Tannery Sidi Moussa — Local services in Fez

We had been shopping in the old city and along comes some guy who says he will take us to the tannery. Our friend said that he felt comfortable after speaking with this person, so we went with him. We were taken through many small alley ways and brought into the back side of the tannery. Before we knew it we were upstairs and we Ahmad another person who apparently worked for the tannery coop/guild and he started giving us a history of the tannery. He was actually quite good and his historical accounts were very accurate and his English was quite good. we definitely used the mint we were offered as the smell of animal flesh can be overwhelming. I didn’t ask to be given a tour. We thought were just being brought to the tannery. After the tour the tannery guide became fairly aggressive asking for a top. We have him 20 MAD and he still said that was nothing. I gave him whatever change we had and we scooted behind the original person who had brought us here. If I had asked for the tour I would have been more amendable to giving a tip but we were really just a group of people essentially taken from the the street and asked if we wanted to go somewhere. We left but our friendly person then took us to another place that was probably part of the same group/coop. Same type of activity. Bring us in and then try and sell us something. We became acutely aware and left very politely. Again, the tannery tour was great and the person very nice. The closing tip...

Horrible experience!! This guy found us nearby and started leading us to this shop, we tried telling him no but he wouldn't leave us alone. We ended up following him and they took us to the terrace to see the tanneries. It was a cool view, not as smelly as everyone says. They then walked us around their shop but we didn't want anything. They had locked the door behind us but ended up just letting us out. They then lead us to a different shop and had many men standing all around us. This shop was a natural health shop where they forced samples on us and refused to tell us the price until we were checking out. They told us the price at the end and were trying to charge us 80 euros for a few items. So uncomfortable and semi-threatening, they wouldn't let us say no, wouldn't let us leave, and we had to argue the price. The lady selling it to us got all upset and tried to guilt us. We ended up buying one thing just to be able to leave but it was still crazy overpriced. One of the guys also tried to get my girlfriend to go back to his house and drink whiskey with him, which is illegal there, and was overall super creepy. Absolutely DO NOT go here, it is not worth the view in the slightest. Terrible people, terrible time,...

SCAM ALERT! Though the view of the tannery is nice and the tour guide says all the nice things to Westerners, the following treatment in the shop is an abomination. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING HERE. They charged us 10x (yes 10 times!) what they charge in the streets for the same thing (though they will say over and over again how they have the best quality... they don't. It's the same on the street). Upon realizing that we had been conned, we returned to the shop to demand a return or at least a fair price (we were willing to pay double for our products considering the good tour). They didn't relent until we were able to convince other tourists to not buy from there (our only leverage at the time) and thus they screamed at us, even telling me that "I have a black soul", which I find hilarious actually. In short, pay 50 DH for the tour and get the heck out. Mention that you saw many reviews of how they are scamming people and MAYBE one day Moroccans...