Burdlife — Local services in Houston

I would like to start off by saying that Natasha, the owner, was wonderful. You can tell she's very passionate about her jewelry and puts a lot of work into the designs she puts out. I visited Burdlife on Friday 6/25 to get some piercings done. Audrey, the PA, was also great and I love my new piercings. However, the customer service provided by the two sales employees on the floor was awful. Neither of them said anything to me when I walked in. I was looking around for a good 10 minutes before one of them finally came up to me and asked if I was doing ok. Before I even answered, she had already started walking off. I followed after her and told her I wanted to get some piercings done. She then instructed me to pick out my earrings and pointed to Audrey who she said was the PA. I told her I had some specific earrings in mind and needed help finding them. She seemed annoyed that I didn't already have them and like I was bothering her and even told me "why don't you take a look around first". I thought this was just how their customer service was across the board but after seeing their interactions with all the other customers, I began to feel like it was just me. The only thing that differentiated me from the others is that I am of Hispanic descent. I brushed all of this off and proceeded with my piercings, which is when I came in contact with Audrey and Natasha, who again, were very pleasant. After paying, I found some cash in my wallet which I went back to leave in Audrey's tip jar. I proceeded to leave the store but whenever I was outside I kept hearing someone yell "Miss! Miss!" I turned around and it was the other floor employee calling for me. After following me outside, she asked if I had paid for my piercings. I was a little confused but nonetheless, I answered yes and told her that her coworker had checked me out. She STILL seemed hesitant by my answer, almost as if she didn't believe me. It was only after I processed what had just happened that I started to feel the embarrassment of her following me out. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I can't help but think the reason I got this type of treatment was because I am of a different ethnicity. I have never felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed in my life. I don't understand why she didn't ask her coworker if I had paid or not if she was that lost. That is never how you handle this type of situation. I hope Natasha talks to her employees and makes it known that it is never ok to assume or treat someone differently simply by how they look. I hope no one else has to go through this...

I am not one to usually leave negative reviews but thought this was warranted. While the owner does have a passion in jewelry making (they are cute and trendy) her supply sourcing and misinformation is fraudulent practices.

I purchased the flat backs and got my helix pierced on both sides in July 2021 and was told I could get the piercings changed after 3-4 months so I go in and get it changed after consulting with the girls there that a hoop would help continue to heal it and give more room to breathe. It did not. I continue to wear it and go back in January 2022 and have the Owner talk with me about how I shouldn’t have changed it out so soon (which I told her your employees said I could) so she helps me remove my earrings (which was super painful because it was so tender and the hoop ended up being too tight, even with me using saline solution twice daily). She said it’s crusty do you want me to throw the earrings away, I was shocked as the total of the pair was over $200 (maybe I should have known if she could easily offer that solution maybe that are not of high quality). In hindsight I should have not have her do that at all. I told her I had sensitive skin and asked for titanium flat backs which she attests it is in fact pure and will not rust, tarnish and can be worn and washed forever, etc. So I purchase it and she says I need to not sleep on the sides for another year. So at this point she’s asking me to sleep on an airplane pillow for way over a year. It’s September 2022 now and her “titanium” earrings have been turning green and my skin green, I’m still not healed and still on an airplane pillow. I finally see other reviews on here and feel a lot better that I’m not the only one.

While the concept is great for a small business owner, I would not advise anyone to get their piercing here unless you ask for the verification of the piercing artist, and consults from qualified employees. I would not spend your money here (spent $500 at this point) as the Owner is misrepresenting her jewelry and giving false information to her clientele. I’d recommend more in depth research into quality material sourcing and employees so you can 100% honestly stand behind the quality...

Update (2 years later because people are still reacting to this review): After seeing a Burdlife TikTok video on my FYP, I realized it was actually the owner, Natasha, who provided this poor experience 🙃

I’m not typically one to leave negative reviews but I feel like this one needs to be said because a certain associate here clearly doesn’t know how to provide quality customer service. I came in with a friend hoping to get some permanent jewelry as a gift for us. The first associate was kind and welcoming - no idea what her name was, she was blonde though. She walked us through the different chains and charms to attach for a bracelet. Once we picked out what we wanted she had us sit for an associate to apply it (apparently there was only one designated person to do so). We sat and waited for a good 15 minutes. Then the second associate (again, didn’t catch her name but was a brunette with curled hair) finally came over and initially greeted us by saying “sorry I have to respond to a text from another client.” ?? You have clients sitting right in front of you but you decide to prioritize a text message. Ok, weird. It literally took her 5 minutes to type something out while we awkwardly sat in front of her to finish up. When she was done, she asked us what we were interested in and I responded saying “we’re thinking of getting some permanent bracelets.” Apparently she didn’t like that answer because she responded with “you think?” and before I could say anything in response, another associate asked her for help and she left us to wait until she was finished. Another 15 minutes later, she finished with that associate and their client so we figured she’d come back to us so we can get the ball rolling but NOPE. She decided to walk off to ask another group if they needed help with anything. At this point we were peeved after being blatantly ignored and having to wait so long for her to service us, we decided to leave. No business deserves money when their associates can’t even respect their customer’s time.

The store is cute and so is the jewelry but that certain staff member needs better training on...