Beyond Hello Dispensary (St. Louis Metro East) — Local services in Sauget

EDIT JUNE 13, 2022:

Mysteriously, I have been banned from Beyond Hello. Could it be my reviews linked to my bad experiences?

EDIT JUNE 12, 2021:

I was tempted back to Beyond Hello Sauget Route 3 by their Pride week discounts. As an LGBTQ+ customer, I was happy to see inclusion and the discounts were very good.

My issues with this store as the same on opening day. Staff was uneducated on policy and did not perform their jobs. I placed an online pickup order and showed my text at the front door, knowing that the door greeter checks the text to ensure you’re at the correct location. I said it was 9:30 and I hadn’t received my ready text for my pickup slot from 9-9:30.

I was told to wait in the online pickup area. I waited until about 10am before they realized I was at the wrong store.

That’s ok. Things happen. What makes this store’s management unacceptable is that things like that continued to happen the whole way through.

I walked into the main area to make a walk-in purchase. The door greeter apologized for not catching it. No problem at this point, I wasn’t upset, just irritated with myself for not doing it properly. I have autism, and diversions from plans make me very anxious and uncomfortable, but I’ve lived with it my whole life and I can usually adjust course pretty well.

Inside, a tall blonde woman helped me. She said she was the manager and wasn’t usually on the floor. She could not operate the iPad properly to sort the cartridges by THC level. She had me do it instead. I thought I shouldn’t be allowed to touch the staff iPad, and honestly I don’t like touching it during a pandemic.

I selected my items and waited for checkout. Upon checkout, I presented a coupon I had from when I had my very bad experience. The employee (Zeena) said she wasn’t sure but she didn’t think I could stack coupons and I should stick with the Pride coupon. I said I have been able to stack discounts at the other Beyond Hello - in fact, when my wife presented her coupon at the other Sauget location, the employee happily informed me they stack coupons and took it.

Zeena called a manager over, the same tall blonde one who had helped me earlier. The manager explained that although Beyond Hello is a chain, they are individual brick and mortar stores who have different policies. I told her that that makes things really difficult for customers and there should be some consistency, and went on to tell her about my experience so far, and how opening day was a shitshow. She said I seemed very upset and I could have handled myself better, and that she would give me the discount.

I said why would you wait for me to get that upset when you can just make an exception? Wouldn't a better way to handle it be to just tell me you’ll make an exception but it’s a one time thing and you don’t usually do it?

She responded by threatening not to sell to me.

I know sometimes someone responds to these, and I just want you to know: this manager is a problem. She openly admitted to not knowing how to work the floor, admitted she enforces policies that don’t align with other stores, her staff was uneducated on policies (and who wouldn’t be when everything is different!), and she responded to criticism with threats.

If you’re in IL, go to Goose Lake. If you’re in MO, go to Nbliss. The end.

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ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I placed an online pickup order on opening day at this location. I’m a frequent shopper at their other location, but this one is more conveniently located. Unfortunately, that was about the only convenient thing during this trip, which will be my last. Staff was disorganized and uneducated on products and promotions, items were miscategorized, and the rewards system wasn’t integrated with any other location at this time, meaning if you’ve been going to the other Sauget location, you might as well keep going there if you’ve got points. Staff, including management, were more interested in socializing than helping customers. Pretty...

Way too many products they sell and put on sale have THCa as the primary THC. THCa doesn't get you high. THCa has many benefits, but it isn't psychoactive and does not get the consumer high in the sense most of us know as being high. The sales employees only say "THC" when telling you the % in each product at check out (IL taxes are based on THC % so things like concentrates have a higher tax rate). I recommend asking to look at with your own eyes the labeling on each package of the products you're buying when you're checking out to verify what type of THC is in the stuff you're about to drop $$ on.

I also recommend shopping online beforehand and checking the type of THC that's in the products you are considering buying. Their flower listings can be deceptive (as of July 2022) in that one might state at the top "THC 28.79%" but as you read further down you get the whole picture when it lists "THCA: 28.6% THC: 0.19%" I was just looking at their menu and I kid you not 3 out of the 4 strains I was interested in ended up being primarily THCa!

I've been to Beyond Hello three times and it wasn't until I got home from the third visit, after two previous "meh" purchases, that I noticed the eighth I spent $65 on was basically all THCa and less than 1% THC and that's why I wasn't feeling much, and the effects I did get from it lasted maybe 20 minutes.

While I understand it's on the consumer to know what they're buying, it would be helpful if for all the noobs out there coming in and spending their hard earned money the employees could at least inform customers any product with THCa might not get them "high." Or perhaps stop stocking so many strains without THC. I can understand a medicinal place having as many, but a rec shop's customer base just want to get high. I lived in Colorado for 12 years and never ran into this at any...

This used to be my favorite dispensary and it has been a really awful the last few months. The last time I went in I had ordered online, got to the window and the total was $20-$30 higher than it originally said. I had gotten cash for this trip and didn’t have enough. When I asked about the price difference, the guy said the pricing online was incorrect. No apology, no anything. I opted to go in, and that was awful. The person that helped me was polite and told me that I would still be able to use my points from the original online order, but after that I waited and waited in a crowded, hot, loud room while person after person was called. I finally went and asked on the wait time and they said it should be 15-20 minutes. When I told them I had been waiting for over 45 minutes, the guy at the counter glared at me and said he would go check. When I got to the checkout, the person was extremely rude and said I couldn’t use the points anymore. Happy to leave, I left and contacted customer service. They were extremely helpful at first and told me they would return my unused points to my account, but never did. Today I ordered ahead online around 8 am. I selected 3-4 pm window for pickup. It’s 5:16 and I haven’t received anything. No update that they’re running behind, nothing. I called and they guy on the phone was also dismissive and rude and said “I don’t know, it should be ready soon.”

Once STL opens their dispensaries in February, this location will close if they don’t seriously turn it around.

Update: 8:27 pm, I got a text my order was cancelled. I never received anything...