Very disappointing experience. I have been driving by here for years, whenever I go visit my good friend who lives past the Ventura county line in Malibu, but I never noticed it before MLK Day this year, when I was stopped at the light right in front of it. I thought, wow, what a great store it must be, because I love crystals and rocks and the energy they give off. So here it was, MLK Day and I had the day off but my friend didn't. She had left her 12 y/o daughter home alone in Malibu (which we all know is not a walkable town, so her daughter was basically grounded).
I told her that I would drive out to her house and spend the day with her daughter. I live 55 miles away, btw. So when I saw Sorenity Rocks while stopped at the red light, I thought, what a great excuse to get my friend's daughter out of the house.
I then went and picked up her daughter and drove back to check out the store. It's actually quite small yet houses HUGE extremely expensive rocks. Conversely, there are a bunch of tiny rocks, and nothing in between.
When we arrived there were 2 ladies sitting in front of the shop at a table. They smiled and one told me, "we are having a special today for Martin Luther King Day, everything is 50% off." I thought, wow, great incentive to do some shopping.
Thereafter, they went back to burying their heads in the their computer while we walked in the store to look around. Inside was a guy sitting behind the check out desk, that didn't seem to know much of anything.
I asked him about some of the rocks' names and he had no clue. Then I told my friend's daughter to pick a couple rocks and I would buy them for her, one of which was a necklace in a basket labeled $12. I asked the guy behind the desk if they had a "chain" for the necklace and he said they only have rope and I asked her if she was ok with that and she said yes. He then told me to take it to the ladies outside and one of them would create the necklace for us.
The lady didn't seem very interested, but she did quickly made the rope necklace, albeit way too long. So once my friend's daughter put it on, she had to pull the knots all the way around and down the front just to get it not to hang down to her waist. But who wants to see the knots when they are wearing it?
After all that, we go to check out with the 1 necklace rock she has (and the rope), and 2 "petrified wood" rocks and that's it.
Then the guy asks ME "how much are the rocks?" What??? You are working for this store. You're sitting there trying to collect payment and you don't know. I should've said, $1! I then state that I'm not sure (because I felt thrown off by him asking ME the price of their products) and he tells me to step outside and ask the lady.
So I ask her and she says, "oh, let's just say $20 for the necklace and $5 each for the petrified wood". Um, really, $20 for the "necklace", it was literally a piece of cheap rope that didn't even cost her 50 cents and less than 2 minutes of effort to put together and for that I'm being charged an extra $8 on top of the actual cost the rock as labeled in the basket we took it from.
Then comes the kicker. We go to check out. You don't need to be a mathematician to calculate that 20+5+5 = $30. This guy then "rings us up" and tells me $38 (and change). And I look at him and say, "$38???, how is that possible when the necklace was $20 and the 2 rocks were $5 each so that makes $30?" His response, "oh, sorry, I'm tired today, I wasn't thinking. Ok, but don't you have a computer you are putting the amounts in to that calculates for you? WTF! And after all that, to boot, there was NO 50% discount, as promised when I first walked in the door (which was the main reason I did NOT make a stink about the extra $8 she charged for a cheap piece of rope).
Apparently, driving up in a convertible BMW 6 series, doesn't hold enough clout that I make enough money to shop in their store. Perhaps it was the fact that I wasn't wearing a bunch of diamond bling nor was I carrying my Hermes or Louis Voitton bag.
Honestly, had they had a selection of mid-sized rocks, I likely would've done quite a bit more shopping. But I'm sorry, it really makes no sense to be carrying rocks as large as a human that you are charging tens of thousands of dollars for AND then you carry little itty bitty cheap rocks, but nothing in between.
Customer service and common sense was zero, zip, zilch, nada at this store! And not keeping your word, while simultaneously overcharging is a BIG no-no in retail! My parents owned a bicycle shop in La Canada Flintridge for 30 years of my life. Believe me when I say, I know how retail should or shouldn't be run. I also understand the frustrations of sitting all day and not making one single sale. But this, my dear ladies, is THE WORST experience I've had in a retail shop in a very long time! So ironic, considering how excited I was when I happened to spot the store.
PS Names intentionally omitted. read more