STIIIZY Costa Mesa — Local services in Costa Mesa

First off, let me say the staff here are wonderful—genuinely great energy, friendly, and welcoming. The customer service is consistently on point, and I’ve always appreciated that. However, great people and good vibes should never be a cover for poor business practices—especially when it comes to money.

Let’s talk facts. I’ve been observing and documenting this for over a year now. STIIIZY is the only dispensary I’ve been to in California that charges what they call a $3 “ATM fee” at the register—but that’s not what customers are actually being charged. The reality? You’re often paying more than double or triple that amount with no clear explanation.

Several months ago, I brought this to a manager’s attention after being charged $7 in additional fees on top of my purchase. She admitted she didn’t know, and only then did she realize what was happening. Since then, I’ve watched the fee quietly stabilize at $6.50, but today—on a $26 item—I got hit with a $9.50 fee, totaling $35.50 for something that should have cost $26.

Let that sink in.

This isn’t about a few dollars—it’s about transparency and integrity. By California law, all transaction charges must be disclosed at the point of sale. “It depends on your bank” isn’t good enough. You must tell the customer exactly what they’re going to be charged—especially when you’re processing payments in-house through a point-of-sale debit system. If you can’t do that, you shouldn’t be offering that service.

Other dispensaries charge a single, fixed $3–$3.50 fee and tell you upfront. That’s legal. That’s honest. That’s transparent. What’s happening here feels shady, and whether it’s intentional or not—it’s a violation of fair business practice.

If this has happened to you or you want to report this practice, you can file a formal complaint with the following California agencies: Department of Cannabis Control (DCC): https://cannabis.ca.gov/consumers/file-a-complaint/ California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI): https://dfpi.ca.gov/file-a-complaint/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – for financial transaction issues: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

This isn’t about being petty—it’s about accountability. $10 may not be a big deal to some, but for others, that’s gas, groceries, or medicine. And when that money is taken without proper notice, it’s not just wrong—it’s fraud.

I’ll still support great service and buy what I want, but I’m not about to co-sign getting swindled....

Review #3 (most recent) Changing my review again because it seems stiizy staff is going into the gutter again. Currently 8:30 on a Friday night and they are SEVERELY understaffed. 2 bud tenders working with a line of at least 20 people right now. Absolutely insane this store would do this to their workers. People have to wait 20min to get helped all while looking at 22 registers that aren’t being used. Owner of this store needs to get it together, I will be shopping at Off The Carts across the street for a while until stizzy can get their staffing issues under control. (Off the charts never has a line and is staffed maybe more then they should be not less then they should be)

Review #2: I have come to change my review!!! Stiizy has upped their game significantly, well staffed and increasingly better prices then anyone in town! Fully staffed even in the middle of the day and extra staffed during rush hours.

Review #1: Good prices but not good service. I can go in on a Friday night and they won’t even have enough staff to run the place. I’ve never seen more than 4 budtenders at a time. Typically there’s 1-2 bud tenders serving all customers. This causes a line to be built up constantly every day. At almost every hour. I’m here at 1230 on my lunch break and I don’t think I’ll be able to get through the line so I’m gonna head over to off the carts because I know they have enough bud tenders at all times. Stiizy store has 21 registers but only utilizes 3-4 of them even during rush hour. This is not fair to your customers but not only your customers your employees. They have to deal with customers who at most times are waiting in line for 10-20min, and I’m sure they can’t get adequate breaks because they need people constantly on the floor because there so understaffed. I hope the owner of this store can figure out how to adequately staff the store and maintain their current prices to ensure customer and staff...

Hey guys I'm a returning customer for quite a long time and I spent thousands at the Pomona store.

My complaint here has nothing to do with the costa mesa store. I like going there because it's way closer to home, the music isn't obnoxiously loud and it's only ever been busy on the grand opening.

There seems to be a major quality control issue going on. I am currently on the way to return 3 pods that taste absolutely disgusting. I know these flavors. Burnt jalapeños is not how they are supposed to taste.

This is actually the 4th time in a row I'm returning pods. This never happened for the years I've used your guys product before.

My two favorites are super disgusting. Birthday cake was my go to for a long time but the way its been changed is really gross. I used to buy it every time I went, now never. King Louis was my second favorite but now, I'm too apprehensive to buy it again. The last time I got that flavor it was so much more disgusting than burnt jalapeños and literally made me gag every time I hit it. Really really gross.

I don't know what's going on but please stay consistent. I remember the years of cracked pods on like every 4th pod that was sold and the quality control got way better. Something needs to be done about the flavors. Currently feeling like my only options are Gelato...