Department Stores, Supermarkets, Retail, Discount Stores, Service Stations

 Restaurants, Cafés, Diners, Fast Food

 Banks and other Financial Institutions 

 Car Dealerships

 Civil Office and Call Centers

 Good Service Rewarded

Department stores are notorious for bad service. I went to the Foley's Department store at NorthWest Mall and got absolutely the worst service from the cologne counter. I stood around looking at colognes for about 5 minutes without the lady even acknowledging me. Finally I just decided to pick up the cologne that was on the counter and took it to another department for check-out. That's when the lady jumped out from behind the counter and chased me and my partner to the other cashier. She wanted us to buy it from her, although she never tried to help us in the first place. I refused to let her charge us for it and eventually got the other lady to help us out in the transaction. The cologne lady said it was because she was busy and would have gotten to us soon. That's a lie cause she was never busy enough not to be able to acknowledge us there.

The Kroger store on West 43^rd and Ella has the worst service when it comes to bagging groceries. It seems that every time my partner and I shop there, we end up having to bag our own groceries. We shouldn't have to do that. Granted, we shop in the late evening, the management should hire enough people and keep enough people on staff at all times to take care of this. If they can't get the personnel to do that job, then the managers should step in a help their cashiers. A lot of their cashiers do not greet you when entering or exiting the store. A lot of times they don't even thank you for shopping there. It wouldn't be that hard or far to go elsewhere.

The retail store with the worst Customer Service seems to be Best Buy. I have been to many Best Buys here in Houston and have never gotten satisfactory service. The store on I45 North and Aldine-Bender is notorious for bad service. We went to that store to purchase a Maytag Washer. They had one we liked and wanted to purchase. Well the guy helping us said they didn't have one at the store but had one at the warehouse. We said that was fine as we live near the warehouse, located at Crosstimbers and Shepherd. On Monday, we show up at the location where the Warehouse used to be. When we had talked to the people at Best Buy, they confirmed for us that the warehouse was located at Crosstimbers and Shepherd. Come to find out, the new location is out on North 290. So then we made plans to drive all the way out there on Tuesday, in a hell of a rainstorm, to pick up the washer. We got to the warehouse about 15 minutes before closing and gave them our paperwork. The lady, who was ever so helpful, told us that they did not have the washer there and that it had been shipped to the Best Buy for our pick-up. That was not what we had planned so we waited there at the warehouse until they got the paperwork straightened out so that we could take a washer they had in stock there. We finally got the washer and called the manager at the Best Buy and told him what had occurred. He never once apologized or tried to make it right. Anyway, that Best Buy is on our black list of places to shop.

The rudest people I have ever encountered at a discount store have been employees of the now defunct Venture stores. With the service they gave shoppers, I am not surprised they closed all their stores in Houston.

What really can be said about service stations except that they tend to find the most unfriendly people around to work there. The Exxon at 610 and Ella has the worst staff, including the manager. Never helpful and always full of attitude.

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Little Papasitos on Richmond takes the cake with the rudest waiter. We were there as part of a large group celebrating a birthday. It seems that the waiter was a little racist in his service as the end of the table, all white people, was totally ignored service. We waited longer for our food, had to get our own drink refills several times, and had to sit among all our dirty dishes during the rest of the dinner. He never apologized or tried to make the situation better and needless to say, he got no tip from us. Papasitos' management took up the slack by sending us a complimentary dinner certificate.

Café Express will have either good service or bad service, just depends on which one you go to.

The worst service I encountered at a diner was at Simpson's diner on Westheimer and Fondren area. Needless to say, they are no longer open for business.

The worst service at a fast food restaurant, as if you should be expecting anything better, has been the McDonald's on Ella and Loop 610. The menu board in the drive-thru listed the #3 meal as costing $3.29 and when we got to the window to pay, we were charged $3.39. Now it is only a difference of a dime, but when you consider how many people are taken advantage of, that is a lot of money. The cashier would not give us our difference and so we called the manager over. She did not believe us and so she went outside to actually check the menu board. When she came back inside, she told the cashier to just give us the two dimes we were asking for. I wanted the 20 cents without the attitude. Anyway, I will not stop at that drive thru again.

Here is a comment from Raula J. in Houston...If you want to have a cashier cheat you out of your change, PLEASE go to the Whataburger on I-45 and Airline. The cashier gave me the incorrect change and argued with me, as did the Manager. The manager even had the nerve to ask me for my phone number i case their register came up short that evening. I DON'T THINK SO. Here's the scoop: My order was $6.47. I gave the cashier two fives. She gave me back $1.53. When I asked her for the rest of my change, she said I only gave her a five. Duh! I would ve owed her money. I was arguing with her and then the manager. Finally, he gave me my correct change. Needless to say, I haven't been there since.

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I haven't had too many experiences with bad service at a bank, so if anyone would like to relate an incident to me, please do so.

Ditto as above.

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Russell Smith Honda on the South Loop has some bad service. My partner and I were looking at Honda Accords and Civics on a Saturday afternoon. We were looking all through the parking lot with no one coming out to assist us. Was it because we were two guys looking at cars? I seem to recall that our dollars are just as green as everyone elses.

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The slowest and rudest service has always been encountered at the Municipal Building. Can these employees be any ruder?

The call center for Best Buy was the rudest. Read related story above.

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If you want to consistently get good service, go to the James Avery shop in Highland Village. Those people there are the nicest.

Another comment from Raula J in Houston...For those of you who love great service, try The Limited at Greenspoint mall. Brandy assisted me one Saturday when I was looking for a dress for an occaision that evening. They did not have my size, but Brandy took the time to call several other stores, located the dress and put it on hold for me. She missed several sales as a result, bu never once complained. It was a very pleasant experience in that I did not expect this type of service on a busy Saturday.

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Last Revised: 10 September 1998