The Castle — Local services in Tyler

-(August 18th)- initial review

I had gone looking though their bulk cards and I came across a card that lacked authenticity. It wasn’t an expensive card, however, when I brought it up to the owner, they seamed to take it as a personal attack that I had the gull to inform them of a fake card in their collection. I honestly wouldn’t have as much as a problem if the associate next to the owner hadn’t mentioned that they haven’t looked through these cards yet and the owner herself mentioning that they had just bought these bulk cards off of someone. The owner acted towards me as if I chose to come in and said, “ I think this black lotus here is fake, can I get a discount “ but no, I was trying to inform the store of a card that isn’t legitimate to sell if it is fake. So I was trying help. It isn’t uncommon to come across fakes, the owner, herself, kept referring to a stack of cards that also were fakes, so I am understanding that this shouldn’t be a one off deal.

My concern here is that this is my first and probably last time in the castle. On top of that I wasn’t even in there for more than 5 mins. Everything was great, the other staff was great, however the owner ruined everything by escorting me out because I told her the way she was talking to me was rude, which she proceeded to put her hands on me as I was trying to leave to “enforce” my exit. This was due to me attempting to apologize to the other staff for “causing” this accidental interaction.

If you choose to come here in search for a welcoming environment, don’t. This place is not bad, just the owner.

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-(August 19) -Update after response 1 If I could give any more negative you would win the worst possible rating.

Man, you state that I should try my luck for “disrespecting” cards by having a stack and setting a card aside just as anyone would if they were shuffling through cards or decks for a card? Your threats of unwarranted toxicity can stay at the castle. I’ve already been to the other places in Tyler and I have been gladly welcomed. Your ego isn’t one that should be running a community driven business. All of your negative review responses on your behalf are unprofessional and disgusting. Nothing is professional, you send your personal feelings in the response because you were personally hurt over the smallest of customer service issues or concerns. You kick out and ban people for the very same ego. All of your good reviews are your friends that only you allow in your “special castle club”. Honestly, I see no issue with not every having to come across you and you alone. Your sons were nice and helpful, they don’t deserve the toxic work environment...

Do not recommend. Complete Discrimination. Went in to find a gift for my son, came in from out of town specifically for them, and my friend was trying to buy something they really wanted as well. While getting ready to check out I noticed a lady getting onto another customer because she had her phone doing a FaceTime call. Normally I mind my own business however this particular interaction bothered me because earlier I had seen this woman and her children and realized the customer (a mom) was deaf. I had my very young child with me who was admittedly being loud and getting into people's ways. Still, Took me 2 seconds to realize she was deaf (sign language being used through facetime trying to make sure she was getting the appropriate gjft). The employee tried to explain to the woman that taking video wasn't allowed. (Yes there were signs) Again normally not an issue if she was unaware of why there was a FaceTime video however I did watch very closely and the customer attempted to educate the employee that by ADA law she has to allow this by writing on a notebook. The customer was not "recording her merchandise" she was simply showing it to the person on the other end of the call. No different for this customer to facetime than it is for me to call my son and ask him which anime characters he liked (which i did with no issue from the employee, didnt know which to get so i was describing them to him over the phone. Something this customer couldnt do reasonably) The employee attempted to snatch the pen away multiple times as the customer was writing. Even after being educated the employee still refused to accommodate.

If someone came in with a service animal would she have kicked them out because they don't allow animals? After this interaction I wouldn't doubt it... Horrible store and I would never give money to such an awful company. I'm sure they don't care because they have plenty of customers as well as regulars, but if I can stop just one other person from ever going in there I'll be happy.

Ownership really needs to brush up on their ADA laws.

At the very least you could have offered a solution or had a conversation about what was happening. You didn't. All you cared about was that video. Shame on you and...

I simply cannot believe what happened. I have played D&D since the games first came out in 1977, and I have played in every corner of the world. I have played in coffee shops, restaurants, my home, other people's homes and at game stores across the globe. For the past 5 years I have played and DMed at a store in Tyler Tx. called The Castle which I considered a small but pleasant place to play with the group that came in there. However, two weekends ago, we could not play D&D because the owner was hosting a pre-release of Magic. So, my wife, sons and a family friend went to Ground Zero to play. When we returned to The Castle for our regularly scheduled D&D session this week, I was told that I could not DM anywhere else and be allowed to DM at the Castle as well because the store's owner deemed it to be a conflict of interest and would possible draw players away from The Castle. I was, to say the least, shocked and dumbfounded that any store owner would deliver such an ultimatum. When I attempted to explain that only my family and one friend went to play at Ground Zero and that I did not inform any of the regulars at The Castle about my get-together, I was called rude for questioning the store owner then asked to leave. I simply packed up my box and left. The store owner sought to prevent me from running D&D events elsewhere because she thought I would somehow draw customers away from her store, and thus, apparently cost her sales. Well, she has succeeded in doing exactly that. Never in my life has any store owner anywhere I have ever played EVER told me that if I held a D&D event anywhere else that I could not hold one at their store. It seems completely controlling and illogical to me. Needless to say, The Castle will not receive an other dime from me or my family. Furthermore, I recommend that if you are looking for a place to enjoy Table Top, Role-Playing Games, Magic or any other gaming experience, you would be well served by going to any other store. I will be playing at Ground Zero or Geek World depending upon space, availability and...