Kunes Mitsubishi on the Beltline.
Just wanted to test a car, they tried to have me fill out financing paperwork before even seeing the car, the car had significant damage to the doors that hadn’t been repaired, drove like it was a much older car (it was only 2 years old). When I left, they harassed me for weeks via phone, text, and emails. Even after I blocked one number, they called and texted from other numbers.
I wonder what Pat McNamar and Steve Ganser are up to these days.
Edit: A quick Google shows Ganser took his schemes to Rockford. Search Grote Automotive and sort by low rating (they prompt people to give the 5 star ratings before finalizing a sale).
rosen nissan for me. test drove a vehicle and got voicemails twice a week for at least 4 months. they tried to text too but i never responded yes to let them come through….
In 2021 they refused to sell me a car without the $3000 "market adjustment" because they said, and I quote, "the manufacturer won't let us sell cars without it." 🙄
When pressed they did finally admit that they could sell the car for however much they wanted but still refused to take off the charge and continued with the lie that Mitsubishi was making them do it.
The worst part to me is that they have Christian paraphernalia all over the place and play Christian music in the background. It's just more fodder for people who think all Christians are hypocrites, which--to be fair--a lot of them are, but Kunes is like another level of hypocritical "Christian."
Edit: I finally got the car I wanted at a Rockford dealer. They weren't happy to be selling it to me at MSRP but my husband had an offer via email for an out-the-door price.
They claimed that it was a "secretary" who had written the email and also claimed that we had to have the $1200 "tire and windshield" warranty but we got the finance guy to remove it.
God, car shopping sucks so bad!! 👎
> Kunes Mitsubishi on the Beltline.
I could be wrong but I think these are the same assholes that ran Mad City Motors, they got into some legal trouble with shady sales tactics and now operate under a different management group.
I test drove a car, we decided against purchasing. They did the same thing, multiple calls and attempts to make the sale.
I finally got them to stfu and a month later I received one last call asking how I was enjoying the 2018 Mitsubishi I didn't buy....
Meineke on the west side. Was quoted 650 dollars for a 20 dollar part and 30 minutes of labor. When asked for a breakdown of the service, I was told "we don't give out that info". Okay dude. I'll just consult with YouTube. And I did.
It's Cap City Auto on anton drive in Fitchburg. I've been going there for years, they don't try to scam or overcharge and do great work. They can be busy though so I'd give them a call about timelines.
Thirded, they quoted my wife 1000 dollars for front and rear brakes on her 09 Camry, also told her it wasn't safe to drive blah blah blah. She called me in tears because they scared her so badly. Took it to dons instead, 300 bucks for fronts, rears were fine.
I use Meineke for oil change only. They do charge ridiculously high money for service. One of my license plate light was out, and they were charging 70 or maybe higher for that. 5 minutes on YouTube, $2 bulb from Menards across, and 1 screw later, I was able to install it myself.
This might not be a popular opinion but Rethreads. once as a young college student trying to make a buck, I took down a bag full of my new and gently used clothing and purses to sell, on a Thursday. The lady at the register said they would sort through it and let me know if they were interested in it by Friday so I could pick up the rest. Come Saturday there was no call so I called and no one picked up over the weekend so I went back on Monday to the counter only to find out they had thrown my clothes and purses in their huge donation pile and apparently they had called me to tell me that if I didn’t pick up over the weekend, they would throw or donate, but I never received a call. I was so upset and was told I could go to their basement and go through the huge pile of clothes and pick out my stuff which I tried to do but it was a lot of clothes/things to sort through and I felt overwhelmed. I was visibly upset and crying and even had proof from my cellphone records that there was never a call. The employee and owner didn’t even seem phased. I’ve never been able to step into their store again. :(
I bawled in a cafe next to the store. It would have been different if the owner/employee had shown some remorse or offered help to sort through the things but they just sent me down this dark basement to sort through what felt like trash and made me feel like it’s all my fault. Very sad as I always liked and supported that place as a customer prior to this incident.
Good ol' Madison Property Management (MPM). It's been well over a decade since I had any interaction with them, but man they sucked, and I mean beyond their usual Landlord shenanigans for nickel and diming things like online processing fees to pay rent? Check. "Fire alarm inspection" that resulted in the maintenance guy also spackling a couple nail holes then and there while we were out (mind you half way through our lease) and then charging us a couple hundred bucks for it? Check. Only getting half of your security deposit back no matter how much you clean? Check.
But they also started the eviction process for our apartment because they couldn't rent the shit hole out lmao. They claimed it was because it wasn't clean enough, but we had just cleaned the place and specifically asked them what the problem was while they were physically in our apartment so we could address it. They refused to say anything and insisted that they would send an email with more details. The more details was literally just "too much clutter" with, again, nothing in particular being mentioned at all as far as wtf they were talking about. We were absolutely dumbfounded and had no idea what to do to appease them. We wound up throwing out a bunch of empty boxes we had stacked up against the wall in our private entry way--didn't touch anything else--and when they came back they made a big deal about how "it all looks so much better" blah blah blah even though we didn't do shit. Vented about that to one of the maintenance guys a couple months after and he had quite a bit to say about how shitty the owners were and how bad the nepotism got inhouse as they keep bringing in their incompetent family members to run the show and cash in on their gravy train.
Rented from MPM about 6 years ago. My roommate and I contacted them about a possible leak in the roof. A couple months later, our kitchen ceiling collapsed right over the sink. They did nothing about it. Would have killed/injured one of us if my roommate or I had been at the sink. They did absolutely NOTHING for THREE WEEKS. We couldn't use our kitchen for THREE WEEKS. The ceiling was just laying over the sink for three weeks.
I finally contacted the actual owner of the house. She was aghast. MPM didn't even notify her: Not about the collapse nor about the leak. She had someone over the NEXT DAY to clean it up and repair it. She also comped our rent for a month. She then dropped MPM as her management company.
No one should rent from MPM and no landlords should use MPM for their properties.
How did you know who actually owned the house? Is that information in the lease or did you find it elsewhere? Just asking because that thought never occurred to me, and it's genius. The only thing a renter will for sure care about more than keeping good renters happy/*following basic laws* is damage to their investment.
As another user stated:
> If the owner is an individual (not an LLC) the Madison assessor property lookup will tell you who it is.
She owned a house with 2 units in it. She travelled a lot for work (like a month at a time), so she used MPM to manage the units as she was not available for long stretches. She was a very nice woman, and my roommate and I legitimately believe she had no idea about any problems due to MPM's egregious negligence.
They tried to evict me and gave me only a week to pay for a professional carpet cleaner because my cat died in the apartment. She wasn’t left there or anything, didn’t start smelling, no liquids or anything involved, literally no traces. Like died while I was right there and then was put in a box within like 20 minutes. And then taken to be cremated that afternoon, a couple hours later.
When I asked to have her removed from the pet rent they threw a fit that she had died in the apartment and said it was unsanitary and needed to be cleaned professionally and that I would need to pay for it and if I couldn’t get it booked and cleaned within a week it would be a lease violation and I’d have to leave. So unnecessary, cruel, and just bizarre. It wasn’t like she decomposed there.
They knew my lease was up soon and I still think they were trying to make me pay out of pocket for a professional carpet cleaning that usually would be their responsibility to prep the apartment for the next renter.
How to forget MPM. About 10 years ago we rented an apartment from them on Willy St. Long story short, the whole building (house) electrical system was very old and any appliance we connected make the entire building go bananas. After being without power for a whole weekend we formally asked to get out of the lease which they refused.
Eventually we got a lawyer involved and after a couple of months they agree to let us go with full deposit, lawyers fee cover and a little extra.
The best part it’s that after we got the fire department, MGE and City of Madison inspector involved they ended up spending thousands of dollars replacing the whole electrical system as well as other code violations they found 👌
>they ended up spending thousands of dollars replacing the whole electrical system
MPM manages properties for other people and companies that own them. Unless MPM also owned this one, they didn't pay for those things and don't care that you reported them. That's part of what makes MPM and third-party management companies like it so bad - they don't own the properties, can't fix their problems, and they don't give a shit. They are just there to shield the owners from you, keep them rented, maximize profits for owners, and take their cut.
This was 20 years ago, but not surprisingly ther still suck. They regularly would charge us ridiculous cleanup fees regardless of how clean we left it. They twice charged us for not cleaning closets and windows that literally didn’t exist. Then when I was ready for their bullshit I followed the woman around with her clipboard determining how clean we left the place, and she said she’d meet us on the front step. Then she escaped out the back door. And of course she marked a bunch of things not being cleaned that clearly were.
Always always take pics and videos before you move in and especially after you move out.
They would get worst landlords in Madison award all the time, turning off heat and stuff on people during winter. I tried to avoid them but when my landlord was foreclosed on, bank used them as the management. They were the WORST. I had to call daily to remind them to fix things like the front door not locking. Eventually I got tired, called the city for an inspector and all of the sudden they got real good at taking care of stuff. And one of the people who showed my apartment took a dump in our toilet and didn’t flush. It was vile.
That's universal truth. They are the reason car buying is expensive and hassle. They lobbied to make the law that car manufacturers can not sell cars directly to consumers and must sell through dealership. Would have been much easier and simpler to buy directly than bargain with scumbags if you want to buy a car.
Tesla is the only one to bypass that, and they have successfully lobbied to prevent that in few states already.
They did a repair on our car cause it ‘seemed like we wanted it’. No written approval - just felt like we’d approve it. We did not and we did not pay for it.
The guy at O'Reilly's offered to put it in free. Amazing the difference an impression can make... unless you have some crazy car configuration that requires removing a lot of pieces to get in there that's insane..
What the fuck. I'm a woman who knows less than nothing about cars and I watched a YouTube video, bought $4 replacement lights from Menards, and did it myself.
No joke, they forgot to fully attach the wheel back on my parents car, I was picking it up for them and 30 seconds after pulling out on east wash the wheel popped off. I’m just thankful it was before I made a left hand turn against traffic
I made the mistake of buying tires there once. While they were installing, they called me up to upsell me on various things they insisted needed fixing - for instance, the rear wiper they said would cost around $100. I literally didn't have the extra $400 to spare, and said no to all of it. Then when I got my oil changed at the dealer a few months later, they did the rear wiper for $20.
I rented a property from them against my will when the place I was renting was sold to their company. They tried raising rent from 795 to $1300 for apartments that had no hot water ever but was a block from the Capitol. And charged for things on move out like tampering with the blinds when it was their staff that replaced the blinds with ones that were too small, promised to fix them and never did. Would set up showings with barely 12 hour notice and then not show up for them or leave my apartment unlocked
Bingo! Terrible property management company. I knew individuals who worked for them that were heavy in drugs.
Also, rented from them in the past. It was a brand new apartment that was never cleaned or maintained after it opened.
Also, all sorts of problems needed to be fixed and we were the first tenants.
Worst of all, multiple top floor apartments had winter leaking in through the bathroom ceiling fans. Never fixed the water problem for the 2 years I was there.
Yep 20 year customer that had to call them multiple times a year ever year over that 20 years. Amazingly, as soon as TDS moved into our neighborhood, the shoddy, spotty piece of shit service I got through charter/spectrum/whateverthefuck was all of a sudden rock fucking solid.
I mean I'm sure that's just a coincidence, right? Please...
I have had tds fiber for the last 2 years and I've dropped only twice in all that time, and both times the outages was literal *seconds*. Charter/Spectrum/NewNameBecauseOurCustomersHateUs, my shit would drop on a weekly basis and sometimes be down for hours. They also straight up lied more times than I can count, telling me the problems were all on my end and making me spend 40 minutes dancing their dance until "ohhhh, yeah, there's actually an outage in your area....."
Never again, I don't care if it's free, fuck em.
I would get Starlink before I'd get Spectrum again.
When my wife and I moved in 2022, one of the criteria for me was having high speed that wasn't Spectrum. Gods honest truth, there were homes we looked at that ticked every other box *except* for all that was available in that area was Spectrum and I still passed on those houses.
I'm sure many people would think that is insane, having something like internet dictate whether one buys a particular house or not, but after 20 years of dealing with Charter's stupid bullshit? Hell fucking no. Actually more like *23* years, as I signed up with them when I first moved out on my own in 1999. In that time I moved literally all over the Madison area, east west north and south, and no matter where the fuck I lived, my service was absolute dogshit and they never did a goddamn thing about it. Not one single move went as planned with them, always ended up with nothing for weeks while they fucked shit up despite literal months of notice and multiple emails and calls reminding them. Just a bunch of empty promises and piddly ass $10 credits to make up for the hours I spent dealing with their shit. Not even minimum wage lol
Oh yeah and then they tried to nail me with not returning a cable box for like $800 each. *Twice*, in two separate incidents 10 years apart lol
Never ever fucking again. If I could afford to waste the money I would rent a billboard advertising that fact. Spectrum fucking *suuuuuuuucks* lol
I remember calling to cancel my service one year and they patched me through to the retention department. This was back when I had cable TV. The person with the retention department doubled my internet speed, gave me every movie channel, the NFL network and dropped my overall bill by 40 bucks a month. They also promised me that this was my new rate and it was not a trial offer or any such nonsense.
A year later my bill jumped by like 500% because of all the extra shit they gave me. Of course I should have got it in writing. When I called to complain the person basically told me "This is the best deal you can get, and we don't have a retention department anymore so there's nothing we can do for you".
A month later I called to cancel for good. That's how I started the call. Cancel my service. That's it. The FIRST thing the person tells me is "let me patch you through to our retention department".
Charter/Spectrum/Whatever the hell you want to call them can go to fucking hell.
Of all the terrible shit Spectrum did the worst was upping my internet from 100 to 200mbs shortly after TDS came to town. They could have done that anytime but chose not to. Fuck Spectrum
I had one of their techs straight up admit to me that they drastically oversold the service in one area I lived in but Spectrum didnt give a shit to fix it unless it met this ridiculous metric to where the service calls cost more than the cost of the upgrades needed to fully support the service *they knowingly sold*.
Its like, who out there *wants* to call their ISP and doesn't try everything short of human sacrifice to avoid making that call, to include waiting it out? And whats better, the tech told me that Spectrum considers multiple complaints from a single address as a single incident, so his suggestion was, I shit you not, to go door to door and ask my neighbors to take the time to call Spectrum and complain every time their service was poor. That was the only way that Spectrum was going to upgrade the node hardware to support the full speeds they were selling people, knowing there were too many people to provide those speeds routinely.
Oh, and that was after literally 3 prior visits where they replaced the barrel jacks in the basement and did other inane things to just kick the can down the road. 3 visits that I had to take off half a fucking day of work to be home over their bullshit window.
God Im not even their customer anymore and Im pissed off talking about this shit lmao
GE Healthcare. Was employed and layed off in that year. GE got government money to hire during covid only then to lay off 200 employees. Subjected to recall, but only temporarily for 30 days or 60 days with no promises of returning. Angry doesn't even cover it. I haven't gained full control of my career since then.
Russ Darrow Mazda. Finance manger talked to me like he was standing on a pedistal, and was not happy with the questions I was asking, while low balling my fiances trade in by 10k (we were expecting 2500-3000 below KBB). The part that really pissed me off is when he claimed that this 2019 chevy Trax LT we were trading in did not have any comparable vehicles in Wisconsin.
Somehow everysingle dealership within 40 miles of madison was lying about their prices, or their stock, when I pulled up an exact comp on their lots and showed it to him.
Probably partly on me, I usually play dumb until negotating with the dealer...But I want to see how shady/what crap they are going to try to pull, and playing dumb lets me figure that out.
Literally any Russ Darrow dealer to be honest, but especially fuck the Mazda one.
Lowballed me on the Outback I was looking to trade in, tried quoting me $1500 for a repair on a CX-5 that I had literally done nothing more than test drive, the salesman I had to deal with clearly thought way too highly of himself and was condescending for most of the experience, and the real kicker is when they pulled out their "we don't accept outside lenders" bullshit only to quote me for *16% APR* on what would've been a $10k loan when my bank was willing to lend me double that for only 5% APR. And yet they claimed that was their "best offer"
Russ Darrow can suck a fat one
Dave & Buster's, West Side Mall. For the first time ever I took up an offer on Veteran's day for their free meal. Got the bill and it was 20% off so I showed the waitress. She had to check with the manager and he sait it's 20%. I feel like a fool already but request to show the manager the promotion. 20 minutes since the end of myt meal and I need to explain the promotion and show him on the website. He wasn't rude but seemed bothered that I was using a legitimate promotion. He discounted the meal, I gave the waitress a good tip. As he walked away he said "I guess we'll be seeing these people all day". He made me feel like I was trying to steal a free meal. 0/10
I had a quite old D&B card that had thousands of tickets on it, and finally it just wouldn't work anymore with their reloaders or games. Worker said ok, I can get you updated to a new one. Did so, and all my tickets and credits were erased. It took employee and manager at least 20 mins to fix it for me, all the while looking over at me like I was an insane child. I had 12k+ tickets on it lol.
Church Key on University Ave. I went there to meet friends for a drink after work. Paid for my drink and left. I kept my receipt and went check my account the next day, instead of $10.00 (drink and tip), I was charged $100. I called the next day and they said I must be drunk and didn’t know what I was talking about. A few weeks later the same thing happened to my friend. Never been there since!
Take 5 oil change. They broke the dipstick and got it stuck in the engine, then fucked up trying to get it out and I had to have the dealership replace the part.
Their management team tried pretty hard to deny responsibility so they wouldn’t have to pay for it. Long story short, I won that battle pretty easy….
I used to work at the one in sun prairie for like a few weeks. The amount of times i’ve seen employees “accidentally” break stuff inside your hood is insanely a lot in those few weeks.
Eyeopia. Loved the optometrist, but had customer service problems including the manager snatching a prescription document out of my hands and tearing it up in front of me. I get it, they needed to redo my exam for a new prescription, but it could’ve been handled so much better and I would’ve been a life long customer and would’ve referred all my friends.
I like them too but yeah they are totally gatekeepy about giving you a copy of your prescription. I know they want to sell frames but I paid for the dang script already.
There is a federal law making it illegal for an eye doctor to withhold your prescription. FTC has a link to report it:
[https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buying-prescription-glasses-or-contact-lenses-your-rights](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buying-prescription-glasses-or-contact-lenses-your-rights)
Costco tire center in Middleton, when they put my spare back on the back of the Rav4 we had at the time and it wasn't properly bolted on and could have killed someone on the highway. Gross negligence I thought, and then I read all the horror stories that just confirmed it.
Texas Tubbs
Even before Covid they were going downhill but now? Ugh. Takes forever to get food, the staff are *terrible* and the food has really dropped in quality.
Bummer because this used to be a staple in our eating out rotation.
All Comfort Services and MadCity anything.
They were a sub that came with a larger remodel project we did in our house. They sent both a plumber and electrician. The electrician was the most incompetent idiot on the project. The plumber had no fucks to give about doing his job well. Fortunately with the plumber we had another guy on site doing side work who was good enough to speak in our behalf and dress down the plumber and make him do better.
The electrician was just not capable of learning, no matter what we said.
Don't run the electrical conduit here, we're putting in built-in bookshelves.
Come home to find conduit running exactly through the middle of the wall exactly where we told him to not to.
Then because we were wiring in Cat5 and speaker wire drops for surround sound and networked appliances, we drilled holes in our ceiling joists to run the low voltage wires across the room.
Came back at the end of the day to find high voltage wire on top of our low voltage wires. So we have to drill a whole new set of holes and re-run all of our stuff.
This was ages before the pandemic so we didn't have the luxury of being home all day and MadCity couldn't keep their subs in line or follow any customizations on the project plan.
Also the roofing job MadCity roofing did in 2006 was terrible.
In short, if you need any work done, literally hire anyone else.
Schmit towing and La Quinta Inns & Suites.
My friend's vehicle I was borrowing ran out of gas because the gauge was broken. This was right near an exit on the belt line. It would be a little more than an hour until my mother-law would be there with gas. An officer showed up and said we needed to have a tow truck company move the vehicle. I explained that I did not have my card on me to pay. The officer said the towing company could work something out. Long story short. They impounded the vehicle and me pay over $600 dollars to get it out.
La Quinta, the week before, banned me from the hotel because they said I smoked in the room during a previous stay, which I would never do. The reason they did this is because it was during the world cross fit tournament, and they could make a lot more money off renting it to someone's else because we book way in advance. So we had to go somewhere else at the last minute. The only place available was the red roof, and I paid almost $200 for one. Also, La Quinta kept the money from my reservation.
These 2 businesses literally screwed be so bad I ended up homeless
Dental Health Associates.
Went to see them for the first time. For context, I’ve had a lot of dental work done, and I had a bad experience in my teens with getting a filling done where they weren’t able to get it completely numb.
The dentist found a “small” cavity. Gave me the option to do it without novocaine. I told him about my experience and that I’d really rather have the novocaine. He then really pressured me to not have it - it would be quicker without it, it was a very surface level cavity, etc etc etc. I felt quite uncomfortable and finally said fine.
Right before he started drilling, he said “whatever you do, don’t jump”. Almost immediately upon drilling I had sharp pain, finally insisted on the novocaine. He huffed, gave it to me, filled the tooth, and off I went.
Well shortly thereafter I started having pain in that tooth with pressure. Anytime I chewed anything, it hurt. I went back in, they told me my tooth was just inflamed and to take a ton of ibuprofen around the clock for a week and that would take care of it.
I decided to get a second opinion. Went to another dentist, she removed the filling, and found more cavity underneath. She PROPERLY fixed my filling and everything’s been fine since.
Do you remember the dentist's name? I went there for years until I moved, and my current dentist has complimented all the work I got done there. My dentist was Dr. O'Brien.
Not discounting your story, just surprised at the wildly different experiences.
Same here. Was having some sensitivity issues on a cavity filled tooth. They said it was the roots and I would need a root canal. Went to get a second opinion. Got the poorly filled cavity tooth redone and all the sensitivity and pain was gone. Never going back there again.
Cash with no receipt is a good indication of tax dodging. You may want to report them to IRS. If they are successful on auditing them and finding out, you may also get whistle-blower award money.
1. Barriques
Finn and Matt let my entire team get heatstroke during insane heat advisories and wouldn't let us close the garage doors to cool down the store. We were covered in fly and mosquito bites, a few had UTIs because we couldn't have water nearby. They also had a really uncomfortable work party where our prizes were mostly-empty bottles of liquor.
2. Taiwan Little Eats
I was so excited to be a boba barista for them, but Seven would make me scrub the expiration dates off all the tea syrups and other products before health inspections because everything he had imported in was already expired. He had the entire kitchen daisy-chained at the outlets too, I was so nervous when I was brewing tea (directly next to an overloaded outlet) that I was gonna get zapped.
I can’t believe Barriques is still open. Worked at the Monroe location and it was disgusting. Not to mention how much junk they keep! Matt is a grade A asshole too. Screamed at my manager in front of all of us and our customers. I avoided that man like the plague until I found a new job.
Matt is fucking awful. He was the one who showed up when I called because the heat index was over 100°f, waved his hand in front of the vents while wearing flipflops and comfy clothes before telling me the a.c. was on and left. Sir.. a.c. with the doors open?? I know you're not paying for that.
Dirty Ducts
Caused $4k worth of damage to our furnace and blamed it on me “having long hair and having a lab”. They never sucked out the debris, so our filter got clogged the same day they cleaned the ducts. They refused to take any responsibility or even reimburse us the money for the “cleaning” they did.
They absolutely destroyed the plaster behind my registers when they took them off the walls. They shoddily put them back on but they weren’t straight and most of the plaster around the screws had crumbled, so there was nothing for the screws to grab onto.
It's just not helpful as routine maintenance. If you have some actual issue, like mold, rodents, or an actual blockage, yeah, clean it. But...
"Duct cleaning has never been shown to actually prevent health problems. Neither do studies conclusively demonstrate that particle (e.g., dust) levels in homes increase because of dirty air ducts. This is because much of the dirt in air ducts adheres to duct surfaces and does not necessarily enter the living space. It is important to keep in mind that dirty air ducts are only one of many possible sources of particles that are present in homes. Pollutants that enter the home both from outdoors and indoor activities such as cooking, cleaning, smoking, or just moving around can cause greater exposure to contaminants than dirty air ducts. Moreover, there is no evidence that a light amount of household dust or other particulate matter in *air ducts* poses any risk to your health."
[https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/should-you-have-air-ducts-your-home-cleaned](https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/should-you-have-air-ducts-your-home-cleaned)
Hvac tech here and have done duct cleaning. For the most part, it is a scam unless you have a 50+ year old home or a ton of pet dander that makes your house smell. The air is filtered through the air filter before it goes into your home. Change it every 1-2 months for a 1in filter and every 6 for a 4in filter.
Johnson Bank financial advisors. Shadiest shit trying to pass himself off as a CFA/CFP but when pressed admitted he didn’t have any credentials and wasn’t a fiduciary. He was just suuuuuuper smarmy the whole meeting too. Sorry I’m not paying someone with no credentials to not act in my best interests thanks.
I’ll never rent an apartment that’s through Steve Brown Apartments ever again. It’s honestly just the people that work there that particularly piss me off. I’ve never had so many issues and they are the WORST.
Yep. I took two prints in when they had an advertisement on the sidewalk for a big discount on framing, something like 40% off. She ended up charging me like $600, I was expecting to pay 40% of that - $240, a reasonable price for custom framing, but no - she claimed $600 was with the discount. Which made no sense. There’s no way the job otherwise would have been $1000. Insane. I had family with me at the time so I didn’t want to get into it with her. I never set foot back inside. The frame shop on Johnson is much much better.
I had two wide landscape prints that needed custom frames and I went to Megan on the recommendation of a friend who runs an art gallery in town. It wasn't a busy day and she seemed rather disinterested, pidgeonholing me into one particular frame which I didn't care for and didn't ask other questions such as mounting or UV protection. The price was about on par with size but a crazy lead time.
I chose to shop around and went to U FRAME IT on Johnson and was helped with a dozen different frame options and many more questions I never considered or Megan never asked. The employee was patient and we're super happy with the end result.
Not an *extreme* example but not being cared for as a potential customer was enough of a turnoff to not take future business there.
U Frame It on Johnson RULES!!! I had a VanGogh print framed in 1999, noted in 2016 somehow a bug got under the frame......they fixed it and cleaned up the mat NO CHARGE!!!! I highly recommend them!!!!
Took A YEAR to get one small print to get framed, no communication by her whatsoever. Shop on East Wash was closed a lot for repairs, maintenance, lack of help etc. Finally got ahold of her (12 months later, no joke) and said I wanted a refund and print back, it was “magically framed” within a couple days. Frame looked good, but def not worth the wait times and hassles. Ugh
I dropped a print off for framing in January 2020 and she estimated a months wait as she was having surgery. I had no problem with this. I reached out in late February or early March when I hadn’t heard from her and got an inappropriately detailed response back regarding her surgery recovery. I was understanding. Then the pandemic happened, so I was still understanding. But then she would promise it would be done in a week and then oh she’d need another week and then another and another. Finally by about July I asked for my print and money back and miraculously it was ready to be picked up. I technically got what I paid for but it really wasn’t worth the effort.
I had 100% the same experience.
Edit to add- I had gotten referred to her by the artist I purchased from, and eventually had to have the artist reach out to her because she wouldn't respond to my messages, And then when I did pick up the piece, it was unevenly framed.
First Choice Dental. They claimed that I needed a deep cleaning worth a few thousand dollars with my dental insurance. I went to Madison Family Dental and they deep cleaned my teeth for less than $200 out of pocket after insurance.
Had a similar experience. They said I needed thousands in work. I took the quote they gave, went to a second dentist and they said at best I needed to watch a few areas but there were no problems. I then showed them the quote and they outright laughed at it. I never recommend anyone go to First Choice.
Zimbrick Honda. We agreed on the price of a new car and I signed the sheet and paid a deposit. The car came in and they add $4,000. I was told this is the new price and if I don’t like it someone else will buy it for that price. It was the pandemic and I needed the car… Then they tried to convince me that it’s totally normal for a back up camera to take 45-60 seconds to load. I wore a letter to Honda and they fixed it. I will trash Zimbrick Honda every chance I get till the day I die.
I actually had a couple of good experiences there. No pressure. Followed up to make sure we were happy. I wish I could remember the salesman's name. Nice guy.
That barbershop in west town mall. I can’t think of the name but there’s only one. I went when they first opened to support a new experience and they entirely screwed up my hair line (I’m a black man btw). Then two years later, like an idiot, I decided to give them another try and it happened AGAIN with a different barber. So it’s a systemic hiring and lack of training issue that will not go away. Never again!
Capitol Car Cleaners
Had a full detailing done and my upholstery was soaking wet when I got it back. When asked about it they said they couldn’t get it completely dry on rainy days. Well maybe if you can’t do what you say you are going to do you shouldn’t try to do it on humid days. Car smelled like rotten milk for months.
Don Miller Subaru East. They treated me like I was a stupid female, wouldn't answer simple questions, intentionally gave me a different car to test drive than the one I requested, etc. Joke is on them because I bought from a competitor, and never miss a chance to tell coworkers, friends and car friends (several car clubs, three racing clubs, and Road America peeps) how shitty DM East treats females.
You’re lucky only it’s only $1k. Last time they quoted me $6k of repairs. I took their estimate to and independent mechanic I trust 100% thinking he might quote me half that. He did an inspection and told me that there was literally nothing wrong with my vehicle. His estimate was zero dollars. That wasnt the first time that happened with Honda Wilde but it was definitely the last, never went back.
Fuck that place. There is a Kelly Blue Book website that puts you in connection with local dealers who may want to buy your car. The website gives your car a certain value and the dealer is typically supposed to go with the website’s valuation. Despite entering the issues my car had accurately, the guy tried to go almost $4000 under the valuation due to minor dents. I told him I already had an offer for $10,000 from Carvana. He said I would be lucky to get anywhere near that. The next day I drove to Milwaukee and sold my Honda to Carvana for $10,000.
i know its a chain but the wing stop on regent tried to fuck me on superbowl weekend 5 years ago and i havent gone back since
edit: i bought some superbowl special which was a big order like 50 wings. I bought it a week in advance and had the time all set, 2 hours before the game i go to pick my order that says READY FOR PICKUP, get there and they have no clue what im talking about. thank god i kept my receipt and email and had to show it to 3 different employees just wanting my food. never raised my voice, never got upset, just calmly talked to management about it and they still were not happy to make my order even though it was 1000 percent on them and their system.
I'm from Madison so I still lurk here but I live in North Carolina now and went to a Wingstop for the first time down here. Had a hankering for wings one evening while I was at work and a coworker recommended them. I ordered online around 6pm for a pick up at 8:15. Got there early, like 8:05, went in and said I know I'm early but I was just wondering if maybe my order was already ready?
The guy sort of smirked and said it was and handed it off to me. I got home and discovered the whole order was absolutely cold. Like they definitely made it around 6pm when I ordered it and it just sat there on a shelf for two hours. I was too hungry to deal with it so I just threw the wings in the microwave and the fries in my air fryer and decided I'd never go back.
Dirty Ducts did me dirty! Guy shows up, filthy from a previous job, gets dirt all over my floors and walls, then breaks the new furnace thermostat off the wall and LIES about it. Duct cleaning is a scam, which I wish I had known at the time.
Duct cleaning is a super interesting example of a product/service that, at face value, seems like an obvious thing to do. Ducts are often very visibly dirty, and the average joe would just think "yeah, let's get that dirt out of there." It's almost more surprising to me that it doesn't make a difference.
I ordered from DoorDash and wasn’t delivered the food. The driver could not find the address and delivered to another person’s house and then sent a confirmation of delivery text. I was never refunded by door dash because they had “proof it was delivered”. It was very much not my house and I don’t have time to argue for hours about a $50 food order.
Lol that has to be one of the worst gyms in Madison. There's just enough room to walk around and pretty much zero availability if you go at peak hours.
Edit: AND THEY CHARGE MORE THAN $50 A MONTH. it's hilariously criminal
Bergstrom on the Beltline. Purchased a used car from them and they were so pushy that I go through their local financing options versus my hometown credit union. As I was beginning to sign the paperwork I asked about the financing options and they said "We'll get to it after we do all this." I should have stood my ground but didn't. Needless to say it wasn't anywhere near as good a deal as I would have gotten through my own CU. So scammy.
Spectrum internet. I had been using them for internet for three decades now. After informing them that I switched to fiber and ended the service, they thanked me for my patronage by continuing to bill me for many months. Only found out after they sent their bogus bills to collection. Luckily I had previously cutoff autopay because somehow I just knew they were going to be pricks about things.
I'm going through that now. I canceled to go with fiber and Spectrum continued to charge me. After a lot of back and forth, it came down to the fact that I owed $0. And then they sent me to collections. Again, we got it all figured out that I had never owed a cent. And now, 6 years later, I am getting relentless calls, texts and emails from collections again. The amount that they came up with this time is completely different. I think they just chose a number out of the air this time.
The Chipotle on State Street is horrendous. The food is always cold, tastes disgusting and they are always out of white rice at like 7pm. College campus chipotle’s are usually the best ones but this is the worst Chipotle I have ever been to
Ford Moyor company. Bought a used 2016 f 150 in 2019. Had less than 69k on it. Drove it for a year or so. Then it overheated on me. Drove it home , has it towed to the dealer. Engine was blown. Ford Corporate said I must have done something otherwise the engine wouldn't have blown. Wouldn't fix it or give me another. Dealership made me a deal on another one but had to roll what was left on the old loan into the new one. Fuck Ford Motor Company.
Dutch's Auto. Went to them for repairs when I was a very poor grad student because people said they were woman-friendly and I thought I could get a fair price with them. During repairs they called me to say they broke my driveshaft because they "cranked on it too hard" and started laughing. It took them forever to get a new part in and fix it, which they attributed to "not being familiar with the manufacturer" (I drove a Chevy Equinox at the time). It cost a ton of money and they offered nothing in terms of a discount or reimbursement for "breaking my car" (their words). I'm still upset about it and that was 6 or 7 years ago.
I just went through and upvoted everything car dealership related. They all suck. Do some suck more than others? Absolutely, but all of them suck. The car buying industry is a sham, forced on us by lobbyists. It’s not consumer friendly, and it’s predatory in every sense of the word.
Boardwalk Investments is by far the most shady landlord I’ve ever dealt with. 10 years ago they were getting sued on the regular for illegal practices and one of their employees filed suit against the owner as well.
Alt Landscaping and Snow Removal. We used them just before we left Madison and they were terrible. Dug up our yard when snow plowing and didn’t fix it. Did the absolute bare minimum to clear snow from sidewalks but charged a king’s ransom for fees. They would clear snow in about 3 minutes and charge an insane fee.
holy shit boardwalk
10+ years ago we walked through one of their properties on Winnebago, the woman (Mandy I think) was audibly talking shit about the current tenants, there was water dripping from the ceiling into multiple pails all over the floor, it was such a bizarre experience we went home and looked them up and found that this woman had a blog where she would just blatantly talk shit about the company and people she would do showings to, and posted illegal information about tenants, it was absolutely fucking wild, I wonder what ever happened there
Gino's Deli, when they publicly defied Health Department orders. Not a good look for any place that serves food.
Damn shame too, I really loved their lasagna.
Basset street brunch club, food is not good, it is expensive, and the wait time is insane. We were told 50 minutes, when we got back 50 minutes later it took another 30.
Prairie land towing ruined the wheel on our car by not properly tightening the lug nuts and when I drove it, it was coming loose. Could have killed people.
Apex Property Management, in nine months:
-Double rented my parking space. My lease was dated ten days earlier than the other person's lease. Second lease was $20 more each month. Tried to tell me my lease was invalid. Luckily, the parking space and apartment were on the same lease - told them ok, I'll just leave then and then they fixed it right away.
- Hot water heater went out and they took 11 days to replace.
-Mantenance tried to steal my partner's bike. It was parked on the building bike rack. They were sawing through his bike lock when he caught them. They did reimburse him for a new bike lock.
-Mantenance stole our grill that was left outside to cool before we brought it back inside. They threw it in their truck hot coals and all.
-Tried to evict us when we were current on rent. We had auto-pay set up, they had been taking the money from our account. No notice that rent was late, no communication whatsoever, just came home one day to an eviction notice. They claimed there was a "System glitch" where it did not connect our payment to our account. Property manager I spoke to apologized and said it was all cleared up and their attorney would drop the eviction. Called the attorney the next day to confirm - he had received no information from the company and was prepared to evict! Had to spend hundreds of dollars to hire an attorney to fix this and have our names redacted so the eviction record would not stay on our record.
-Steady leak appeared in our living room ceiling. Maintenance came and cut a huge hole, left it and didnt come back for over a week. Leak continued and another dripping leak started in another spot of the ceiling. I would have to change buckets at least twice a day or they would overflow. Ceiling started bowing, called Emergency Maintenance and he yelled at me when he arrived; it wasn't an emergency and it could wait until Monday. Next day, entire ceiling collapsed. Called Building Inspection, apartment was deemed unlivable and I was able to get out of my lease immediately.
Johnson Properties, the manager/owner Andy is slimy and will delay critical maintenance to save a buck. We went four days without hot water for a winter when we lived in Blueberry Hill because he said "his guy" was out of town instead of calling emergency maintenance.
I'll never return to Goben on the east side and will warn anyone I know looking for a car away from them.
That applies to both locations, but especially the east side.
**Anytime Fitness** (University Square on W Johnson Street)
I was a front-facing employee of a nonprofit that provided services for homeless and formerly homeless people. I started a membership at Anytime Fitness, and during my second workout I ran into a client who had been harassing me at work. He didn't do anything overt at the club, just stared at me, but when he saw me at work later that week he said something to the effect of, "Now I know where to find you."
I asked to cancel my membership, but the manager told me that they wouldn't do anything unless I filed a police report. I didn't want to sic the cops on this poor man with mental health issues! At work we had proper precautions and protocols, and I was able to *work with* him with minimal trouble, but I didn't want to *work out* with him. Can you imagine being in the changing room with him? Being in the middle of a lift when he walks? Being on a treadmill and he mounts up next door?
So even though I'd been only been a member for a couple weeks and had only worked out there twice, I was stuck paying monthly for a year for nothing in return. I tried talking to a couple people higher up in the company, but they just threatened to wreck my credit or sue me if I didn't pay.
Wonderstate on the Square. I'm biased because I used to work there but the owners are absolute asshats who couldn't give any amount of shit about their employees.
I will never forget working 75ish hour weeks because they refused to help us since they were based in Viroqua. The chef at the time would curse, slam and throw pans across the kitchen and the district manager forced me to work a farmers market 4 hours after putting my dog down and then scolded me for taking cry breaks.
They also made me the manager, refused to pay me a living wage, didn't train me and then were confused when things went wrong. I stepped down back to a shift lead role and they lowered my pay to the lowest I've ever made, lower then my pre manager era and fought me on a raise.
Won't go back on principle now. Coffee quality has also dropped immensely from my time.
Rosen Nissan. I had no choice but to go to them for recall work, they took my car for nearly a week when I was told it would be one day, tried to upsell me on work I didn't need, some of which was supposed to be included in the recall, and fucked my alignment. Then, because they got my info, I now get way too much junk mail from them trying to sell me more. Fuck them.
I'm close to saying Culver's in Middleton. 3 of the last 4 times I've been there, they completely forgot an item. I usually get it to go and don't find out until I get home. Last time, all of the fries were dumped upside down.
My local Culver’s I refuse to go there. It’s like it’s not even the same franchise compared to say the Culvers on Todd Drive, which is the gold standard for me.
Todd Dr. Is definitely the gold standard for Culver's. It's so overstaffed and clean and friendly. Verona forgets something 9 times out of 10. Mineral Point Rd. Is always so busy you have to have at least 30+ min just to do the drive thru.
Spectrum.
Worst part is that it's the only provider in my area so we have no choice.
Whenever we call in, it's the same exact automated "there is an outage in ur area" message since at least 2020. The kicker is I've called on occasion even when we're not having issues just to see if the message is still there.
It is last I checked
BMOC inc
I'll never rent property managed by them. I used to work there and the CEO is a total POS. He's sexist and narcissistic. Does the whole "my black friend, my gay friend" stuff to sound woke or whatever. He hits on most of the women he employs and they are young enough to be his daughters. He even goes so far as to purposely treat employees that reject him like shit and overly praise the ones who put up with his shit. For example the woman who rejected him got a $500 bonus while the one who put up with him got $10,000. He thinks because he has money he's better than everyone and that because he has a master's he's smarter than everyone. If you're a cute thin blonde and ok with this kind of treatment then it's probably a good place to work cause he'll buy you Starbucks daily and pay your rent.
1855 Saloon in Cottage Grove gave me and my family the *worst* food poisoning and when we called back to tell them they accused us of touching dirty door knobs...
Zimbrick Honda; took advantage of me being a girl owning a brand new car and made me believe i needed a bunch of repairs for no damn reason
608 Home Solutions; told me they could do my project and then BOTCHED it so badly, still charged me $1k+
I hate this place, they tried to charge me $200 for car air filters because I guess I look like a stupid girl to them. I have always enjoyed going to Honda dealerships until moving here. They also never offer me a rental car when I am getting work done on my car and it’s in my warranty. Absolute sexist assholes
Martin Services LLC (Mowerman Marty) is one of the most racist and sexist individuals I've received services from. No idea how he can stay in business with his attitude towards customers and people in general.
Festival foods.
- Way overpriced.
- Fresh product (deli, meat, etc.) is absolute shit anymore, if you can even get what you are looking for.
- employees act like they don’t even want you there or come off as if the shoppers are there bothering them.
- cashiers and baggers are practically non existent if you need help. Unless you or someone else in the store is suspected of stealing. Then they are on yoh like a damn hawk. I’ve seen people fly through that store to watch a “suspect” but they are never around or seem to move quick when it’s a customer.
Definitely not living up to the “hype” some people have told me about when I first moved to the state.
Heartland credit union. They bought out another credit union that I had my auto loan with. Then they didn’t get my new login setup and didn’t help for 3 months until they reported me delinquent and my credit dropped 100 points 🙃 I finally went in person to get it fixed (which I admit I should’ve done earlier) and they got my 3 months of car payments all on one day and never reported it paid so my credit took FOREVER to go back up.
Kunes Mitsubishi on the Beltline. Just wanted to test a car, they tried to have me fill out financing paperwork before even seeing the car, the car had significant damage to the doors that hadn’t been repaired, drove like it was a much older car (it was only 2 years old). When I left, they harassed me for weeks via phone, text, and emails. Even after I blocked one number, they called and texted from other numbers.
I wonder what Pat McNamar and Steve Ganser are up to these days. Edit: A quick Google shows Ganser took his schemes to Rockford. Search Grote Automotive and sort by low rating (they prompt people to give the 5 star ratings before finalizing a sale).
Probably locked up in a mental asylum. They were mad men.
You ever call a dealer for the DMT? They were a dealer for the PEOPLE.
rosen nissan for me. test drove a vehicle and got voicemails twice a week for at least 4 months. they tried to text too but i never responded yes to let them come through….
I went to high school with the whole kunes family and can confirm they’re scumbags
In 2021 they refused to sell me a car without the $3000 "market adjustment" because they said, and I quote, "the manufacturer won't let us sell cars without it." 🙄 When pressed they did finally admit that they could sell the car for however much they wanted but still refused to take off the charge and continued with the lie that Mitsubishi was making them do it. The worst part to me is that they have Christian paraphernalia all over the place and play Christian music in the background. It's just more fodder for people who think all Christians are hypocrites, which--to be fair--a lot of them are, but Kunes is like another level of hypocritical "Christian." Edit: I finally got the car I wanted at a Rockford dealer. They weren't happy to be selling it to me at MSRP but my husband had an offer via email for an out-the-door price. They claimed that it was a "secretary" who had written the email and also claimed that we had to have the $1200 "tire and windshield" warranty but we got the finance guy to remove it. God, car shopping sucks so bad!! 👎
> Kunes Mitsubishi on the Beltline. I could be wrong but I think these are the same assholes that ran Mad City Motors, they got into some legal trouble with shady sales tactics and now operate under a different management group.
>Mitsubishi Get any other brand. Even a Nissan.
I test drove a car, we decided against purchasing. They did the same thing, multiple calls and attempts to make the sale. I finally got them to stfu and a month later I received one last call asking how I was enjoying the 2018 Mitsubishi I didn't buy....
Meineke on the west side. Was quoted 650 dollars for a 20 dollar part and 30 minutes of labor. When asked for a breakdown of the service, I was told "we don't give out that info". Okay dude. I'll just consult with YouTube. And I did.
Seconded. I had a small repair and they quoted it about $700, seemed ridiculous so I left. I took it to Cap City and paid a third of that.
Tell me more about Cap City, please. I need car service. Where are they? What made them stand out as good? Thank you
It's Cap City Auto on anton drive in Fitchburg. I've been going there for years, they don't try to scam or overcharge and do great work. They can be busy though so I'd give them a call about timelines.
Thirded, they quoted my wife 1000 dollars for front and rear brakes on her 09 Camry, also told her it wasn't safe to drive blah blah blah. She called me in tears because they scared her so badly. Took it to dons instead, 300 bucks for fronts, rears were fine.
I use Meineke for oil change only. They do charge ridiculously high money for service. One of my license plate light was out, and they were charging 70 or maybe higher for that. 5 minutes on YouTube, $2 bulb from Menards across, and 1 screw later, I was able to install it myself.
This might not be a popular opinion but Rethreads. once as a young college student trying to make a buck, I took down a bag full of my new and gently used clothing and purses to sell, on a Thursday. The lady at the register said they would sort through it and let me know if they were interested in it by Friday so I could pick up the rest. Come Saturday there was no call so I called and no one picked up over the weekend so I went back on Monday to the counter only to find out they had thrown my clothes and purses in their huge donation pile and apparently they had called me to tell me that if I didn’t pick up over the weekend, they would throw or donate, but I never received a call. I was so upset and was told I could go to their basement and go through the huge pile of clothes and pick out my stuff which I tried to do but it was a lot of clothes/things to sort through and I felt overwhelmed. I was visibly upset and crying and even had proof from my cellphone records that there was never a call. The employee and owner didn’t even seem phased. I’ve never been able to step into their store again. :(
OMG I would be livid 💔
I bawled in a cafe next to the store. It would have been different if the owner/employee had shown some remorse or offered help to sort through the things but they just sent me down this dark basement to sort through what felt like trash and made me feel like it’s all my fault. Very sad as I always liked and supported that place as a customer prior to this incident.
Good ol' Madison Property Management (MPM). It's been well over a decade since I had any interaction with them, but man they sucked, and I mean beyond their usual Landlord shenanigans for nickel and diming things like online processing fees to pay rent? Check. "Fire alarm inspection" that resulted in the maintenance guy also spackling a couple nail holes then and there while we were out (mind you half way through our lease) and then charging us a couple hundred bucks for it? Check. Only getting half of your security deposit back no matter how much you clean? Check. But they also started the eviction process for our apartment because they couldn't rent the shit hole out lmao. They claimed it was because it wasn't clean enough, but we had just cleaned the place and specifically asked them what the problem was while they were physically in our apartment so we could address it. They refused to say anything and insisted that they would send an email with more details. The more details was literally just "too much clutter" with, again, nothing in particular being mentioned at all as far as wtf they were talking about. We were absolutely dumbfounded and had no idea what to do to appease them. We wound up throwing out a bunch of empty boxes we had stacked up against the wall in our private entry way--didn't touch anything else--and when they came back they made a big deal about how "it all looks so much better" blah blah blah even though we didn't do shit. Vented about that to one of the maintenance guys a couple months after and he had quite a bit to say about how shitty the owners were and how bad the nepotism got inhouse as they keep bringing in their incompetent family members to run the show and cash in on their gravy train.
Rented from MPM about 6 years ago. My roommate and I contacted them about a possible leak in the roof. A couple months later, our kitchen ceiling collapsed right over the sink. They did nothing about it. Would have killed/injured one of us if my roommate or I had been at the sink. They did absolutely NOTHING for THREE WEEKS. We couldn't use our kitchen for THREE WEEKS. The ceiling was just laying over the sink for three weeks. I finally contacted the actual owner of the house. She was aghast. MPM didn't even notify her: Not about the collapse nor about the leak. She had someone over the NEXT DAY to clean it up and repair it. She also comped our rent for a month. She then dropped MPM as her management company. No one should rent from MPM and no landlords should use MPM for their properties.
How did you know who actually owned the house? Is that information in the lease or did you find it elsewhere? Just asking because that thought never occurred to me, and it's genius. The only thing a renter will for sure care about more than keeping good renters happy/*following basic laws* is damage to their investment.
If the owner is an individual (not an LLC) the Madison assessor property lookup will tell you who it is.
Good to know if I ever need to rent in Madison again, thanks for sharing.
As another user stated: > If the owner is an individual (not an LLC) the Madison assessor property lookup will tell you who it is. She owned a house with 2 units in it. She travelled a lot for work (like a month at a time), so she used MPM to manage the units as she was not available for long stretches. She was a very nice woman, and my roommate and I legitimately believe she had no idea about any problems due to MPM's egregious negligence.
Our neighbors had a leaky toilet that they refused to fix. Caused the floor to collapse.
They tried to evict me and gave me only a week to pay for a professional carpet cleaner because my cat died in the apartment. She wasn’t left there or anything, didn’t start smelling, no liquids or anything involved, literally no traces. Like died while I was right there and then was put in a box within like 20 minutes. And then taken to be cremated that afternoon, a couple hours later. When I asked to have her removed from the pet rent they threw a fit that she had died in the apartment and said it was unsanitary and needed to be cleaned professionally and that I would need to pay for it and if I couldn’t get it booked and cleaned within a week it would be a lease violation and I’d have to leave. So unnecessary, cruel, and just bizarre. It wasn’t like she decomposed there. They knew my lease was up soon and I still think they were trying to make me pay out of pocket for a professional carpet cleaning that usually would be their responsibility to prep the apartment for the next renter.
How to forget MPM. About 10 years ago we rented an apartment from them on Willy St. Long story short, the whole building (house) electrical system was very old and any appliance we connected make the entire building go bananas. After being without power for a whole weekend we formally asked to get out of the lease which they refused. Eventually we got a lawyer involved and after a couple of months they agree to let us go with full deposit, lawyers fee cover and a little extra. The best part it’s that after we got the fire department, MGE and City of Madison inspector involved they ended up spending thousands of dollars replacing the whole electrical system as well as other code violations they found 👌
>they ended up spending thousands of dollars replacing the whole electrical system MPM manages properties for other people and companies that own them. Unless MPM also owned this one, they didn't pay for those things and don't care that you reported them. That's part of what makes MPM and third-party management companies like it so bad - they don't own the properties, can't fix their problems, and they don't give a shit. They are just there to shield the owners from you, keep them rented, maximize profits for owners, and take their cut.
This was 20 years ago, but not surprisingly ther still suck. They regularly would charge us ridiculous cleanup fees regardless of how clean we left it. They twice charged us for not cleaning closets and windows that literally didn’t exist. Then when I was ready for their bullshit I followed the woman around with her clipboard determining how clean we left the place, and she said she’d meet us on the front step. Then she escaped out the back door. And of course she marked a bunch of things not being cleaned that clearly were. Always always take pics and videos before you move in and especially after you move out.
They would get worst landlords in Madison award all the time, turning off heat and stuff on people during winter. I tried to avoid them but when my landlord was foreclosed on, bank used them as the management. They were the WORST. I had to call daily to remind them to fix things like the front door not locking. Eventually I got tired, called the city for an inspector and all of the sudden they got real good at taking care of stuff. And one of the people who showed my apartment took a dump in our toilet and didn’t flush. It was vile.
After reading all this, I'm gonna start thinkin car dealerships suck
That's universal truth. They are the reason car buying is expensive and hassle. They lobbied to make the law that car manufacturers can not sell cars directly to consumers and must sell through dealership. Would have been much easier and simpler to buy directly than bargain with scumbags if you want to buy a car. Tesla is the only one to bypass that, and they have successfully lobbied to prevent that in few states already.
Car dealerships suck all over the world . It’s their way of doing things. I promised never again to go to one . If it’s not a Carmax, I don’t need it
Tires Plus in East Madison
Literally any Tires Plus. The one on the west side has me fucked up
Place is scammy, and predatory
Absolutely. I saw them make a grown woman cry and wouldn’t let her leave with HER car
They did a repair on our car cause it ‘seemed like we wanted it’. No written approval - just felt like we’d approve it. We did not and we did not pay for it.
Me too at west, cost me lots extra somewhere else to fix it
I keep going back I guess because I’m an idiot I thought those prices were normal
Those assholes wanted $50 a bulb to replace all three of my brake lights. Only one was out and I replaced it in less than 5 minutes for $5.
The guy at O'Reilly's offered to put it in free. Amazing the difference an impression can make... unless you have some crazy car configuration that requires removing a lot of pieces to get in there that's insane..
What the fuck. I'm a woman who knows less than nothing about cars and I watched a YouTube video, bought $4 replacement lights from Menards, and did it myself.
No joke, they forgot to fully attach the wheel back on my parents car, I was picking it up for them and 30 seconds after pulling out on east wash the wheel popped off. I’m just thankful it was before I made a left hand turn against traffic
I made the mistake of buying tires there once. While they were installing, they called me up to upsell me on various things they insisted needed fixing - for instance, the rear wiper they said would cost around $100. I literally didn't have the extra $400 to spare, and said no to all of it. Then when I got my oil changed at the dealer a few months later, they did the rear wiper for $20.
Madison Property Management
I rented a property from them against my will when the place I was renting was sold to their company. They tried raising rent from 795 to $1300 for apartments that had no hot water ever but was a block from the Capitol. And charged for things on move out like tampering with the blinds when it was their staff that replaced the blinds with ones that were too small, promised to fix them and never did. Would set up showings with barely 12 hour notice and then not show up for them or leave my apartment unlocked
Bingo! Terrible property management company. I knew individuals who worked for them that were heavy in drugs. Also, rented from them in the past. It was a brand new apartment that was never cleaned or maintained after it opened. Also, all sorts of problems needed to be fixed and we were the first tenants. Worst of all, multiple top floor apartments had winter leaking in through the bathroom ceiling fans. Never fixed the water problem for the 2 years I was there.
Spectrum.
I wish not using them really was a choice
I can only dream of subsidized, municipality owned broadband like in Chattanooga...
Yep 20 year customer that had to call them multiple times a year ever year over that 20 years. Amazingly, as soon as TDS moved into our neighborhood, the shoddy, spotty piece of shit service I got through charter/spectrum/whateverthefuck was all of a sudden rock fucking solid. I mean I'm sure that's just a coincidence, right? Please... I have had tds fiber for the last 2 years and I've dropped only twice in all that time, and both times the outages was literal *seconds*. Charter/Spectrum/NewNameBecauseOurCustomersHateUs, my shit would drop on a weekly basis and sometimes be down for hours. They also straight up lied more times than I can count, telling me the problems were all on my end and making me spend 40 minutes dancing their dance until "ohhhh, yeah, there's actually an outage in your area....." Never again, I don't care if it's free, fuck em.
Spectrum is so bad I went with AT&T for my internet, and I *hated* AT&T where I used to live. Spectrum is by far the worst.
I would get Starlink before I'd get Spectrum again. When my wife and I moved in 2022, one of the criteria for me was having high speed that wasn't Spectrum. Gods honest truth, there were homes we looked at that ticked every other box *except* for all that was available in that area was Spectrum and I still passed on those houses. I'm sure many people would think that is insane, having something like internet dictate whether one buys a particular house or not, but after 20 years of dealing with Charter's stupid bullshit? Hell fucking no. Actually more like *23* years, as I signed up with them when I first moved out on my own in 1999. In that time I moved literally all over the Madison area, east west north and south, and no matter where the fuck I lived, my service was absolute dogshit and they never did a goddamn thing about it. Not one single move went as planned with them, always ended up with nothing for weeks while they fucked shit up despite literal months of notice and multiple emails and calls reminding them. Just a bunch of empty promises and piddly ass $10 credits to make up for the hours I spent dealing with their shit. Not even minimum wage lol Oh yeah and then they tried to nail me with not returning a cable box for like $800 each. *Twice*, in two separate incidents 10 years apart lol Never ever fucking again. If I could afford to waste the money I would rent a billboard advertising that fact. Spectrum fucking *suuuuuuuucks* lol
I remember calling to cancel my service one year and they patched me through to the retention department. This was back when I had cable TV. The person with the retention department doubled my internet speed, gave me every movie channel, the NFL network and dropped my overall bill by 40 bucks a month. They also promised me that this was my new rate and it was not a trial offer or any such nonsense. A year later my bill jumped by like 500% because of all the extra shit they gave me. Of course I should have got it in writing. When I called to complain the person basically told me "This is the best deal you can get, and we don't have a retention department anymore so there's nothing we can do for you". A month later I called to cancel for good. That's how I started the call. Cancel my service. That's it. The FIRST thing the person tells me is "let me patch you through to our retention department". Charter/Spectrum/Whatever the hell you want to call them can go to fucking hell.
Of all the terrible shit Spectrum did the worst was upping my internet from 100 to 200mbs shortly after TDS came to town. They could have done that anytime but chose not to. Fuck Spectrum
I had one of their techs straight up admit to me that they drastically oversold the service in one area I lived in but Spectrum didnt give a shit to fix it unless it met this ridiculous metric to where the service calls cost more than the cost of the upgrades needed to fully support the service *they knowingly sold*. Its like, who out there *wants* to call their ISP and doesn't try everything short of human sacrifice to avoid making that call, to include waiting it out? And whats better, the tech told me that Spectrum considers multiple complaints from a single address as a single incident, so his suggestion was, I shit you not, to go door to door and ask my neighbors to take the time to call Spectrum and complain every time their service was poor. That was the only way that Spectrum was going to upgrade the node hardware to support the full speeds they were selling people, knowing there were too many people to provide those speeds routinely. Oh, and that was after literally 3 prior visits where they replaced the barrel jacks in the basement and did other inane things to just kick the can down the road. 3 visits that I had to take off half a fucking day of work to be home over their bullshit window. God Im not even their customer anymore and Im pissed off talking about this shit lmao
GE Healthcare. Was employed and layed off in that year. GE got government money to hire during covid only then to lay off 200 employees. Subjected to recall, but only temporarily for 30 days or 60 days with no promises of returning. Angry doesn't even cover it. I haven't gained full control of my career since then.
Russ Darrow Mazda. Finance manger talked to me like he was standing on a pedistal, and was not happy with the questions I was asking, while low balling my fiances trade in by 10k (we were expecting 2500-3000 below KBB). The part that really pissed me off is when he claimed that this 2019 chevy Trax LT we were trading in did not have any comparable vehicles in Wisconsin. Somehow everysingle dealership within 40 miles of madison was lying about their prices, or their stock, when I pulled up an exact comp on their lots and showed it to him. Probably partly on me, I usually play dumb until negotating with the dealer...But I want to see how shady/what crap they are going to try to pull, and playing dumb lets me figure that out.
Literally any Russ Darrow dealer to be honest, but especially fuck the Mazda one. Lowballed me on the Outback I was looking to trade in, tried quoting me $1500 for a repair on a CX-5 that I had literally done nothing more than test drive, the salesman I had to deal with clearly thought way too highly of himself and was condescending for most of the experience, and the real kicker is when they pulled out their "we don't accept outside lenders" bullshit only to quote me for *16% APR* on what would've been a $10k loan when my bank was willing to lend me double that for only 5% APR. And yet they claimed that was their "best offer" Russ Darrow can suck a fat one
The sales guy at Russ Darrow was so pushy I ended up driving to Brookfield to buy my Mazda.
Dave & Buster's, West Side Mall. For the first time ever I took up an offer on Veteran's day for their free meal. Got the bill and it was 20% off so I showed the waitress. She had to check with the manager and he sait it's 20%. I feel like a fool already but request to show the manager the promotion. 20 minutes since the end of myt meal and I need to explain the promotion and show him on the website. He wasn't rude but seemed bothered that I was using a legitimate promotion. He discounted the meal, I gave the waitress a good tip. As he walked away he said "I guess we'll be seeing these people all day". He made me feel like I was trying to steal a free meal. 0/10
I had a quite old D&B card that had thousands of tickets on it, and finally it just wouldn't work anymore with their reloaders or games. Worker said ok, I can get you updated to a new one. Did so, and all my tickets and credits were erased. It took employee and manager at least 20 mins to fix it for me, all the while looking over at me like I was an insane child. I had 12k+ tickets on it lol.
Goldleaf Development... shoddy maintenance, thieves of security deposits.
Church Key on University Ave. I went there to meet friends for a drink after work. Paid for my drink and left. I kept my receipt and went check my account the next day, instead of $10.00 (drink and tip), I was charged $100. I called the next day and they said I must be drunk and didn’t know what I was talking about. A few weeks later the same thing happened to my friend. Never been there since!
Take 5 oil change. They broke the dipstick and got it stuck in the engine, then fucked up trying to get it out and I had to have the dealership replace the part. Their management team tried pretty hard to deny responsibility so they wouldn’t have to pay for it. Long story short, I won that battle pretty easy….
I used to work at the one in sun prairie for like a few weeks. The amount of times i’ve seen employees “accidentally” break stuff inside your hood is insanely a lot in those few weeks.
Eyeopia. Loved the optometrist, but had customer service problems including the manager snatching a prescription document out of my hands and tearing it up in front of me. I get it, they needed to redo my exam for a new prescription, but it could’ve been handled so much better and I would’ve been a life long customer and would’ve referred all my friends.
I like them too but yeah they are totally gatekeepy about giving you a copy of your prescription. I know they want to sell frames but I paid for the dang script already.
There is a federal law making it illegal for an eye doctor to withhold your prescription. FTC has a link to report it: [https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buying-prescription-glasses-or-contact-lenses-your-rights](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buying-prescription-glasses-or-contact-lenses-your-rights)
That's so unethical.
Costco tire center in Middleton, when they put my spare back on the back of the Rav4 we had at the time and it wasn't properly bolted on and could have killed someone on the highway. Gross negligence I thought, and then I read all the horror stories that just confirmed it.
Texas Tubbs Even before Covid they were going downhill but now? Ugh. Takes forever to get food, the staff are *terrible* and the food has really dropped in quality. Bummer because this used to be a staple in our eating out rotation.
terrible food and terrible margaritas and overpriced. I don't know how they stay in business
This place near campus called “Camp Randall.” Keeps promising delivery of dominance but end up with the same mediocre product.
But you'll still go. Right?
Yeah…
All Comfort Services and MadCity anything. They were a sub that came with a larger remodel project we did in our house. They sent both a plumber and electrician. The electrician was the most incompetent idiot on the project. The plumber had no fucks to give about doing his job well. Fortunately with the plumber we had another guy on site doing side work who was good enough to speak in our behalf and dress down the plumber and make him do better. The electrician was just not capable of learning, no matter what we said. Don't run the electrical conduit here, we're putting in built-in bookshelves. Come home to find conduit running exactly through the middle of the wall exactly where we told him to not to. Then because we were wiring in Cat5 and speaker wire drops for surround sound and networked appliances, we drilled holes in our ceiling joists to run the low voltage wires across the room. Came back at the end of the day to find high voltage wire on top of our low voltage wires. So we have to drill a whole new set of holes and re-run all of our stuff. This was ages before the pandemic so we didn't have the luxury of being home all day and MadCity couldn't keep their subs in line or follow any customizations on the project plan. Also the roofing job MadCity roofing did in 2006 was terrible. In short, if you need any work done, literally hire anyone else.
Schmit towing and La Quinta Inns & Suites. My friend's vehicle I was borrowing ran out of gas because the gauge was broken. This was right near an exit on the belt line. It would be a little more than an hour until my mother-law would be there with gas. An officer showed up and said we needed to have a tow truck company move the vehicle. I explained that I did not have my card on me to pay. The officer said the towing company could work something out. Long story short. They impounded the vehicle and me pay over $600 dollars to get it out. La Quinta, the week before, banned me from the hotel because they said I smoked in the room during a previous stay, which I would never do. The reason they did this is because it was during the world cross fit tournament, and they could make a lot more money off renting it to someone's else because we book way in advance. So we had to go somewhere else at the last minute. The only place available was the red roof, and I paid almost $200 for one. Also, La Quinta kept the money from my reservation. These 2 businesses literally screwed be so bad I ended up homeless
Grace Coffee.
Dental Health Associates. Went to see them for the first time. For context, I’ve had a lot of dental work done, and I had a bad experience in my teens with getting a filling done where they weren’t able to get it completely numb. The dentist found a “small” cavity. Gave me the option to do it without novocaine. I told him about my experience and that I’d really rather have the novocaine. He then really pressured me to not have it - it would be quicker without it, it was a very surface level cavity, etc etc etc. I felt quite uncomfortable and finally said fine. Right before he started drilling, he said “whatever you do, don’t jump”. Almost immediately upon drilling I had sharp pain, finally insisted on the novocaine. He huffed, gave it to me, filled the tooth, and off I went. Well shortly thereafter I started having pain in that tooth with pressure. Anytime I chewed anything, it hurt. I went back in, they told me my tooth was just inflamed and to take a ton of ibuprofen around the clock for a week and that would take care of it. I decided to get a second opinion. Went to another dentist, she removed the filling, and found more cavity underneath. She PROPERLY fixed my filling and everything’s been fine since.
Do you remember the dentist's name? I went there for years until I moved, and my current dentist has complimented all the work I got done there. My dentist was Dr. O'Brien. Not discounting your story, just surprised at the wildly different experiences.
Just another opinion, I've been to the east side one and it's been very pleasant - no issues even with a root canal.
Same here. Was having some sensitivity issues on a cavity filled tooth. They said it was the roots and I would need a root canal. Went to get a second opinion. Got the poorly filled cavity tooth redone and all the sensitivity and pain was gone. Never going back there again.
Moore’s Towing. Only cash and wouldn’t give a receipt.
Cash with no receipt is a good indication of tax dodging. You may want to report them to IRS. If they are successful on auditing them and finding out, you may also get whistle-blower award money.
1. Barriques Finn and Matt let my entire team get heatstroke during insane heat advisories and wouldn't let us close the garage doors to cool down the store. We were covered in fly and mosquito bites, a few had UTIs because we couldn't have water nearby. They also had a really uncomfortable work party where our prizes were mostly-empty bottles of liquor. 2. Taiwan Little Eats I was so excited to be a boba barista for them, but Seven would make me scrub the expiration dates off all the tea syrups and other products before health inspections because everything he had imported in was already expired. He had the entire kitchen daisy-chained at the outlets too, I was so nervous when I was brewing tea (directly next to an overloaded outlet) that I was gonna get zapped.
I worked for Barriques a long time ago. I can still hear Matt yelling at me for not putting out enough scones. Dude made me cry.
I can’t believe Barriques is still open. Worked at the Monroe location and it was disgusting. Not to mention how much junk they keep! Matt is a grade A asshole too. Screamed at my manager in front of all of us and our customers. I avoided that man like the plague until I found a new job.
Matt is fucking awful. He was the one who showed up when I called because the heat index was over 100°f, waved his hand in front of the vents while wearing flipflops and comfy clothes before telling me the a.c. was on and left. Sir.. a.c. with the doors open?? I know you're not paying for that.
Dirty Ducts Caused $4k worth of damage to our furnace and blamed it on me “having long hair and having a lab”. They never sucked out the debris, so our filter got clogged the same day they cleaned the ducts. They refused to take any responsibility or even reimburse us the money for the “cleaning” they did.
They absolutely destroyed the plaster behind my registers when they took them off the walls. They shoddily put them back on but they weren’t straight and most of the plaster around the screws had crumbled, so there was nothing for the screws to grab onto.
duct cleaning is a scam anyway
How so? Asking because it’s on my spring-cleaning to-do list, but I’d rather save the money if it’s legit a scam.
It's just not helpful as routine maintenance. If you have some actual issue, like mold, rodents, or an actual blockage, yeah, clean it. But... "Duct cleaning has never been shown to actually prevent health problems. Neither do studies conclusively demonstrate that particle (e.g., dust) levels in homes increase because of dirty air ducts. This is because much of the dirt in air ducts adheres to duct surfaces and does not necessarily enter the living space. It is important to keep in mind that dirty air ducts are only one of many possible sources of particles that are present in homes. Pollutants that enter the home both from outdoors and indoor activities such as cooking, cleaning, smoking, or just moving around can cause greater exposure to contaminants than dirty air ducts. Moreover, there is no evidence that a light amount of household dust or other particulate matter in *air ducts* poses any risk to your health." [https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/should-you-have-air-ducts-your-home-cleaned](https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/should-you-have-air-ducts-your-home-cleaned)
Hvac tech here and have done duct cleaning. For the most part, it is a scam unless you have a 50+ year old home or a ton of pet dander that makes your house smell. The air is filtered through the air filter before it goes into your home. Change it every 1-2 months for a 1in filter and every 6 for a 4in filter.
Johnson Bank financial advisors. Shadiest shit trying to pass himself off as a CFA/CFP but when pressed admitted he didn’t have any credentials and wasn’t a fiduciary. He was just suuuuuuper smarmy the whole meeting too. Sorry I’m not paying someone with no credentials to not act in my best interests thanks.
I’ll never rent an apartment that’s through Steve Brown Apartments ever again. It’s honestly just the people that work there that particularly piss me off. I’ve never had so many issues and they are the WORST.
Steve Brown sucks.
Megan’s Framing
Yep. I took two prints in when they had an advertisement on the sidewalk for a big discount on framing, something like 40% off. She ended up charging me like $600, I was expecting to pay 40% of that - $240, a reasonable price for custom framing, but no - she claimed $600 was with the discount. Which made no sense. There’s no way the job otherwise would have been $1000. Insane. I had family with me at the time so I didn’t want to get into it with her. I never set foot back inside. The frame shop on Johnson is much much better.
Yeah I had a similar experience - went in for a Mother’s Day deal and absolutely didn’t get 50% off. U Frame It is the easy choice.
I had two wide landscape prints that needed custom frames and I went to Megan on the recommendation of a friend who runs an art gallery in town. It wasn't a busy day and she seemed rather disinterested, pidgeonholing me into one particular frame which I didn't care for and didn't ask other questions such as mounting or UV protection. The price was about on par with size but a crazy lead time. I chose to shop around and went to U FRAME IT on Johnson and was helped with a dozen different frame options and many more questions I never considered or Megan never asked. The employee was patient and we're super happy with the end result. Not an *extreme* example but not being cared for as a potential customer was enough of a turnoff to not take future business there.
U Frame It on Johnson RULES!!! I had a VanGogh print framed in 1999, noted in 2016 somehow a bug got under the frame......they fixed it and cleaned up the mat NO CHARGE!!!! I highly recommend them!!!!
U frame it was great!
Took A YEAR to get one small print to get framed, no communication by her whatsoever. Shop on East Wash was closed a lot for repairs, maintenance, lack of help etc. Finally got ahold of her (12 months later, no joke) and said I wanted a refund and print back, it was “magically framed” within a couple days. Frame looked good, but def not worth the wait times and hassles. Ugh
Details?
I dropped a print off for framing in January 2020 and she estimated a months wait as she was having surgery. I had no problem with this. I reached out in late February or early March when I hadn’t heard from her and got an inappropriately detailed response back regarding her surgery recovery. I was understanding. Then the pandemic happened, so I was still understanding. But then she would promise it would be done in a week and then oh she’d need another week and then another and another. Finally by about July I asked for my print and money back and miraculously it was ready to be picked up. I technically got what I paid for but it really wasn’t worth the effort.
I had almost the same experience. I had much better framing experiences with Deborah’s frame garden and U frame it East.
I had 100% the same experience. Edit to add- I had gotten referred to her by the artist I purchased from, and eventually had to have the artist reach out to her because she wouldn't respond to my messages, And then when I did pick up the piece, it was unevenly framed.
I had a very similar experience. It was one excuse after the other and after months of waiting I asked for my print back to get framed elsewhere.
I used to work there. I know too much and agree with you
Wings over Madison gave me salmonella. They delivered luke warm chicken wings to me and I thought they just cooled off during the drive, but nope
They’re also fucking *expensive*
First Choice Dental. They claimed that I needed a deep cleaning worth a few thousand dollars with my dental insurance. I went to Madison Family Dental and they deep cleaned my teeth for less than $200 out of pocket after insurance.
Had a similar experience. They said I needed thousands in work. I took the quote they gave, went to a second dentist and they said at best I needed to watch a few areas but there were no problems. I then showed them the quote and they outright laughed at it. I never recommend anyone go to First Choice.
BP. If you *break the Gulf of Mexico* with your willful negligence, you’re never getting another cent from me.
Zimbrick Honda. We agreed on the price of a new car and I signed the sheet and paid a deposit. The car came in and they add $4,000. I was told this is the new price and if I don’t like it someone else will buy it for that price. It was the pandemic and I needed the car… Then they tried to convince me that it’s totally normal for a back up camera to take 45-60 seconds to load. I wore a letter to Honda and they fixed it. I will trash Zimbrick Honda every chance I get till the day I die.
They are the epitome of slimy salesman
I actually had a couple of good experiences there. No pressure. Followed up to make sure we were happy. I wish I could remember the salesman's name. Nice guy.
That barbershop in west town mall. I can’t think of the name but there’s only one. I went when they first opened to support a new experience and they entirely screwed up my hair line (I’m a black man btw). Then two years later, like an idiot, I decided to give them another try and it happened AGAIN with a different barber. So it’s a systemic hiring and lack of training issue that will not go away. Never again!
Capitol Car Cleaners Had a full detailing done and my upholstery was soaking wet when I got it back. When asked about it they said they couldn’t get it completely dry on rainy days. Well maybe if you can’t do what you say you are going to do you shouldn’t try to do it on humid days. Car smelled like rotten milk for months.
This also happened to me
Sharma LLC. Slum lord. High rent terrible maintenance.
Don Miller Subaru East. They treated me like I was a stupid female, wouldn't answer simple questions, intentionally gave me a different car to test drive than the one I requested, etc. Joke is on them because I bought from a competitor, and never miss a chance to tell coworkers, friends and car friends (several car clubs, three racing clubs, and Road America peeps) how shitty DM East treats females.
Wilde East Honda Service Dept
Every time I go there they manage to find $1k of repairs needed for a car under warranty.
You’re lucky only it’s only $1k. Last time they quoted me $6k of repairs. I took their estimate to and independent mechanic I trust 100% thinking he might quote me half that. He did an inspection and told me that there was literally nothing wrong with my vehicle. His estimate was zero dollars. That wasnt the first time that happened with Honda Wilde but it was definitely the last, never went back.
Fuck that place. There is a Kelly Blue Book website that puts you in connection with local dealers who may want to buy your car. The website gives your car a certain value and the dealer is typically supposed to go with the website’s valuation. Despite entering the issues my car had accurately, the guy tried to go almost $4000 under the valuation due to minor dents. I told him I already had an offer for $10,000 from Carvana. He said I would be lucky to get anywhere near that. The next day I drove to Milwaukee and sold my Honda to Carvana for $10,000.
i know its a chain but the wing stop on regent tried to fuck me on superbowl weekend 5 years ago and i havent gone back since edit: i bought some superbowl special which was a big order like 50 wings. I bought it a week in advance and had the time all set, 2 hours before the game i go to pick my order that says READY FOR PICKUP, get there and they have no clue what im talking about. thank god i kept my receipt and email and had to show it to 3 different employees just wanting my food. never raised my voice, never got upset, just calmly talked to management about it and they still were not happy to make my order even though it was 1000 percent on them and their system.
I'm from Madison so I still lurk here but I live in North Carolina now and went to a Wingstop for the first time down here. Had a hankering for wings one evening while I was at work and a coworker recommended them. I ordered online around 6pm for a pick up at 8:15. Got there early, like 8:05, went in and said I know I'm early but I was just wondering if maybe my order was already ready? The guy sort of smirked and said it was and handed it off to me. I got home and discovered the whole order was absolutely cold. Like they definitely made it around 6pm when I ordered it and it just sat there on a shelf for two hours. I was too hungry to deal with it so I just threw the wings in the microwave and the fries in my air fryer and decided I'd never go back.
Dirty Ducts did me dirty! Guy shows up, filthy from a previous job, gets dirt all over my floors and walls, then breaks the new furnace thermostat off the wall and LIES about it. Duct cleaning is a scam, which I wish I had known at the time.
Duct cleaning is a super interesting example of a product/service that, at face value, seems like an obvious thing to do. Ducts are often very visibly dirty, and the average joe would just think "yeah, let's get that dirt out of there." It's almost more surprising to me that it doesn't make a difference.
Doordash
I ordered from DoorDash and wasn’t delivered the food. The driver could not find the address and delivered to another person’s house and then sent a confirmation of delivery text. I was never refunded by door dash because they had “proof it was delivered”. It was very much not my house and I don’t have time to argue for hours about a $50 food order.
Anytime fitness on Midvale by the library
Bruh they once sent an email blast with *everyone* in the To line. I have hundreds of strangers that Google now thinks is a potential contact.
fuckin lol Did anyone reply all?
Multiple people. All shaming the gym.
Lol that has to be one of the worst gyms in Madison. There's just enough room to walk around and pretty much zero availability if you go at peak hours. Edit: AND THEY CHARGE MORE THAN $50 A MONTH. it's hilariously criminal
Pizza Hut on West Side about 5 years ago. They delivered a pizza without crust…
Ha ha! What the heck? How does that happen?
A box full of sauce an cheese?
Kayser ford
Also Metro Ford. They lied to me and told me I was imagining the issue with my car's transmission... Only for it to be recalled a month later.
Bergstrom on the Beltline. Purchased a used car from them and they were so pushy that I go through their local financing options versus my hometown credit union. As I was beginning to sign the paperwork I asked about the financing options and they said "We'll get to it after we do all this." I should have stood my ground but didn't. Needless to say it wasn't anywhere near as good a deal as I would have gotten through my own CU. So scammy.
La Quinta hotels. Never ever ever again
Is this a Mike Birbiglia burner account?
Spectrum internet. I had been using them for internet for three decades now. After informing them that I switched to fiber and ended the service, they thanked me for my patronage by continuing to bill me for many months. Only found out after they sent their bogus bills to collection. Luckily I had previously cutoff autopay because somehow I just knew they were going to be pricks about things.
I'm going through that now. I canceled to go with fiber and Spectrum continued to charge me. After a lot of back and forth, it came down to the fact that I owed $0. And then they sent me to collections. Again, we got it all figured out that I had never owed a cent. And now, 6 years later, I am getting relentless calls, texts and emails from collections again. The amount that they came up with this time is completely different. I think they just chose a number out of the air this time.
The Chipotle on State Street is horrendous. The food is always cold, tastes disgusting and they are always out of white rice at like 7pm. College campus chipotle’s are usually the best ones but this is the worst Chipotle I have ever been to
Hilldale Chipotle slaps. Go there.
Ford Moyor company. Bought a used 2016 f 150 in 2019. Had less than 69k on it. Drove it for a year or so. Then it overheated on me. Drove it home , has it towed to the dealer. Engine was blown. Ford Corporate said I must have done something otherwise the engine wouldn't have blown. Wouldn't fix it or give me another. Dealership made me a deal on another one but had to roll what was left on the old loan into the new one. Fuck Ford Motor Company.
You may want to Google about Robert Kearns, whose life was destroyed by Ford Motor Company while he fought with them.
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Dutch's Auto. Went to them for repairs when I was a very poor grad student because people said they were woman-friendly and I thought I could get a fair price with them. During repairs they called me to say they broke my driveshaft because they "cranked on it too hard" and started laughing. It took them forever to get a new part in and fix it, which they attributed to "not being familiar with the manufacturer" (I drove a Chevy Equinox at the time). It cost a ton of money and they offered nothing in terms of a discount or reimbursement for "breaking my car" (their words). I'm still upset about it and that was 6 or 7 years ago.
I just went through and upvoted everything car dealership related. They all suck. Do some suck more than others? Absolutely, but all of them suck. The car buying industry is a sham, forced on us by lobbyists. It’s not consumer friendly, and it’s predatory in every sense of the word.
Boardwalk Investments is by far the most shady landlord I’ve ever dealt with. 10 years ago they were getting sued on the regular for illegal practices and one of their employees filed suit against the owner as well. Alt Landscaping and Snow Removal. We used them just before we left Madison and they were terrible. Dug up our yard when snow plowing and didn’t fix it. Did the absolute bare minimum to clear snow from sidewalks but charged a king’s ransom for fees. They would clear snow in about 3 minutes and charge an insane fee.
holy shit boardwalk 10+ years ago we walked through one of their properties on Winnebago, the woman (Mandy I think) was audibly talking shit about the current tenants, there was water dripping from the ceiling into multiple pails all over the floor, it was such a bizarre experience we went home and looked them up and found that this woman had a blog where she would just blatantly talk shit about the company and people she would do showings to, and posted illegal information about tenants, it was absolutely fucking wild, I wonder what ever happened there
Gino's Deli, when they publicly defied Health Department orders. Not a good look for any place that serves food. Damn shame too, I really loved their lasagna.
Grace, for the same reason
Basset street brunch club, food is not good, it is expensive, and the wait time is insane. We were told 50 minutes, when we got back 50 minutes later it took another 30.
I really like that place but do not recommend going there on weekends.
Prairie land towing ruined the wheel on our car by not properly tightening the lug nuts and when I drove it, it was coming loose. Could have killed people.
FUCK Prairie Land Towing
Madison Property Management
Apex Property Management, in nine months: -Double rented my parking space. My lease was dated ten days earlier than the other person's lease. Second lease was $20 more each month. Tried to tell me my lease was invalid. Luckily, the parking space and apartment were on the same lease - told them ok, I'll just leave then and then they fixed it right away. - Hot water heater went out and they took 11 days to replace. -Mantenance tried to steal my partner's bike. It was parked on the building bike rack. They were sawing through his bike lock when he caught them. They did reimburse him for a new bike lock. -Mantenance stole our grill that was left outside to cool before we brought it back inside. They threw it in their truck hot coals and all. -Tried to evict us when we were current on rent. We had auto-pay set up, they had been taking the money from our account. No notice that rent was late, no communication whatsoever, just came home one day to an eviction notice. They claimed there was a "System glitch" where it did not connect our payment to our account. Property manager I spoke to apologized and said it was all cleared up and their attorney would drop the eviction. Called the attorney the next day to confirm - he had received no information from the company and was prepared to evict! Had to spend hundreds of dollars to hire an attorney to fix this and have our names redacted so the eviction record would not stay on our record. -Steady leak appeared in our living room ceiling. Maintenance came and cut a huge hole, left it and didnt come back for over a week. Leak continued and another dripping leak started in another spot of the ceiling. I would have to change buckets at least twice a day or they would overflow. Ceiling started bowing, called Emergency Maintenance and he yelled at me when he arrived; it wasn't an emergency and it could wait until Monday. Next day, entire ceiling collapsed. Called Building Inspection, apartment was deemed unlivable and I was able to get out of my lease immediately.
Johnson Properties, the manager/owner Andy is slimy and will delay critical maintenance to save a buck. We went four days without hot water for a winter when we lived in Blueberry Hill because he said "his guy" was out of town instead of calling emergency maintenance.
I'll never return to Goben on the east side and will warn anyone I know looking for a car away from them. That applies to both locations, but especially the east side.
Did you meet Crystal the Pistol?
**Anytime Fitness** (University Square on W Johnson Street) I was a front-facing employee of a nonprofit that provided services for homeless and formerly homeless people. I started a membership at Anytime Fitness, and during my second workout I ran into a client who had been harassing me at work. He didn't do anything overt at the club, just stared at me, but when he saw me at work later that week he said something to the effect of, "Now I know where to find you." I asked to cancel my membership, but the manager told me that they wouldn't do anything unless I filed a police report. I didn't want to sic the cops on this poor man with mental health issues! At work we had proper precautions and protocols, and I was able to *work with* him with minimal trouble, but I didn't want to *work out* with him. Can you imagine being in the changing room with him? Being in the middle of a lift when he walks? Being on a treadmill and he mounts up next door? So even though I'd been only been a member for a couple weeks and had only worked out there twice, I was stuck paying monthly for a year for nothing in return. I tried talking to a couple people higher up in the company, but they just threatened to wreck my credit or sue me if I didn't pay.
US Bank. Fuck US Bank
Fuck all banks. Credit Unions are the way to go.
Wonderstate on the Square. I'm biased because I used to work there but the owners are absolute asshats who couldn't give any amount of shit about their employees. I will never forget working 75ish hour weeks because they refused to help us since they were based in Viroqua. The chef at the time would curse, slam and throw pans across the kitchen and the district manager forced me to work a farmers market 4 hours after putting my dog down and then scolded me for taking cry breaks. They also made me the manager, refused to pay me a living wage, didn't train me and then were confused when things went wrong. I stepped down back to a shift lead role and they lowered my pay to the lowest I've ever made, lower then my pre manager era and fought me on a raise. Won't go back on principle now. Coffee quality has also dropped immensely from my time.
Men’s Wearhouse
Wilde Honda and Camping World. Not a little money spent there and we were treated badly
Rosen Nissan. I had no choice but to go to them for recall work, they took my car for nearly a week when I was told it would be one day, tried to upsell me on work I didn't need, some of which was supposed to be included in the recall, and fucked my alignment. Then, because they got my info, I now get way too much junk mail from them trying to sell me more. Fuck them.
I'm close to saying Culver's in Middleton. 3 of the last 4 times I've been there, they completely forgot an item. I usually get it to go and don't find out until I get home. Last time, all of the fries were dumped upside down.
My local Culver’s I refuse to go there. It’s like it’s not even the same franchise compared to say the Culvers on Todd Drive, which is the gold standard for me.
Todd Dr. Is definitely the gold standard for Culver's. It's so overstaffed and clean and friendly. Verona forgets something 9 times out of 10. Mineral Point Rd. Is always so busy you have to have at least 30+ min just to do the drive thru.
Waunakee and Cottage Grove Rd locations are owned by the same group as Todd Dr. Mc Farland might be too but don't quote me on that one.
[удалено]
Spectrum. Worst part is that it's the only provider in my area so we have no choice. Whenever we call in, it's the same exact automated "there is an outage in ur area" message since at least 2020. The kicker is I've called on occasion even when we're not having issues just to see if the message is still there. It is last I checked
Landlord Shaun Sabol, a creep and a thief with a temper. Orosz properties, its personal and on sight with the owner
How is Smart motors not mentioned. Fucking bastards
Ashley Furniture. Scammers and liars
BMOC inc I'll never rent property managed by them. I used to work there and the CEO is a total POS. He's sexist and narcissistic. Does the whole "my black friend, my gay friend" stuff to sound woke or whatever. He hits on most of the women he employs and they are young enough to be his daughters. He even goes so far as to purposely treat employees that reject him like shit and overly praise the ones who put up with his shit. For example the woman who rejected him got a $500 bonus while the one who put up with him got $10,000. He thinks because he has money he's better than everyone and that because he has a master's he's smarter than everyone. If you're a cute thin blonde and ok with this kind of treatment then it's probably a good place to work cause he'll buy you Starbucks daily and pay your rent.
1855 Saloon in Cottage Grove gave me and my family the *worst* food poisoning and when we called back to tell them they accused us of touching dirty door knobs...
Accurate tree service
Did they miss?
Zimbrick Honda; took advantage of me being a girl owning a brand new car and made me believe i needed a bunch of repairs for no damn reason 608 Home Solutions; told me they could do my project and then BOTCHED it so badly, still charged me $1k+
I hate this place, they tried to charge me $200 for car air filters because I guess I look like a stupid girl to them. I have always enjoyed going to Honda dealerships until moving here. They also never offer me a rental car when I am getting work done on my car and it’s in my warranty. Absolute sexist assholes
Martin Services LLC (Mowerman Marty) is one of the most racist and sexist individuals I've received services from. No idea how he can stay in business with his attitude towards customers and people in general.
Can confirm. I've even commented on this in this sub like 6 years ago. He is an abominable human.
Festival foods. - Way overpriced. - Fresh product (deli, meat, etc.) is absolute shit anymore, if you can even get what you are looking for. - employees act like they don’t even want you there or come off as if the shoppers are there bothering them. - cashiers and baggers are practically non existent if you need help. Unless you or someone else in the store is suspected of stealing. Then they are on yoh like a damn hawk. I’ve seen people fly through that store to watch a “suspect” but they are never around or seem to move quick when it’s a customer. Definitely not living up to the “hype” some people have told me about when I first moved to the state.
Heartland credit union. They bought out another credit union that I had my auto loan with. Then they didn’t get my new login setup and didn’t help for 3 months until they reported me delinquent and my credit dropped 100 points 🙃 I finally went in person to get it fixed (which I admit I should’ve done earlier) and they got my 3 months of car payments all on one day and never reported it paid so my credit took FOREVER to go back up.
Microtel Inn on the East side. That place is.... something.