Genuinely speaking, I don’t like repeating myself, and I’m sure my kids would agree with that. But here we are. Back in June I wrote an article about Hookah, the hookah bar in Parque Lleras which has become synonymous with scamming its patrons and overcharging its patrons in some cases charging 1000x what other high end establishments are charging for the same dish. We’ll post a few examples of receipts as well as some testimonials of the bad experiences had at this now infamous establishment.
Hookah’s Questionable Sales Tactics
This is honestly at the heart of the issue. There are two parts of this that are highly suspect at best and downright despicable at worst. Hookah has become infamous for how they get people to spend more money in the club, not disclosing prices to patrons, and taking anyone that complains about the prices to the back room for “price reeducation” – They don’t call it that, just what it reminds me of.
The first part is that they have beautiful women who will accompany parties of gringos who the management identify as “Fat Fish” (Pez Gordos in Spanish) and assign some of the beautiful girls to get them to spend more by any means necessary. This can mean anything from the girls asking for a drink or food all the way to them showing the men something in exchange for drinks or tips – a real tit for tat if you will. The way they get away with it is when the girls ask for a drink, they don’t disclose that they work for the bar.
They also don’t disclose prices, and this results in multiple shots for the girls at embarrassingly high prices. An example of this is the girls love Bailey’s shots, and each one is 180,000 COP (approximately $38usd). If you have 3 girls that come to your table and take 3 shots each your bill is $120USD and they use the egos of the men to get more expensive shots for themselves. This has resulted in bills upwards of 9,500,000 COP for a 2 hour experience in this bar.
Your bill may come with a surprise
When you want to move on to the next bar, the bill will come and even if you’re not familiar with Colombian pesos, any time you hear “Million” in a price that should be cause for concern. They take advantage of this lack of knowledge, and run the bill in Colombian pesos so the group doesn’t know what they’re getting charged in dollars. If they see an American Express corporate card their greed ramps up and the traditional tip goes up from 10% to 25% and more. They present the receipt in pesos and have the mark sign it.
Those that complain about the bills are starting a process that are led with violence, as well as many reports of guns being pulled to take the patrons to the back. Other reports have come to us that they are taking people to the back and having their mark transfer money to them under duress, mostly through crypto, which has no clawback procedure. They make the mark transfer funds from their own phone so there is no way of clawing back the funds once sent. Basically this is what happens when someone is drugged, but they get the added terror of a gun to their heads while they make the transfer.
Protect Yourself
Last time I published a warning to not go to Hookah, the main pushback I got was: “So what? Let people have their fun” and “If you’re too poor to go there, just move on because this is how superior men party, and you’ll never know” (verbatim quotes). If getting romance scammed and then strong armed for a couple of hours is your idea of fun, have at it. Rent yourself a Lamborghini, put on your best designer clothes and floss it up. Don’t forget to brag about your meme coin.
For the rest of us “poor” people, spending $3000 for 2 hours at a mid at best Hookah bar in Medellin is ridiculous. I’ve been to legit Hookah bars in many major cities like London, Dubai, Berlin, Miami and they are all more expensive than general bars, because they provide a high end experience, but honestly Hookah wildly misses the mark here. They have top shelf liquor, yes, they have Shisha, yes, but that is only to overcharge people, not to provide a high end experience. If they were, they’d spend a little more on their decoration and ambience.
Leave Anything Important To You At Home
In one of the testimonials below, they state that Hookah confiscated his passport until he paid. I can’t make this clear enough, DO NOT TAKE YOUR PASSPORT OUT WITH YOU. Take a picture of it and your entry stamp into Colombia and this will be more than enough. I would also recommend taking 1 or 2 low limit credit cards, or something like the DolarApp card which is preloaded with money and usable in Colombia. There are too many risks in the streets to do this.
I have also said this many times, and maybe it’s paranoia sinking in, but I would even recommend getting yourself a cheap burner phone to take into the streets with you. If you’ve ever had your phone stolen, you know the anxiety this brings, and crank that up to 11 being in a foreign country.
Testimonials
Here are a few stories of Hookah’s unique brand of Customer Service with names and identifying details removed because they have made it clear to all that say anything bad that they love to use violence to solve disputes:
“I ended up there 2 months ago with a coworker, and he ended up buying bottles and drinks for the girls that worked at the place. When he got the bill, it went up to $2,700(usd) and he only had $600. They took his passport and held him in a room got five hours”
“They also did this to a guy that was sitting next to me over a chicken sandwich. 10 guys pulled him upstairs and put a gun to his head. All over a chicken sandwich that was supposed to be a hamburger. He took a bite of it, it was wrong and he didn’t want to pay for it. I ended up paying for the sandwich so they didn’t kill him. NEVER GO TO THE HOOKAH BAR!!!!”
“On the evening of 12/04/2024, my companion and I were subjected to an egregious incident of unlawful detention, assault, and financial extortion by 5 men in an establishment by the name of “HOOKAH DOLLS BAR RESTAURANT”. While departing the premises, we were forcibly confined to a small room where we endured physical assault and were coerced into relinquishing all cash, debit cards, and credit cards in our possession. Under duress, a total of $8,000 was transferred from our accounts. This ordeal lasted approximately three hours, culminating in my companion being compelled to contact his financial institution to authorize the aforementioned transaction. Only then were we released.”
So I want to hear from those that tried to claim that Hookah is for top tier partygoers, is this how the top 1% like to be treated? If this is your idea of fun, have at it. For the rest of us common people who have common sense, let’s just stay away from there.
If You’re A Victim of Hookah or Any Other Scams in Medellin:
You can file a case for fraud with the Police / Fiscalia
https://adenunciar.policia.gov.co/Adenunciar/default.aspx
– Denuncia Virtual
– Estafa
– Fillout the form they provide
Then file a report against the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio – if the organization gets enough reports against this business they will look into the business and hopefully shut them down. https://sedeelectronica.sic.gov.co/atencion-y-servicios-a-la-ciudadania/peticiones-quejas-reclamos-y-denuncias
– Choose PQRSF Complaint
– Fill out the form.
Don’t forget to file a report through Medellin.co with Report a Crime Our report a crime goes directly to the Fiscalia and Police. It also allows us to keep count on how many crimes are being reported in the city.
Stay safe out there. While Medellin is indeed beautiful and a paradise, as with any beautiful place that is a tourist destination, scammers will be there looking to take advantage of you. Your only true defense is being informed and staying vigilant.
