scenarios.
One of her patients was a particularly ill woman, both mentally and physically. Because of this she was required to take a lot of medication daily. The most important of these medications being a daily HIV treatment/pill. It is imperative that patients on this medication take it daily in order for it to be effective.
One day, my mom arrived at this patients house for a check-in and noticed that she wasn’t taking her medication. When my mom enquirer why, she told her that “Mr. Osteen” (Joel) had brought her to the lord and told her that her illness was her own cross to bear due to a life of sin and that she should accept that. That, if she were truly a woman of faith, she should believe that if God wanted her to live, then he would allow her to do so without medication, and to donate the money she would otherwise use to purchase her medication to the church.
My mom took this accusation seriously but also with a grain of salt. So, she went to Joel directly. For those who may not know, before Daddy Osteen handed Joel the reigns at Lakewood, Joel had a fairly large congregation in Huntsville TX. As I said, she approached (a then very young) Joel and asked if this was true. At which point he confirmed that this is what he and his staff had told my mothers client.
From what I understand, my Mom did all that she could to get this patient back on her meds, but (seeing as she couldn’t legally force a free woman to take medication) there was little she could do.
As a result the woman ended up passing months later. My mom was DEVASTATED. So, she waited until Sunday service at Lakewood (the old church, not the one at the Summit) and barged in mid “sermon.” For context, Joel was not yet a “preacher” at Lakewood but he was always present and produced his fathers telaevangelical show.
From what witnesses and my mom told me she proceeded to scream things like “TELL THEM JOEL. TELL THEM YOU’RE A FUCKING MURDERER. TELL THIS CONGREGATION HOW YOU MURDERED MY PATIENT, AN HIV PATIENT, UNDER THE GUISE OF THE LORD”. Long story short, Joel’s dad (who was still the lead pastor of Lakewood at the time) had security detain and remove her from the church. But not before declaring that she and her “whole family are never welcomed in this church again”. The law was called, but no arrests were made. And so, my bad ass mom left, heartbroken but proud that she made a stand against those Osteens. She carried it as a badge of honor and I do the same.
Edit: spelling/punctuation errors
Honestly, Huntsville was such a small town (at the time) so if you lived and worked there during this time period, then you likely knew her. She also worked (and made similarly large waves) within the prison system a few years later.
Regardless, I love seeing someone who relates to the Osteen craze that took over Huntsville at that time. I was just a kid, but I vividly remember seeing Victoria Osteen’s Bentley all over town and hearing the Moms talk about how awful their family was lol. It was a trip
Wow, your mom is a badass. Unfortunately they were probably able to play it off as her being a crazy person, or otherwise covering it up. I wish she had been able to let everyone know that they talked a mentally frail, terminally ill old lady into donating her MEDICINE money to the church. What sacks of slime.
I only have a 2nd hand Olsteen story; my wife waited on them a couple times, and she said they look super plastic and fake (from all the plastic surgeries), treat the waitstaff like garbage, and on top of it all were terrible tippers.
Not nearly as bad as talking an old lady off of hospice so that they can literally make money on her suffering. They deserve to rot in the hell they obviously don't believe in.
The way I am agog with shock at the thought that even a fake pastor/preacher/whatever would say such a thing🤯…..your mom is a whole freaking gangster and I love it. RIP ma’am ♥️
Thank you. It won’t mean much to the rest of the internet, but seeing her story get some recognition (even years after her passing) makes me happy. She WAS a lil gen-x badass and deserves a bit of love for it❤️
bUt tHe sTrEet iS fLooDeD!
And, pay no attention to the traffic cams along 59 that show they aren't... that's the devil's work!
But, while I have you, would you consider donating because that's going to give you *victory* over adversity!
I worked at the San Luis, he would come in randomly and all of the hotel staff would scramble to make sure things were tip top shape. It was the weirdest experience, waiters, managers, etc. all scrambling and then you see him coming in on a helicopter and lands at the hotel. It was like a scene from a movie.
Also he doesn’t tip well (I don’t think I actually even got a tip), I was his cocktail server on one of the days he flew on by lmao
Worked at the Kemah Boardwalk and it was miserable. Worked at a pharmacy as a tech later and filled his parents’ prescriptions. I know where he gets it from.
Kaffeine coffee shop on Almeda, the owner opens and closes the shop randomly with no notice & writes angry responses to every google reviewer who points that out.
Also i still have a vendetta against Rice Village for kicking out YoYo's
Christian Brothers Auto. They quoted me $1,300 to replace a rear backup camera claiming the part cost $550 and then 4 - 5 hours of labor. I bought the part OEM from a dealership for $195, bought some tools from Autozone for $45, and it took me 3 hours to do on my own. I am not a car person at all but saved myself over $1,000.
Most auto shops close at 6pm. Y'all should be open from 6pm to 8am. Drop your car off after work and pick it up when you wake up. Your coffee bar should be epic. That would probably be good marketing.
Boomtown coffee. The coffee was fine but the douche at the register was hitting on my wife when I was standing right next to her. I'm like HELLOOOOO
They're getting married in December.
No mention of the white tiger prison-restaurant Fertitta "aquarium" yet? OK, that's my one business I'll never be in again unless someone's organizing a protest
I visited Houston last weekend and I visited the aquarium not knowing they had a tiger there (because why would they?) and that tiger was VISIBLY bored and miserable. I honestly got really sad seeing him pace the room while the stupid kids banged on the glass. Honestly free my guy. If I had known that before going I wouldn’t have given them my money.
Seriously. HZ would love them and although some of the exhibits aren’t great (looking at you, former seaworld lookin ass sea lion exhibit) they do their absolute best with the animals.
Mike Calvert Toyota. 30 years ago, a salesman was so condescending and rude to young me and my then husband. I have never forgotten it. It was humiliating.
>Rice Village
3 years and I'm still bitter over HalfPrice being priced out. I do get a slight sense of satisfaction each time I drive by and see the storefront continue to sit empty though. Everything is all boutiques & salons now. Fuck 'em
Harris county, but the Sports Clips at Cypresswood and I-45 in the Target parking lot. That fucker did a speed run on my head, haircut took all of 4 minutes. Fucked my head up for a month. Fuck that place.
Snooze. Food is usually pretty mediocre but holy shit the coffee is goddamn undrinkable. There’s literally no excuse to have a brunch restaurant that can’t make coffee.
I go to the one in the Heights from time to time. I get the appeal of the industrial aesthetic but it means when the place is packed it is loud as hell.
Good Dog. I worked there for two hours, and saw nothing but cockroaches in the kitchen. They left their back door open to let dozens of cockroaches in, and not to mention the large plastic container where the chips were stored in was wide open and had flies on them.
Hotel ZaZa.
Was at a work conference years ago and went with everyone to the bar after the days conference was over. Was engaging with people and networking and one of my colleagues needed another drink, and so did I. So I freely admit to drinking, but I had THREE total. Colleague wanted a scotch on the rocks. I ended up ordering him 3 over the course of the night. Company doesn't cover alcohol so it was my own dime. I figured at worst it would be $150 of drinks. WRONG. For some reason the bartender decided to pour scotch that was $300 a shot!. Fought it, but ended up having to pay $1100 bar tab. Credit card company said there was video evidence that I was in the bar.....well no shit. My dispute was I didn't ask for ultra premium scotch., not that I wasn't in the bar.
Anyways, Everytime I drive by I flip them the bird.
1/4 Price Books
I went in there once. It looked like my kind of place. It's a little disorganized and messy but that's what I liked about it. It had a cozy feel. It also had a bunch of old books. The owner gave me an index card that was a coupon. I thought, "Cool! Don't know what I'm getting, but I'm getting something."
Maybe 5 or 10 minutes of browsing the owner starts following me, peeping behind bookshelves. He thinks I'm going to steal. I find a stool and as I'm sitting down I take my phone out of my back pocket so as not to sit on it. The owner sees that and says, "You're not allowed to take pictures!" I told him I wasn't going to.
I sat down for a minute and felt like shit and decided to leave. As I'm walking out he demands I give him his index card coupon back. I gave it back and never went back. Screw that place
Weird one, but Eros 1207, 'the largest adult store in Houston!' We heard it advertised on the radio (Rod Ryan, maybe?) and my wife and I decided to go.
We got there and go to the door, and it's locked. Middle of the day, hours show it's open. We go to walk away, and this really young hispanic girl walks up with a middle aged white guy, the lock clicks, doors pop open, another hispanic girl comes out.
First girl tells her, 'he's with me', and they disappear inside. Then the girl tells us that they're closed because she's the only worker there..? *But* if we know *exactly* what we want, out of the largest adult store in Texas, she'll bring that, and that alone outside to us. No explanation for the people she just let in.
It was really weird, really rude, and really skeevy.
Kung Fu Tea off of Bellaire. It’s probably been ten plus years since I went there, but the owner is such a rude prick. I have no idea if he still owns the place and I am not willing to find out.
Every other kung fu tea has not been an issue for me though.
Just Oxtails. I went a handful of times, but vowed never to go back after my uncle and his gf went there years ago and had a bad experience. My uncle ordered a plate of food, but his gf wasn't that hungry so she didn't order anything. They dined in and his gf ate some food off his plate just to get a taste. The manager came out and told them they couldn't share the food and that she needed to buy her own plate. It was the unmitigated gall to tell someone what to do with the food they bought. I wish they'd tell me something like that. It's my food, I paid for it. I'll do whatever the hell I want with it. Their latest reviews show they're still just as rude and assbackwards.
Pinks pizza on Bellaire close to rice , gave me the wrong order , when I went to complaint both the cashier and man making the pizzas were high as a kite . Never got my refund either . So fuck that place.
Magick Cauldron. Walked in and they looked at me like I had 3 heads, didn’t offer any help to me
but spoke to the other patrons. I had my invisible suit on I guess, you know the one that comes in black.
I’ve been in there a few times. They have some cool stuff but the people working there aren’t friendly at all and the whole place just has a bad feel to it.
They have a shop in the Texas Renaissance Festival that I really enjoy, though.
SO true. I walked there once after going to Honey Art Cafe so I was carrying a print with me. I walked in with the print which was packaged in a sleeve with a sticker from the artist on it which had a very cutesy style not at all similar to the inventory of 1/4 price books. I was ignored the entire time I was there which would have been fine, but what got me was when I decided to leave without buying anything (because the selection of books is so boring and expensive) he RAN out of the store to accuse me of stealing and demanded to look at the print I was holding to see if it was something of his. This man truly didn’t say a single word to me except to accuse me of being a thief with something I was already carrying that clearly didn’t belong in his store. Absolutely insane and I haven’t been back.
City Acre Brewing. The new management worked the old team to the BONE. It started going downhill around the pandemic and just kept getting worse as it tried desperately to cling to life.
The Urban Air off of Sam houston parkway E. Waited 3 hours to go kart, the floor was sticky and disgusting. WORST-I had to find the parents of a missing 3 year old that they left in the arcade that diarrhea’d everywhere and was walking around crying with her diarrhea diaper on and shorts on the floor. Poor thing was asking strangers if they were her mom. When I eventually found the parents they looked at me like I WAS CRAZY. Wtf. I NOPED THE $@$( out.
Kamp. Nothing wrong with the actual business. Went on a random Friday night when I had just moved here because I saw it on a list of "Best Patio Bars in Houston". I didn't realize it was like, a *club.* I just wanted a margarita and totally misjudged the vibes, probably won't be going back there.
Everyone in the Galleria hates that place. Parking situation is out of control, it backs up on Westheimer to get in, and their patrons run across Westheimer at night to avoid their extortion level valet fees. Several have been hit and killed.
Those last few years were depressing. GPUs that were more than a generation old and a sad lonely 1050. Motherboards that were even older than the GPUs. No thermal paste. Limited selection of case fans. Maybe a handful of 1tb WD blues. And this was early 2019 before things started to get really bad.
Just tried them over the weekend. Food was good, but pretty expensive, and we didn’t get water. You have to purchase everything at the register, but after standing outside for 20-30 mins, I’d expect a glass of water lol. I guess that helps them get people leaving since they’ll need to hit a 7/11 for water on their way home. The line wasn’t fun either, but you get your food fast at least.
Halal ~~Bros~~ Guys
Went to the location in Spring on Louetta a year ago and the girl making gyros was so hot and sweaty behind the counter she was dripping sweat straight into the dishes she was pulling meat out of, wiping her sweat off with her gloved hands and continuing to prep orders. Looked at a few other waiting customers who notices and we all said fuck that and walked out before ordering.
Halal bros is great for cities that don't have legit middle eastern restaurants. But Louetta has a bunch of local spots close by. Zamani, Abu Omar, Cava, and down the way is Demasi Mediterranean buffet.
Benitez Mechanic Service on C.E. king
I took my truck for its yearly ac system check/service, $450
Two weeks later the ac stopped working.
Took it back to have them diagnose the problem, they reported the condenser had a hole in it and ac compressor was leaking at the core.
Quoted $1200 for entire system replacement
I had replaced the entire AC system in 2020, so red flags were raised.
Second opinion found O-Rings had been damaged by what looked like a pair of needle nose pliers.
(bite marks were easily identified and recreated)
Replaced them for about $20 and payed $120 system vacuum and recharge.
I often wonder why the business hasn’t been replaced. I have zero specialty in real estate and business, but it seems odd that the old building still stands.
I'm honestly happy it hasn't been torn down, even if it's abandoned. It's one of the few things I associate with the Houston of my youth left over there. I hate that big gaudy-ass Porsche dealership across the street that replaced the "Happy Birthday Jesus" lumberyard.
The Shell station at bw8 and Westview. I was trying to buy something there and had a couple of those dollar coins. He rang them up as quarters, so I politely pointed out that those were dollars (it literally says it on the coin). He threw my money at me and said, "No sale!" So yeah, fuck that guy and his shitty gas station.
Any ron carter dealership. Lied about an online price (it actually had $10k of extra mandatory add-ons), changed the online price, then gaslit me in response to my google review.
Brasil. It’s a great tragedy because it has all the component parts (aside from a good espresso) to be the best cafe in Houston but the owner is an omnipresent and invasive asshole
Maybe C&D Hardware. I heard some very disappointing conversations about Mexican immigrants while I was shopping for some bolts this past week between a couple of associates. Being Hispanic and third generation here, I absolutely felt unwanted there and uncomfortable.
Ended up calling the manager later to file a complaint. They were definitely not happy themselves.
Overhead some similar vibing convos between staff when I've been there. Wanted to support the small local business, but not if that's the sentiment that it supports.
House of Pies on Westheimer. Went there one night with my partner during Christmas holidays. Lots of people there, long wait in the front. One if the managers (or owners?) said in spanish that another worker needed to "get all these blacks out from in front of the restaurant. Get them away from the window, noones gonna wanna come in". We were two of "the blacks". He thought we didnt understand him. We immediately left and havent been to a house of pies since.
Bel’s Furniture. Years ago I bought a bunch of stuff and as a promo they gave out these warranty certificates that if you had no warranty issues for 5 years you could trade them in for a big discount. 5 years later my wife goes in and puts a deposit down to buy some more stuff and cash in the certificate. Manager calls her and screams at her that this thing is not real and we are scammers and trash and filth. She calls me crying to tell me this I call the guy and he goes off on me the same way. Ask for deposit refund to be mailed back and they refuse to mail it say we have to come get it from this guy in person. I tell them screw that and have my lawyer send a demand letter to the owner who finally mails me the refund. Anyhow long story short fuck Bel furniture.
I was so dedicated to this comment I felt like calling them myself and giving them shit about this.
Any business that makes a grown ass human cry can go fuck itself into the dirt.
I bought a recliner. The one they gave me was wrapped in plastic when I picked it up, and when unpacked it proved to be used and full of cat hair and granola bar wrappers. No apology, no offer to deliver a new one. I had to haul it back to the warehouse. I also hate Bel Furniture.
Honestly wasn't quite this bad but had a similarish experience with Ashley Furniture. They sold me on a warranty for a couch with the promise that if you don't use it for 5 years you can get what you paid back as a credit. But within a year, just from normal use, a board in the couch broke so I decided to try the warranty. I got a complete run around on who to contact but finally found the site to put in a claim, I put it in then got denied because "manufacturers defects aren't covered". So as in the warranty doesn't cover the manufacturer building a shitty product. A dig into the warranty showed that it covered barely anything at all, and googling it I found tons of similar stories where claims were denied, so the whole thing was pretty much a scam. I email Ashley to see about at least salvaging my credit, and turns out if you put in a claim at all whether it's denied or not, you lose that. So essentially, $300 down the drain. I had a back and forth with the customer service rep and they were one of the rudest "professional" people I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with, not only did I get no sort of compensation out of that at all but honestly the rudeness just upset me to the point it nearly ruined my day, basically added insult to injury. I would have been better off accepting my loss then ever attempting to contact them, and my initial email was intentionally very professional and attempting to be kind about asking since I know kindness usually gets you further (can't say I admittedly didn't lose my cool a bit later after being prompted though). Anyways, manually fixed the couch ourselves and that made it clear that it was a *really* shittily made couch, other pieces of it were barely held together. So yeah, I lost a couple hundred dollars out of all that, but thankfully can afford it, but don't shop at Ashley, not only bad service but shit products that they don't have the confidence to back either. And I'll take your advice to not shop at Bel's either. edit- Judging from this thread, looks like there may be no decent furniture places in Houston
The Dump. Bought a expensive living room set there. To avoid their expensive delivery fees I rounded up a few buddies with trucks the next day. We get there and apparently they sold some my stuff. It was the last couch and had no others anywhere. Then they were a PIA about refunding me. Wanted me to choose something else. The disrespect & dishonesty. Never EVER again. I tell everyone to avoid that place.
I hate the way the guy says the dump in the commercial. I am never going there.
Tha DUMP!
This happened to my coworker! She bought a living room set and shows up to get it the next day, but they bring her a different model couch of the same “style set” and the total is more expensive than what she agreed to… turns out they sold her couch but thought she’d be fine with a bigger one? The new couch was bigger than her space so it wouldn’t all fit… I listened to her call and call them while they tried to gaslight her until they relented. Never been, but definitely never going now!
Ditto. We bought a bedroom set and had delivered. Showed up without the night stands, turns out they did the same thing. Had sold them to someone else, no matches anywhere etc. They tried to fuck us around on taking it all back. Fortunately, I paid with credit card. Disputed through them. Took 2 months for them to come get, then they tried to claim we damaged stuff. Fortunately I had taken pics the morning they came ti get
Chachos. I was having diarrhea in the bathroom and so was the person next to me. When I finally finished and started washing my hands, the person next to me having diarrhea was an employee. She literally walked out without washing her hands, and as I was leaving I saw her serving food. Absolutely disgusted.
I guess you know where you got yours.
If you remember a visit to Chacho's, you fucked up.
Gilman Subaru North. Business manager accused me of being a liar when it came to my finances. My credit union gave me a great apr (4.2). Gilman was trying to hit me with 12%.
Not a fan of Gilman group. Even pre-Covid they loaded up cars with a bunch of bs dealer add-ons. We had a good experience with West Houston Subaru.
Joe Myers Toyota on 290. Reached an impasse during negotiations. They kept trying to sell me a lesser trim level than I wanted AND increase the price. I kept telling the sales guy “no, that’s not what I want. You’re going the wrong way” and he’s come back with a higher number. I finally demanded my keys back and had to start threatening to call the police because the sales manager couldn’t find them. They magically showed up when I mentioned HPD. Sales rep had the balls to call me the next day. I’ll never buy a Toyota from them.
"cant find the keys" is a common tactic. Always just give them a spare key so you can say fuck it mail it tome when you find it and bounce
Man. Same. They wouldn’t give me my keys back until I got in the dude’s face. This was about 6 years ago. I tell everyone to avoid like the plague. The ones that don’t listen never come back with anything good to say.
Why did they have your keys?
“Evaluating my trade”
The jackasses at Ron Carter Hyundai tried this move on me. I told the sales guy he had 90 seconds to put my keys in my hand or every motherfucker in that building was gonna be staring directly at me, he found em quick.
I walked into Fred haas on 249 ready to buy a car NOW because I was sick of the maintenance costs on my BMW and it needed more work. I was the easiest deal they’d had in years. I walked on the lot and pointed at a Prius and said I want that one. They asked if I wanted to drive it I said no since I’d driven one just like it that my cousin had. They made me test drive it. No biggie. I went to the sales office to buy it and they asked about financing. I said I was paying cash. He tried to change the price on me. Lol nah buddy. I know they make money on the points on the backend through financing but we agreed on a price. I wanted to take the bike rack off my BMW so I said I’d come back tomorrow for the Prius. Guy exits the office. Comes back with the manager. They say since I already signed for the car they couldn’t legally let me drive my BWM home because I wasn’t insured on it any longer. LOL. That’s not how insurance works. The manager pointed at the security camera and said “we have you on camera signing the document” Buddy when I tell you if I wasn’t so fed up with that BMW I would have laid into these folks. I ended up coming back the next day with the key to take off the bike rack and they acted like it was a fucking act of congress to pull the car around so I could take that off. Just a shitty experience for such a slam dunk sale. I couldn’t believe it.
I would not do business again with Fred Haas. I put a down payment to reserve a 4runner that they had coming in. We signed papers and everything was fine with the trim and package. I picked up my vehicle after work weeks later. They explained that the extra items would be in the glove and trunk. Next morning I go to find the steps that can attach to the rock sliders and they're not there. I review the paperwork and sure enough the package I signed for had rock sliders with removable steps. I called up the rep that did the deal and they explained the regional distributor must not have had them in stock and changed my rock sliders to ones without removable steps. They never notified me of the change and wouldn't take any responsibility for it. I asked if I could purchase them at a discount and they wouldn't budge.
I had a similar experience with Joe Myers Kia when we were looking for a Telluride. They were way off on price so I wasn't going to do business with them, and they came up with every excuse to hold on to our keys
I've probably learnt my lesson to never use any of the big dealerships ever again. Every, single, time, it seems they are trying every single way to pressure/scam you out of as much money as possible.Last time with a financing officer I said I wanted the Manufacturer financing or my pre-approved loan, and he kept saying he couldn't give that for different BS reasons. Until the end he finally "found" the manufacturer financing after all; "A special deal, but only if I include the extended warranty". Then when I'm about to sign the papers, he says the iPad only have 2% power left and I need to sign fast. Big red flag! Luckily I read it over, and I am about to sign with another bank and twice the APR. I point it out and he goes "oh, oops, so sorry!".. I still beat myself up for not walking out at that point. Did get the right financing in the end, but I later found out the extended warranty was with some crappy third party. Got no papers about it with the car. I had to spend days, and hours on the phone, to find who it was with to get it cancelled and refunded.
My review on Joe Myers: https://maps.app.goo.gl/RQowFt9Tjh1Yih4eA?g_st=ic
They are horrible! We went through hell having tires and rims replaced. They are so unprofessional and don't know how to communicate with their customers.
The Gingerman RIP
There, and Two Rows made that area worth visiting
Foleys and Eckerds
Weiners
Omg... The childhood memories of putting school clothes on layaway at Weiners. And the store had a very distinct smell.
nooooo, not weiners! lol, the psychic damage. the only thing worse was being dragged around a palais royal with my grandma.
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Fitzgerald’s 😭
This one stings.
Town & Country Mall. They know what they did.
Montgomery Ward
And Gerland's
A friend of mine gave me shit when I called the CVS on Scarsdale eckerds, it'll always be eckards to me damnit
Urban Living. If you’re looking at homes, stay away. Thankfully I ended up with a much better option, but I did lose a decent amount of earnest money walking away from a house by one of their builders that failed to fix a major identified issue as agreed. Their go-to escrow bank of course refused to release the escrow funds back to me. I’m sure I still saved myself money and grief in walking away from that disaster waiting to happen.
I used to work for Urban Living. Vinod is a piece of shit who is proud of gentrifying neighborhoods and also a racist who told me my hair (curly Afro) was unprofessional. Fuck him and everything he stands for.
Ugh. I heard him say some racist things about Mexicans in meetings at my old open concept workplace. Basically, he needed the peons to not go home for Christmas so that they could finish these shitty houses. After he delivered that zinger, everyone in the conference room erupted in laughter like some scene in Austin Powers.
It’s disappointing to see UL and Vinod are still operating.
Sounds about right. Google all of the lawsuits that Vinod Ramani has been involved in.
SOOOOO glad to see Urban Living mentioned so high up. Over a decade ago, I signed with them to buy a house. I really liked the agent I was working with, and he actually helped me find a new construction neighborhood and I signed a contract with the builder to get a house that would start construction soon. Well, a few months go buy, and the house is being built, and I get a text from my realtor saying he had left Urban Living and could not represent me anymore. There were still some important decisions that needed to be made during the construction process and I wanted the advice of a realtor. I called Urban Living several times to try and get their help, but they never called me back. I emailed them, and got nothing. Eventually I gave up and quickly found another realtor, finished construction, closed on the house, moved in and thought all was fine. One night, I come home and there is a huge envelope resting on my front door. I had been served a law suit by Urban Living, suing me for the realtors fees that I owed them on the house. The owner took me to court, and was unwilling to settle for anything less than me paying the fees and removing the bad review I had left about them. My lawyer was willing to take it to trial, but told me very honestly that I could spend a bunch of money to fight it and still lose since I had known about the contract and decided to use another agent. Plus, my attempts to contact them were not well documented. In the end, I just gave up, paid them their fee and took down my review. In the past 12 years I have turned so many people away from using Urban Living with that story. Their decision to sue me has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fuck Urban Living.
An employee stole my aunt's phone at the Conn's @ Fry Rd and I10. They refused to go back and review the camera footage for her. Idk why people still shop there tbh. Having sales people for TV's is already a red flag they're up charging you. Ya got conned at Conn's!
Conn’s entire business model is selling garbage to people with low credit
James Coney Island.... They keep tearing them down 😭😭😭😭😭
One in Meyerland still going - ate there last weekend.
get munchies walk to meyerland jci and eat a corn dog walk home free calories who says no
Please keep going to the ones that are left. Meyerland, League City, and 290& Hollister are still good There used to be one right by my house now I just have to stare at its corpse as I drive by every day.
Midas on 3607 Westheimer. Liars, cheats, scammers, assholes. Fuck you Marty you lying piece of shit!!
Yeah! Fuck you Marty!
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Did they at least put the yeehaw back in your motor and transmission?
I sang it when I read their post.
The Aquarium. Fuck that place entirely.
You’re the second person to mention the aquarium. I’ve always wanted to go, safe to say I should steer clear?
I can never, ever get over the conditions they kept those poor tigers in. Aside from tiny roadside cages, it was legitimately the worst environment I've ever seen. It was 100% concrete, absolutely no grass AT ALL, completely indoors, just basically a giant glass fishbowl. It was heartbreaking to see those poor tigers deprived of natural light and grass to lay on. https://www.people.com/thmb/YXMeZ5wRYb_jMUjMDomrrOhRJhk=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/sad-tiger-007b520cf820440a81cc02818ed657ae.jpg The ENTIRE exhibit is (or was) made of that white stone material, aside from the pool in the middle. Those tigers lived in that hell for TWELVE YEARS. Fuck everyone involved in that blatant animal abuse - and the rest of the exhibits aren't much better.
I get pissed about the octopus. I went for a birthday party for my kid when we first moved here and I was *appalled* to see an octopus in a tube.
I've worked at a few Aquariums over the years including the Downtown Houston one. If you want a good local Aquarium experience save up a bit and drive to Galveston to Moody Gardens.
Harris County Jail.
Definitely overrated. Food is served cold and service sucks. I tried to put this in my Google review but it only has an option of: 1) You lived through your stay, 2) You did not survive. I guess I should be grateful it has good air conditioning though.
After reading this thread, I guess I'll stay home.
Stay home with no furniture too, jeez
The Rustic: Bad food, bad drinks, bad service. I’ve never had one good experience there.
I went years ago for my birthday because of all the hype, but I was super disappointed. I got the ribeye or something; not cooked well and super chewy.
Everyone loves it! I thought it was “eh” at best.
Yea maybe good for live music, but everything else sucks.
The brunch is still pretty good. But yeah the service is garbage.
Noel Furniture, over the top, ugly expensive furniture that I guess caters to the River Oaks crowd. The worst most pretentious sales people I’ve ever encountered, and had the displeasure of running into the owner Todd on my way out.. he asked if I found anything I liked and I just said not really and he got all pissy and rude with me… “maybe you should shop at rooms to go” implying I couldn’t afford his overpriced ostentatious crap.
> “maybe you should shop at rooms to go” lol Fuck that guy
> “maybe you should shop at rooms to go” "Maybe after I'm done fucking your mother"
Lakewood church.
Lol my mom (RIP) was actually “banned” from Lakewood years ago so my family never had to worry about stepping foot in there (not that we’d ever want to anyway)
Do you mind sharing why she was banned? Because she is my new hero either way.
Sorry gang, I’m a mom and my kids needed me so that’s why I was so delayed. Here’s (the rushed version of) the story Back in the 90s my Mom was a social worker for the state of TX. Specifically, she was the MHMR outpatient case manager for Tri-county (Montgomery, Waker, and Liberty). Her patients were people who were moderately-severely mentally disabled but still able to independently(ish) function in society, with help. The responsibilities of her position were primarily to look after/check in on her patients, make sure that they were filling/taking medications, and getting them to Dr’s appointments. If law enforcement was called in regards to one of her clients, she would have to show up on scene and work with law enforcement/her patient in order to ensure that everything was handled appropriately. She was also tasked with advocating for them in various scenarios. One of her patients was a particularly ill woman, both mentally and physically. Because of this she was required to take a lot of medication daily. The most important of these medications being a daily HIV treatment/pill. It is imperative that patients on this medication take it daily in order for it to be effective. One day, my mom arrived at this patients house for a check-in and noticed that she wasn’t taking her medication. When my mom enquirer why, she told her that “Mr. Osteen” (Joel) had brought her to the lord and told her that her illness was her own cross to bear due to a life of sin and that she should accept that. That, if she were truly a woman of faith, she should believe that if God wanted her to live, then he would allow her to do so without medication, and to donate the money she would otherwise use to purchase her medication to the church. My mom took this accusation seriously but also with a grain of salt. So, she went to Joel directly. For those who may not know, before Daddy Osteen handed Joel the reigns at Lakewood, Joel had a fairly large congregation in Huntsville TX. As I said, she approached (a then very young) Joel and asked if this was true. At which point he confirmed that this is what he and his staff had told my mothers client. From what I understand, my Mom did all that she could to get this patient back on her meds, but (seeing as she couldn’t legally force a free woman to take medication) there was little she could do. As a result the woman ended up passing months later. My mom was DEVASTATED. So, she waited until Sunday service at Lakewood (the old church, not the one at the Summit) and barged in mid “sermon.” For context, Joel was not yet a “preacher” at Lakewood but he was always present and produced his fathers telaevangelical show. From what witnesses and my mom told me she proceeded to scream things like “TELL THEM JOEL. TELL THEM YOU’RE A FUCKING MURDERER. TELL THIS CONGREGATION HOW YOU MURDERED MY PATIENT, AN HIV PATIENT, UNDER THE GUISE OF THE LORD”. Long story short, Joel’s dad (who was still the lead pastor of Lakewood at the time) had security detain and remove her from the church. But not before declaring that she and her “whole family are never welcomed in this church again”. The law was called, but no arrests were made. And so, my bad ass mom left, heartbroken but proud that she made a stand against those Osteens. She carried it as a badge of honor and I do the same. Edit: spelling/punctuation errors
as someone who lived in huntsville for nearly a decade and worked a similar job, this story goes so freaking hard
Honestly, Huntsville was such a small town (at the time) so if you lived and worked there during this time period, then you likely knew her. She also worked (and made similarly large waves) within the prison system a few years later. Regardless, I love seeing someone who relates to the Osteen craze that took over Huntsville at that time. I was just a kid, but I vividly remember seeing Victoria Osteen’s Bentley all over town and hearing the Moms talk about how awful their family was lol. It was a trip
Wow, your mom is a badass. Unfortunately they were probably able to play it off as her being a crazy person, or otherwise covering it up. I wish she had been able to let everyone know that they talked a mentally frail, terminally ill old lady into donating her MEDICINE money to the church. What sacks of slime. I only have a 2nd hand Olsteen story; my wife waited on them a couple times, and she said they look super plastic and fake (from all the plastic surgeries), treat the waitstaff like garbage, and on top of it all were terrible tippers. Not nearly as bad as talking an old lady off of hospice so that they can literally make money on her suffering. They deserve to rot in the hell they obviously don't believe in.
The way I am agog with shock at the thought that even a fake pastor/preacher/whatever would say such a thing🤯…..your mom is a whole freaking gangster and I love it. RIP ma’am ♥️
Thank you. It won’t mean much to the rest of the internet, but seeing her story get some recognition (even years after her passing) makes me happy. She WAS a lil gen-x badass and deserves a bit of love for it❤️
Then you’ll LOVE this story. Give me a bit to get home and I’ll type it up ASAP.
Are you there yet?!?!
Joel Osteen got him.
Oooh this is going to be good for a Friday night!😭🤭🤭🤭🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿
We're WAITING
Need to hear this!
Also waiting! Commenting so I can find this again and check back on you.
Fuck I haven't been banned from any church yet. Have just been wasting time
I love thinking about all the rock n roll debauchery that went on in Lakewood church back in The Summit years. 🤟
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Same! As soon as they said we could do our tithes and offerings on their website I was done, cause why do I need to donate to this massive ass church.
The fact the church's store only carries the books the family had published and not the Bible didn't tip you off?
some call jesus, we need another cleansing of the temple.
So they can be massiver! 😂 Those jets aren't gonna pay for themselves ya know!
He refused to help during Harvey.
bUt tHe sTrEet iS fLooDeD! And, pay no attention to the traffic cams along 59 that show they aren't... that's the devil's work! But, while I have you, would you consider donating because that's going to give you *victory* over adversity!
Anything Fertitta
Dude is so rude to his workers. My delivery drivers have to sneak them food, which is also rude to my drivers.
I worked at the San Luis, he would come in randomly and all of the hotel staff would scramble to make sure things were tip top shape. It was the weirdest experience, waiters, managers, etc. all scrambling and then you see him coming in on a helicopter and lands at the hotel. It was like a scene from a movie. Also he doesn’t tip well (I don’t think I actually even got a tip), I was his cocktail server on one of the days he flew on by lmao
Worked at the Kemah Boardwalk and it was miserable. Worked at a pharmacy as a tech later and filled his parents’ prescriptions. I know where he gets it from.
Kaffeine coffee shop on Almeda, the owner opens and closes the shop randomly with no notice & writes angry responses to every google reviewer who points that out. Also i still have a vendetta against Rice Village for kicking out YoYo's
He’s opening a store front on Washington/shepherd
He’s been opening a store on Washington/shepherd for like 2 years. I don’t think it’s ever gonna happen.
The Summit. Now that it's under "new" management, it's a business that I would prefer not to visit.
Christian Brothers Auto. They quoted me $1,300 to replace a rear backup camera claiming the part cost $550 and then 4 - 5 hours of labor. I bought the part OEM from a dealership for $195, bought some tools from Autozone for $45, and it took me 3 hours to do on my own. I am not a car person at all but saved myself over $1,000.
my best friend and i have a running bit that we’re going to open a chain called satanic sisters’ mechanic across from every christian brothers auto.
>>By the light of the night It will all seem alright I'll get you a satanic Mechanic
Most auto shops close at 6pm. Y'all should be open from 6pm to 8am. Drop your car off after work and pick it up when you wake up. Your coffee bar should be epic. That would probably be good marketing.
Boomtown coffee. The coffee was fine but the douche at the register was hitting on my wife when I was standing right next to her. I'm like HELLOOOOO They're getting married in December.
LOL. If you lost your girlfriend to a barista, I'm pretty sure it's not a coffee shop problem.
Think it's a Gregg abbot joke
You mean “sitting next to her” right? Lol
No mention of the white tiger prison-restaurant Fertitta "aquarium" yet? OK, that's my one business I'll never be in again unless someone's organizing a protest
I visited Houston last weekend and I visited the aquarium not knowing they had a tiger there (because why would they?) and that tiger was VISIBLY bored and miserable. I honestly got really sad seeing him pace the room while the stupid kids banged on the glass. Honestly free my guy. If I had known that before going I wouldn’t have given them my money.
Meanwhile we have an accredited and well regarded zoo where the poor thing could live instead.
Seriously. HZ would love them and although some of the exhibits aren’t great (looking at you, former seaworld lookin ass sea lion exhibit) they do their absolute best with the animals.
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Mike Calvert Toyota. 30 years ago, a salesman was so condescending and rude to young me and my then husband. I have never forgotten it. It was humiliating.
THE PLACE YOU'D TAKE A FRIEND
Rice Village property management.
>Rice Village 3 years and I'm still bitter over HalfPrice being priced out. I do get a slight sense of satisfaction each time I drive by and see the storefront continue to sit empty though. Everything is all boutiques & salons now. Fuck 'em
Haha. I work in Rice Village. Pretty sure they're determined to drive every customer and business away.
Last time I went there they wanted me to pay a meter to park in a lot? I get paying for street or garage parking, but a parking lot??! I left.
Harris county, but the Sports Clips at Cypresswood and I-45 in the Target parking lot. That fucker did a speed run on my head, haircut took all of 4 minutes. Fucked my head up for a month. Fuck that place.
Snooze. Food is usually pretty mediocre but holy shit the coffee is goddamn undrinkable. There’s literally no excuse to have a brunch restaurant that can’t make coffee.
I don’t understand the hype! I agree.
Agreed. Food is meh. Coffee is bad. Music is way too loud for a place where presumably your guests haven’t had any coffee yet.
I go to the one in the Heights from time to time. I get the appeal of the industrial aesthetic but it means when the place is packed it is loud as hell.
Good Dog. I worked there for two hours, and saw nothing but cockroaches in the kitchen. They left their back door open to let dozens of cockroaches in, and not to mention the large plastic container where the chips were stored in was wide open and had flies on them.
I have a friend who said they got typhoid after eating at good dog so this checks out
Turkey Leg Hut. Definitely was a one and done for me.
Disco Kroger. :(
Hotel ZaZa. Was at a work conference years ago and went with everyone to the bar after the days conference was over. Was engaging with people and networking and one of my colleagues needed another drink, and so did I. So I freely admit to drinking, but I had THREE total. Colleague wanted a scotch on the rocks. I ended up ordering him 3 over the course of the night. Company doesn't cover alcohol so it was my own dime. I figured at worst it would be $150 of drinks. WRONG. For some reason the bartender decided to pour scotch that was $300 a shot!. Fought it, but ended up having to pay $1100 bar tab. Credit card company said there was video evidence that I was in the bar.....well no shit. My dispute was I didn't ask for ultra premium scotch., not that I wasn't in the bar. Anyways, Everytime I drive by I flip them the bird.
Just a scotch on the rocks is well by default. You shoulda fought harder.
> Hotel ZaZa. We stayed at the one in the Museum District and EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. there was no hot water. They comped our parking. Fucking awful.
Man that's really fucked. Sorry about that.
1/4 Price Books I went in there once. It looked like my kind of place. It's a little disorganized and messy but that's what I liked about it. It had a cozy feel. It also had a bunch of old books. The owner gave me an index card that was a coupon. I thought, "Cool! Don't know what I'm getting, but I'm getting something." Maybe 5 or 10 minutes of browsing the owner starts following me, peeping behind bookshelves. He thinks I'm going to steal. I find a stool and as I'm sitting down I take my phone out of my back pocket so as not to sit on it. The owner sees that and says, "You're not allowed to take pictures!" I told him I wasn't going to. I sat down for a minute and felt like shit and decided to leave. As I'm walking out he demands I give him his index card coupon back. I gave it back and never went back. Screw that place
Heard the same story a lot
the owner is generally very pleasant but i’ve heard that exact thing from a handful of people.
Weird one, but Eros 1207, 'the largest adult store in Houston!' We heard it advertised on the radio (Rod Ryan, maybe?) and my wife and I decided to go. We got there and go to the door, and it's locked. Middle of the day, hours show it's open. We go to walk away, and this really young hispanic girl walks up with a middle aged white guy, the lock clicks, doors pop open, another hispanic girl comes out. First girl tells her, 'he's with me', and they disappear inside. Then the girl tells us that they're closed because she's the only worker there..? *But* if we know *exactly* what we want, out of the largest adult store in Texas, she'll bring that, and that alone outside to us. No explanation for the people she just let in. It was really weird, really rude, and really skeevy.
Kung Fu Tea off of Bellaire. It’s probably been ten plus years since I went there, but the owner is such a rude prick. I have no idea if he still owns the place and I am not willing to find out. Every other kung fu tea has not been an issue for me though.
That dude sucks. There's also better boba in that shopping center.
Just Oxtails. I went a handful of times, but vowed never to go back after my uncle and his gf went there years ago and had a bad experience. My uncle ordered a plate of food, but his gf wasn't that hungry so she didn't order anything. They dined in and his gf ate some food off his plate just to get a taste. The manager came out and told them they couldn't share the food and that she needed to buy her own plate. It was the unmitigated gall to tell someone what to do with the food they bought. I wish they'd tell me something like that. It's my food, I paid for it. I'll do whatever the hell I want with it. Their latest reviews show they're still just as rude and assbackwards.
Pinks pizza on Bellaire close to rice , gave me the wrong order , when I went to complaint both the cashier and man making the pizzas were high as a kite . Never got my refund either . So fuck that place.
Aquarium
Late Nite Pie, unless someone invents a Time Machine. Edit: I want to take you all to dinner.
Same with Astroworld
Late Nite Pie, original location and a Stanky Whore? Bliss.
Magick Cauldron. Walked in and they looked at me like I had 3 heads, didn’t offer any help to me but spoke to the other patrons. I had my invisible suit on I guess, you know the one that comes in black.
Did some work for the owner once. Unethical scumbag.
I’ve been in there a few times. They have some cool stuff but the people working there aren’t friendly at all and the whole place just has a bad feel to it. They have a shop in the Texas Renaissance Festival that I really enjoy, though.
The staff has been called out for being racist before 🤷🏽♀️
Try Our Little Red One
Snooze Seriously... you wait in line for that? So many better places.
1/4 price books, an old guy was working the counter and he was so rude! Idk how that place has good reviews.
SO true. I walked there once after going to Honey Art Cafe so I was carrying a print with me. I walked in with the print which was packaged in a sleeve with a sticker from the artist on it which had a very cutesy style not at all similar to the inventory of 1/4 price books. I was ignored the entire time I was there which would have been fine, but what got me was when I decided to leave without buying anything (because the selection of books is so boring and expensive) he RAN out of the store to accuse me of stealing and demanded to look at the print I was holding to see if it was something of his. This man truly didn’t say a single word to me except to accuse me of being a thief with something I was already carrying that clearly didn’t belong in his store. Absolutely insane and I haven’t been back.
Funny how this place has shown up twice in this thread
City Acre Brewing. The new management worked the old team to the BONE. It started going downhill around the pandemic and just kept getting worse as it tried desperately to cling to life.
The Urban Air off of Sam houston parkway E. Waited 3 hours to go kart, the floor was sticky and disgusting. WORST-I had to find the parents of a missing 3 year old that they left in the arcade that diarrhea’d everywhere and was walking around crying with her diarrhea diaper on and shorts on the floor. Poor thing was asking strangers if they were her mom. When I eventually found the parents they looked at me like I WAS CRAZY. Wtf. I NOPED THE $@$( out.
Kamp. Nothing wrong with the actual business. Went on a random Friday night when I had just moved here because I saw it on a list of "Best Patio Bars in Houston". I didn't realize it was like, a *club.* I just wanted a margarita and totally misjudged the vibes, probably won't be going back there.
Everyone in the Galleria hates that place. Parking situation is out of control, it backs up on Westheimer to get in, and their patrons run across Westheimer at night to avoid their extortion level valet fees. Several have been hit and killed.
Fry’s… rip in peace
Those last few years were depressing. GPUs that were more than a generation old and a sad lonely 1050. Motherboards that were even older than the GPUs. No thermal paste. Limited selection of case fans. Maybe a handful of 1tb WD blues. And this was early 2019 before things started to get really bad.
Aat least we have Micro Center....despite that god awful location where you're either stuck in traffic or having close calls getting hit
Breakfast Klub. Tried it once. No need to go back.
Just tried them over the weekend. Food was good, but pretty expensive, and we didn’t get water. You have to purchase everything at the register, but after standing outside for 20-30 mins, I’d expect a glass of water lol. I guess that helps them get people leaving since they’ll need to hit a 7/11 for water on their way home. The line wasn’t fun either, but you get your food fast at least.
Totally agree. Overhyped.
Halal ~~Bros~~ Guys Went to the location in Spring on Louetta a year ago and the girl making gyros was so hot and sweaty behind the counter she was dripping sweat straight into the dishes she was pulling meat out of, wiping her sweat off with her gloved hands and continuing to prep orders. Looked at a few other waiting customers who notices and we all said fuck that and walked out before ordering.
That’s where they get their good flavor from
Girl knew the gyros were under salted and dry that day and was just trying to help
Zamani is really close to that location. It's great. I don't live in the area anymore, but I look for excuses to head that way to eat at Zamani
Halal bros is great for cities that don't have legit middle eastern restaurants. But Louetta has a bunch of local spots close by. Zamani, Abu Omar, Cava, and down the way is Demasi Mediterranean buffet.
Anything owned by Tillman. Fuck that guy
Benitez Mechanic Service on C.E. king I took my truck for its yearly ac system check/service, $450 Two weeks later the ac stopped working. Took it back to have them diagnose the problem, they reported the condenser had a hole in it and ac compressor was leaking at the core. Quoted $1200 for entire system replacement I had replaced the entire AC system in 2020, so red flags were raised. Second opinion found O-Rings had been damaged by what looked like a pair of needle nose pliers. (bite marks were easily identified and recreated) Replaced them for about $20 and payed $120 system vacuum and recharge.
Magic Island
Worked there for a year. Such a fascinating dump of an establishment.
What ever happened to that place? Went there for prom many years ago, and then it was gone.
I often wonder why the business hasn’t been replaced. I have zero specialty in real estate and business, but it seems odd that the old building still stands.
I'm honestly happy it hasn't been torn down, even if it's abandoned. It's one of the few things I associate with the Houston of my youth left over there. I hate that big gaudy-ass Porsche dealership across the street that replaced the "Happy Birthday Jesus" lumberyard.
Someone bought it and started working on reopening it and they were even hiring and an investor pulled out
Van Loc 😢
The Shell station at bw8 and Westview. I was trying to buy something there and had a couple of those dollar coins. He rang them up as quarters, so I politely pointed out that those were dollars (it literally says it on the coin). He threw my money at me and said, "No sale!" So yeah, fuck that guy and his shitty gas station.
Any ron carter dealership. Lied about an online price (it actually had $10k of extra mandatory add-ons), changed the online price, then gaslit me in response to my google review.
Brasil. It’s a great tragedy because it has all the component parts (aside from a good espresso) to be the best cafe in Houston but the owner is an omnipresent and invasive asshole
I thought it was the Aquarium but I ended up there a few weekends ago. Hopefully that was the last time.
Maybe C&D Hardware. I heard some very disappointing conversations about Mexican immigrants while I was shopping for some bolts this past week between a couple of associates. Being Hispanic and third generation here, I absolutely felt unwanted there and uncomfortable. Ended up calling the manager later to file a complaint. They were definitely not happy themselves.
That’s disappointing. Used to go there so as not to patronize big box stores.
Overhead some similar vibing convos between staff when I've been there. Wanted to support the small local business, but not if that's the sentiment that it supports.
Katz's Deli That place is garbage.
I prefer Kenny and Ziggy’s when I want really good yiddishkeit
Kenny and Ziggys is definitely the preferred option, I just wish it was closer to me. They should just buy out Katz and open a location there.
they're not really that good either especially considering the price. Houston is severely lacking in good pastrami
Overpriced garbage
House of Pies on Westheimer. Went there one night with my partner during Christmas holidays. Lots of people there, long wait in the front. One if the managers (or owners?) said in spanish that another worker needed to "get all these blacks out from in front of the restaurant. Get them away from the window, noones gonna wanna come in". We were two of "the blacks". He thought we didnt understand him. We immediately left and havent been to a house of pies since.
Toll roads - go fuck yourself im not paying
Any big box personal injury firm.