I would give this place negative stars if there wa...

I would give this place negative stars if there was a way to do so.

Staff were unfriendly, rude, and wasted our time.

We were in Chicago for one day about 2 weeks ago and there is a list of things we wanted to do - Sears tower, navy pier, and an architectural boat tour. I'm such a nerd that I love history and architecture :)

We tried several times to buy tickets on the website for the boat tour and it kept kicking me out at checkout - so I called the number listed and also got no where. So, when we got to downtown Chicago we went by their location listed on brochures - only to find the location was closed and the man at the desk told us we'd have to find them on the river to buy tickets. He knew nothing about buying them there.

Finally we got to their new address - walked down multiple flights of steep stairs (I have a bad knee and it was excruciating) - I got in line and was told by a very rude man with a beard that they were completely sold out for the day!!! I asked about a manager and he told me I could ask but good luck with that - he acted like it was our fault we didn't have tickets and that maybe just maybe we could find another tour probably subpar to their tour at such a short notice. The jerk.

My husband told me we should just leave. I should've listened to him. Instead I told him that I at least wanted the manager to know how much effort we went through to find them which is ridiculous in this day and age.

I spoke with a manager a short girl with a very round face. I told her our issues and finally she said she thought she could get us on one of the cruises... Wow! Great! I thought, finally explaining our situation and running around the city looking for them paid off!

Then the director, NANCY came out. What a terrible person. She should not be a director of anything let alone in the tourism industry. Maybe her family donated a bunch of money to get her the job. She basically called me a liar - that she checked the website herself that morning and it was working fine (like the internet once working always continues to work) and then said that we could've bought tickets with the man at their previous location (he knew nothing about it). She told us with words and tone how little she cared about our plight. We left while she was still talking - she had already wasted our time and put a sour taste in my mouth about our whole trip. Yes, I know - I need to deal with disappointment and rude people in a less visceral way - that's on me.

We ended up on a boat tour with their competition because they approached us on our way to navy Pier. I have no way of knowing if it was as good as theirs - but the staff was so sweet, friendly, and attentive that it was better than theirs in the end.

Also, we overheard others complaining about the staff from the Architectural Center and the staff from the other boat tour company saying that they hear those complaints quite often. So it seems they have a reputation of treating tourists poorly.

So sad that they may have a good product but their website isn't really up to date and their employees don't care either.

Oh, and forget about the fireworks display at Navy Pier - the website says Saturday night for fireworks... Nope... Only some Saturdays in the summer. Bad information... Like I said, negative stars are deserved here.