AMP Reviews
  • You asked and we delivered! AMPReviews now provides the option to upgrade to VIP access via paid subscription as an alternative to writing your own reviews. VIP Access allows you to read all the hidden content within member-submitted reviews AND gives access to private VIP-only forums in each city. You can upgrade your account INSTANTLY by visiting the Account Upgrades page in your own user profile and using a valid credit card to purchase a subscription. You can get to this page by clicking the link in any review, by clicking the red "See the Details Now" banner on the home page, and by clicking the Purchase Private Details link in the navbar at the top of every page

Horrible goddamn experience with Shangri-la

BDR Studios

Review Contributor
Messages: 48
Reviews: 7
Joined
#1
So living and working in Jersey, I don't get to go to NYC often. So given that I was in Queens to visit a client, I thought it'd be the perfect time to finally hit up this Aiai chick with the fat ass. Lord knows I love those type of girls.

I text the mamasan at Shangri-la and schedule a HH appointment at 4:30. Apparently, I underestimated traffic heading from Queens to Manhattan, so I told mamasan I'm running late and I'll be there by 4:45. She said ok, so I thought everything would be good.

I finally park my car at around 4:40. Parking was $50, btw. Felt like an uppercut to the chin. Get there around 4:50. Mamasan then tells me that because I'm late, AiAi is busy with another customer. I have to wait for her to finish up. Fine, fine, fair enough. I am late, so I'll wait. She kindly gives me some water and leads me to what I think might be their break room or something, I don't know.

About a half hour passes. I can hear AiAi leading her client to the entrance and saying good bye. Another 10 or so minutes pass. Nothing. Nobody has come to get me. So I step out and go to the main area to see what's going on. Mamasan told me don't worry, Mimi will be ready soon.

"Mimi? Wait, Mimi? Who the hell is Mimi? I said AiAi."
"No, you say me you want Mimi"
"No, I didn't, here's the text convo. I told you clearly I want AiAi"

At this point, mamasan is befuddled. So she goes to check on the piece of paper where she schedules everything. Right there, AiAi written right next to my phone number. Mamasan fucked up.

Now here's the rub - AiAi is busy with another customer. Mamasan tells me to go see Mimi instead. "Mimi just as good". I told her fuck no, I came here because I wanted Aiai. But it was clear I wasn't going to be getting Aiai anytime soon. Mamasan keeps urging me to go see Mimi, even trying to pull on my sleeves and lead me to Mimi's room.

I ask her how she's going to make it up to me, especially considering I paid $50 just to park my damn car. She just says "go see Mimi, Mimi good girl". It was clear Mamasan wasn't getting the goddamn hint, so I asked her point blank to give me a discount on my next session, if I were to return.

"Yes yes you get discount, I take down house fee"
"Ok, so what is house fee?"
"$40"

Fucking $40. House fee. She says that's all she can give me because the rest of the money goes to the girl. Apparently, the house only collects $40 per session, according to her. Fucking liar. I know you take at least 40% from the ladies. Don't give me this house fee bullshit.

I'm fed up at this point. I just leave. I can't reason with this woman any more if she was going to spit in my face by only offering me $40 off my next session. She kept trying to get me to go see Mimi or go to DreamDreamYou (apparently, they're affiliated), but it's not what I wanted or requested.

I'm aggravated as hell if you can't tell. I lost about an hour and a half and $50 for no reason whatsoever. It's one thing if I lost money on a shitty session, but this was just something different. I mean...to not even get to the session in the first place....this is the type of shit I'd expect from girls advertising on STG.

So here's the takeaway for you guys - if you're driving into the city and paying for parking, do NOT use Shangri-la (or DreamDreamYou). This mamasan doesn't know how to organize a simple schedule. Cause in the end, you might lose out on valuable time and money. I never had this issue with NYCSE or even Lear Talent, even when I'm late. Shit, even in the past when I was late, the places would have the courtesy to tell me over text they can't hold the girl for me anymore.

Man, I think I'm just done with NYC spots, at least for a good while. This whole experience pissed me off royally.
 

EkramEsmen

Registered Member
Messages: 31
Reviews: 1
Joined
#4
Isn’t this mostly your fault? She was probably fully booked and you missed your spot by being 30 mins late. There’s not much they can do unless they bump another customer for you (would you like being on the receiving end of that?).

What makes you think $40 isn’t the house fee? Could be the truth. They had no obligation to even offer you that given, again, that this was entirely your fault for being late. Next time they should just cancel on you.
 

Lack4oars

Registered Member
Messages: 3
Joined
#7
Isn’t this mostly your fault? She was probably fully booked and you missed your spot by being 30 mins late. There’s not much they can do unless they bump another customer for you (would you like being on the receiving end of that?).

What makes you think $40 isn’t the house fee? Could be the truth. They had no obligation to even offer you that given, again, that this was entirely your fault for being late. Next time they should just cancel on you.
I agree. I mean yeah you’re not satisfied, but if you weren’t late, none of this would’ve happened (most likely). Seems a little excessive reaction to a very common situation
 

maximus799

Review Contributor
Messages: 866
Reviews: 44
Joined
#10
I feel for you about the situation as I've been in a similar boat, but the lesson is not to avoid Shangri-La or any specific spot. These situations happen with all the shops for various reasons (super busy, flaky customers, flaky providers, poor communication, MMS or call-person filling in temporarily, etc.). A similar situation happened with me at PH several years ago, and that was my favorite spot, arguably the most well-run spot at the time. The MMS should have been more honest with you, but they were probably trying to de-escalate in the only way they know how to.
 

Max Pressure

Registered Member
Messages: 116
Reviews: 3
Joined
#11
Isn’t this mostly your fault? She was probably fully booked and you missed your spot by being 30 mins late. There’s not much they can do unless they bump another customer for you (would you like being on the receiving end of that?).

What makes you think $40 isn’t the house fee? Could be the truth. They had no obligation to even offer you that given, again, that this was entirely your fault for being late. Next time they should just cancel on you.
It's 45% his fault bc he was late. So he should wait. But the schedule f-up was entirely hers. If he texted "Aiai" but she's playing dumb and saying "Mimi," then she's doing the i-dont-know-english routine. The house fee could be $40, that is entirely possible, but if wasn't happy with how he's being treated, then he should walk.

This business about avoiding NYC places is melodramatic, but I see it not as him wasting $50; he saved $300 or whatever at a place that doesn't respect him or his intelligence.
 

Rock Hard Ten

Registered Member
Messages: 23
Reviews: 11
Joined
#12
It's 45% his fault bc he was late. So he should wait. But the schedule f-up was entirely hers. If he texted "Aiai" but she's playing dumb and saying "Mimi," then she's doing the i-dont-know-english routine. The house fee could be $40, that is entirely possible, but if wasn't happy with how he's being treated, then he should walk.

This business about avoiding NYC places is melodramatic, but I see it not as him wasting $50; he saved $300 or whatever at a place that doesn't respect him or his intelligence.
I agree that the MMS was at fault for either not telling him straight away that Aiai wasn't going to be available or not preserving his appointment if that was possible. Trying to pawn you off on some random other chick makes you feel like their ATM.

But you can't be late to these places and expect them to inconvenience Aiai and the next customer(s) because you're late. He was late and that was entirely his fault, and if he wasn't late there wouldn't have been a problem.

If he didn't know there'd be traffic in NYC at rush hour and that parking in Midtown at a garage is expensive .... I mean come on, really?. That is 100% not their fault and not something they have to make up for.

IMO offering a $40 discount seems like a fair enough thing to do.
 

AutomaticSlim

Shush...
Messages: 6,923
Reviews: 133
Joined
#13
Guys, expecting these places to run like they're UPS or something is completely ridiculous.
The girls flake.
The bookers have plenty of issues too.
Customers being late or lingering around and not leaving on time is commonplace.

Here is what I do to try and mitigate problems.
- I always book many hours in advance. Sometimes a day or two before.
- I ALWAYS use public transportation for Manhattan. I haven't driven in since the height of Covid when there was street parking galore. Before Covid? I hadn't driven in for decades
- Most importantly...I EXPECT that sometimes there will be flakiness. I had 2 appts in the last two weeks where they messed up the time. I booked for 60 mins at one place but they erroneously marked me down for 30. At another I was there exactly on time, they made me wait 15 mins while the "room was being cleaned" (yeah right) then asked if I could do 45 instead. My reaction both times? I calmly explained that they were wrong. Showed them the text messages. Then just said OK, we'll do the 30 mins/ 45 mins this time. I see no reason at all to get steamed over this. Once in a while, it will happen.
 

Jeff2828

Review Contributor
Messages: 468
Reviews: 33
Joined
#14
Guys, expecting these places to run like they're UPS or something is completely ridiculous.
The girls flake.
The bookers have plenty of issues too.
Customers being late or lingering around and not leaving on time is commonplace.

Here is what I do to try and mitigate problems.
- I always book many hours in advance. Sometimes a day or two before.
- I ALWAYS use public transportation for Manhattan. I haven't driven in since the height of Covid when there was street parking galore. Before Covid? I hadn't driven in for decades
- Most importantly...I EXPECT that sometimes there will be flakiness. I had 2 appts in the last two weeks where they messed up the time. I booked for 60 mins at one place but they erroneously marked me down for 30. At another I was there exactly on time, they made me wait 15 mins while the "room was being cleaned" (yeah right) then asked if I could do 45 instead. My reaction both times? I calmly explained that they were wrong. Showed them the text messages. Then just said OK, we'll do the 30 mins/ 45 mins this time. I see no reason at all to get steamed over this. Once in a while, it will happen.
Drove into NYC once years ago with some friends and have never done it again definitely second using public transportation to get into the city anytime you need to go not worth the headache to drive in and the pain to find parking.
 

Retired031424

Registered Member
Messages: 1,290
Reviews: 44
Joined
#16
I agree that the MMS was at fault for either not telling him straight away that Aiai wasn't going to be available or not preserving his appointment if that was possible. Trying to pawn you off on some random other chick makes you feel like their ATM.

But you can't be late to these places and expect them to inconvenience Aiai and the next customer(s) because you're late. He was late and that was entirely his fault, and if he wasn't late there wouldn't have been a problem.

If he didn't know there'd be traffic in NYC at rush hour and that parking in Midtown at a garage is expensive .... I mean come on, really?. That is 100% not their fault and not something they have to make up for.

IMO offering a $40 discount seems like a fair enough thing to do.
Totally agree with this and all the other comments about lateness and scheduling. If you're not there on time it's on you. However sometimes shit happens and then you have to make a new plan. In this case the new plan as the OP understood it was wait a while and then see the girl he intended to see. It seems possible that mms had other ideas i.e. the OP was bait and switched. They have a ton of talent thereI but the managers have been known to play things a little fast and loose. Might be OP has a right to be mad.
 

Retired031424

Registered Member
Messages: 1,290
Reviews: 44
Joined
#17
Guys, expecting these places to run like they're UPS or something is completely ridiculous.
The girls flake.
The bookers have plenty of issues too.
Customers being late or lingering around and not leaving on time is commonplace.

Here is what I do to try and mitigate problems.
- I always book many hours in advance. Sometimes a day or two before.
- I ALWAYS use public transportation for Manhattan. I haven't driven in since the height of Covid when there was street parking galore. Before Covid? I hadn't driven in for decades
- Most importantly...I EXPECT that sometimes there will be flakiness. I had 2 appts in the last two weeks where they messed up the time. I booked for 60 mins at one place but they erroneously marked me down for 30. At another I was there exactly on time, they made me wait 15 mins while the "room was being cleaned" (yeah right) then asked if I could do 45 instead. My reaction both times? I calmly explained that they were wrong. Showed them the text messages. Then just said OK, we'll do the 30 mins/ 45 mins this time. I see no reason at all to get steamed over this. Once in a while, it will happen.
agree 100% with all of this including and especially the last bit about not getting steamed (even though I have lost my cool a couple of times over the years about shitty scheduling).
 

trash10801

Review Contributor
Messages: 849
Reviews: 28
Joined
#18
OP was late and bears the consequence of that. However let's not kid ourselves, MMS at this place has a history of overbooking and bait and switch. The pussy isn't that great there that we should just sit by idly while being treated like chumps.
 

BrettKavanaugh

Review Contributor
Messages: 1,613
Reviews: 95
Joined
#19
Normally, I'm the first to mock guys for any issues that arise due to traffic or parking.

That said, in this case he says he's in NJ but was in Queens for a client meeting. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the transit path from his part of NJ to the client's part of queens requires multiple transfers and is less than ideal. So it's not like he's going to leave his car in queens and then trek back. But the $50 is irrelevant and not their problem.

Still, gotta call it poor contingency planning by op. Compounded by pretty sloppy, but not fully venal, administration by the mms.

MMS SHOULD have said 445 is ok, but any minute after that comes out of your time ...with no discount. And if a known client shows up before you we can't hold her. Otherwise we can offer you one of our other lovely ladies. It feels to me like the aiai/mimi mix up was not intentional....otherwise she'd have likely pushed another girl when he showed up and aiai was already taken.

A $40 discount isnt amazing, but it's not a full on spit in the face either. If you're a regular and mms liked you she would have offered more. 100 would probably be the absolute max, and i dont think any shop would do that for a first timer. I might have countered $40...2 times. What number would have satisfied you?

I'd call it a C-, not an F. Bad, but not disqualifying if you really have your heart set on one of their girls. Sometimes these places get better with this stuff over time. KG used to suck. Now they're as close to an A as possible. I recently wrote something praising wsd/pp for how they handled a situation, whereas they once wasted a big chunk of my time a few months earlier and compounded it by rushing me out.
 
Top