Katy Rock Shop — Attraction in Katy

I generally enjoy coming here, but my past couple experiences have been unprofessional and uncomfortable. My boyfriend got me a surprise gift, a rock tumbler, for my birthday. At first I was very excited, until I unpacked the tumbler that night. I realized my boyfriends’ 235 gift was dirty, coated in dust, and the plug was rusted. I did not feel safe plugging it in. Even the areas where the tumbler rotated were rusted. We were very disappointed in its condition for the price he had paid. So I returned it the next day, after we had found a nearly identical model online for 110. The return went incredibly smoothly, and the person attending me was very professional and courteous.

However, the next day, I saw the owner of the Shop had texted me, which I felt was inappropriate as I had never given them my number and I had only spoken to them briefly twice. I did not like that the owner confessed that they had sold me a thirty year old machine that had been quote, “sitting in a warehouse,” and offered to “upgrade” me for 35 more dollars for a new machine in the box. A new machine I should have received in the first place for 235 freaking dollars. Not only that, but I was already being charged double what a new machine would cost, and now another almost 40 on top of that for something that is a given? No thank you. I did not respond, because I was not interested in engaging with the owner.

That same day I returned to the shop on unrelated business, to return a piece of gem from an entirely separate transaction I was unsatisfied with. Another very professional and courteous worker assisted me for that. She had to text the owner to see what method she could use for the refund , as I wanted my refund sent to my card. However the owner told her employee she would give a response once I had responded to her inappropriate morning message. I thought this was also inappropriate and unprofessional. I sent her a response anyway, because I didn’t care enough to start an argument over a simple return. Once I responded, the owner told the employee to give me store credit.

I do not appreciate that the owner pulled my personal contact number from the system when they heard I had returned the ancient and overpriced tumbler, And offering to give me what I had more than paid for for more money, and then forcing me to answer a message that should have never been sent just so I could get a refund on a completely unrelated transaction. And yes, the tumbler and gem were completely separate transactions paid for separately by two different people.

I love this shop. I love the employees, who are knowledgeable and professional and know what they’re doing. But I do not love my recent transactions and experiences with the shop. I will definitely take this into consideration next time I’m in the market for gems, minerals and accessories.

Edit: Viewing the owner’s response to my review has been disappointing. They don’t seem to understand the root of the issue, and also accused me of being a Negative Nancy. Most of my reviews are positive, and generally I only give bad reviews when things are low quality or there are have been terrible experiences, or misleading information. I definitely will not be returning at all to this shop, and will be warning all my rock and gem loving friends away from here. There are better places to go, trust me. Happy Rock Hounding! P.S. Go to my profile to see the gem shops I’ve had lovely experiences in.

Another edit: thank you to whomever wrote the new response to my review, it was very professional and exactly what I needed to hear to feel open to coming to this shop again, I appreciate...

The shop owner is very pushy, demanding, intrusive, and rude when you are not ready to hand over your money without questions. Read any of the one star reviews here— or better yet, her replies, to get a sense of the contempt she has for her customers when they aren’t ready to spend $100s of dollars on rocks. On one one-star review, a customer is complaining about her personal information being used without her knowledge or permission to contact her after a purchase. Then the shop owner demanded the customer reply to her unsolicited communication when she came in for a different UNRELATED other problem with a purchase at this store. In the owner’s reply to that critique of her business and business approach, the owner led her reply with the customer’s first and last name. Instead of drawing any attention to the name of the person making a complaint, or reducing the complaints of a review to the complaints of one person named such-and-such, why not focus on your business and the complaints? The rest of the reply is mostly blame-shifting as well. Regardless, just another glimpse into how badly managed the business is. In a response to someone who was upset by the reckless handling of her personal information, why not throw out as much identifying information as possible. It is already displayed as a reply to her account’s review— people know who you are addressing (maybe focus more of your response on the problems with your business). Anyways, besides another example of how out-of-touch the shop owner is with customers, and how little respect she mustered for the writer of that review, from the review you can read that the customer was also personally attacked for having a problem at the business (called a “Negative Nancy” for requesting further assistance at a business, and she was then offered only store credit— a cheap tactic for a greedy small business owner to keep your money). Read the rest of the owner’s reply, where they contend that the 30 year old machine that was sold and returned is totally worth it. Keep in mind to she invaded a customers privacy via an unsolicited text in the morning to continue the sales pitch, push an up charge, and defend a business model of “servicing” 30 year old “refurbished” machines for rock hobbyists and enthusiasts. And obviously the cold call didn’t work because that customer found the same machine elsewhere for 50% off.

Is anyone surprised that this rock shop is taking advantage of hobbyists? Their markup is 100% higher than their competitors. I recommend going to any of Houston’s other rock...

Rocks can be used for many purposes. Some people like to collect rocks for their colorful qualities, others like to use them for artwork. Whatever your reason, if rocks are your thing and you live in the west Houston area, then a place to visit is the Katy Rock Shop.

From the outside, Katy Rock Shop looks like a house and likely started out as one before being converted to a small business. There is a porch with chairs where you can sit and examine the rocks you purchase or otherwise contemplate the geological formations of the earth before walking inside to examine the many different rocks and minerals available.

Inside the Katy Rock Shop, customers will find a nice assortment of rocks and minerals of different sizes, shapes, and colors. You will find a few other accessories, too, as well as books and other things. The prices vary widely based on the size of the rock/mineral and its relative scarcity. If you don’t have a lot of cash to spare, you can focus on the smaller stones, but keep in mind that some of the larger ones can get pricey, which is to be expected.

Katy Rock Shop offers friendly, helpful customer service and while there is limited parking, it is a small enough establishment that parking shouldn’t be a problem. It is a true hidden gem- pun intended- here in the west Houston...