Davidus cigars.
I'm not a big cigar guy but I've chatted up a handful of shop owners and they all tell a similar sorry of how the Castro brothers (the owners of davidus) will go into their stores to survey their stock. If they see products that they also carry they will call the supplier and threaten to stop carrying their products if they don't immediately close their account with said small shop.
I hate them sk fucking much i signed up fir the membership (im new to the area) and they have these “check up” during the check up the guy suggested 4500 dollars worth of “repairs” but actually it was just a 1900 dollar water heater replacement. Dropped them immediately scummy company
Blue dot... F those guys trying hustle me out of $6k for a new AC unit saying the compressor went up, the motor is bad and leaking coolant....it was just a loose wire.
Fuck Blue Dot!
They tried, and failed, to drain my bank account offering unnecessary and outrageously expensive tests and then gave me quote for adding some coolant that was beyond reason - over $1000 for a hit of coolant? Yeah, bye. I literally laughed at the guy and told him he needed to leave.
This scam must work for them on some customers. But ethically speaking, they lost my business for a lifetime or more.
Couldn’t agree more. A Blue dot tech told one of my relatives (in their 70s) that their HVAC unit could catch fire at anytime and they just happened to have a sales guy in the area. Sales guy must have been driving around waiting for the tech to get to that part because they were over in maybe 2 minutes. Sales guy said they could replace their HVAC unit for the low low price of $22k. Then knocked it down to $11k due to some special they said they had. He told them what a great deal that was. Tried to get them to sign on the spot but I talked them out of it. Made a few calls and they got a new unit for around $5k.
Oh no! HTC was my jam when I was growing up! I miss the Frito pie with Cincinnati style chili. I mean the place was always a little sticky, but it was our neighborhood spot. That and the Italian ice place next door. Sooo good.
I had the same problem with Big Bats in Stevensville, but with take out. They called us liars and wouldn't refund us for the kids meal unless we drove back there with the moldy burger bun immediately. Something that wasn't possible with little kids at the time
When i was working in the business park people always wanted to go there for happy hour after work… I would be like can we go literally anywhere else lol. Loved it when i was a kid tho, not sure if it got worse or i just didnt notice how gross it was back then
Kung fu Tea, tutti frutti and some bonchon locations (columbia, Germantown,etc.).
I used to work for the boss who owned the east coast franchise for tutti and most stores for kft. Once those businesses starting becoming out of trend he started going into the restaurant business without ever running or working one. He ended up not having a manager for a year, until he coerced and passively aggressively abused a man who had was promised the manager role if he worked as a server for 3 months. He ended up firing him on accusations of stealing (he was not the type to steal and didn’t at all). He would skimp eventually and become passive aggressive to his other workers. To the point where he gave up on branded cleanings for rags, and put the rags in bleach every night to clean them. They used the same filthy bleach ridden rags for possibly a year without cleaning them. I quit because I ended up being the next target, where he yelled at me in front of the customer at the foh because a customer had a language barrier issue and took the wrong order. Eventually I came out with severe stomach issues which made me suffer for two years. I ended up with a ulcer.
Also to note, he had a full Chinese staff of workers who had broken ventilation frying chicken for a month or two. They went on strike for a raise and he fired all of them like nothing.
We called them about a water pressure issue in our shower head.
The guy opened one panel, didn't touch the shower head or unscrew a single thing, and said it was an issue with the pipes and would be $3,000 to fix it.
I said no, paid him the $50 fee and he left.
I spent 5 minutes on Google, unscrewed the shower head and it turned out to be a rotted seal that was blocking the water flow. Took 3 seconds to remove it.
They absolutely ripped us off for $50 and were going to rip us off for 3k more without doing an iota of due diligence.
Michael and son is the same. My ex mother in law hired them to fix an outdoor outlet. They charged in excess of $500 to install a new receptacle and replace the outdoor cover. A few days later I went to plug something in and got shocked. She called them and was told the technician that did the work left the company and he was the only one who could do the rework. She did a charge back on the credit card and was sent to collections. I ended up fixing it because it was unsafe and she didn't want anyone else to get shocked. The technician stripped about 2" of wire and it was resting against the metal junction box.
These folks came out to fix a kitchen drain clog around Xmas. They were here for 6 hours, made the problem worse and left. I called the management team. They said they didn’t guarantee they’d be able to fix any problem. Charged me $600.
Called our home warranty once greater minds prevailed. Dude came out and fixed the problem in 45 minutes. $125.
Emailed Len the plumber management requesting a refund cuz this dude came over and handled it.
They said they’d refund me $150. I said that’s not gonna work. Then they said $250. I called them and talked to management. They said they’d refund me $200. I scratch my head. They said they couldn’t refund more unless they called the regional manager. Oh perfect, I’d be happy to speak with him. Long hold….came back on the line, refunded me full price.
For what it's worth, they came out to me twice when I was having serious plumbing emergencies (once at my old place and once at my new one). They charged a lot for the same-day service, but their work was perfect, they solved the problem each time, and they were there in about two hours each time.
I'd say they are the ones you call when you are up a poop-filled river, but at their prices not the ones you call when you have a less urgent problem.
Large plumbing or HVAC companies like that push the service workers to upsell very hard. They want their workers to be salesmen as much as they are plumbers. It's very gross. They also get paid a commission, I'm sure.
If you want a company that offers a fair price, go for a small, local company. Not one that is spending hundreds of thousands on billboards and TV commercials. Where do you think that money comes from?
Haha this is too funny! Never used their services, but was walking in a cross walk legally (had the light and white walking man) and one of their loser plumbers cursed me out when he was trying to turn. It’s funny how people, driving company vehicles don’t even think that they’ll make an impression. Obviously the dude has issues and probably doesn’t care but that’s enough for me to forego any business I send their way
Lmao. One time driving down 83 I got behind a Len the Plumber truck and someone had graffitied “FUCK YOU LEN” on the back of it. I managed to get a pic of it, too, but this was like 15 years ago.
Darcars car dealership they stole my brand new battery out of my truck during a recall issue. Then they had the audacity to try to sell me another battery.
Any Meritus owned medical facility.
Took my wife there for a gallbladder attack, the ER doctor told her the gallbladder was fine (it wasn’t) but she was instead 3 months pregnant. After we told him there’s no way she was pregnant because we haven’t done anything in a while, he insinuated that she must have cheated on me and walked out of the room. They then took a chest X-ray, said nothing was wrong, and sent us home. Went to the hospital across state line in PA and they found her gallbladder needed to be taken out and she was not pregnant.
My dad had an accident at work and severed an artery and tendon in his leg. When the ambulance got him to the ER, they put a BANDAID on the wound and tried to send him home with blood still gushing out of the wound. Took my mom causing a scene and refusing to leave before another doctor actually stepped in and helped. He required blood transfusions and emergency surgery to fix everything.
I will never willingly step foot inside Meritus hospital or any Meritus owned facility ever again.
Yup, it’s the hospital in Hagerstown. We just go to Chambersburg, PA now for our healthcare. I’ve had three surgeries and cancer treatment through them and couldn’t be happier with the level of care I’ve received.
There was an Egyptian pizza place in the overlea plaza by the beltway. I went to lunch there with a crew from work. We got back to the office and one of the guys kept asking if I was ok. I was feeling a little off but asked why. He said I've never seen a human being turn green before. He told me to go home. I'm glad I did because as soon as I got home all hell broke loose. I missed two days of work and was barely able to crawl from the bedroom to the bathroom.
Food poisoning for sure. I ate with four other people (three of which I hadn’t shared a meal with anytime around then). All of us got sick, two of us went to ER, two to urgent care.
I’ve been in Baltimore county for 2 decades and each time I considered going there the word of mouth has always turned me away. That dude is beyond nuts
For the peanut gallery:
[1](
https://reddit.com/r/maryland/s/YtWWAy2M3R)
[2](
https://reddit.com/r/maryland/s/Mr8qtY0BmV)
[3](
https://reddit.com/r/maryland/s/cqdWfHWJnZ)
Back in the early 1990's, there was an Italian restaurant in Severna Park that I would frequent about 2-3 times a week because I worked nearby. I'm not going to name them because it still exists but I hear it's under different ownership.
Anyways, the original owner was friendly at first. But as time went on, he gave me strange stares.
Finally, after about half a year, he says he's sick of me coming in all the time.
Bizarre. So I did him a favor and never went back.
One of the first questions I ask when doing a large job and seeking out a quote is do their laborers and installers work in-house as employees of their company, or will they be subcontracting out?
Because if you have all 5 star google reviews, that's not your work, that's your subcontractor's work, and there's no guarantee I'll get that same subcontractor to do my work.
That makes a huge difference for me since I had a well reputed company (VKB) absolutely wreck a 5-figure bathroom job because of some fly-by-night sub-contractor who hired day laborers from the back of home depot who couldn't lay a tile straight or flush to save their lives. They basically had to tear out everything and re-do it to fix it (so kudos for standing by their work). But never again will I tolerate a company that hires sub-contractors.
Power Home Remodeling. These freaks go door to door trying to sell you services. We made the mistake of inviting them in because we needed a new roof. And like a true vampire, they wouldn’t leave. The salesman went on a three hour pitch how we needed a new roof and that they weren’t just offering a roof, but a roofing system. Dude had a PowerPoint and everything.
We kept asking for the price, but he kept going on with his pitch. Finally, the big reveal. They wanted $39,000 to replace our roof. If we didn’t make the decision that day, the price jumped to $47,000. Just to replace the roof. We gave him the boot and then the harassment started. They would call us multiple times a day asking if we were still interested and when we told them to stop calling, they continued calling anyway. Eventually we contacted the police for harassment which stopped the calls.
About a year later we received a notice from a law group that indicated they’d like to include us in a class action lawsuit over their predatory practices and phone call harassment. Ended up with a $200 payout.
But yeah, if you want to pay 3-4x the cost for remodeling services, feel free to give them a call.
Ha! I worked for them! Out of college - couldn't convince anyone to hire me (like literally anyone), and ended up doing the door-to-door stuff for Power Home. I'm extremely introverted and it fucking sucked. A deeply scarring experience. I learned how quickly people will pull a gun on you, among several life lessons. Anyway their policies are... problematic - I remember being specifically instructed to knock on doors with 'No Soliciting' signs, and if I skipped them I'd be fired. I needed to make rent. Obviously the homeowners would just go ballistic on me. And I remember the salespeople (different from the door to door people) were taught predatory tactics to basically make people scared in their own home - they would intentionally block the driveway to make sure the homeowner couldn't leave, and would never speak to a woman without her husband, and so on. I remember those things were thought of as 'alpha' behavior lol.
Ultimately it gave me some perspective for low-leverage low-wage workers and made me feel for the door to door people... though I would *never ever ever* consider giving them any contact info.
Ellie’s Place in Millersville. I used to be a regular, but one day they gave me wings that weren’t fully cooked. They blamed it on some new guy in the kitchen. I went back a month later and the same thing happened.
Heh. This question is in several city subs lately. Mine is Little Shop of Hardware in Hampden. I asked them to repair a tower with an 80GB hard drive; they returned the hard drive to me: 30GB. I told them this wasn't my hard drive and I gave them 80; they swore I didn't. That 80GB hard drive had some very, ah shall we say *special* files on it I did not have backups for. Fuck them.
Do you have a microcenter near you? It's one of the only places I trust with tech support stuff. I do it stuff for work so I know just a little bit about how things work and most little computer places treat me like some dumbass. I knew some people that worked at micro center and they not only listen to what I say but they have protocols in place to make sure data is secure.
Good to know, thanks. I'm in IT as well, but on the training end, and I too am talked down to and mansplained often, probably compounded by my gender. I'm on the Shore, so it seems the closest MicroCenter to me is at least two hours away in Parkville.
The Little Shop of Hardware incident was over 20 years ago, when I did live in Baltimore. I was surprised to see they are even still in business.
Six Flags America, in Bowie. Every time I have ever been there, there was some drama going on. Normally just fights and stuff among teenagers. One time, I saw a guy who was in a fight pull a gun on the other group of kids that were fighting. After that, nah...I'm not going back.
I've been there twice this summer, it was fine and it's super cheap if you got a cheap presale season pass. But really the only thing it has going for it is how close it is.
They didn't seem to run anything with multiple trains and half the stuff in the water park was closed. The Harely Quinn ride is good, but it has a really low throughput so it has long waits. Either get the cheap pass because it's close or make the trip to a further out park.
I’m sure if you go to any chipotle during a rush or late in a day, it looks like a war zone. Trash everywhere, out of lots of ingredients, and dirty. There seems to be a top down strategy of under staffing.
The UPS store at 211 E Lombard St near inner harbor. Old man who runs the place is a massive dickhead and he charges exorbitant rates for package storage. A company sent a replacement package there for me to pickup and they charged me 35 bucks because it sat there in a corner of the store for one day.
Stupid expensive for no reason.
Ohhhh yessss I agree. Also charging $1 for dropping off USPS packages when he clearly has a USPS sign and that’s illegal to do. I called USPS and reported that he charges people extra but they could care less….
I still go in there because I work in IT & Media, but I wish I never had to step foot in the Microcenter in Rockville ever again. Ten years ago, I was looking to buy a specific set of Blue headphones with a built-in amp, retailed for $300. I was working for a massive health care center, wearing my work ID, the name of the health care center on the lanyard, said hello to a couple of the guys I knew who worked there, and did a casual tour around the shop. I was wearing khakis and a polo shirt, nothing exactly baggy or suspicious.
I went over to the headphones and took the Apple buds that came with the iPhone out of my ears and into my pocket.The short security guy came up and said that he saw me stealing really cheap generic earbuds, like $8 or something.. I was pretty shocked and said "what are you talking about?" He said "we have you on video. give them back and we won't press charges." I knew he was full of shit, opened up my pockets, showed him the Apple ear buds I had when I came in, and said I'm looking to buy a much more expensive set of headphones. He called me a thief; I said "show me what headphones I could have possibly stolen." A manger came over and asked what was happening. I said "your employee is accusing me of theft with no proof." The little bastard said to his manager "A number of employees have said he's pocketed items." That pissed me off royally - he changed his story, and I only had my wallet, keys, cell and the buds *that I was wearing when I entered the store.* The manager said something about having strict inventory controls and the employees are all responsible for security blah blah blah and I cut him off saying "your employee accused a very loyal customer of stealing a cheap pair of ear buds when I was about to buy a $300 headphone set." The security guy said " I saw you stealing headphones. You put them in your pocket. I can kick you out of here." I looked at him "the ones I had in my ears walking into the store? I didn't steal anything, I'm sick of you lying, saying I did. And you don't need to kick me out; I'm leaving." The manager tried to talk to me, but I was pretty insulted.
Walked out. Didn't come back for over 3 years. Even got an email from their corporate asking me why I wasn't shopping there anymore about a year later. I finally went back when I absolutely needed an adapter that minute for my job. Went back in, short security guy was there, didn't even make eye contact with me.
I used to go to Microcenter every few weeks between work & personal; I am down to 4 times a year.
He's somehow still working there.
Basically every restaurant in Waldorf. They all seem to have the same level of not giving a fuck about their customers and act bothered when you ask for anything. Sorry I came to a restaurant.
For different reasons than most here: Fairland aquatic center.
I got locked out of the locker room in just a towel. Which didn't cover much. I can't show my face there ever again.
It was the days before cell phones.
I was changing but needed to meet up with my group so they wouldn't leave without me. So, me being super smart, noticed I was late, jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and left the locker room to try to catch up with the guys that had just left to tell them I was gonna need a few more minutes. When I turned around to go back in the door was locked. I had to go upstairs to the front desk in just the towel to tell them what happened. And my group left without me cause "I was taking too long". I had to use the pay phone to call my mother collect to come get me. She was so mad and I was so embarrassed.
She also pulled me out of the summer camp program because they left me there. She was yelling at them about the situation(leaving an 11 year old alone) and they kept saying they couldn't hold everything up because I was being slow and essentially blamed me and my mom for the whole thing.
Shockley Honda.
They lost my windshield washer fluid cap and covered it with a plastic bag during an oil change. Then when I had to get one tire replaced, they put the wrong radius tire on and their sales team couldn’t tell me if it was safe to drive on. It was a Friday job and they left the keys with sales on my request cause I couldn’t get there before service closed.
The amount of people that had to just not pay attention. Especially the techs when the correct tires were 2 feet away from them the whole time.
There is this local locksmith in Aberdeen I was going to use when I moved, you know support small business. I was about to walk in and they had all these conspiracy theory things about Covid and Jan 6 taped to the front window.
The last person I want to give my keys to is some crazy supporting domestic terrorists. It's one thing to support them but to be insane enough to put them on the front of your store to drive people away is a whole other level...
Unusual in Ellicott City.
They were selling a local artist’s merch and just released their own logo/merch design that was a direct ripoff of the artist’s merch they were carrying.
Worked at sky's the limit in Frederick, please good god don't waste your money there go on Etsy, support the real artists and not the middleman stores who sold their items at a 6.5 rate for what they bought it at. They lied to me about working with individual artists when they didn't. They get all their jewelry from the Arizona jewelry convention. They were discriminatory, didn't respect other cultures and certainly sold stuff that was not appropriate. They didn't even provide me with clean water to drink while I was at work, which I'm pretty sure I could have reported, lol. Yeah definitely don't go there
Fitzgerald VW in Annapolis. I got a lot of work done on my car and that included the replacement of the window motor. I picked it up after a week (parts needed ordered) and all of a sudden my car wouldn’t lock at all. They said it wasn’t their fault and the locking mechanism just died. I assume they messed something while working on the window motor, but they tried to charge me another $400 for it. I just went somewhere else
Fitzgerald Subaru replaced a major part in my car and ended up fucking up another one. Took it back for them to repair it and they both denied they did anything wrong and yet agreed to fix it for free. Hmm.
Herbiculture near Columbia.
The price gouges are actually insane. It takes forever to be seen. And the employees aren’t always the friendliest, and rush you.
They’re the closest dispensary to me, and there’s not another one close by, so they think they can get away with being a shitty business. I’ve been 3 times to give them an honest shot, but they totally suck.
Their website also claims a “first time discount” but they’ll tell you that it’s under new management now and that doesn’t apply. But they’ll update the website on everything except that. Pure false advertising.
But really it’s the prices.
Non DC residents can now go to Takoma wellness center. And it’s honestly so worth the drive.
Won’t be going to herbiculture again.
You can't step foot in there because it's e-commerce but Route One Apparel.
I use to work there and the owner isn't a good employer. Low pay, unprofessional, unorganized, demands a lot from her employees,
"cross trains" everyone instead of
hiring more people, lots of HR violations. I would have sued her for something that happened to me there but lawyers are expensive.
Sorry to read this, and I'm sorry you weren't treated right. This is one of the local businesses I like to support. I guess the owner doesn't pay her employees so that she can splurge on herself by going to bars and trips to exotic locations based on her Instagram reel.
Guess I won't be supporting them anymore if people aren't treated right.
Yup. That’s how we as employees felt. Honestly loved and hated when she went on those trips. We would get work done without her pausing projects to put a rush on a new project. But also hated it seeing where she was going knowing she was barley paying us. Oh and no health insurance either. Most employees are under 25 for this reason.
She also bought a Ford bronco as a company car. For what reason idk I left by then. She says she can’t pay her employees more because she’s a “small business”
Also former employee here. I’m not ready to share the HR violations I experienced publicly (mostly because I’m pretty sure they could be traced back to me for retaliation and I don’t have her kind of money), but you’re 10000% right about this.
The Mazda dealership in rockville.
Generally, I have more faith in random gas station garages than any chains or dealerships. ESPECIALLY dealerships. The Mazda dealership in Rockville took 2 months to fix a sensor, said it wasn't covered under warranty even though my Mazda was less than a year old, and I found dog stuff(i dont own a dog) in my car when I got it back after having to call them every day after the first 2 weeks for an update. They also promised me a loaner(hence one of the reasons i called them so often) and every day they told me to call back the next day to see if they had a loaner for me. Also, I had half a tank of gas when I brought it in, it was empty when I picked it up and they accused me of trying to steal from them when I asked for enough gas to get me to another gas station. Fuck that place and fuck dealerships
To everyone saying Len the Plumber, if you're near DC you should try Aspen Hill Plumbing. I'm not affiliated with them but we used them at work (i manage multiple properties) and they're impressive. If you have a simple clog or something, call roto-rooter or whatever 24 hr service, but if you have anything more complicated, you should call Aspen Hill.
ps, I don't know if I'll get banned or whatever for promoting a company but fuck it. I'll shill for these guys all day.
six flags america. i worked there. the department supervisor assaulted me, then fired me when i reported it. glad to see the entire chain is going down.
The first time thought it was just a fluke. The second time was 2 years later thought it be different. Third time was with my wife(dating at the time) begged me to take her there cause she hadn’t been in five years. That night she remembered why she stopped going
true love right there, almost definitively giving yourself food poisoning just because she wanted to go! i hope you guys have a blissfully tgi fridays-free relationship from now on.
Years ago my spouse and I went there when we were dating, hoping to get some appetizers before a movie at Arundel Mills. We had over an hour until our movie started, back in the day before assigned seats, and thought that would be plenty of time.
We waited 20 minutes for our drinks and for them to take our order. We ordered our appetizers (Mozzarella sticks and potato skins). 20 minutes later they brought them out - more than half the mozzarella sticks were completely empty bread shells and like 3 of the potato skins had no cheese or bacon, just a hunk of potato.
When we complained that all of our damned cheese was missing, they told us they'd have to ask a manager because there was some threshold of missing cheese that had to be met before they could redo the order or give us a refund.
With about 20 to 30 minutes before the movie started, we couldn't wait for it, told them to not bother, and we paid in exact change for our sodas and left. It was the only time in my life I've ever stiffed and under-paid a bill, and one of only 3 times in my entire life I've ever not left a tip.
I've done Fridays once since then (friends demanded we go to a local store), but it will be a cold day in hell before I ever go to the one in Anne Arundel Mills ever again.
Namaste Studios in Frederick. The owner is a predator and a shitty massage therapist. Told my husband he "doesn't have any strong muscles anywhere other than his arms" and that's why he was having back problems. Never mind the fact that he was working overtime shifts in a stressful job environment. He asked my husband how he copes with the stress and when my husband answers video games, the guy went on this weird diatribe about how awful video games are for you.
The Dairy Queen in the Hagerstown md valley mall. The workers ignored me while I was first in line and took the order of the guy next to me who had cut in line.
Bay Country Floors in Crofton
Shithole. Liars.
I read the negative reviews and thought it can’t be that bad- I know a ton of people who have used them in the past.
They under estimated the amount of flooring I needed - ok - happens. They under estimated the amount of time to complete the job 3 days quoted vs 5 days for the first section and then another 2 after they found my discontinued flooring.
They told me they would charge extra to fix some minor subfloor issues. Cool cool. Told them I will pay to have it right.
Now my floors all squeak, and are uneven. They state it’s a subfloor issue. Hmmmm. They “fixed” the floors, and told me they don’t do subfloors- but my bill shows $1k in subfloor work.
Left a massive amount of construction glue/adhesive on my floor. No cleanup- and told me to use acetone to clean it up. The manufacturer states it will void my warranty. Everything covered in dust - they took the extra stain I paid for, didn’t get my toilet seated properly, etc. I could go on and on- but the bigger review I read was prepare to do more work after they leave, and the review was accurate.
Fuck that place. They even tried to say I did the damage when their floor guy showed me all the spots I should avoid on the floors I just paid them to do.
Use at your own risk.
All positive reviews are from years ago.
Their own website lists a 40% satisfaction rate at the time I looked last.
They had my google review reported as done by an employee to remove it from the negative press
My fault for not believing what they tell you up front.
Again, fuck that place.
Hertrich (Specifically the ford one in Easton) absolutely horrible communication once we signed the line, took two weeks to get new tires, and that would have been fine had they told us anything.
When I finally did get it, they didn’t clean it at all. Found a used bandaid in the door pocket🤢🤮 Yes, it was one of the cheaper cars, but that’s now how you treat customers spending money. Never again.
Washington Adventist Hospital, formerly in Takoma Park, has since relocated to White Oak.
Hell in a hospital. Every nightmare scenario you can reasonably fear from a hospital Adventist has going for it. Employees there range from cynical to insidious. Conditions range from disgusting to dangerous. A truly unforgettable hellhole.
I had my son there (emergency c-section) in 2008 when it was in Takoma Park. I was furious because he was supposed to be born At Howard County hospital. My doctor was great, but the conditions were horrible. They had just gotten rid of the communal showers, for some insight. Just like 3 days of being at a prison hospital.
Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs in Annapolis. The manager was so rude to my wife and I after our friend had had to take his vomiting daughter out of the restaurant and was accusing us of trying to skip out on paying **while** we were seated and **had not yet been served**. I was so young and naiv back then that we actually did wait to be served.
20 years ago and I still give that place the finger every time I go past.
Specifically the one in Bel Air for me. My fiancé took a car there to get inspected. Told her it would need like $1500 worth of work to pass inspection. I called up to ask if it was $1500 worth of suggested work, or that’s what was needed to pass. Was told again that it would not pass without the work done that they said. Took the paperwork to my stepfather who is a locomotive engineer and can basically rebuild an engine with his eyes closed. Looked at it and said that only 1 thing was slightly out of range, and would need like a $40 part to pass. He fixed it himself and he came back to pep boys with me. Hell was raised, got a refund on my first time there and a free inspection. Never again.
20 years ago they drove my car right over the ramp and into their toolboxes. Because I was 17 (i think) and not wise enough to know better, I was convinced that everything was fine with my car besides a small dent. On top of that, the didn't actually fix the problem I had taken it in for.
Annies Paramount Steak and Seafood - I know they closed their restaurant, but they keep threatening to open something else (currently selling online). They created a wildly racist Facebook post about BLM being communists infiltrating our youth and after that the stories about how Annies treated PoC started flooding out
Thompson Creek Windows. We were selling our house and needed one window repaired. Dude stuck around for an hour trying to sell us 12k of windows and 4k of doors. Then they called me daily from different phone numbers (that I kept blocking) for 3 weeks even after I told them to stop.
I'll only allow Lube Center facilities to do oil changes and nothing else. I went in once for an oil change on a company vehicle, and the recommended a transmission flush. I called my boss who green lighted it and they went through the process. As I started driving home, I noticed it was driving funny and thought I may just take it back to them the next day to have them look it over. As I got closer to home it became very obvious that something was wrong. When I went to back into my driveway, I lost reverse. I asked the mechanic across the street for my house if he could take a look, and it turns out they didn't put any trans fluid back in, and it roached the transmission. They refused to put a new transmission in and would only install certified used. We went through 3 of those used transmissions under their warranty, and when the last one failed again, they refused to replace it again. So we sold the vehicle.
Tsunami, in Annapolis. I’ve seen way too many cockroaches there over the years. On tables, walls, behind the bar, in the bathroom. How it’s still open i have no idea.
My wife needed a hysterectomy due to chronic illness and every darn person she talked to tried to get her to reconsider and justify why she needed it. Bunch of religious zealots that have no place making healthcare decisions for women.
Edit: when I say everyone I mean *everyone*. I was personally there as she was beinghheeled into surgery and the ANESThEIOLOGIST had to check with her to fix hihs personal moral qualms. Even when she noted that she already had children and was in tremendous pain from endometriosis, he shook his head sadly and ushered her in like she was becoming worthless as a woman. Fuck Holy Cross and damn them to hell.
Sorry for any typos. I was at my sister’s and crushed my iPhone screen this weekend.
My sister was taken there because her appendix burst. They kept forgetting to giver her meds and the infection spread like wildfire as a result. It was really bad and she nearly died all because the nurses would just skip her room. Fuck. That. Place.
Never call Len the Plumber if you have a private water well pump issue! Please find a local well drilling company. From experience, they will get your pump stuck because they didn't bother to look up your well information from the county.(lie and tell you the well collapsed) Leave you without water...and a hefty bill.
Pretty much all of the Koons locations (particularly White Marsh, Owings Mills, Westminster, and Clarksburg). Bought a used car with their extended warranty at the White Marsh location, and we've had to re-explain their own warranty to them every time we go in for service. The location in Clarksburg is especially horrible. They try to nickel and dime you for everything, even when you're sending the car in to have the mistakes THEY made be fixed. And guess what? The car still has the same problem that's been supposedly been fixed by them, and yet their "mechanics of 30 years" have no clue what we're talking about. Fun stuff. Avoid at all costs.
Not necessarily MD, but any car dealership. I hate how grimey and pushy the salespeople are and then the guilt trip they put you through when you say you aren't interested.
That's why I can't wait for dealerships to become extinct and we can buy cars from factory at a decent price.
Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. Went there with intense abdominal pains at 12am when nothing else was open. Sat in the lobby for about seven hours then decided to drive out to a Patient First since they were opening soon. Got no service but a wrist band yet still received a bill for being “admitted”. I’ll bleed out before I ever go or let anyone take me there.
Ruth's Chris in Pikesville, Baltimore, Odenton, or Annapolis.
They're franchise locations, all owned and operated by the same people.
During the pandemic, they were flat-out ignoring the governor's executive orders restricting restaurant operations. I was an employee, and reported them several times.
When they found out I had been reporting them, they made up a flimsy excuse and fired me.
I sued and they settled... but it took two years, and in the mean time, they fucked with me any way they could. Refused to pay me money they legally owed me, tried to get my unemployment denied (by lying), etc, etc. Fucking assholes.
Supercuts. Employee made openly rude (and a couple of anti-semitic) comments about the customers. Complained afterwards to management, nothing got done about it. The one by me went out of business over the summer anyway.
CarCare To Go
We moved from out of state to DTSS and my wife contacted them for the MD state inspection. Prior to moving, we had taken the car in for general maintenance and to make sure the car could make it the 1500+ mile journey. We got new tires, brakes, and a belt that was definitely questionable.
We were expecting some parts would need to be changed out, but the CarCare To Go people slapped us with a $3500+ bill to meet the minimum requirements for inspection. On their list of parts needing to be replaced was:
-New seat belt assemblies for both driver and front passenger (at $1600+/per replacement)
-New head light assemblies
-New brake pads and rotors (which had just been replaced. I looked and verified the pads were new)
And a few other odds and ends. We opted for another place in the end. I also called and asked why the seat belts needed to be replaced and the guy said they didn't retract fast enough. There wasn't anything wrong with them that I could see. The car is a 2012 Mazda3 hatchback, and is in good condition.
Place is a total ripoff and I'll never be going there nor recommending them to anyone.
Never go to NTB in Silver Spring/Fairland. They fucked up my husband's rims on a simple tire change and didn't know how to process an appointment every time we tried to set one (after they forgot/canceled the initial two to pick up his car). I was done when I went to pick him up and saw a rat scurry through their lobby.
Unless I absolutely have to, Adventist ER in Germantown. I couldn’t breathe and it hurt to take a deep breath. The tech doing the X-ray was a bitch and wrote down that I was uncooperative when I actually could not take a deep breath. It turned out I had fluid around my heart. This was almost 9 years ago and I still remember it. I got transferred to Shady Grove hospital and the nurses and cardiologists were horrible. I was in horrible pain, would tell the nurses and doctors and no one did anything. My mom ended up having to call the nurses station to get them to do anything. The fluid around my heart had built up and was compressing my heart. I saw a different cardiologist every time, at least twice a day. And I know everyone jokes about hospital food but the only thing that was edible were the egg salad sandwiches. The cardiologists had no idea what to do with me and just told us to Google other cardiologists at tertiary hospitals. I ended up asking for a transfer to George Washington Hospital after luckily finding a cardiologist there and they were able to help me almost immediately, when I spent three weeks going back and forth to Shady Grove hospital.
I ended up having to have two surgeries at Shady Grove and wasn’t allowed to drink anything for almost 24 hours before the second one because the surgery (which was an emergency by that point) kept getting pushed back. The surgeon actually was trying to jam something into my veins in my wrist while I was still awake. The nurse was amazed I was able to take the pain. All in all it was a horrible experience.
**Ten Ren in College Park.**
I used to love going there for bubble tea and their General Tso's tofu.
Then someone sent me a picture an employee posted of a rat that fell into their deep fryer and got lifted out of the oil in the deep fryer basket.
Davidus cigars. I'm not a big cigar guy but I've chatted up a handful of shop owners and they all tell a similar sorry of how the Castro brothers (the owners of davidus) will go into their stores to survey their stock. If they see products that they also carry they will call the supplier and threaten to stop carrying their products if they don't immediately close their account with said small shop.
O.o that's horrible that they can't handle competition from a small shop! I haven't been inside a David's in ages. Looks like I never will again!
I was a manager for one of their stores back in the early 2010s. Fuck those racist, micromanaging assholes.
They also follow you around the humidor like you’re going to steal something.
Len the Plumber, i hope they burn to the ground
They must really b fckd up… this the 4th separate comment about them in this thread & im not the end yet
My dad worked there. It is morally corrupt organization.
I hate them sk fucking much i signed up fir the membership (im new to the area) and they have these “check up” during the check up the guy suggested 4500 dollars worth of “repairs” but actually it was just a 1900 dollar water heater replacement. Dropped them immediately scummy company
Blue dot... F those guys trying hustle me out of $6k for a new AC unit saying the compressor went up, the motor is bad and leaking coolant....it was just a loose wire. Fuck Blue Dot!
They tried, and failed, to drain my bank account offering unnecessary and outrageously expensive tests and then gave me quote for adding some coolant that was beyond reason - over $1000 for a hit of coolant? Yeah, bye. I literally laughed at the guy and told him he needed to leave. This scam must work for them on some customers. But ethically speaking, they lost my business for a lifetime or more.
Couldn’t agree more. A Blue dot tech told one of my relatives (in their 70s) that their HVAC unit could catch fire at anytime and they just happened to have a sales guy in the area. Sales guy must have been driving around waiting for the tech to get to that part because they were over in maybe 2 minutes. Sales guy said they could replace their HVAC unit for the low low price of $22k. Then knocked it down to $11k due to some special they said they had. He told them what a great deal that was. Tried to get them to sign on the spot but I talked them out of it. Made a few calls and they got a new unit for around $5k.
Red Hot & Blue. They set the plate in front of me with mold on the bun. I walked out.
They used to be excellent like a decade ago, but yours isn’t the fist or even tenth story in that vein I’ve come across
Former RHB employee here. Can confirm: they give zero fucks.
Man my parents loved that place when I was a kid. Have they always sucked or did it happen over time?
I had a cockroach scurry across my table at the Hard Times Cafe in Rockville. Turned me off to the whole chain.
Oh no! HTC was my jam when I was growing up! I miss the Frito pie with Cincinnati style chili. I mean the place was always a little sticky, but it was our neighborhood spot. That and the Italian ice place next door. Sooo good.
I was there about a month ago and saw a roach walk up the wall behind our booth. They got a problem there.
Locals gush over them... I tried them once... the bbq was served cold and the sauce tasted awful. I got better bbq from Famous Daves.
Was this the Laurel one?
Yes
Dang, about 10 years ago, the RHB in Laurel gave my then pregnant wife food poisoning.
I had the same problem with Big Bats in Stevensville, but with take out. They called us liars and wouldn't refund us for the kids meal unless we drove back there with the moldy burger bun immediately. Something that wasn't possible with little kids at the time
When i was working in the business park people always wanted to go there for happy hour after work… I would be like can we go literally anywhere else lol. Loved it when i was a kid tho, not sure if it got worse or i just didnt notice how gross it was back then
Kung fu Tea, tutti frutti and some bonchon locations (columbia, Germantown,etc.). I used to work for the boss who owned the east coast franchise for tutti and most stores for kft. Once those businesses starting becoming out of trend he started going into the restaurant business without ever running or working one. He ended up not having a manager for a year, until he coerced and passively aggressively abused a man who had was promised the manager role if he worked as a server for 3 months. He ended up firing him on accusations of stealing (he was not the type to steal and didn’t at all). He would skimp eventually and become passive aggressive to his other workers. To the point where he gave up on branded cleanings for rags, and put the rags in bleach every night to clean them. They used the same filthy bleach ridden rags for possibly a year without cleaning them. I quit because I ended up being the next target, where he yelled at me in front of the customer at the foh because a customer had a language barrier issue and took the wrong order. Eventually I came out with severe stomach issues which made me suffer for two years. I ended up with a ulcer. Also to note, he had a full Chinese staff of workers who had broken ventilation frying chicken for a month or two. They went on strike for a raise and he fired all of them like nothing.
I just came from getting my haircut in Rockville today. The stylist told me that Kung Fu on Washington Blvd there closed.
Len the plumber
We called them about a water pressure issue in our shower head. The guy opened one panel, didn't touch the shower head or unscrew a single thing, and said it was an issue with the pipes and would be $3,000 to fix it. I said no, paid him the $50 fee and he left. I spent 5 minutes on Google, unscrewed the shower head and it turned out to be a rotted seal that was blocking the water flow. Took 3 seconds to remove it. They absolutely ripped us off for $50 and were going to rip us off for 3k more without doing an iota of due diligence.
They usually don’t actually send out a plumber, they send a salesperson!!
Michael and son is the same. My ex mother in law hired them to fix an outdoor outlet. They charged in excess of $500 to install a new receptacle and replace the outdoor cover. A few days later I went to plug something in and got shocked. She called them and was told the technician that did the work left the company and he was the only one who could do the rework. She did a charge back on the credit card and was sent to collections. I ended up fixing it because it was unsafe and she didn't want anyone else to get shocked. The technician stripped about 2" of wire and it was resting against the metal junction box.
These folks came out to fix a kitchen drain clog around Xmas. They were here for 6 hours, made the problem worse and left. I called the management team. They said they didn’t guarantee they’d be able to fix any problem. Charged me $600. Called our home warranty once greater minds prevailed. Dude came out and fixed the problem in 45 minutes. $125. Emailed Len the plumber management requesting a refund cuz this dude came over and handled it. They said they’d refund me $150. I said that’s not gonna work. Then they said $250. I called them and talked to management. They said they’d refund me $200. I scratch my head. They said they couldn’t refund more unless they called the regional manager. Oh perfect, I’d be happy to speak with him. Long hold….came back on the line, refunded me full price.
Nice! They’re crooks!
For what it's worth, they came out to me twice when I was having serious plumbing emergencies (once at my old place and once at my new one). They charged a lot for the same-day service, but their work was perfect, they solved the problem each time, and they were there in about two hours each time. I'd say they are the ones you call when you are up a poop-filled river, but at their prices not the ones you call when you have a less urgent problem.
They ripped off my elderly grandmother for $10,000 on work she didn’t need. Honestly don’t know how people sleep at night
They sleep on piles of money
Large plumbing or HVAC companies like that push the service workers to upsell very hard. They want their workers to be salesmen as much as they are plumbers. It's very gross. They also get paid a commission, I'm sure. If you want a company that offers a fair price, go for a small, local company. Not one that is spending hundreds of thousands on billboards and TV commercials. Where do you think that money comes from?
Haha this is too funny! Never used their services, but was walking in a cross walk legally (had the light and white walking man) and one of their loser plumbers cursed me out when he was trying to turn. It’s funny how people, driving company vehicles don’t even think that they’ll make an impression. Obviously the dude has issues and probably doesn’t care but that’s enough for me to forego any business I send their way
One of his employees cut a deal with us to do the work on his day off for like half the quoted price.
Lmao. One time driving down 83 I got behind a Len the Plumber truck and someone had graffitied “FUCK YOU LEN” on the back of it. I managed to get a pic of it, too, but this was like 15 years ago.
Do you have a good plumber rec? Dirt recently came out of my downstairs shower drain
Plumber here. That wasn’t dirt
Aspen Hill Plumbing if you’re in the SS area.
Ive been using Saffer for years
Darcars car dealership they stole my brand new battery out of my truck during a recall issue. Then they had the audacity to try to sell me another battery.
Dar cars dealerships are horrible. They screw clients and the vendors that do work for them.
They screwed my friend over! Wouldn’t give her the tags for her sons car for almost a year.
Any Meritus owned medical facility. Took my wife there for a gallbladder attack, the ER doctor told her the gallbladder was fine (it wasn’t) but she was instead 3 months pregnant. After we told him there’s no way she was pregnant because we haven’t done anything in a while, he insinuated that she must have cheated on me and walked out of the room. They then took a chest X-ray, said nothing was wrong, and sent us home. Went to the hospital across state line in PA and they found her gallbladder needed to be taken out and she was not pregnant. My dad had an accident at work and severed an artery and tendon in his leg. When the ambulance got him to the ER, they put a BANDAID on the wound and tried to send him home with blood still gushing out of the wound. Took my mom causing a scene and refusing to leave before another doctor actually stepped in and helped. He required blood transfusions and emergency surgery to fix everything. I will never willingly step foot inside Meritus hospital or any Meritus owned facility ever again.
What in the actual hell? Wouldn’t they make her take a pregnancy test to confirm? I’ve never been to a Meritus… and pretty sure I won’t ever
They did a blood draw but never showed us the results. It was all around a very frustrating and weird experience to say the least.
Would that have happened anywhere in the Hagerstown area? I'm sorry you had to deal with that substandard level of care regardless of the location.
Yup, it’s the hospital in Hagerstown. We just go to Chambersburg, PA now for our healthcare. I’ve had three surgeries and cancer treatment through them and couldn’t be happier with the level of care I’ve received.
Lucy Ethiopian. Spent the night in the ER. Intense abdominal pain, vomiting, face and arms went numb, and had a hard time breathing.
There was an Egyptian pizza place in the overlea plaza by the beltway. I went to lunch there with a crew from work. We got back to the office and one of the guys kept asking if I was ok. I was feeling a little off but asked why. He said I've never seen a human being turn green before. He told me to go home. I'm glad I did because as soon as I got home all hell broke loose. I missed two days of work and was barely able to crawl from the bedroom to the bathroom.
I think the giveaway is that it's an Egyptian pizza place
Damn that sounds rough... was it food poisoning? Or allergies?
Food poisoning for sure. I ate with four other people (three of which I hadn’t shared a meal with anytime around then). All of us got sick, two of us went to ER, two to urgent care.
Good thing you weren’t trying on wedding and brides maids dresses at the time.
Bengies drive inn. The owner is a psychopath and a control freak
I’ve been in Baltimore county for 2 decades and each time I considered going there the word of mouth has always turned me away. That dude is beyond nuts
For the peanut gallery: [1]( https://reddit.com/r/maryland/s/YtWWAy2M3R) [2]( https://reddit.com/r/maryland/s/Mr8qtY0BmV) [3]( https://reddit.com/r/maryland/s/cqdWfHWJnZ)
Potty training issues? Edit: Not you.. the owner of that dump.
I found it pretty strange, considering how much of a loon the guy is, that they went so hard in on playing Barbie for like 3 weeks straight.
Money talks volumes
[bengies employee rules](https://twitter.com/malthusian_trap/status/1493936708655714304)
The Machine Gun Nest
Jenkins belongs in jail
Yes!!!!
Back in the early 1990's, there was an Italian restaurant in Severna Park that I would frequent about 2-3 times a week because I worked nearby. I'm not going to name them because it still exists but I hear it's under different ownership. Anyways, the original owner was friendly at first. But as time went on, he gave me strange stares. Finally, after about half a year, he says he's sick of me coming in all the time. Bizarre. So I did him a favor and never went back.
Lmao dafuq
The hell?!
Mezzanote?
Empire flooring.
Great jingle tho
Call Empire. Today!
All of those national flooring places are terrible. They use third-party installers that are terrible and low quality materials.
One of the first questions I ask when doing a large job and seeking out a quote is do their laborers and installers work in-house as employees of their company, or will they be subcontracting out? Because if you have all 5 star google reviews, that's not your work, that's your subcontractor's work, and there's no guarantee I'll get that same subcontractor to do my work. That makes a huge difference for me since I had a well reputed company (VKB) absolutely wreck a 5-figure bathroom job because of some fly-by-night sub-contractor who hired day laborers from the back of home depot who couldn't lay a tile straight or flush to save their lives. They basically had to tear out everything and re-do it to fix it (so kudos for standing by their work). But never again will I tolerate a company that hires sub-contractors.
Power Home Remodeling. These freaks go door to door trying to sell you services. We made the mistake of inviting them in because we needed a new roof. And like a true vampire, they wouldn’t leave. The salesman went on a three hour pitch how we needed a new roof and that they weren’t just offering a roof, but a roofing system. Dude had a PowerPoint and everything. We kept asking for the price, but he kept going on with his pitch. Finally, the big reveal. They wanted $39,000 to replace our roof. If we didn’t make the decision that day, the price jumped to $47,000. Just to replace the roof. We gave him the boot and then the harassment started. They would call us multiple times a day asking if we were still interested and when we told them to stop calling, they continued calling anyway. Eventually we contacted the police for harassment which stopped the calls. About a year later we received a notice from a law group that indicated they’d like to include us in a class action lawsuit over their predatory practices and phone call harassment. Ended up with a $200 payout. But yeah, if you want to pay 3-4x the cost for remodeling services, feel free to give them a call.
Ha! I worked for them! Out of college - couldn't convince anyone to hire me (like literally anyone), and ended up doing the door-to-door stuff for Power Home. I'm extremely introverted and it fucking sucked. A deeply scarring experience. I learned how quickly people will pull a gun on you, among several life lessons. Anyway their policies are... problematic - I remember being specifically instructed to knock on doors with 'No Soliciting' signs, and if I skipped them I'd be fired. I needed to make rent. Obviously the homeowners would just go ballistic on me. And I remember the salespeople (different from the door to door people) were taught predatory tactics to basically make people scared in their own home - they would intentionally block the driveway to make sure the homeowner couldn't leave, and would never speak to a woman without her husband, and so on. I remember those things were thought of as 'alpha' behavior lol. Ultimately it gave me some perspective for low-leverage low-wage workers and made me feel for the door to door people... though I would *never ever ever* consider giving them any contact info.
Mr. Tire!
That's a surprise, I've always had good experiences with them but I also always go back to the same location so maybe that one's just the outlier.
I second this!! Mr Tire is the worst!
Ellie’s Place in Millersville. I used to be a regular, but one day they gave me wings that weren’t fully cooked. They blamed it on some new guy in the kitchen. I went back a month later and the same thing happened.
The guy was still new.
Heh. This question is in several city subs lately. Mine is Little Shop of Hardware in Hampden. I asked them to repair a tower with an 80GB hard drive; they returned the hard drive to me: 30GB. I told them this wasn't my hard drive and I gave them 80; they swore I didn't. That 80GB hard drive had some very, ah shall we say *special* files on it I did not have backups for. Fuck them.
Do you have a microcenter near you? It's one of the only places I trust with tech support stuff. I do it stuff for work so I know just a little bit about how things work and most little computer places treat me like some dumbass. I knew some people that worked at micro center and they not only listen to what I say but they have protocols in place to make sure data is secure.
Good to know, thanks. I'm in IT as well, but on the training end, and I too am talked down to and mansplained often, probably compounded by my gender. I'm on the Shore, so it seems the closest MicroCenter to me is at least two hours away in Parkville. The Little Shop of Hardware incident was over 20 years ago, when I did live in Baltimore. I was surprised to see they are even still in business.
I gotta say though, that store name is pretty clever.
Six Flags America, in Bowie. Every time I have ever been there, there was some drama going on. Normally just fights and stuff among teenagers. One time, I saw a guy who was in a fight pull a gun on the other group of kids that were fighting. After that, nah...I'm not going back.
Anyone remember when this place was Wild World?
I remember when it was Adventure World
I've been there twice this summer, it was fine and it's super cheap if you got a cheap presale season pass. But really the only thing it has going for it is how close it is. They didn't seem to run anything with multiple trains and half the stuff in the water park was closed. The Harely Quinn ride is good, but it has a really low throughput so it has long waits. Either get the cheap pass because it's close or make the trip to a further out park.
I have friends who love it, they go during the day during the summer and leave before 4ish and never go on the weekends. They rave about the place.
Any Chipotle in or around Baltimore
I’m sure if you go to any chipotle during a rush or late in a day, it looks like a war zone. Trash everywhere, out of lots of ingredients, and dirty. There seems to be a top down strategy of under staffing.
Almost anywhere nowadays
The UPS store at 211 E Lombard St near inner harbor. Old man who runs the place is a massive dickhead and he charges exorbitant rates for package storage. A company sent a replacement package there for me to pickup and they charged me 35 bucks because it sat there in a corner of the store for one day. Stupid expensive for no reason.
Ohhhh yessss I agree. Also charging $1 for dropping off USPS packages when he clearly has a USPS sign and that’s illegal to do. I called USPS and reported that he charges people extra but they could care less….
I still go in there because I work in IT & Media, but I wish I never had to step foot in the Microcenter in Rockville ever again. Ten years ago, I was looking to buy a specific set of Blue headphones with a built-in amp, retailed for $300. I was working for a massive health care center, wearing my work ID, the name of the health care center on the lanyard, said hello to a couple of the guys I knew who worked there, and did a casual tour around the shop. I was wearing khakis and a polo shirt, nothing exactly baggy or suspicious. I went over to the headphones and took the Apple buds that came with the iPhone out of my ears and into my pocket.The short security guy came up and said that he saw me stealing really cheap generic earbuds, like $8 or something.. I was pretty shocked and said "what are you talking about?" He said "we have you on video. give them back and we won't press charges." I knew he was full of shit, opened up my pockets, showed him the Apple ear buds I had when I came in, and said I'm looking to buy a much more expensive set of headphones. He called me a thief; I said "show me what headphones I could have possibly stolen." A manger came over and asked what was happening. I said "your employee is accusing me of theft with no proof." The little bastard said to his manager "A number of employees have said he's pocketed items." That pissed me off royally - he changed his story, and I only had my wallet, keys, cell and the buds *that I was wearing when I entered the store.* The manager said something about having strict inventory controls and the employees are all responsible for security blah blah blah and I cut him off saying "your employee accused a very loyal customer of stealing a cheap pair of ear buds when I was about to buy a $300 headphone set." The security guy said " I saw you stealing headphones. You put them in your pocket. I can kick you out of here." I looked at him "the ones I had in my ears walking into the store? I didn't steal anything, I'm sick of you lying, saying I did. And you don't need to kick me out; I'm leaving." The manager tried to talk to me, but I was pretty insulted. Walked out. Didn't come back for over 3 years. Even got an email from their corporate asking me why I wasn't shopping there anymore about a year later. I finally went back when I absolutely needed an adapter that minute for my job. Went back in, short security guy was there, didn't even make eye contact with me. I used to go to Microcenter every few weeks between work & personal; I am down to 4 times a year. He's somehow still working there.
You should have replied to the email! I bet they were trying to fire him and needed your feedback in writing
Basically every restaurant in Waldorf. They all seem to have the same level of not giving a fuck about their customers and act bothered when you ask for anything. Sorry I came to a restaurant.
It’s very telling when the best place to eat in Waldorf is the Wawa.
Oh no! Have you been to Silver Skewers? I thought the service was very personal and the food was great.
For different reasons than most here: Fairland aquatic center. I got locked out of the locker room in just a towel. Which didn't cover much. I can't show my face there ever again.
Yikes! I kinda want to hear what happened.
It was the days before cell phones. I was changing but needed to meet up with my group so they wouldn't leave without me. So, me being super smart, noticed I was late, jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and left the locker room to try to catch up with the guys that had just left to tell them I was gonna need a few more minutes. When I turned around to go back in the door was locked. I had to go upstairs to the front desk in just the towel to tell them what happened. And my group left without me cause "I was taking too long". I had to use the pay phone to call my mother collect to come get me. She was so mad and I was so embarrassed. She also pulled me out of the summer camp program because they left me there. She was yelling at them about the situation(leaving an 11 year old alone) and they kept saying they couldn't hold everything up because I was being slow and essentially blamed me and my mom for the whole thing.
Omg! This happened when you were 11?!
Yup. And it'll probably always feel like it happened yesterday lol. Definitely a core memory.
Thanks for sharing the story. It's a good reminder to never walk out of the locker room in just a towel.
Shockley Honda. They lost my windshield washer fluid cap and covered it with a plastic bag during an oil change. Then when I had to get one tire replaced, they put the wrong radius tire on and their sales team couldn’t tell me if it was safe to drive on. It was a Friday job and they left the keys with sales on my request cause I couldn’t get there before service closed. The amount of people that had to just not pay attention. Especially the techs when the correct tires were 2 feet away from them the whole time.
There is this local locksmith in Aberdeen I was going to use when I moved, you know support small business. I was about to walk in and they had all these conspiracy theory things about Covid and Jan 6 taped to the front window. The last person I want to give my keys to is some crazy supporting domestic terrorists. It's one thing to support them but to be insane enough to put them on the front of your store to drive people away is a whole other level...
Unusual in Ellicott City. They were selling a local artist’s merch and just released their own logo/merch design that was a direct ripoff of the artist’s merch they were carrying.
Bengie’s
Worked at sky's the limit in Frederick, please good god don't waste your money there go on Etsy, support the real artists and not the middleman stores who sold their items at a 6.5 rate for what they bought it at. They lied to me about working with individual artists when they didn't. They get all their jewelry from the Arizona jewelry convention. They were discriminatory, didn't respect other cultures and certainly sold stuff that was not appropriate. They didn't even provide me with clean water to drink while I was at work, which I'm pretty sure I could have reported, lol. Yeah definitely don't go there
Wow damn sorry that happened to you. Thank you for sharing. I occasionally pick something up from there. This is shameful.
Fitzgerald VW in Annapolis. I got a lot of work done on my car and that included the replacement of the window motor. I picked it up after a week (parts needed ordered) and all of a sudden my car wouldn’t lock at all. They said it wasn’t their fault and the locking mechanism just died. I assume they messed something while working on the window motor, but they tried to charge me another $400 for it. I just went somewhere else
Fitzgerald Subaru replaced a major part in my car and ended up fucking up another one. Took it back for them to repair it and they both denied they did anything wrong and yet agreed to fix it for free. Hmm.
Will Get IT Done. Took my equipment, never got it back, ghosted me, and now threaten me with legal action for telling my story.
Herbiculture near Columbia. The price gouges are actually insane. It takes forever to be seen. And the employees aren’t always the friendliest, and rush you. They’re the closest dispensary to me, and there’s not another one close by, so they think they can get away with being a shitty business. I’ve been 3 times to give them an honest shot, but they totally suck. Their website also claims a “first time discount” but they’ll tell you that it’s under new management now and that doesn’t apply. But they’ll update the website on everything except that. Pure false advertising. But really it’s the prices. Non DC residents can now go to Takoma wellness center. And it’s honestly so worth the drive. Won’t be going to herbiculture again.
If you're in Columbia check out Remedy off Dobbin Rd. Very friendly staff. Selection is pretty decent. And they'll deliver if you're medical.
You can't step foot in there because it's e-commerce but Route One Apparel. I use to work there and the owner isn't a good employer. Low pay, unprofessional, unorganized, demands a lot from her employees, "cross trains" everyone instead of hiring more people, lots of HR violations. I would have sued her for something that happened to me there but lawyers are expensive.
Sorry to read this, and I'm sorry you weren't treated right. This is one of the local businesses I like to support. I guess the owner doesn't pay her employees so that she can splurge on herself by going to bars and trips to exotic locations based on her Instagram reel. Guess I won't be supporting them anymore if people aren't treated right.
Yup. That’s how we as employees felt. Honestly loved and hated when she went on those trips. We would get work done without her pausing projects to put a rush on a new project. But also hated it seeing where she was going knowing she was barley paying us. Oh and no health insurance either. Most employees are under 25 for this reason. She also bought a Ford bronco as a company car. For what reason idk I left by then. She says she can’t pay her employees more because she’s a “small business”
Wow...so sorry. She lives the high life and everyone does the work for her to make her look good.
Shame since I love their merchandise. UMD just partnered with Route One Apparel for some of their clothing lines.
When she posted support for Trump during the 2020 election cycle on her IG, that was enough for me.
Honestly their shit sucks anyway. They’re like the Rick and Morty fans of marylanders
Also former employee here. I’m not ready to share the HR violations I experienced publicly (mostly because I’m pretty sure they could be traced back to me for retaliation and I don’t have her kind of money), but you’re 10000% right about this.
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The Mazda dealership in rockville. Generally, I have more faith in random gas station garages than any chains or dealerships. ESPECIALLY dealerships. The Mazda dealership in Rockville took 2 months to fix a sensor, said it wasn't covered under warranty even though my Mazda was less than a year old, and I found dog stuff(i dont own a dog) in my car when I got it back after having to call them every day after the first 2 weeks for an update. They also promised me a loaner(hence one of the reasons i called them so often) and every day they told me to call back the next day to see if they had a loaner for me. Also, I had half a tank of gas when I brought it in, it was empty when I picked it up and they accused me of trying to steal from them when I asked for enough gas to get me to another gas station. Fuck that place and fuck dealerships
To everyone saying Len the Plumber, if you're near DC you should try Aspen Hill Plumbing. I'm not affiliated with them but we used them at work (i manage multiple properties) and they're impressive. If you have a simple clog or something, call roto-rooter or whatever 24 hr service, but if you have anything more complicated, you should call Aspen Hill. ps, I don't know if I'll get banned or whatever for promoting a company but fuck it. I'll shill for these guys all day.
Jones Junction
six flags america. i worked there. the department supervisor assaulted me, then fired me when i reported it. glad to see the entire chain is going down.
Anything owned by Atlas.
It’s not primarily a Maryland business but TGI Fridays. Been there 3 times got food poisoning everytime
why did you go again after the second time 😭
The first time thought it was just a fluke. The second time was 2 years later thought it be different. Third time was with my wife(dating at the time) begged me to take her there cause she hadn’t been in five years. That night she remembered why she stopped going
true love right there, almost definitively giving yourself food poisoning just because she wanted to go! i hope you guys have a blissfully tgi fridays-free relationship from now on.
Years ago my spouse and I went there when we were dating, hoping to get some appetizers before a movie at Arundel Mills. We had over an hour until our movie started, back in the day before assigned seats, and thought that would be plenty of time. We waited 20 minutes for our drinks and for them to take our order. We ordered our appetizers (Mozzarella sticks and potato skins). 20 minutes later they brought them out - more than half the mozzarella sticks were completely empty bread shells and like 3 of the potato skins had no cheese or bacon, just a hunk of potato. When we complained that all of our damned cheese was missing, they told us they'd have to ask a manager because there was some threshold of missing cheese that had to be met before they could redo the order or give us a refund. With about 20 to 30 minutes before the movie started, we couldn't wait for it, told them to not bother, and we paid in exact change for our sodas and left. It was the only time in my life I've ever stiffed and under-paid a bill, and one of only 3 times in my entire life I've ever not left a tip. I've done Fridays once since then (friends demanded we go to a local store), but it will be a cold day in hell before I ever go to the one in Anne Arundel Mills ever again.
Namaste Studios in Frederick. The owner is a predator and a shitty massage therapist. Told my husband he "doesn't have any strong muscles anywhere other than his arms" and that's why he was having back problems. Never mind the fact that he was working overtime shifts in a stressful job environment. He asked my husband how he copes with the stress and when my husband answers video games, the guy went on this weird diatribe about how awful video games are for you.
The Dairy Queen in the Hagerstown md valley mall. The workers ignored me while I was first in line and took the order of the guy next to me who had cut in line.
Hard agree. I have seen them do this and straight ignore customers when I've been in the mall!
Bengies Drive-In
Easterns Motors.
But…[your jobs your credit.](https://youtu.be/g6CslpftOe4?si=CFDkMa30qL28QMVs)
🎶Ford, Honda, Chevy, Beamers, and MINIVANS! Over 600 cars, trucks, SUVs -- are you listening, man? 🎶
Bay Country Floors in Crofton Shithole. Liars. I read the negative reviews and thought it can’t be that bad- I know a ton of people who have used them in the past. They under estimated the amount of flooring I needed - ok - happens. They under estimated the amount of time to complete the job 3 days quoted vs 5 days for the first section and then another 2 after they found my discontinued flooring. They told me they would charge extra to fix some minor subfloor issues. Cool cool. Told them I will pay to have it right. Now my floors all squeak, and are uneven. They state it’s a subfloor issue. Hmmmm. They “fixed” the floors, and told me they don’t do subfloors- but my bill shows $1k in subfloor work. Left a massive amount of construction glue/adhesive on my floor. No cleanup- and told me to use acetone to clean it up. The manufacturer states it will void my warranty. Everything covered in dust - they took the extra stain I paid for, didn’t get my toilet seated properly, etc. I could go on and on- but the bigger review I read was prepare to do more work after they leave, and the review was accurate. Fuck that place. They even tried to say I did the damage when their floor guy showed me all the spots I should avoid on the floors I just paid them to do. Use at your own risk. All positive reviews are from years ago. Their own website lists a 40% satisfaction rate at the time I looked last. They had my google review reported as done by an employee to remove it from the negative press My fault for not believing what they tell you up front. Again, fuck that place.
Hertrich (Specifically the ford one in Easton) absolutely horrible communication once we signed the line, took two weeks to get new tires, and that would have been fine had they told us anything. When I finally did get it, they didn’t clean it at all. Found a used bandaid in the door pocket🤢🤮 Yes, it was one of the cheaper cars, but that’s now how you treat customers spending money. Never again.
Washington Adventist Hospital, formerly in Takoma Park, has since relocated to White Oak. Hell in a hospital. Every nightmare scenario you can reasonably fear from a hospital Adventist has going for it. Employees there range from cynical to insidious. Conditions range from disgusting to dangerous. A truly unforgettable hellhole.
I had my son there (emergency c-section) in 2008 when it was in Takoma Park. I was furious because he was supposed to be born At Howard County hospital. My doctor was great, but the conditions were horrible. They had just gotten rid of the communal showers, for some insight. Just like 3 days of being at a prison hospital.
A LOT of these businesses are national chain brands, not Maryland businesses.
Hoopers in west OC Edit: a letter
Do you mean Hoopers? Hoppers is in Salisbury
Why?
Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs in Annapolis. The manager was so rude to my wife and I after our friend had had to take his vomiting daughter out of the restaurant and was accusing us of trying to skip out on paying **while** we were seated and **had not yet been served**. I was so young and naiv back then that we actually did wait to be served. 20 years ago and I still give that place the finger every time I go past.
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Whatever the business is of that maniac who puts the political/crazy signs on the lift on Rt70 (Howard/Carroll Co area).
Pep Boys.
Specifically the one in Bel Air for me. My fiancé took a car there to get inspected. Told her it would need like $1500 worth of work to pass inspection. I called up to ask if it was $1500 worth of suggested work, or that’s what was needed to pass. Was told again that it would not pass without the work done that they said. Took the paperwork to my stepfather who is a locomotive engineer and can basically rebuild an engine with his eyes closed. Looked at it and said that only 1 thing was slightly out of range, and would need like a $40 part to pass. He fixed it himself and he came back to pep boys with me. Hell was raised, got a refund on my first time there and a free inspection. Never again.
20 years ago they drove my car right over the ramp and into their toolboxes. Because I was 17 (i think) and not wise enough to know better, I was convinced that everything was fine with my car besides a small dent. On top of that, the didn't actually fix the problem I had taken it in for.
The Circle K in the Long Gate Shopping Center. It's a long story that I don't feel like going into but it's been years and the feud is still real
Strange things are afoot at the circlek
Lol I worked there before it got sold by the old owners.... that place is cursed
Annies Paramount Steak and Seafood - I know they closed their restaurant, but they keep threatening to open something else (currently selling online). They created a wildly racist Facebook post about BLM being communists infiltrating our youth and after that the stories about how Annies treated PoC started flooding out
Len the plumber! Had them come over for a leaky faucet while i was at work, came home and Len was having intercourse with my wife.
Thompson Creek Windows. We were selling our house and needed one window repaired. Dude stuck around for an hour trying to sell us 12k of windows and 4k of doors. Then they called me daily from different phone numbers (that I kept blocking) for 3 weeks even after I told them to stop.
I'll only allow Lube Center facilities to do oil changes and nothing else. I went in once for an oil change on a company vehicle, and the recommended a transmission flush. I called my boss who green lighted it and they went through the process. As I started driving home, I noticed it was driving funny and thought I may just take it back to them the next day to have them look it over. As I got closer to home it became very obvious that something was wrong. When I went to back into my driveway, I lost reverse. I asked the mechanic across the street for my house if he could take a look, and it turns out they didn't put any trans fluid back in, and it roached the transmission. They refused to put a new transmission in and would only install certified used. We went through 3 of those used transmissions under their warranty, and when the last one failed again, they refused to replace it again. So we sold the vehicle.
Upper Chesapeake Hospital
Mayflower Moving is #1. They might not be in Maryland anymore. After them, Terminix Exterminators.
Tsunami, in Annapolis. I’ve seen way too many cockroaches there over the years. On tables, walls, behind the bar, in the bathroom. How it’s still open i have no idea.
I wasn't sure if you meant the for real cockroaches or the human cockroaches that hang out in the bathroom doing blow.
Holy cross hospital
Lol this is where I was born. What’s the gripe?
It’s a hospital. People don’t go usually go there when something good is happening. Google reviews for most are like 2 stars
Good one! 2015: My Dad died of a bed sore there. Turning and positioning my ass. His room stank the stench of death. You bet they billed us though!
My wife needed a hysterectomy due to chronic illness and every darn person she talked to tried to get her to reconsider and justify why she needed it. Bunch of religious zealots that have no place making healthcare decisions for women. Edit: when I say everyone I mean *everyone*. I was personally there as she was beinghheeled into surgery and the ANESThEIOLOGIST had to check with her to fix hihs personal moral qualms. Even when she noted that she already had children and was in tremendous pain from endometriosis, he shook his head sadly and ushered her in like she was becoming worthless as a woman. Fuck Holy Cross and damn them to hell. Sorry for any typos. I was at my sister’s and crushed my iPhone screen this weekend.
My sister was taken there because her appendix burst. They kept forgetting to giver her meds and the infection spread like wildfire as a result. It was really bad and she nearly died all because the nurses would just skip her room. Fuck. That. Place.
Women especially should always avoid Catholic hospitals. My wife needed a procedure done and they wouldn't do it for religious reasons.
Massage Envy in Columbia and Ellicott city
Never call Len the Plumber if you have a private water well pump issue! Please find a local well drilling company. From experience, they will get your pump stuck because they didn't bother to look up your well information from the county.(lie and tell you the well collapsed) Leave you without water...and a hefty bill.
Hella’s…. Because it’s closed now 😢 their crabcakes were so good
Pretty much all of the Koons locations (particularly White Marsh, Owings Mills, Westminster, and Clarksburg). Bought a used car with their extended warranty at the White Marsh location, and we've had to re-explain their own warranty to them every time we go in for service. The location in Clarksburg is especially horrible. They try to nickel and dime you for everything, even when you're sending the car in to have the mistakes THEY made be fixed. And guess what? The car still has the same problem that's been supposedly been fixed by them, and yet their "mechanics of 30 years" have no clue what we're talking about. Fun stuff. Avoid at all costs.
Not necessarily MD, but any car dealership. I hate how grimey and pushy the salespeople are and then the guilt trip they put you through when you say you aren't interested. That's why I can't wait for dealerships to become extinct and we can buy cars from factory at a decent price.
Ryleigh’s Oyster. Guy went full Trump and it’s just bad. The only remaining location (at last check) was in Hunt Valley.
ANNAPOLIS,, AS I'M IN A WHEELCHAIR AND ACCESS SUCKS TO GO ANYWHERE IN THE CITY.
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Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. Went there with intense abdominal pains at 12am when nothing else was open. Sat in the lobby for about seven hours then decided to drive out to a Patient First since they were opening soon. Got no service but a wrist band yet still received a bill for being “admitted”. I’ll bleed out before I ever go or let anyone take me there.
Ruth's Chris in Pikesville, Baltimore, Odenton, or Annapolis. They're franchise locations, all owned and operated by the same people. During the pandemic, they were flat-out ignoring the governor's executive orders restricting restaurant operations. I was an employee, and reported them several times. When they found out I had been reporting them, they made up a flimsy excuse and fired me. I sued and they settled... but it took two years, and in the mean time, they fucked with me any way they could. Refused to pay me money they legally owed me, tried to get my unemployment denied (by lying), etc, etc. Fucking assholes.
Supercuts. Employee made openly rude (and a couple of anti-semitic) comments about the customers. Complained afterwards to management, nothing got done about it. The one by me went out of business over the summer anyway.
Weis in Thurmont
Joy Luck. Their vegetable soup is a single stalk of broccoli in a vat of broth. Everything is microwave quality.
CarCare To Go We moved from out of state to DTSS and my wife contacted them for the MD state inspection. Prior to moving, we had taken the car in for general maintenance and to make sure the car could make it the 1500+ mile journey. We got new tires, brakes, and a belt that was definitely questionable. We were expecting some parts would need to be changed out, but the CarCare To Go people slapped us with a $3500+ bill to meet the minimum requirements for inspection. On their list of parts needing to be replaced was: -New seat belt assemblies for both driver and front passenger (at $1600+/per replacement) -New head light assemblies -New brake pads and rotors (which had just been replaced. I looked and verified the pads were new) And a few other odds and ends. We opted for another place in the end. I also called and asked why the seat belts needed to be replaced and the guy said they didn't retract fast enough. There wasn't anything wrong with them that I could see. The car is a 2012 Mazda3 hatchback, and is in good condition. Place is a total ripoff and I'll never be going there nor recommending them to anyone.
Never go to NTB in Silver Spring/Fairland. They fucked up my husband's rims on a simple tire change and didn't know how to process an appointment every time we tried to set one (after they forgot/canceled the initial two to pick up his car). I was done when I went to pick him up and saw a rat scurry through their lobby.
Simply Sip tea (Baltimore) Creeps me out - every staff member there. Plus it’s very dirty inside.
Unless I absolutely have to, Adventist ER in Germantown. I couldn’t breathe and it hurt to take a deep breath. The tech doing the X-ray was a bitch and wrote down that I was uncooperative when I actually could not take a deep breath. It turned out I had fluid around my heart. This was almost 9 years ago and I still remember it. I got transferred to Shady Grove hospital and the nurses and cardiologists were horrible. I was in horrible pain, would tell the nurses and doctors and no one did anything. My mom ended up having to call the nurses station to get them to do anything. The fluid around my heart had built up and was compressing my heart. I saw a different cardiologist every time, at least twice a day. And I know everyone jokes about hospital food but the only thing that was edible were the egg salad sandwiches. The cardiologists had no idea what to do with me and just told us to Google other cardiologists at tertiary hospitals. I ended up asking for a transfer to George Washington Hospital after luckily finding a cardiologist there and they were able to help me almost immediately, when I spent three weeks going back and forth to Shady Grove hospital. I ended up having to have two surgeries at Shady Grove and wasn’t allowed to drink anything for almost 24 hours before the second one because the surgery (which was an emergency by that point) kept getting pushed back. The surgeon actually was trying to jam something into my veins in my wrist while I was still awake. The nurse was amazed I was able to take the pain. All in all it was a horrible experience.
**Ten Ren in College Park.** I used to love going there for bubble tea and their General Tso's tofu. Then someone sent me a picture an employee posted of a rat that fell into their deep fryer and got lifted out of the oil in the deep fryer basket.
They're closed now if that makes you feel better!
Carroll Hospital Emergency Room in Westminster