While a fan of both spicy food and Pepper Palace, i can say after one visit to this location, which is in my hometown of Orlando, that I will continue to go to the Saint Augustine location and will never patronize here again.
They have a rude, condescending staff and the selection here is not nearly as good as the Saint Augustine location.
This particular location is located in the outlets and obviously caters to the foot traffic that the outlets generate. I was shopping for Christmas gifts when I stumbled across it and strolled in to pick up a few favorite hot sauces and save myself a trip to Saint Augustine (which is not as dramatic as it sounds as I am up that way regularly for business).
This location only carries Pepper Palace products, where the Saint Augustine location has a multitude of brands of different hot sauces. Still, I wanted to make a purchase so I wandered about looking for some hot sauce to jump out at me, whether it be for a gift or for myself (a gift from me to me).
They had sample bottles out but none of the chips like at the Saint Augustine location to place the sauce on. I assume this is because of COVID-19. Anyway, I took a sample bottle (labeled as a sample bottle) and put a drop on my finger and suddenly a woman was yelling at me as if I was a child. She then pointed to a pretty concealed box of small spoons and told me this is how they do it. OK, I get it. Cool, even tjough customer service should not include shrieking at customers. But, I would have been OK with this. But then she proceeded to tell her coworker and a gaggle of customers in a profanity laced diatribe my exact indiscretion. She also made sure she was liud enough so I could hear what her foul mouthed description and opinion of me was.
My response was simple. I placed the bottles I had in my hands that I was going to purchase (about a hundred dollars worth) on the table and walked out.
I can accept my error, though I feel it was relatively minor, but to degrade me, curse at me and svream at me is unacceptable. I will day that I will never return to this store. read more