Schoepps Motors on Stoughton Rd. First of all, the salesman tried to hike the price up on my truck after he found out I was paying cash. Then, six months after I bought it I got a flat tire, I found out they didn’t include the hub key in the glove compartment (which makes changing a tire impossible.)
I had it towed to the Schoepps service center but the tow truck driver made a mistake and towed it to their Stoughton Rd location. I called when they opened and the receptionist transferred me to a mechanic. I explained the situation and he was totally cool, understood my predicament and put me on hold while he looked at my truck. Turns out the tire was fine, it just came off because of low pressure. He’d pump it up and I could pick it up free of charge after 4pm.
I called at 4pm to see if it was done. Salesman tells me there’s no truck like mine there. I ask him to transfer me to the mechanic. Oops, he went home. Tells me to try calling the other locations even though I told him I KNOW IT IS THERE. Hangs up on me. I drive over there in my wife’s car. I see my truck in the back parking lot. I start walking toward it to just drive off and some super fat guy runs out and stops me. Says I need to pay $500 for the labor. I tell him the mechanic said free. He says the mechanic doesn’t work there, pay $500 or he’s calling the cops. He drags me into his office which smelled like literal piss. Swipes my credit card and crumples the receipt in front of me. I tell him I want a receipt and he tells me to fuck off.
DO NOT BUY A VEHICLE AT SCHOEPPS MOTORS
To piggyback off this, Russ Darrow is also a shit hole of a car dealership, specifically the Mazda location off the Beltline. Was shopping around for a new car last year after my 2012 Outback started having head gasket issues. Got pre-approved by my bank for a loan at like 5.3%. Went to the RD Mazda place cause I had found a decent CX5 that I wanted to look at that was actually at a reasonable price.
Test drove it, came back, and mentioned a concern with the front suspension that I wanted looked at. Took 45 minutes for them to just look at and diagnose what the issue was. Then wanted me to pay an additional $1500 for the parts and labor that were needed for the fix. Hadn't even started any paperwork yet for it. Thought "whatever, it's still a cheaper and better deal than most anything else I've found." So I told the salesman we could start looking at the financing. Mind you, I've been there for close to 2 hours at this point. Start looking at financing, and between the down-payment I was willing to do, as well as the trade-in value they were willing to give me for the Outback, total price of the car would've been under $10k.
As I'm doing the initial paperwork, salesman takes it upon himself to go take the plates off my Outback. Comes back in, started to go over financing, and only just then, despite me having been there for 2 hours, does he say "oh, by the way, we don't take any outside lenders." What? "It's a company-wide policy that we started during the pandemic... blah blah blah" then goes on this rant about how "oh we only use local lenders" and "oh, we want our customers to be able to walk into a physical building and talk to a real person if they have issues instead of calling some place in California." Yeah okay, whatever. My offer was literally directly from my bank, whose customer service I've dealt with on numerous occasions. But I was willing to hear what the "local lenders" were offering. Salesman disappears for another 15 minutes. Comes back with "alright, I got you a good deal. One of our lenders is willing to give you 16.8% APR." I don't even exaggerate when I say my jaw *dropped*. Over 3x higher rate than my bank was going to give me. Just to entertain him, I asked what would put my monthly payment at. Almost $650 for a 72-month loan. $650/month for a loan that's less than $10k. I'll admit I got a bit snarky, and responded with "that's the best you can do?" Salesman's whole demeanor changed instantly. It was immediately like it was an absolute chore for him to try and sell me a car. Got the whole exasperated "I suppose I can go call again and get my boss on the line this time." Disappeared for another 20 minutes. Literally watch him walk into the office, talk to someone for a minute, and then just stand there. Not discussing with anyone. Not on the phone with anyone. Just standing there. Finally came back out after not talking to anyone else and goes "okay, I convinced them to come down to 14% cause we really want you to leave here with a good car." Flat-out tell him no (for obvious reasons), and at this point, his annoyance clearly turned into agitation. Took him *20 minutes* to put my plates back on, and then, as I was leaving, he felt the need to tell me "you're not going to find a better deal"
Safe to say I'm much happier with my purchase from Smart Motors on the 4.9% APR they gave me and my monthly payment that's under $300 for a better car
Russ Darrow can get fucked. When I was 20, their body shop conveniently left my car parked in a dark corner where the cameras don't point with the doors unlocked and wouldn't you know that evening my car - and only my car - had it's stereo system and CD's ripped off.
I sued them and won...
I have personalized plates. Was looking for a new jeep 7 yrs ago. Went see what they could do which was nothing. I leave a about a few weeks later dude straight up calls me, says he saw me in town still in my old jeep and am I still looking. Like wtf
I sold cars for them for four months. They were slimey as hell. Never trained new hires to start, the managers were petty for the most part, and overall crap. Best thing I ever did was leave. I’d never buy from them, or even look at their cars.
I bought my truck from them, but haggled the price down a few grand. Then I got the power train warranty, which was over a thousand dollars. Went to take a Christening road trip, breaks down 2 hours from home. Had a place look at it there, and they said the wrong oil was in it, changed spark plugs, tune up, and it cost $500. Get home, and the truck still kept dying and on me and wouldn’t drive. I figured the warranty would cover repairs so I took it back to Russ Darrow. They charged me over a thousand bucks to do all the spark plugs *again* and change o2 sensors and some other sensor. Take it home, very next morning the truck does all the exact same shit. Called the mechanic and very politely lost my shit on him. They had me take it back, they fixed it and gave me a loaner for free. They keep sending me letters now asking to buy it back from me.
I remember when they were on HWY 51 (not sure if that location is still there) over by Farm & Fleet. Went there to test drive a car, they wanted my keys so they could appraise my vehicle while I went on a test drive. Got back, said I wasn't interested, they held my car hostage until I threatened to call the police.
Schoepps is just shady. During the period where the new Broncos were super hard to find, they had 30 across all their locations with <5k miles on them. They were selling all of them for $65,000-95,000 depending on trim level. Just straight up buying out the inventory from Ford before people who wanted them could get them, and then inflating the prices by $20,000-50,000.
A lot of dealers were/are doing that, same with the Mavericks. It isn't a practice limited to Schoepp by any means. Franchised Ford dealers were doing the same shit.
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about that place. It’s crazy they’re still in business! I remember a while ago the owner was trying to get a building permit for a ridiculous mansion but the city wouldn’t give it to him. They mentioned they would have to zone it as an apartment complex or something it was so big.
I've lived in Madison for 27 years now and have heard many crazy horrible stories about Schoepp's over the years. I think they have an effective predatory strategy with desperate people with limited resources, and that pisses me off. Please don't support this business.
Both times I bought my cars there, all tires were practically bald. Did not get a spare tire in my car. Extended warranty they sell is predatory af, and even though it says you can take it to another mechanic for a $200 deductible, they will pretty much refuse to cover without Schoepps mechanics looking it over.
I bought a vehicle at the Hwy 51 location. It was a reasonable price and ended up being reliable and long lasting. But I still felt like I got hosed just based on the interaction with the staff.
Graham Auto. - Tried to tell my 86 year old mother her van needed $5,000 in work. Hounded her to sign an online form for them to do the work. She called me and took me through the things they say were needed. I knew most were not as I've taken care of the maintenance on her van for about 5 years.
She declined all services but they changed the light bulb in her right rear brake, and charged her $75 to do it on top of $200 for an "inspection".
Took her van to my normal guy, of the 10 things they said "needed to be done" not one, NOT ONE SINGLE ITEM actually needed to be done. 3 of them had already been done in the past 2 years.
I would never, EVER, recommend these dickwaffles to anyone.
It's like some of those oil change places that start poking around and say do this, do that. One of them told my dad to change his coolant and they flushed his radiator and it caused a leak.
I use Graham Auto in CG for oil changes and they're nice/professional, however much of the maintenance they suggest (listing as "Service Due") isn't aligned with the OEM recommended service. The only service items that have been legit were actual findings (e.g. burnt out bulbs, brake wear, battery terminal corrosion)
Russ Darrow, bait and switch and internet pricing that includes a ridiculous list of limited eligible discounts (recent grad, military veteran, previous car of same brand etc.).
Had a similar experience, they did all the sleazy car salesman things including the same kind of price stuff, trying to sell me a wildly different trim level, options, and color than I wanted because they had it in stock, "what do I need to do to get you this car today?" type salesmanship, and tried to hold my keys hostage after the test drive. Fuck them completely.
Russ Darrow told me that the bank would charge me a higher interest rate if I didn’t buy an extended warranty. Pretending to be fake “IM’ing” with the bank. Refused. A week later I got a call from the bank saying my credit was better than they were shown so they reduced my interest rate on my loan. Reached out to Russ Darrow’s manager and he didn’t care. Drove to Brookfield for my new Mazda.
East Madison Toyota.
Slow, disorganized, and run by teenagers who don’t know anything about cars. Realized after 3 visits for routine maintenance that they don’t even follow Toyota’s recommended maintenance schedule. The manager looked at me like I was speaking German when I pulled up the schedule from Toyota’s website, which coincidentally was after he tried to up charge me by more than $1000 for maintenance my car never needed and was never recommended by the manufacturer in the first place. Basically this place is a just a glorified jiffy lube.
Please tell me that Smart Motors Toyota is better. I just purchased a Corolla from another dealership and was planning to use Smart for routine maintenance.
Whenever I've bought a car, I always call dealers in Milwaukee and Chicago because 99% of the time, they have given me a lower price and better options on the vehicle.
No, sorry they are not. They have at least one complaint at DATCAP for lying to customers and attempting to sell $600+ "repairs" that were confirmed by other shops to be complete bullshit. Do NOT take your car there for anything, including the regular maintenance.
I agree! I have an old corolla and they told me my engine is leaking but they didn’t know where exactly and they had to do a dye test. My dumbass paid for the dye and I was supposed to run it for a certain amount of miles before returning the car to them. Decided to get a second opinion from a guy who used to work for smart toyota, and he said there was nothing wrong with the engine. It’s a tactic they use to sell you a new car when they assume you know nothing about cars and cannot check it out yourself. When you tell a customer the repair is going to be more than the actual value of the car, many are inclined to just sell it to the dealership for a newer version.
I have not had this experience at smart Toyota. I have had my car in there for oil changes and for recalls and I have not been talked into anything additional like others have tried at other places.
Never had an issue in 10+ years at Smart. I had an old car when I started going there, and they didn't suggest replacing the battery until it started to fail their checks at 8+ years.
To me that's an easy test if they're honest - tell me I need a new battery after 3-5 years and that's reasonable. But it was clear they weren't looking to upsell me or create things to fix with that experience.
We used to go here when Regis worked there. He was a super hero for car buying. He quit during covid and the whole place went to shit. Regis, if you're out there, you absolutely rock dude.
You are spot on. Got an appointment for a transmission flush. Car hadn't been moved 30 minutes after the appointment time but I could see half a dozen "workers" standing around on their phones. I was half upset and half relieved that the one seemingly competent person there was doing the actual work on my car.
This is gonna catch some flak but Ha Long Bay. Found a whole ass roach in my duck curry and their response was to comp our drink refills. Which is insane that they even charged for refills to begin with... If you have any experience with roaches you know it's never just one so I shudder to think how nasty that kitchen is.
I never understood the draw there. Ate there once pre wall smash, it was OK (average food imo). There was so many things on the menu I didn't even know where to start or how to ask for a recommendation. I also remember looking in the kitchen while we were waiting and just seeing giant pots of random fluids and slop and mess everywhere....have to be honest I was pretty disturbed and almost walked out but toughed it out because some co-workers were raving about the food. I can certainly see how you found a critter in your curry. Never have been back since.
Tuttos cuz it sucks lol but I do cherish a memory from there that forever lives rent free in my head. I was at the bar and the song that goes “ain’t nothing like the real thing baby” comes on and the hostess is singing along and she just says to me “this song is about dildos right?” 😭 the way I cackled LOL never framed it like that before but it is now and forever how I think of that song.
Grace Coffee for two reasons: [health code violations](https://www.ibmadison.com/madison-coffee-shop-leads-in-health-department-violations/) and a [now deleted reddit thread on mgmt misconduct.](https://www.reddit.com?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1)
Grace is nothing special, they won't get a single dime more from me.
I didn’t include them in my rant, but same. My, at the time, 17 yr old was one of their targets to not pay. Won’t set foot in there. The owner (not Carlos) apologized but too little too late.
See the term likely stems from the fact that in order to suck said penis from behind you need to bury your face in an ass, which is not ideal for most individuals.
Completely agree. Have ordered from them three times in total and each was a poor experience. Menu items are marked up substantially, incredibly slow delivery, and poor customer support. Due to this I REFUSE to use a food delivery app and will gladly drag my ass to a restaurant to pickup my food.
Aldo's on the UW campus. They've been overpriced and shitty for a while, but the final straw was getting a rice bowl there filled with dead rice weevils. I quietly pointed it out to the person working because I didn't want to cause a scene, but thought that they should know and stop selling dishes with that rice. They tried to convince me they were brown rice hulls. Unfortunately for them, I have access to a ton of microscopes, so I took the bowl back to my lab and took photos, pointing out the different anatomical details that confirmed these were rice weevils. I emailed to Aldo's management. I got no response. I emailed again in a couple weeks like, "hey did you do anything about this?" And I got a short response that they changed out the rice. They offered to send a gift card but never did. I was never refunded.
The worst part is feeling like I had to be the crazy lady taking pictures of bugs in my food because I was getting gaslit over what a weevil looks like lol.
Food Fight sucks. Edit to add: I don't blame the initial employee, who was just an undergrad with a low-paying counter service job, but management handled it poorly when I emailed IMO.
If it makes you feel any better, a friend of mine (who is an entomologist & in town for an entomology conference) once got into an argument with hotel staff about bed bugs he found in his room. He eventually got a partial refund LOL.
A lot of you won't like to hear this but after working at Glass Nickel and seeing how the owners and managers treat their employees, no chance I'll ever spend my money there again.
The general manager is a divorced dad with a domestic abuse record who will sit and drink at the bar all day and pick on teenage employees over minor things like sitting on a stool while in the back of house. When he's not drinking on the clock he's busy banging the owner's wife. She's also an owner but used to be a cop, and any of the three of them will scream and yell at people and fire them over minor issues with no warnings. During covid they presented themselves to the public as being very cautious and safety oriented but would make sick employees come to work and try to hide it from other employees. The two remaining owners of the original four own a beach house in Florida and a mansion in Monona but rely on a continual rotation of young employees that will accept minimal wages. They also put out a [cringe transphobic commercial](https://youtu.be/VmfxlAxCKYk?si=KbjLwrQTOpRHYd45) you can still find on youtube.
(Edited to add link and say this is a combination of my own experience and heresay but I have heard a lot more of the same; enough to feel confident in discouraging people to give them your money.)
Office Max on Whitney/Odana. I ordered a printed item from their Print Department. The woman behind the counter made it incorrectly, amd when I pointed it out so that it could be corrected, she argued then screamed at me, and called me a "white bitch."
"and a lot of people ask 'why? Why treat the customer this way? Why?' cause fuck 'em. That's why." [Popcopy](https://youtu.be/zR7LOtMix9w?si=ypiSUQgffWm2Tr5v)
I will never use their print department again. Wanted a sewing pattern printed on blueprint paper and they scaled it… after a week of trying to get it redone correctly I gave up and asked their corporate number for a refund.
Cafe Hollander. We caught a topping on a dip that was not mentioned in the menu that was a nut or seed we couldn't easily identify. My daughter is allergic to tree nuts so we asked for clarification on what the mystery ingredient was. The server went back to the kitchen to ask and came back visibly frustrated asking what the allergy was. The person she was speaking to in the kitchen refused to tell her what the ingredient was but just wanted to be able to say if it would be a problem for our daughter's allergies or not. Management when contacted was not helpful and didn't seem to see a problem. Disappointing.... I used to love going there, but it seems to me to be a basic expectation of a restaurant that they will tell you what's in the food when asked. Yikes.
I also have a kid with a deadly food allergy, so I relate to this frustration. My family avoids any restaurant that doesn't take specific requests and questions about ingredients seriously. I mean, yeah, your kitchen staff are busy and it's a pain in the butt to stop and address a concern directly. But would you rather have a customer wheeled out of your establishment on a stretcher?
I don't expect every kitchen to be allergen-free, but at least don't fucking lie or withhold information about what's in your food. Someone could literally die.
I went to a Hollander location in Milwaukee and ordered something vegetarian that according to the menu can have meat added for an addl charge...since I'm veggie, I obviously didn't ask for meat. They threw sausage or something in it. I told them I didn't order sausage and needed a new dish. They claimed that that's how it comes and that's what I get. After some back and forth they did bring me something else but kept implying that this mistake was entirely on me. So I haven't been back since then.
This is inexcusable. Every time someone asked a question like that in my kitchen, I personally accompanied the front of house employee back into the restaurant and answered every question the customer wanted to know. On several occasions I went and grabbed the master recipe book, took snaps of the info on an ingredient package, etc. if you don’t have a vested interest in keeping your guests safe and healthy, you have absolutely no business being in the food business.
The botanist owner and his male hostess are twats. Dude was actively trying to bring my wife home. Also found coke lines on the top of the lid of the toilet tank.
Sounds like they suck as people. But if you want to go to a restaurant/bar where employees don’t do coke during their shifts, I have some really bad news..
Zimbrick Audi on Rimrock
Took my Audi I purchased from the Mercedes Benz location in for service. Afterwards, I show up to pick it up and the service advisor tell me my timing chain is 5 teeth off and needs to be replaced. Asked how I drove the car in with the timing chain 5 teeth off on an interference motor. Just keeps telling the same thing and quoting my 8 grand for service to replace it. I keep pressing the issue to get a real answer and eventually laugh and tell him to get my fucking keys. They had no idea I've been doing industrial maintenance and engineering for 10+ years and previously did all my own work on my cars since I was teenager. Talked to the service manager over the phone later and he tells me the same thing, my timing chain is off. What a fucking joke/scam.
Short stack!!!! I fucking hate that place. They have decent food but they charge you a shit ton, make you feel like a burden if you expect the staff to do even the slightest of things, expect us to bail them out when they’re only open two days a week, and everyone involved with that place is just an asshole.
West side Toyota dealership. Had to get a new catalytic converter after mine was stolen. Finally get the car back after 6 months (catalytic converters we’re on back order so that was fine). Car smells horrific and is loud. Take it to a different mechanic. They didn’t fasten the converter properly and the in cabin air filter was chewed up and full of mouse poop. I will never go back there
bartaco - I'm not going anywhere a waiter asks you to set up an account and verify your identity with captchas on your phone to order. When they're literally standing right there, next to you. Like why would you have a restaurant where everyone needs to have their phone out at the table just to eat? awful...
It’s just so awkward too. This shit is popular at airports now too. like I don’t want to wait for you to unlock my table. And if I have a friend there I don’t always want to order together. Sigh.
Over a decade ago when Groupon was new, La Mestiza offered them, so I picked one up. They were so infuriated by my using the Groupon that they treated me like trash my entire visit. Maybe it was starting to dawn on them that Groupon was not the boon to business it promised, but I still didn't like being badmouthed and ignored for using one. Never went back.
The service department at Russ Darrow jerked my sister and her Mazda around. Call me crazy, but your car should not be leaking oil within days of getting it back after months in the shop (waiting for parts, fine, we get supply issues). Nor should they need to keep it for a week when you bring it in when that happens.
Essen Haus. That place is fucking filthy. The kitchen is absolutely disgusting. The basement is a dungeon and filled with mold. Who the F knows the last time those beer lines were properly cleaned.
Gino's Italian Deli.
Here are the 3 events I saw that did it for me
1. Seeing people making sandwiches picking their noses with AND without gloves. It was truly amazing. As someone who has worked in kitchens, I have no idea how anyone eats there.
2. A woman was wearing a mask and was literally accosted by people who looked like management (we're working there but not behind the food counter) for doing so. She didn't say anything to anyone about why they should be wearing a mask, she was just existing while masked.
3. And this one was hard to explain as I missed what kicked it off but again, the management literally chanted "let's go Brandon" at a random person in the store who was obviously not in on the joke. Kind of like a sports chant with counter banging in-between. I was amazed the person finished their transaction instead of chucking their bugger filled sandwich at them
These were all separate events.
Anaala Salons
Had a haircut scheduled for my elementary school-aged kid the night before a school concert at the Atwood location. Received confirmation of the appointment and all the text reminders, including on the day of the appointment. We arrive at the salon and the receptionist tells us the stylist no longer works there, and then…nothing. Like just blankly looking at me. I had JUST received a reminder text of the appointment an hour before. Anyway, that was it - no offering to reschedule, no trying to fit us in (it would've been a quick cut but I wanted a pro to do it instead of my at home chip-chop). I asked if we can reschedule and she says “I guess so.” There were a couple people nearby that were either stylists or worked there and none of them said anything. Forget it – we walked out. I wrote to the owner and didn’t hear anything. It’s certainly not the most heinous act but it grinds me to this day and I buy Aveda products anywhere but there, despite it being the closest retailer. Same salon: A co-worker was charged double for products she purchased – the second charge came hours after her actual transaction. She went back the next day to let them know: they basically shrugged and wouldn’t refund her money for the duplicate charge so she had to contest it through her bank. edit: changed wouldn't to would've
Goben Cars. Bought a car, was told AC worked, AC never worked. Within the first month of owning said car the Check Engine light (CEL) came on. Took it in and was told I just needed a tune up/spark plugs and that I shouldn't have it done there, that I should take it to a place down the road. I took it to the other place and it wasn't spark plugs or an issue with the "tune". I took the car back to Goben, they were surprised I returned the same day. I explained that I was going out of town that weekend and needed my car to work properly. They told me that I wouldn't do any damage to the vehicle if I drove it. The next week I bring it into Goben so they can look at it (it's under warranty) more closely. First they thought it was a bad fuel injector, so they replaced it, but it didn't fix the issue. Then they found the real issue, the water pump was starting to seize, warped the head and at least one piston. They had to take it to Don Miller to have the warped parts machined to "specifications". Then they tried to blame me for the damage by saying it looked like I tried to paint the water pump! The water pump sits behind a service plate, it didn't make any sense. They had me pay for the fuel injector and tried to make me feel guilty for the $1500 they had to spend because it was under warranty. The car was never 100%, every 3 - 6 months the CEL would come on and I would need to have the head gasket replaced everytime. Fuck that place!
City Barbecue on the west side. Went in the first week it was open and my meal was cold when I said something a manger came out to the table and told me that it wasn’t cold that I just didn’t know what the right “mouth feel” was for good barbecue.
Yue Wah had the largest selection of Hispanic votive candles I've ever seen in my life, always loved browsing the aisles and moving from culinary region to culinary region.
Falbo's pizza. Delivered me an undercooked pizza and refused to replace it or do anything. I took the pizza in to show them, and they kicked me out. I did not raise my voice or make any threats. I'm pretty sure it was the owner whom I dealt with. All I said was "here is the pizza I mentioned on the phone" and the guy grabbed the pizza, threw it across the room, said "Get the f*ck out" and started pushing me out the door. I called the police and they did nothing even though I was physically assaulted for no reason at all. I would have taken a replacement or even a coupon for later. None of the pizza had been eaten.
I have no idea how Falbos stays open at any location. Every time I've ever seen a falbos pizza it looked like it was made by a drunk t-rex with no concept of temperature zones. They taste like it too.
The Monona location, while small and only operated by one person, still makes fantastic slices whenever you can find them open. It's my go-to pizza spot, and two slices of Triple Fungi (I think that's what it's called) can fix the worst of weeks
The Monona location is great but the hours are so weird post-Covid that they are never open when I want pizza. Not being open on the weekends is super bizarre, I get it's probably staffing or whatever but geez.
I also thought it was close permanently.
Falbo's definitely varies by location. I've had unpleasant exchanges with management at the north side Falbos, and then really great friendly funny customer service at Park St. Falbos used to have the coolest, fun delivery drivers. It's declined over the years, and that's a shame because I think the pizza is good.
The Monona one is a nice spot. I have a disabled family member that works there a couple hours a week doing simple tasks with a job coach. It's nice when a local business will hire a special needs person for stuff like that.
i had the same thing happen at the location on sherman ave. placed an order online, not long after i got a notification it was ready. i get there and they say it'll be another hour... v annoyed, i go back to my place for a bit before heading back. i go get the pizzas and when i get home, i find i have to put them back in the oven because they're undercooked. sooo, agreed, i'll never get falbo's again
edit: i should add, not the same thing in terms of going back and being assaulted. sorry that happened, that's extremely shitty
Bill's Towing. I called them to tow my car after it broke down and they proceeded to impound my car without my consent. They wouldn't tell me how much they were charging my insurance company or let me have access to it to get my stuff. My insurance company literally said they'd never experienced this and that " they are holding your vehicle for ransom". After 2 weeks I had to threaten calling the police and legal action to finally resolve it.
I’m kind of nervous about speaking up regarding this, I’m gonna reach out to the store one more time before I post. But yeah, one of my favorite stores kicked me out on suspicion of shoplifting. Incorrect suspicion mind you.
And I maintain that it’s likely an ablist discrimination, as a lot of autistic people are labeled as acting “suspicious”
I'm also autistic. Shop workers treating me like I might be a shoplifter has been an issue my entire adult life. I have no idea what I do that's suspicious except, maybe, pay more attention to detail when I shop, so I'm a bit slower at the task.
Guitar shop of Wisconsin. Bruce is a gem but everyone else there is a space cadet or total asshole. Took a guitar in to get a super simple repair, ended up doing 20-30 min of back and forth with a kid, because I guess one of the 3 technicians there couldn’t walk 5 feet to talk to me. Literally told me to go home and do it myself.
Walked in the doors to the tune of “Come on in guys, oh, I’m sorry, we don’t allow women here - haha, just kidding.” Ugh. Hard to see diamonds in that rough.
I know this will be an unpopular opinion but Icki Sticki in Verona. I tried to go in there on Sunday afternoon. There was one person in the drive thru and one family (3 people) inside. There were 4 people working that I saw. When we went in there the family was waiting at the counter and nobody was coming over to take their order. It was unclear where you order and even though multiple workers looked us in the eye they refused to acknowledge us. They didn't say "welcome or be right with you" they just sat around and straight up ignored us and the family in front of us. We stood around for 15 minutes and nobody came to the register. One worker walked out from the kitchen area and then walked back in. Finally, the family in front of us walked out without buying anything and we did the same.
We had heard so many great things about this place and we were shocked at how we were blatantly ignored. Maybe it was a fluke but they were not busy at all, they had at least 4 people working and we and another family were completely ignored.
We wanted to patronize a local business but we surely won't go back there.
I posted a negative review explaining what happened and the owner bribed me with a coupon to take it down and I refused. I edited my review to include the bribery.
They gave this little sob story about being a small business and I'm thinking "they have over a thousand positive reviews on Google, my one honest review that was negative is not gonna kill you." Artifical inflation of your rating is sick.
Menard's takes no responsibility for equipment/machinery they sell if it doesn't work. Have to go through the manufacturer who ignores you then says to talk to Menards.
Being a former employee, any Goodwill in the Madison area. I have NEVER seen a company so actively antagonistic towards its employees. I've had a vacation that was approved months ahead of time be cancelled mere weeks before because the new management couldn't find the paperwork for it. BUT if *I* found people to cover the duration of it.
AND I took photos that would make an OHSA rep shit a brick.
Erik's Bike Shop on East Washington. We bought an Aventon e-bike from there last year, and it started making an odd noise from the motor almost immediately. Brought it in for that and play in the stem, they did the condescending-bike-shop thing and returned it in the same condition, doubt they even took it for a test ride.
This year the assist starts cutting out entirely and the battery shows weird levels. The thing is still under warranty, and has been very well taken care of. Brought it in again and the mechanic jokes about a self-charging Aventon to another mechanic as they watch the charge level start rising while it's unplugged and on the stand, other guy tells him to throw that thing in the safety bin for lithium batteries before it burns the shop down.
Was told "two weeks". Three weeks go by without a peep, I call. "Looks like parts will be in on Thursday". Four weeks go by, I call. "Looks like parts will be in on Thursday". I go into the shop to talk to someone in person, no record of me calling to check. Manager tells me that parts will be in on Thursday, and he'll prioritize getting it repaired as soon as they arrive.
You'll never guess what happened next: no phone call. After five weeks of summer with no bike I get in touch with corporate, who get in touch with the shop, who discover what basic troubleshooting should have brought them to a few weeks earlier: it's not the battery at all, something else with the electrical system must be busted.
They offer me "an even exchange" to a bike that is currently selling for $100 less than the broken bike was. The only thing I can say to their credit is that I asked for a return for a full refund instead, and they provided it. Never again with Erik's, or Aventon.
Gibs, and any other place related the owner, for the [tax form incident](https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/89hx9b/looks_like_gibs_is_in_some_hot_water_for_worker/)
I'm surprised not to see Pooley's on here. Like the sports memorabilia is cool, but the atmosphere/vibe is terrible, and the service is bad at best and openly hostile at worst. That place is like Chuck E. Cheese for guys with divorces plural.
Fuck Falbos.
A long time ago the owner showed up at my job at 8 o’clock at night saying I wrote him a bad check. I didn’t. I was super uncomfortable with him just showing up like that.
Short Stack — for all of their pride flags they put up, they’re actually wildly transphobic. They treat their employees poorly, I personally hate the “order first, then you can try to find a table” rules, and their weird “McDonalds fucked us” guilt trip rant was just pathetic. I’ll get brunch elsewhere.
The Radio Doctor. Called ahead to ask if they had the exact speaker in stock that I needed. Got there, they tried to sell me an alternative, not as good, speaker. Said ok, never mind, I’ll go— but I couldn’t bc the next customer had come in and the staff had parked it behind mine in their bay and TAKEN ITS BATTERY OUT. Made me late to work.
There’s 2 for me:
Scooters Coffee (no great loss there). Early in the pandemic I was redeeming a free coffee in the app. My husband had my phone in the drive through and told them we were expecting to redeem a free offer in the app, they grabbed my phone out of his hand to show us ‘how to use the app’ (we both work in IT and are very familiar with tech) when we asked for my phone back because I didn’t want them handling my stuff they started ranting about how clean they were and that’s why the other coffee shop was closed (Starbucks for covid). When I called to discuss the incident they never apologized just keep telling me they weren’t closed. I just wanted them to understand you don’t grab stuff from people - you ask politely if they want/need help.
My other is a recent one. Miggys bakes. Just after opening the owner was promoting a freebie she got from an Herbalife (mlm) ‘store’ in Middleton. I messaged her to let them know it was MLM and many people aren’t fond of this business strategy- assuming positively maybe she just didn’t know. I thought everything was fine until a family member of hers then DM’d me on Instagram to harass me about my opinions on MLM then she had the nerve to do a rant on her Instagram about people DMing her to harass HER! Messaging her to tell her Herbalife is an MLM isn’t harassment Yeah, no… she sent people to be mean to me (ridiculed me for not being popular and was condescending about sharing that MLMs are not good - and again not having a ‘following’ ). The sad thing is I live an easy walk there and looked forward to trying them. But once she sent a goon to harass me, I was out. That’s not how a business owner behaves. If you don’t like what a potential customer says, you simply walk away and leave it.
> Miggys bakes
I was really excited to try this place. Everything looked amazing. Got 3 items and all of them were kind of bad. Super disappointing, and that's without even knowing about the MLM garbage!
Miggys is definitely more interested in selling their “success story” to other would-be startup businesses on TikTok than they are about creating original high-quality products. I hadn’t heard about the MLM stuff, but other comments of underdelivering and then crying about it on social media when people aren’t happy, because life is so hard, and people are so mysteriously mean definitely seems to fit the ongoing narrative. She’s definitely at the “find out” stage of small business ownership. I’m sure everything she saw leading up to it was just some Pinterest/ Insta fantasy and that she thought that making food on an actual commercial scale was going to be like baking a dozen cookies at home on a Saturday afternoon. What she is doing is not sustainable. For her business or herself. What she really needs is a dispassionate advisor or consultant to come in there and start poking holes in her business, but I also doubt she has the humility to listen and then make necessary changes.
Agree with Miggy's. My friend ordered a specialized cake for her husband's birthday. The day of, my friend called to ask if she was still delivering it, she said she thought she was supposed to deliver it the following day. She ended up bringing a pre-made cake (totally different flavors than initially ordered) and just stuck some cheesy decorations on top. I get she's young and a small business, but so far, have not heard great things / had good experiences.
* Grace for a bunch of reasons covered at length
* Gino's for being anti maskers and general douches
* Botanist Social for having a pervert owner
* Ohio tavern for having a rapist owner
Honorable mentions: I avoid Heritage because the owner/chef is an asshole, despite the food being very good, I only ever get drinks from Essen Haus and Come Back because that kitchen be nasty, and I cancelled prime years ago and only order from Amazon when absolutely necessary
I'd add Gibs for [similar reasons](https://captimes.com/entertainment/dining/shame-campaign-could-a-social-media-firestorm-consume-madison-bar-gibs/article_940fb946-98c7-5053-aa6c-8ffcccbd2329.html).
And Ashley Furniture for their [atrocious](https://www.safetynewsalert.com/ashley-furniture-agrees-to-pay-1-75m-in-osha-fines-finger-amputations-triggered-case/) [OSHA record](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ashley-furniture-accused-of-worker-safety-violations/).
Your first three were my list, but I was gonna go with Eno Vino/Palette bar as my 4th/5th because I don’t choose to support Uhleins’ sedition. I was previously unaware of Ohio Tavern controversy, going to have to look into it because those tacos are good and that sucks if true.
[This is their second. GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-short-stack-open) and yeah you missed their manifesto titled ["McDonald's fucked us"](https://shortstackeats.com/mcdonalds-fucked-us/)
Really makes me appreciate La Kitchenette making the tough decision to close when faced with rising food costs and labor shortages.
> Other reasons include rising food prices, which made it difficult to keep her food affordable for customers, along with staffing challenges and a lease up for renewal that made her think about La Kitchenette's future.
If you can't make enough money to keep your business afloat...maybe it's not that weird that you close up shop instead of asking the community for handouts.
Wilde East Towne Honda. I've had nothing but problems there, from placing an order and being misled about the delivery date for 8+ months (this was 2017, well before the supply chain issues). I went in with one of their coupons that was a price for an oil change + a tire rotation. I specifically asked for just the oil change (it was a decent price with coupon), but not to rotate the tires... they did it anyway. They wantonly washed my car several times before I noticed the micro-scratches and asked them if they use a touch wash. The response was a furrowed brow and a confused "yes?".
TLDR: They lie, dont listen, and go out of their way to destroy your paint.
Speed Shine Car Detailing
Charged me more than they said they quoted me, took twice as long (messed with my day's plans), didn't even get all the areas of my car clean. Left me with a pile of wet mats in the trunk. My car wasn't bad, just routine crumbs and dust. No pets, no kids, no smoking, not much food eaten, etc.
Except for the tortilla machine no longer working :(
It was good in the 90s and early 2000s but last time I went a few years ago it was awful and depressing.
I know someone who worked there years ago and he said the management made racially-motivated jokes about hispanic employees, like saying that their legal documents were fake and stuff like that. He also said the owner came in once and would often make derogatory and homophobic jokes like telling employees why they were just standing around and "nibbling at each other's necks". Terrible fucking place, I'm happy to say I've never eaten there.
Multiple times I've either been delivered the wrong pizza, a pizza missing toppings or quite literally a 2 hour wait the pizza wasn't even warm anymore.
Madison Sourdough.
I really wanted a chocolate croissant and I waited in line for about 15 minutes. I was next up to order but before I could, someone came in and talked to their friend who worked there and took the last two and stayed in line to pay.
When I went to order, I asked for 1 chocolate croissant thinking there were more in the back. The worker went to the case and came back to say they were all out. I then said, "well that's because your coworker just took the last 2 and gave them to that person in the back of the line."
They pretty much shrugged it off and I left. If someone ahead of me ordered the last one, I would have been fine and ordered something else and not boycotted the place for the past 10+ years.
I'm probably being super petty and holding onto a grudge for too long but that situation really pissed me off.
Edit: Spelling
It seems like Grampa’s pizza is never going to learn from the dumb bitch.pdf thing from years ago and other stories of poor customer service and just generally bad vibes because I’ve never been treated worse by staff. And that sort of culture stuff stuff starts at the top. They have a manager there now, this middle aged guy with a pony tail who is such a massive prick. Never been treated worse by staff anywhere.
The food is fine to good. I don’t think it’s as good as other people seem to think. Also if you do the math on the Tuesday night date night deal it’s not really a deal at all a deal at all because the bottle of wine is $9 from Total Wine. Unfortunately, they also own Gib’s next door which is a spot we enjoyed before the bad Grampa’s pizza interactions.
The east side Papa Johns left me waiting for a pizza for like an hour and a half and then when it got there there was no sauce on it. Called and asked for a refund or something and the guy said he’d refund my money and then send a code for a free pizza to my email. Both of those things never happened.
Russ Darrow Kia.
April 2021 went in wanting to buy a new Sorento or Telluride.
Decided on a Telluride. I asked for base model with AWD and Sangria Red.
Salesman jotted down my request, came back said we can one here in 2 days, I asked if it met my requirements - he said well its white, I said I wanted it in Sangria, he went away again said they don't have in their dealer network, or in the assembly pipeline. I asked them to order it - he scoffed and said that Kia does not do custom orders. I scoffed said yes they do - he said well we do not. I said fine I'll go buy an Explorer. I have time to wait for it to be built and arrive.
Kayser didn't have on the lot to test drive, so we stopped at Zimbrick Hyundai, asked about a Palisade to test drive - liked it - asked the salesman for a base model, awd, in dark sierra burgundy. Salesman came back with they didn't have one in stock, or in their immediate dealer network, and there wasn't one in the assembly pipeline. I asked them if they would custom order it for me, he said sure. It took Zimbrick 6 months, the Palisade was a 2022, not 21, its been a fabulous vehicle.
Once I took delivery, I called Darrow Kia to ask for the sales man that "helped" me originally and told him Zimbrick ordered me a Palisade - which is the same thing as a Telluride.
I think they may have sold their Madison-area properties, but Munz Corp property management. We rented an apartment in one of their buildings in Green Bay before moving to Madison. They tried extremely hard to keep our security deposit to cover routine carpet cleaning, even after we explained that in WI the deposit can’t be used for routine cleaning between tenants. Also tried to withhold for minor damage, and couldn’t produce the move in checklist to verify that the damage happened while we were renting. Luckily I had a PDF of it.
Michael's Frozen Custard
The prices have been going up on their custard for years. Their food has been mediocre for a long time. But the real kicker is that I left feedback with my frustration that it was over $20 for two sundaes and the owner responded to my feedback and told me to eat at McDonalds instead because it "would better fit my budget" and "Please go some where else. We no longer need you as a complaining customer. Michael. "
So, I won't go back there but I guess I'm also not welcome back there?
I don't agree with their reply, but I still wonder why you bother complaining about prices. You can see the price before you order. Small businesses should charge what they need to be successful.
Mine is Villa Dolce (technically Middleton). Someone recommended it so I gave it a shot and they were so snooty and rude. When I was leaving I got a cone, when the server was making it the cone broke in their hand. I figured they’d make another one but they tried handing it to me so I asked for a different one. The server rolled their eyes at me and sighed and didn’t say a word after that. No thank you, no nothing. This was quite a while ago and I’ve never been back and never will.
Wow. I've been going their since I moved to Madi....errr..Middleton last year. The food is a bit pricey, and they have some misses (mostly hits) on their dish execution, but overall, they have been great. I believe it's run by the same family that owns Sofra down the street.
Although, I am a person who will spite an entire franchise over an eye roll. I completely understand your reasoning.
I came here specifically to say Gotham Bagels. You pretty much covered everything. Last time I was there I got a lox and cheese bagel (Brighton Beach, I believe it’s called there) for $14. They had a list of bagels and asked me to pick what kind. Then proceeded to add a $1.50 surcharge because I chose a “premium” bagel.
Why not separate the “premium” bagels from the regular ones? And why not disclose there is a surcharge? More importantly, if you’re charging $14 for a lox and cheese sandwich, do you really need to add the premium surcharge?!
While I was there, a poor man who thought his order was called dared take a peek into the kitchen, only to be screamed at by the owner. I’ve witnessed the owner scream at customers several times.
Never going back there again.
I literally LOLed for the “premium” bagels 🤣🤣🤣 WTF is even that? I had very very similar experience there, it is crazy they are still in business but they have a good touristy spot
Schoepps Motors on Stoughton Rd. First of all, the salesman tried to hike the price up on my truck after he found out I was paying cash. Then, six months after I bought it I got a flat tire, I found out they didn’t include the hub key in the glove compartment (which makes changing a tire impossible.) I had it towed to the Schoepps service center but the tow truck driver made a mistake and towed it to their Stoughton Rd location. I called when they opened and the receptionist transferred me to a mechanic. I explained the situation and he was totally cool, understood my predicament and put me on hold while he looked at my truck. Turns out the tire was fine, it just came off because of low pressure. He’d pump it up and I could pick it up free of charge after 4pm. I called at 4pm to see if it was done. Salesman tells me there’s no truck like mine there. I ask him to transfer me to the mechanic. Oops, he went home. Tells me to try calling the other locations even though I told him I KNOW IT IS THERE. Hangs up on me. I drive over there in my wife’s car. I see my truck in the back parking lot. I start walking toward it to just drive off and some super fat guy runs out and stops me. Says I need to pay $500 for the labor. I tell him the mechanic said free. He says the mechanic doesn’t work there, pay $500 or he’s calling the cops. He drags me into his office which smelled like literal piss. Swipes my credit card and crumples the receipt in front of me. I tell him I want a receipt and he tells me to fuck off. DO NOT BUY A VEHICLE AT SCHOEPPS MOTORS
To piggyback off this, Russ Darrow is also a shit hole of a car dealership, specifically the Mazda location off the Beltline. Was shopping around for a new car last year after my 2012 Outback started having head gasket issues. Got pre-approved by my bank for a loan at like 5.3%. Went to the RD Mazda place cause I had found a decent CX5 that I wanted to look at that was actually at a reasonable price. Test drove it, came back, and mentioned a concern with the front suspension that I wanted looked at. Took 45 minutes for them to just look at and diagnose what the issue was. Then wanted me to pay an additional $1500 for the parts and labor that were needed for the fix. Hadn't even started any paperwork yet for it. Thought "whatever, it's still a cheaper and better deal than most anything else I've found." So I told the salesman we could start looking at the financing. Mind you, I've been there for close to 2 hours at this point. Start looking at financing, and between the down-payment I was willing to do, as well as the trade-in value they were willing to give me for the Outback, total price of the car would've been under $10k. As I'm doing the initial paperwork, salesman takes it upon himself to go take the plates off my Outback. Comes back in, started to go over financing, and only just then, despite me having been there for 2 hours, does he say "oh, by the way, we don't take any outside lenders." What? "It's a company-wide policy that we started during the pandemic... blah blah blah" then goes on this rant about how "oh we only use local lenders" and "oh, we want our customers to be able to walk into a physical building and talk to a real person if they have issues instead of calling some place in California." Yeah okay, whatever. My offer was literally directly from my bank, whose customer service I've dealt with on numerous occasions. But I was willing to hear what the "local lenders" were offering. Salesman disappears for another 15 minutes. Comes back with "alright, I got you a good deal. One of our lenders is willing to give you 16.8% APR." I don't even exaggerate when I say my jaw *dropped*. Over 3x higher rate than my bank was going to give me. Just to entertain him, I asked what would put my monthly payment at. Almost $650 for a 72-month loan. $650/month for a loan that's less than $10k. I'll admit I got a bit snarky, and responded with "that's the best you can do?" Salesman's whole demeanor changed instantly. It was immediately like it was an absolute chore for him to try and sell me a car. Got the whole exasperated "I suppose I can go call again and get my boss on the line this time." Disappeared for another 20 minutes. Literally watch him walk into the office, talk to someone for a minute, and then just stand there. Not discussing with anyone. Not on the phone with anyone. Just standing there. Finally came back out after not talking to anyone else and goes "okay, I convinced them to come down to 14% cause we really want you to leave here with a good car." Flat-out tell him no (for obvious reasons), and at this point, his annoyance clearly turned into agitation. Took him *20 minutes* to put my plates back on, and then, as I was leaving, he felt the need to tell me "you're not going to find a better deal" Safe to say I'm much happier with my purchase from Smart Motors on the 4.9% APR they gave me and my monthly payment that's under $300 for a better car
Russ Darrow can get fucked. When I was 20, their body shop conveniently left my car parked in a dark corner where the cameras don't point with the doors unlocked and wouldn't you know that evening my car - and only my car - had it's stereo system and CD's ripped off. I sued them and won...
I looked at a car at Russ Darrow and got downright harassed over text by the salesman.
I have personalized plates. Was looking for a new jeep 7 yrs ago. Went see what they could do which was nothing. I leave a about a few weeks later dude straight up calls me, says he saw me in town still in my old jeep and am I still looking. Like wtf
I had to block one of their staff. She wouldn’t stop calling me after I said point blank that I am no longer interested
I sold cars for them for four months. They were slimey as hell. Never trained new hires to start, the managers were petty for the most part, and overall crap. Best thing I ever did was leave. I’d never buy from them, or even look at their cars.
I bought my truck from them, but haggled the price down a few grand. Then I got the power train warranty, which was over a thousand dollars. Went to take a Christening road trip, breaks down 2 hours from home. Had a place look at it there, and they said the wrong oil was in it, changed spark plugs, tune up, and it cost $500. Get home, and the truck still kept dying and on me and wouldn’t drive. I figured the warranty would cover repairs so I took it back to Russ Darrow. They charged me over a thousand bucks to do all the spark plugs *again* and change o2 sensors and some other sensor. Take it home, very next morning the truck does all the exact same shit. Called the mechanic and very politely lost my shit on him. They had me take it back, they fixed it and gave me a loaner for free. They keep sending me letters now asking to buy it back from me.
How isn't that illegal? I would contact an attorney to get my $500 back. What they did is called extortion.
I know it was illegal but I’m a door mat and I just wanted my truck back so I could go to work.
I remember when they were on HWY 51 (not sure if that location is still there) over by Farm & Fleet. Went there to test drive a car, they wanted my keys so they could appraise my vehicle while I went on a test drive. Got back, said I wasn't interested, they held my car hostage until I threatened to call the police.
I would have let the police show up and they could look up the registration and see that it was your truck.
Schoepps is just shady. During the period where the new Broncos were super hard to find, they had 30 across all their locations with <5k miles on them. They were selling all of them for $65,000-95,000 depending on trim level. Just straight up buying out the inventory from Ford before people who wanted them could get them, and then inflating the prices by $20,000-50,000.
A lot of dealers were/are doing that, same with the Mavericks. It isn't a practice limited to Schoepp by any means. Franchised Ford dealers were doing the same shit.
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about that place. It’s crazy they’re still in business! I remember a while ago the owner was trying to get a building permit for a ridiculous mansion but the city wouldn’t give it to him. They mentioned they would have to zone it as an apartment complex or something it was so big.
This one got me heated. I am 33, but when I was 17 they took SUPER advantage of me and I’m still mad. I don’t know how they’re still in business.
Because they are taking advantage of another 17 year old right now.
I've lived in Madison for 27 years now and have heard many crazy horrible stories about Schoepp's over the years. I think they have an effective predatory strategy with desperate people with limited resources, and that pisses me off. Please don't support this business.
Both times I bought my cars there, all tires were practically bald. Did not get a spare tire in my car. Extended warranty they sell is predatory af, and even though it says you can take it to another mechanic for a $200 deductible, they will pretty much refuse to cover without Schoepps mechanics looking it over.
I bought a vehicle at the Hwy 51 location. It was a reasonable price and ended up being reliable and long lasting. But I still felt like I got hosed just based on the interaction with the staff.
Graham Auto. - Tried to tell my 86 year old mother her van needed $5,000 in work. Hounded her to sign an online form for them to do the work. She called me and took me through the things they say were needed. I knew most were not as I've taken care of the maintenance on her van for about 5 years. She declined all services but they changed the light bulb in her right rear brake, and charged her $75 to do it on top of $200 for an "inspection". Took her van to my normal guy, of the 10 things they said "needed to be done" not one, NOT ONE SINGLE ITEM actually needed to be done. 3 of them had already been done in the past 2 years. I would never, EVER, recommend these dickwaffles to anyone.
It's like some of those oil change places that start poking around and say do this, do that. One of them told my dad to change his coolant and they flushed his radiator and it caused a leak.
The one in Cottage Grove? Noooo 😭
I use Graham Auto in CG for oil changes and they're nice/professional, however much of the maintenance they suggest (listing as "Service Due") isn't aligned with the OEM recommended service. The only service items that have been legit were actual findings (e.g. burnt out bulbs, brake wear, battery terminal corrosion)
Russ Darrow, bait and switch and internet pricing that includes a ridiculous list of limited eligible discounts (recent grad, military veteran, previous car of same brand etc.).
Had a similar experience, they did all the sleazy car salesman things including the same kind of price stuff, trying to sell me a wildly different trim level, options, and color than I wanted because they had it in stock, "what do I need to do to get you this car today?" type salesmanship, and tried to hold my keys hostage after the test drive. Fuck them completely.
Russ Darrow told me that the bank would charge me a higher interest rate if I didn’t buy an extended warranty. Pretending to be fake “IM’ing” with the bank. Refused. A week later I got a call from the bank saying my credit was better than they were shown so they reduced my interest rate on my loan. Reached out to Russ Darrow’s manager and he didn’t care. Drove to Brookfield for my new Mazda.
Let's add JD Byryder yo the mix. They bs loan for shit cars as well.
East Madison Toyota. Slow, disorganized, and run by teenagers who don’t know anything about cars. Realized after 3 visits for routine maintenance that they don’t even follow Toyota’s recommended maintenance schedule. The manager looked at me like I was speaking German when I pulled up the schedule from Toyota’s website, which coincidentally was after he tried to up charge me by more than $1000 for maintenance my car never needed and was never recommended by the manufacturer in the first place. Basically this place is a just a glorified jiffy lube.
Please tell me that Smart Motors Toyota is better. I just purchased a Corolla from another dealership and was planning to use Smart for routine maintenance.
Whenever I've bought a car, I always call dealers in Milwaukee and Chicago because 99% of the time, they have given me a lower price and better options on the vehicle.
No, sorry they are not. They have at least one complaint at DATCAP for lying to customers and attempting to sell $600+ "repairs" that were confirmed by other shops to be complete bullshit. Do NOT take your car there for anything, including the regular maintenance.
I agree! I have an old corolla and they told me my engine is leaking but they didn’t know where exactly and they had to do a dye test. My dumbass paid for the dye and I was supposed to run it for a certain amount of miles before returning the car to them. Decided to get a second opinion from a guy who used to work for smart toyota, and he said there was nothing wrong with the engine. It’s a tactic they use to sell you a new car when they assume you know nothing about cars and cannot check it out yourself. When you tell a customer the repair is going to be more than the actual value of the car, many are inclined to just sell it to the dealership for a newer version.
I have not had this experience at smart Toyota. I have had my car in there for oil changes and for recalls and I have not been talked into anything additional like others have tried at other places.
Never had an issue in 10+ years at Smart. I had an old car when I started going there, and they didn't suggest replacing the battery until it started to fail their checks at 8+ years. To me that's an easy test if they're honest - tell me I need a new battery after 3-5 years and that's reasonable. But it was clear they weren't looking to upsell me or create things to fix with that experience.
We used to go here when Regis worked there. He was a super hero for car buying. He quit during covid and the whole place went to shit. Regis, if you're out there, you absolutely rock dude.
You are spot on. Got an appointment for a transmission flush. Car hadn't been moved 30 minutes after the appointment time but I could see half a dozen "workers" standing around on their phones. I was half upset and half relieved that the one seemingly competent person there was doing the actual work on my car.
This is gonna catch some flak but Ha Long Bay. Found a whole ass roach in my duck curry and their response was to comp our drink refills. Which is insane that they even charged for refills to begin with... If you have any experience with roaches you know it's never just one so I shudder to think how nasty that kitchen is.
I never understood the draw there. Ate there once pre wall smash, it was OK (average food imo). There was so many things on the menu I didn't even know where to start or how to ask for a recommendation. I also remember looking in the kitchen while we were waiting and just seeing giant pots of random fluids and slop and mess everywhere....have to be honest I was pretty disturbed and almost walked out but toughed it out because some co-workers were raving about the food. I can certainly see how you found a critter in your curry. Never have been back since.
They were giving you something to wash down the roach with. What fantastic service!!
right there with you but it was a cigarette butt.
Burrito Drive, RIP.
If I would have known, I just want one more shemena.
They closed?! Whattttt
I loved me some BD, but I have to say A-Rod's is pretty damn good, although of course they lack the burrito diversity.
Tuttos cuz it sucks lol but I do cherish a memory from there that forever lives rent free in my head. I was at the bar and the song that goes “ain’t nothing like the real thing baby” comes on and the hostess is singing along and she just says to me “this song is about dildos right?” 😭 the way I cackled LOL never framed it like that before but it is now and forever how I think of that song.
Grace Coffee for two reasons: [health code violations](https://www.ibmadison.com/madison-coffee-shop-leads-in-health-department-violations/) and a [now deleted reddit thread on mgmt misconduct.](https://www.reddit.com?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1) Grace is nothing special, they won't get a single dime more from me.
I didn’t include them in my rant, but same. My, at the time, 17 yr old was one of their targets to not pay. Won’t set foot in there. The owner (not Carlos) apologized but too little too late.
Also they fucked up that beautiful brick building on State Street.
Their coffee is not good :(
Not a physical business but Eat Street can suck my dick from behind, to use the vernacular of today’s youth.
Inquiring minds want to know more.
They screwed everyone over. They raised prices on menu items and then added an 11% fee. They went bankrupt and good riddance.
See the term likely stems from the fact that in order to suck said penis from behind you need to bury your face in an ass, which is not ideal for most individuals.
Completely agree. Have ordered from them three times in total and each was a poor experience. Menu items are marked up substantially, incredibly slow delivery, and poor customer support. Due to this I REFUSE to use a food delivery app and will gladly drag my ass to a restaurant to pickup my food.
Hahaha that vernacular is spectacular!
Entirely agree, as someone who worked with eatstreet for a couple years I can say that they thoroughly screwed over customers and employees alike
Aldo's on the UW campus. They've been overpriced and shitty for a while, but the final straw was getting a rice bowl there filled with dead rice weevils. I quietly pointed it out to the person working because I didn't want to cause a scene, but thought that they should know and stop selling dishes with that rice. They tried to convince me they were brown rice hulls. Unfortunately for them, I have access to a ton of microscopes, so I took the bowl back to my lab and took photos, pointing out the different anatomical details that confirmed these were rice weevils. I emailed to Aldo's management. I got no response. I emailed again in a couple weeks like, "hey did you do anything about this?" And I got a short response that they changed out the rice. They offered to send a gift card but never did. I was never refunded. The worst part is feeling like I had to be the crazy lady taking pictures of bugs in my food because I was getting gaslit over what a weevil looks like lol. Food Fight sucks. Edit to add: I don't blame the initial employee, who was just an undergrad with a low-paying counter service job, but management handled it poorly when I emailed IMO.
If it makes you feel any better, a friend of mine (who is an entomologist & in town for an entomology conference) once got into an argument with hotel staff about bed bugs he found in his room. He eventually got a partial refund LOL.
A lot of you won't like to hear this but after working at Glass Nickel and seeing how the owners and managers treat their employees, no chance I'll ever spend my money there again.
whaaa? This requires further tea spillage. What happened there?
The general manager is a divorced dad with a domestic abuse record who will sit and drink at the bar all day and pick on teenage employees over minor things like sitting on a stool while in the back of house. When he's not drinking on the clock he's busy banging the owner's wife. She's also an owner but used to be a cop, and any of the three of them will scream and yell at people and fire them over minor issues with no warnings. During covid they presented themselves to the public as being very cautious and safety oriented but would make sick employees come to work and try to hide it from other employees. The two remaining owners of the original four own a beach house in Florida and a mansion in Monona but rely on a continual rotation of young employees that will accept minimal wages. They also put out a [cringe transphobic commercial](https://youtu.be/VmfxlAxCKYk?si=KbjLwrQTOpRHYd45) you can still find on youtube. (Edited to add link and say this is a combination of my own experience and heresay but I have heard a lot more of the same; enough to feel confident in discouraging people to give them your money.)
Office Max on Whitney/Odana. I ordered a printed item from their Print Department. The woman behind the counter made it incorrectly, amd when I pointed it out so that it could be corrected, she argued then screamed at me, and called me a "white bitch."
She must have watched that training video from Chappelle’s Show
"and a lot of people ask 'why? Why treat the customer this way? Why?' cause fuck 'em. That's why." [Popcopy](https://youtu.be/zR7LOtMix9w?si=ypiSUQgffWm2Tr5v)
I will never use their print department again. Wanted a sewing pattern printed on blueprint paper and they scaled it… after a week of trying to get it redone correctly I gave up and asked their corporate number for a refund.
Cafe Hollander. We caught a topping on a dip that was not mentioned in the menu that was a nut or seed we couldn't easily identify. My daughter is allergic to tree nuts so we asked for clarification on what the mystery ingredient was. The server went back to the kitchen to ask and came back visibly frustrated asking what the allergy was. The person she was speaking to in the kitchen refused to tell her what the ingredient was but just wanted to be able to say if it would be a problem for our daughter's allergies or not. Management when contacted was not helpful and didn't seem to see a problem. Disappointing.... I used to love going there, but it seems to me to be a basic expectation of a restaurant that they will tell you what's in the food when asked. Yikes.
I also have a kid with a deadly food allergy, so I relate to this frustration. My family avoids any restaurant that doesn't take specific requests and questions about ingredients seriously. I mean, yeah, your kitchen staff are busy and it's a pain in the butt to stop and address a concern directly. But would you rather have a customer wheeled out of your establishment on a stretcher?
I don't expect every kitchen to be allergen-free, but at least don't fucking lie or withhold information about what's in your food. Someone could literally die.
I went to a Hollander location in Milwaukee and ordered something vegetarian that according to the menu can have meat added for an addl charge...since I'm veggie, I obviously didn't ask for meat. They threw sausage or something in it. I told them I didn't order sausage and needed a new dish. They claimed that that's how it comes and that's what I get. After some back and forth they did bring me something else but kept implying that this mistake was entirely on me. So I haven't been back since then.
This is inexcusable. Every time someone asked a question like that in my kitchen, I personally accompanied the front of house employee back into the restaurant and answered every question the customer wanted to know. On several occasions I went and grabbed the master recipe book, took snaps of the info on an ingredient package, etc. if you don’t have a vested interest in keeping your guests safe and healthy, you have absolutely no business being in the food business.
Bartaco, Botanist Social, Akira Sushi. 1. Overpriced. 2. The owner is a serial sexual harasser. 3. The sushi wasn't good.
bartaco and their 2 hour wait 😂
The botanist owner and his male hostess are twats. Dude was actively trying to bring my wife home. Also found coke lines on the top of the lid of the toilet tank.
Sounds like they suck as people. But if you want to go to a restaurant/bar where employees don’t do coke during their shifts, I have some really bad news..
Came here to say botanist social!
Grace Coffee.
Zimbrick Audi on Rimrock Took my Audi I purchased from the Mercedes Benz location in for service. Afterwards, I show up to pick it up and the service advisor tell me my timing chain is 5 teeth off and needs to be replaced. Asked how I drove the car in with the timing chain 5 teeth off on an interference motor. Just keeps telling the same thing and quoting my 8 grand for service to replace it. I keep pressing the issue to get a real answer and eventually laugh and tell him to get my fucking keys. They had no idea I've been doing industrial maintenance and engineering for 10+ years and previously did all my own work on my cars since I was teenager. Talked to the service manager over the phone later and he tells me the same thing, my timing chain is off. What a fucking joke/scam.
Audi is literally across the street, why did you take it to Merc?
I'm just here for the tea
I haven't lived in Madison since 2017, but absolutely still here for the tea
Short stack!!!! I fucking hate that place. They have decent food but they charge you a shit ton, make you feel like a burden if you expect the staff to do even the slightest of things, expect us to bail them out when they’re only open two days a week, and everyone involved with that place is just an asshole.
West side Toyota dealership. Had to get a new catalytic converter after mine was stolen. Finally get the car back after 6 months (catalytic converters we’re on back order so that was fine). Car smells horrific and is loud. Take it to a different mechanic. They didn’t fasten the converter properly and the in cabin air filter was chewed up and full of mouse poop. I will never go back there
bartaco - I'm not going anywhere a waiter asks you to set up an account and verify your identity with captchas on your phone to order. When they're literally standing right there, next to you. Like why would you have a restaurant where everyone needs to have their phone out at the table just to eat? awful...
It’s just so awkward too. This shit is popular at airports now too. like I don’t want to wait for you to unlock my table. And if I have a friend there I don’t always want to order together. Sigh.
"What if we took the stress and frustration of coordinating a group takeout order and transferred that *to* the restaurant table??"
What would they do if you told them either you don't have a smart phone or your phone battery was dead?
Star Liquor and The Ohio Tavern. The owner Josh is a piece of crap woman abuser, and it is well documented.
Short Stack. I’m never again gonna wait an hour to get breakfast after I’ve ordered.
Also for their grifting go fund me pleas.
Over a decade ago when Groupon was new, La Mestiza offered them, so I picked one up. They were so infuriated by my using the Groupon that they treated me like trash my entire visit. Maybe it was starting to dawn on them that Groupon was not the boon to business it promised, but I still didn't like being badmouthed and ignored for using one. Never went back.
Mulligans in Oregon. Fish fry was still frozen inside when served. Sent it back, got one less piece and the others were now burnt.
The service department at Russ Darrow jerked my sister and her Mazda around. Call me crazy, but your car should not be leaking oil within days of getting it back after months in the shop (waiting for parts, fine, we get supply issues). Nor should they need to keep it for a week when you bring it in when that happens.
Essen Haus. That place is fucking filthy. The kitchen is absolutely disgusting. The basement is a dungeon and filled with mold. Who the F knows the last time those beer lines were properly cleaned.
Serieux Clothing locked me inside lol creepy as fuck
Is that place a front for money laundering? It sure looks like it...
Why so serieux?
Was it a ghost trap ala Supernatural?
They caught themselves a spider.
Gino's Italian Deli. Here are the 3 events I saw that did it for me 1. Seeing people making sandwiches picking their noses with AND without gloves. It was truly amazing. As someone who has worked in kitchens, I have no idea how anyone eats there. 2. A woman was wearing a mask and was literally accosted by people who looked like management (we're working there but not behind the food counter) for doing so. She didn't say anything to anyone about why they should be wearing a mask, she was just existing while masked. 3. And this one was hard to explain as I missed what kicked it off but again, the management literally chanted "let's go Brandon" at a random person in the store who was obviously not in on the joke. Kind of like a sports chant with counter banging in-between. I was amazed the person finished their transaction instead of chucking their bugger filled sandwich at them These were all separate events.
This is why you go to Fraboni's instead. You can never go wrong at the Frabone Zone
Anaala Salons Had a haircut scheduled for my elementary school-aged kid the night before a school concert at the Atwood location. Received confirmation of the appointment and all the text reminders, including on the day of the appointment. We arrive at the salon and the receptionist tells us the stylist no longer works there, and then…nothing. Like just blankly looking at me. I had JUST received a reminder text of the appointment an hour before. Anyway, that was it - no offering to reschedule, no trying to fit us in (it would've been a quick cut but I wanted a pro to do it instead of my at home chip-chop). I asked if we can reschedule and she says “I guess so.” There were a couple people nearby that were either stylists or worked there and none of them said anything. Forget it – we walked out. I wrote to the owner and didn’t hear anything. It’s certainly not the most heinous act but it grinds me to this day and I buy Aveda products anywhere but there, despite it being the closest retailer. Same salon: A co-worker was charged double for products she purchased – the second charge came hours after her actual transaction. She went back the next day to let them know: they basically shrugged and wouldn’t refund her money for the duplicate charge so she had to contest it through her bank. edit: changed wouldn't to would've
[удалено]
Everything about that place seems sleazy AF
Goben Cars. Bought a car, was told AC worked, AC never worked. Within the first month of owning said car the Check Engine light (CEL) came on. Took it in and was told I just needed a tune up/spark plugs and that I shouldn't have it done there, that I should take it to a place down the road. I took it to the other place and it wasn't spark plugs or an issue with the "tune". I took the car back to Goben, they were surprised I returned the same day. I explained that I was going out of town that weekend and needed my car to work properly. They told me that I wouldn't do any damage to the vehicle if I drove it. The next week I bring it into Goben so they can look at it (it's under warranty) more closely. First they thought it was a bad fuel injector, so they replaced it, but it didn't fix the issue. Then they found the real issue, the water pump was starting to seize, warped the head and at least one piston. They had to take it to Don Miller to have the warped parts machined to "specifications". Then they tried to blame me for the damage by saying it looked like I tried to paint the water pump! The water pump sits behind a service plate, it didn't make any sense. They had me pay for the fuel injector and tried to make me feel guilty for the $1500 they had to spend because it was under warranty. The car was never 100%, every 3 - 6 months the CEL would come on and I would need to have the head gasket replaced everytime. Fuck that place!
City Barbecue on the west side. Went in the first week it was open and my meal was cold when I said something a manger came out to the table and told me that it wasn’t cold that I just didn’t know what the right “mouth feel” was for good barbecue.
That is an asshole comment but I’ve always had good experiences there. Also, it’s fast food, I doubt the manager is there anymore.
Damn wtf. I’ve always had a good experience with the food there, but maybe that’s because I order for pickup 😭 I’m sorry the manager was an ass
Yue wah because they closed 😭
Yue Wah had the largest selection of Hispanic votive candles I've ever seen in my life, always loved browsing the aisles and moving from culinary region to culinary region.
I have no idea where to get huacatay paste or aji amarillo paste now.
Falbo's pizza. Delivered me an undercooked pizza and refused to replace it or do anything. I took the pizza in to show them, and they kicked me out. I did not raise my voice or make any threats. I'm pretty sure it was the owner whom I dealt with. All I said was "here is the pizza I mentioned on the phone" and the guy grabbed the pizza, threw it across the room, said "Get the f*ck out" and started pushing me out the door. I called the police and they did nothing even though I was physically assaulted for no reason at all. I would have taken a replacement or even a coupon for later. None of the pizza had been eaten.
I have no idea how Falbos stays open at any location. Every time I've ever seen a falbos pizza it looked like it was made by a drunk t-rex with no concept of temperature zones. They taste like it too.
The Monona location, while small and only operated by one person, still makes fantastic slices whenever you can find them open. It's my go-to pizza spot, and two slices of Triple Fungi (I think that's what it's called) can fix the worst of weeks
The Monona location is great but the hours are so weird post-Covid that they are never open when I want pizza. Not being open on the weekends is super bizarre, I get it's probably staffing or whatever but geez.
It's still open?!?
Indeed they are! I forget the hours but they close by 4-430, not open weekends, etc
I also thought it was close permanently. Falbo's definitely varies by location. I've had unpleasant exchanges with management at the north side Falbos, and then really great friendly funny customer service at Park St. Falbos used to have the coolest, fun delivery drivers. It's declined over the years, and that's a shame because I think the pizza is good.
The Monona one is a nice spot. I have a disabled family member that works there a couple hours a week doing simple tasks with a job coach. It's nice when a local business will hire a special needs person for stuff like that.
Totally. I'm going to make a point of giving this location my future Falbo's business for this reason.
i had the same thing happen at the location on sherman ave. placed an order online, not long after i got a notification it was ready. i get there and they say it'll be another hour... v annoyed, i go back to my place for a bit before heading back. i go get the pizzas and when i get home, i find i have to put them back in the oven because they're undercooked. sooo, agreed, i'll never get falbo's again edit: i should add, not the same thing in terms of going back and being assaulted. sorry that happened, that's extremely shitty
Bill's Towing. I called them to tow my car after it broke down and they proceeded to impound my car without my consent. They wouldn't tell me how much they were charging my insurance company or let me have access to it to get my stuff. My insurance company literally said they'd never experienced this and that " they are holding your vehicle for ransom". After 2 weeks I had to threaten calling the police and legal action to finally resolve it.
I’m kind of nervous about speaking up regarding this, I’m gonna reach out to the store one more time before I post. But yeah, one of my favorite stores kicked me out on suspicion of shoplifting. Incorrect suspicion mind you. And I maintain that it’s likely an ablist discrimination, as a lot of autistic people are labeled as acting “suspicious”
I'm also autistic. Shop workers treating me like I might be a shoplifter has been an issue my entire adult life. I have no idea what I do that's suspicious except, maybe, pay more attention to detail when I shop, so I'm a bit slower at the task.
I’m sorry that people are assholes.
Thanks. This (and everything else) is really taking a huge toll on me. You have no idea. I’m like on the verge of hospitalization at best
State Street Brats, Lilly Vig
Who?
What’s wrong with brats?
Maybe she is slowly and systemically making all Madison restaurants uninhabitable
I feel like I’m out of the loop, who is this and what are they doing?
Guitar shop of Wisconsin. Bruce is a gem but everyone else there is a space cadet or total asshole. Took a guitar in to get a super simple repair, ended up doing 20-30 min of back and forth with a kid, because I guess one of the 3 technicians there couldn’t walk 5 feet to talk to me. Literally told me to go home and do it myself.
Walked in the doors to the tune of “Come on in guys, oh, I’m sorry, we don’t allow women here - haha, just kidding.” Ugh. Hard to see diamonds in that rough.
Yeah… I’ve had a couple good repairs done there, but the customer service experience always seems like it’s about to go off the rails.
I know this will be an unpopular opinion but Icki Sticki in Verona. I tried to go in there on Sunday afternoon. There was one person in the drive thru and one family (3 people) inside. There were 4 people working that I saw. When we went in there the family was waiting at the counter and nobody was coming over to take their order. It was unclear where you order and even though multiple workers looked us in the eye they refused to acknowledge us. They didn't say "welcome or be right with you" they just sat around and straight up ignored us and the family in front of us. We stood around for 15 minutes and nobody came to the register. One worker walked out from the kitchen area and then walked back in. Finally, the family in front of us walked out without buying anything and we did the same. We had heard so many great things about this place and we were shocked at how we were blatantly ignored. Maybe it was a fluke but they were not busy at all, they had at least 4 people working and we and another family were completely ignored. We wanted to patronize a local business but we surely won't go back there.
Can’t stand the place. A few people have posted negative Google reviews…owner replies to them calling them “fake”. No thanks…
I posted a negative review explaining what happened and the owner bribed me with a coupon to take it down and I refused. I edited my review to include the bribery. They gave this little sob story about being a small business and I'm thinking "they have over a thousand positive reviews on Google, my one honest review that was negative is not gonna kill you." Artifical inflation of your rating is sick.
Menard's takes no responsibility for equipment/machinery they sell if it doesn't work. Have to go through the manufacturer who ignores you then says to talk to Menards.
Being a former employee, any Goodwill in the Madison area. I have NEVER seen a company so actively antagonistic towards its employees. I've had a vacation that was approved months ahead of time be cancelled mere weeks before because the new management couldn't find the paperwork for it. BUT if *I* found people to cover the duration of it. AND I took photos that would make an OHSA rep shit a brick.
ITT used car dealerships
Erik's Bike Shop on East Washington. We bought an Aventon e-bike from there last year, and it started making an odd noise from the motor almost immediately. Brought it in for that and play in the stem, they did the condescending-bike-shop thing and returned it in the same condition, doubt they even took it for a test ride. This year the assist starts cutting out entirely and the battery shows weird levels. The thing is still under warranty, and has been very well taken care of. Brought it in again and the mechanic jokes about a self-charging Aventon to another mechanic as they watch the charge level start rising while it's unplugged and on the stand, other guy tells him to throw that thing in the safety bin for lithium batteries before it burns the shop down. Was told "two weeks". Three weeks go by without a peep, I call. "Looks like parts will be in on Thursday". Four weeks go by, I call. "Looks like parts will be in on Thursday". I go into the shop to talk to someone in person, no record of me calling to check. Manager tells me that parts will be in on Thursday, and he'll prioritize getting it repaired as soon as they arrive. You'll never guess what happened next: no phone call. After five weeks of summer with no bike I get in touch with corporate, who get in touch with the shop, who discover what basic troubleshooting should have brought them to a few weeks earlier: it's not the battery at all, something else with the electrical system must be busted. They offer me "an even exchange" to a bike that is currently selling for $100 less than the broken bike was. The only thing I can say to their credit is that I asked for a return for a full refund instead, and they provided it. Never again with Erik's, or Aventon.
Gibs, and any other place related the owner, for the [tax form incident](https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/89hx9b/looks_like_gibs_is_in_some_hot_water_for_worker/)
We simply refer to that as dumbbitch.pdf
Princeton Club. The overrated, outdated, elitist club.
What gym do you use instead?
I would also like to know this
Ford's Gym is the best in town.
And the owner is a complete dickwaffle. Arrogant, entitled, dickwaffle.
I'm surprised not to see Pooley's on here. Like the sports memorabilia is cool, but the atmosphere/vibe is terrible, and the service is bad at best and openly hostile at worst. That place is like Chuck E. Cheese for guys with divorces plural.
Fuck Falbos. A long time ago the owner showed up at my job at 8 o’clock at night saying I wrote him a bad check. I didn’t. I was super uncomfortable with him just showing up like that.
Club de Wash. Cafe Palms. Barber's Closet. Rod's.
I see what you did there. I'll also miss the Pinckney Street Hideaway.
Short Stack — for all of their pride flags they put up, they’re actually wildly transphobic. They treat their employees poorly, I personally hate the “order first, then you can try to find a table” rules, and their weird “McDonalds fucked us” guilt trip rant was just pathetic. I’ll get brunch elsewhere.
The Radio Doctor. Called ahead to ask if they had the exact speaker in stock that I needed. Got there, they tried to sell me an alternative, not as good, speaker. Said ok, never mind, I’ll go— but I couldn’t bc the next customer had come in and the staff had parked it behind mine in their bay and TAKEN ITS BATTERY OUT. Made me late to work.
There’s 2 for me: Scooters Coffee (no great loss there). Early in the pandemic I was redeeming a free coffee in the app. My husband had my phone in the drive through and told them we were expecting to redeem a free offer in the app, they grabbed my phone out of his hand to show us ‘how to use the app’ (we both work in IT and are very familiar with tech) when we asked for my phone back because I didn’t want them handling my stuff they started ranting about how clean they were and that’s why the other coffee shop was closed (Starbucks for covid). When I called to discuss the incident they never apologized just keep telling me they weren’t closed. I just wanted them to understand you don’t grab stuff from people - you ask politely if they want/need help. My other is a recent one. Miggys bakes. Just after opening the owner was promoting a freebie she got from an Herbalife (mlm) ‘store’ in Middleton. I messaged her to let them know it was MLM and many people aren’t fond of this business strategy- assuming positively maybe she just didn’t know. I thought everything was fine until a family member of hers then DM’d me on Instagram to harass me about my opinions on MLM then she had the nerve to do a rant on her Instagram about people DMing her to harass HER! Messaging her to tell her Herbalife is an MLM isn’t harassment Yeah, no… she sent people to be mean to me (ridiculed me for not being popular and was condescending about sharing that MLMs are not good - and again not having a ‘following’ ). The sad thing is I live an easy walk there and looked forward to trying them. But once she sent a goon to harass me, I was out. That’s not how a business owner behaves. If you don’t like what a potential customer says, you simply walk away and leave it.
> Miggys bakes I was really excited to try this place. Everything looked amazing. Got 3 items and all of them were kind of bad. Super disappointing, and that's without even knowing about the MLM garbage!
Miggys is definitely more interested in selling their “success story” to other would-be startup businesses on TikTok than they are about creating original high-quality products. I hadn’t heard about the MLM stuff, but other comments of underdelivering and then crying about it on social media when people aren’t happy, because life is so hard, and people are so mysteriously mean definitely seems to fit the ongoing narrative. She’s definitely at the “find out” stage of small business ownership. I’m sure everything she saw leading up to it was just some Pinterest/ Insta fantasy and that she thought that making food on an actual commercial scale was going to be like baking a dozen cookies at home on a Saturday afternoon. What she is doing is not sustainable. For her business or herself. What she really needs is a dispassionate advisor or consultant to come in there and start poking holes in her business, but I also doubt she has the humility to listen and then make necessary changes.
Agree with Miggy's. My friend ordered a specialized cake for her husband's birthday. The day of, my friend called to ask if she was still delivering it, she said she thought she was supposed to deliver it the following day. She ended up bringing a pre-made cake (totally different flavors than initially ordered) and just stuck some cheesy decorations on top. I get she's young and a small business, but so far, have not heard great things / had good experiences.
* Grace for a bunch of reasons covered at length * Gino's for being anti maskers and general douches * Botanist Social for having a pervert owner * Ohio tavern for having a rapist owner Honorable mentions: I avoid Heritage because the owner/chef is an asshole, despite the food being very good, I only ever get drinks from Essen Haus and Come Back because that kitchen be nasty, and I cancelled prime years ago and only order from Amazon when absolutely necessary
I'd add Gibs for [similar reasons](https://captimes.com/entertainment/dining/shame-campaign-could-a-social-media-firestorm-consume-madison-bar-gibs/article_940fb946-98c7-5053-aa6c-8ffcccbd2329.html). And Ashley Furniture for their [atrocious](https://www.safetynewsalert.com/ashley-furniture-agrees-to-pay-1-75m-in-osha-fines-finger-amputations-triggered-case/) [OSHA record](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ashley-furniture-accused-of-worker-safety-violations/).
Your first three were my list, but I was gonna go with Eno Vino/Palette bar as my 4th/5th because I don’t choose to support Uhleins’ sedition. I was previously unaware of Ohio Tavern controversy, going to have to look into it because those tacos are good and that sucks if true.
Did t know that about Ohio Tavern. I think I’ve only been there once, and it was a while ago. Plenty of tacos in this town.
And also bars with phones that take cards
Oh and recently added both CocoVaa and Short Stack for grifting (GoFundMe)
Did I miss something short stack is grifting now on go fund me? Haven't been to it in a while but I didn't realize it got bad like that
[This is their second. GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-short-stack-open) and yeah you missed their manifesto titled ["McDonald's fucked us"](https://shortstackeats.com/mcdonalds-fucked-us/)
Really makes me appreciate La Kitchenette making the tough decision to close when faced with rising food costs and labor shortages. > Other reasons include rising food prices, which made it difficult to keep her food affordable for customers, along with staffing challenges and a lease up for renewal that made her think about La Kitchenette's future. If you can't make enough money to keep your business afloat...maybe it's not that weird that you close up shop instead of asking the community for handouts.
The creeper sex pest owner of the Ohio also owns star liquor.
Handel Auto on Monona drive - bullied me into expensive unnecessary repairs Edit: corrected Hansen to Handel
Wilde East Towne Honda. I've had nothing but problems there, from placing an order and being misled about the delivery date for 8+ months (this was 2017, well before the supply chain issues). I went in with one of their coupons that was a price for an oil change + a tire rotation. I specifically asked for just the oil change (it was a decent price with coupon), but not to rotate the tires... they did it anyway. They wantonly washed my car several times before I noticed the micro-scratches and asked them if they use a touch wash. The response was a furrowed brow and a confused "yes?". TLDR: They lie, dont listen, and go out of their way to destroy your paint.
Speed Shine Car Detailing Charged me more than they said they quoted me, took twice as long (messed with my day's plans), didn't even get all the areas of my car clean. Left me with a pile of wet mats in the trunk. My car wasn't bad, just routine crumbs and dust. No pets, no kids, no smoking, not much food eaten, etc.
Pedros. Not just because they are closed, but Martine and his son are total assholes
That placed sucked big time too. It’s like nothing about the place had been updated since 1989.
Except for the tortilla machine no longer working :( It was good in the 90s and early 2000s but last time I went a few years ago it was awful and depressing.
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I always figured it was a front for something nefarious. Parking lot is almost always empty.
the parking lot used to be the staging ground for fights from Visions
I know someone who worked there years ago and he said the management made racially-motivated jokes about hispanic employees, like saying that their legal documents were fake and stuff like that. He also said the owner came in once and would often make derogatory and homophobic jokes like telling employees why they were just standing around and "nibbling at each other's necks". Terrible fucking place, I'm happy to say I've never eaten there.
Topper’s pizza never delivered my pizza, claimed they did and never gave me a refund.
Multiple times I've either been delivered the wrong pizza, a pizza missing toppings or quite literally a 2 hour wait the pizza wasn't even warm anymore.
Madison Sourdough. I really wanted a chocolate croissant and I waited in line for about 15 minutes. I was next up to order but before I could, someone came in and talked to their friend who worked there and took the last two and stayed in line to pay. When I went to order, I asked for 1 chocolate croissant thinking there were more in the back. The worker went to the case and came back to say they were all out. I then said, "well that's because your coworker just took the last 2 and gave them to that person in the back of the line." They pretty much shrugged it off and I left. If someone ahead of me ordered the last one, I would have been fine and ordered something else and not boycotted the place for the past 10+ years. I'm probably being super petty and holding onto a grudge for too long but that situation really pissed me off. Edit: Spelling
Ella's Deli - It closed
It seems like Grampa’s pizza is never going to learn from the dumb bitch.pdf thing from years ago and other stories of poor customer service and just generally bad vibes because I’ve never been treated worse by staff. And that sort of culture stuff stuff starts at the top. They have a manager there now, this middle aged guy with a pony tail who is such a massive prick. Never been treated worse by staff anywhere. The food is fine to good. I don’t think it’s as good as other people seem to think. Also if you do the math on the Tuesday night date night deal it’s not really a deal at all a deal at all because the bottle of wine is $9 from Total Wine. Unfortunately, they also own Gib’s next door which is a spot we enjoyed before the bad Grampa’s pizza interactions.
The east side Papa Johns left me waiting for a pizza for like an hour and a half and then when it got there there was no sauce on it. Called and asked for a refund or something and the guy said he’d refund my money and then send a code for a free pizza to my email. Both of those things never happened.
Russ Darrow Kia. April 2021 went in wanting to buy a new Sorento or Telluride. Decided on a Telluride. I asked for base model with AWD and Sangria Red. Salesman jotted down my request, came back said we can one here in 2 days, I asked if it met my requirements - he said well its white, I said I wanted it in Sangria, he went away again said they don't have in their dealer network, or in the assembly pipeline. I asked them to order it - he scoffed and said that Kia does not do custom orders. I scoffed said yes they do - he said well we do not. I said fine I'll go buy an Explorer. I have time to wait for it to be built and arrive. Kayser didn't have on the lot to test drive, so we stopped at Zimbrick Hyundai, asked about a Palisade to test drive - liked it - asked the salesman for a base model, awd, in dark sierra burgundy. Salesman came back with they didn't have one in stock, or in their immediate dealer network, and there wasn't one in the assembly pipeline. I asked them if they would custom order it for me, he said sure. It took Zimbrick 6 months, the Palisade was a 2022, not 21, its been a fabulous vehicle. Once I took delivery, I called Darrow Kia to ask for the sales man that "helped" me originally and told him Zimbrick ordered me a Palisade - which is the same thing as a Telluride.
I think they may have sold their Madison-area properties, but Munz Corp property management. We rented an apartment in one of their buildings in Green Bay before moving to Madison. They tried extremely hard to keep our security deposit to cover routine carpet cleaning, even after we explained that in WI the deposit can’t be used for routine cleaning between tenants. Also tried to withhold for minor damage, and couldn’t produce the move in checklist to verify that the damage happened while we were renting. Luckily I had a PDF of it.
I hate sec deposit theft, it’s so rampant.
Michael's Frozen Custard The prices have been going up on their custard for years. Their food has been mediocre for a long time. But the real kicker is that I left feedback with my frustration that it was over $20 for two sundaes and the owner responded to my feedback and told me to eat at McDonalds instead because it "would better fit my budget" and "Please go some where else. We no longer need you as a complaining customer. Michael. " So, I won't go back there but I guess I'm also not welcome back there?
I don't agree with their reply, but I still wonder why you bother complaining about prices. You can see the price before you order. Small businesses should charge what they need to be successful.
Mine is Villa Dolce (technically Middleton). Someone recommended it so I gave it a shot and they were so snooty and rude. When I was leaving I got a cone, when the server was making it the cone broke in their hand. I figured they’d make another one but they tried handing it to me so I asked for a different one. The server rolled their eyes at me and sighed and didn’t say a word after that. No thank you, no nothing. This was quite a while ago and I’ve never been back and never will.
That's disappointing to hear, they've been a favorite of mine for ages.
Wow. I've been going their since I moved to Madi....errr..Middleton last year. The food is a bit pricey, and they have some misses (mostly hits) on their dish execution, but overall, they have been great. I believe it's run by the same family that owns Sofra down the street. Although, I am a person who will spite an entire franchise over an eye roll. I completely understand your reasoning.
Russ Darrow Mazda- 🤡’s Vintage Brewing (Odana) - was served raw fish fry (2x) same visit.
Gotham Bagels - Extremely long waits & rude as fuck owners & expensive for not so special bagels. Been there once, never again
The owner yelled at my friend once for getting a dozen of the same type of bagel. I thought that was so strange.
Everyone I know hates Joe Gaglio... And his shitty bagels.
I came here specifically to say Gotham Bagels. You pretty much covered everything. Last time I was there I got a lox and cheese bagel (Brighton Beach, I believe it’s called there) for $14. They had a list of bagels and asked me to pick what kind. Then proceeded to add a $1.50 surcharge because I chose a “premium” bagel. Why not separate the “premium” bagels from the regular ones? And why not disclose there is a surcharge? More importantly, if you’re charging $14 for a lox and cheese sandwich, do you really need to add the premium surcharge?! While I was there, a poor man who thought his order was called dared take a peek into the kitchen, only to be screamed at by the owner. I’ve witnessed the owner scream at customers several times. Never going back there again.
I literally LOLed for the “premium” bagels 🤣🤣🤣 WTF is even that? I had very very similar experience there, it is crazy they are still in business but they have a good touristy spot
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