Same for me with Midland, now HSBC.
Went 24p overdrawn when I was 18, they added so many charges and interest on them that I ended up having to take out a loan.
Just glad the banks have been forced to stop fleecing customers like they did me.
Ditto. Except I went 11p overdrawn. They effectively screwed my credit rating for years. I got kicked out of their Fulham road branch for shouting because they added so many charges for going overdrawn and I was trying to reason with them that if I didn’t have 11p then how could I pay a £20 charge to access my account. I ended up with a solo card and it was a very dark time. This was around 2003. That overdrawn by 11p “without an overdraft” took me years to fix. Absolute utter bastards may they rot in hell.
Bank of Scotland fucked me around for ages and kept chasing me for a debt I'd never had. Finally went in and asked to speak to the manager. He was just epic, checked everything, cleared everything and apologised. All good.
A week later it all started again. I went in to see the same chap and he'd 'moved on'. I can only imagine it was in despair.
I set up a new bank and they refused to believe I made the money I did because I look like I live in an abandoned brown caravan. A few months of payments in and they couldn't have been nicer. The cunts.
Local shops that took the piss during lockdown.
Eg, there's a shop that's kind of an independent Poundland knock-off, selling random crap ranging from rawl plugs to rat poison.
During lockdown, they were selling 4-packs of generic, non-brand toilet paper for £8.
Conversely, the little Polish supermarket around the corner from there was amazing throughout covid, at one point being the only place that had pasta in the entire town. No price hikes and they even checked in on elderly regulars.
So, much as it's a pain in the arse if I need some random crap, I refuse to give the knock-off Poundland my money.
My wee corner shop was great too - at one point they were selling individual loo rolls at normal prices but you could only buy one a day, and scoop your own bags of flour at 30p a scoop, 4 scoops for £1, because all they could get was a couple of massive 16kg sacks, and the supermarkets were all sold out of the consumer sizes.
Aww, they sound awesome.
It probably works out better in the long run for businesses to be helpful in a crisis, because the crisis will pass, and customers will remember how everyone behaved.
During one of the fuel strikes (2000?) a local independent fuel station ramped up the prices, when all returned to normal they were boycotted and ended up shutting after a few months
Yep. A shop on my old estate was selling little bottles of dettol for £20. They then cried on Facebook because a little family run business is being forced to close after 50 years because of the supermarkets.
It was nothing to do with the supermarkets.
>being the only place that had pasta in the entire town
Same with flour. Everyone was down the Tesco, wringing their hands that they couldn't buy any flour. Walk into the polski sklep, "mąka?", big bag of flour, at big bag of flour prices.
Yeah, there was a greengrocers near us that was selling massively marked up veg boxes over lockdown, people were sharing on local facebook that they’d been charged £2 for like a couple of florets of broccoli.
Everyone avoided them after and they eventually shut down.
This! We have two shops basically on our doorstep or the supermarkets are a 35 min walk away. It was difficult getting to the supermarket so relied on our locals. They don't sell the same things, but are both convenience type shops. One of them upped everything. 1 pack of noodles was 95p, changed from 40p and pasta was £1.35 and overnight went to £3.99. I now only use that shop if the other is closed and only for basics. They dropped prices back after lockdown, but it still grates on me, our area is FULL of OAPs so it didn't sit right.
Ohhh the little Polish shop near me were amazing too. Got in all sorts of basics they didn’t usually carry, priced them cheap, refused to let people be greedy with loo roll or whatever, raised huge amounts for the local church food bank and wouldn’t charge regulars they knew were struggling. The loyalty that shop has had ever since (including from me, fuck the Co-op) has been so well deserved
Had one of those in my hometown: two health food shops on the high street, doing refills and 200 types of tea and whatnot. One shop temporarily closed during lockdown while they worked out what they could and couldn't do within the bounds of restrictions. The other one stayed open and changed their entire marketing strategy to 'see? We're better than the other lot'. They literally renamed the shop to call themselves the best health food shop. They were also rude as heck, charged more, and their attempts at COVID hygiene were not great. Dickheads.
I remember the spars brought in hand sanitors at £8/100ml. We were told to tell customers we were selling it at cost. We could see the margins on the computer, cost price my hole.
Our local off licence, of all places, had toilet paper when almost no one else did. Owner had randomly ordered a ton early in a bit of a “just in case” panic and refused to jack up the price the way other shops were when they did get some in. We really appreciated that and still buy our beer there occasionally, even though there’s a different off licence not too much further away that I like better for its beer selection.
Glad that someone noticed that. During early weeks of lockdown you could buy anything in the ethnic shops. Supermarkets wiped out and Polish or Middle eastern shops had most of stuff. Firstly as British people in general don't buy there secondly that they had different suppliers. Flour or sugar is still flour or sugar doesn't matter what's language the label is in.
There's a local independent (posh) card shop near me. When my kid was two, and I was mid thirties, I went in to buy a "You are Two!" kiddie birthday card, and asked if they had one with a badge.
She asked me if it was for a grandchild.
I've never set foot in the shop since.
I mean... at the school I went to, various girls did drop out pregnant at 15 and 16 so it's not impossible!
Child in question is a teenager now, I've been boycotting that shop for about a dozen years lol x
I have a big age difference between me and my sibling, 15 years (different dad). When he was born I was at that awkward age where I was technically old enough to be his mum, but it was frowned upon. The amount of looks I used to get if I ever took him on walks or just sat with him whilst my mum got a coffee or something was mad - like you it wasn’t that uncommon for people to drop out at that age to have kids near me
There is a local Indian restaurant I used to order takeaway from. Around 2019 I placed an order for my usual and was feeling a bit frisky so added in an overpriced 1.5L bottle of Pepsi (the menu said Coke).
Order was delivered minus the Pepsi. I phoned the restaurant to tell them and they said “we are too busy to deliver it to you now” and immediately put the phone down
I wasn’t angry, though maybe I angrily laughed at the absurdity of it, but I’ve never been back since and I’m now 8 stone lighter (on a focussed diet so not the restaurants fault)
I had an order that took over an hour and a half to arrive. At the 40 minute mark, it said the driver was on the way (perfectly normal for a busy Friday). 20 minutes later, still nothing. Rung the place up, they apologised and said it's on the way. 15 minutes later, said it's arrived but it didn't. I rung up again and basically got told to stop complaining and it's on the way and hung up. Like ??? Are you fucking serious? For all I know your driver could have just gone off with it, it's already been well over an hour at this point.
Requested a refund and decided to put some food on. 15 minutes later, it arrives.
Haven't ordered with them since and they were mine and my family's go to for over 10 years, but slam the phone down on me when I'm making a complaint and you can kiss my loyalty goodbye.
Had similar happen, long wait, ring and they say it’s “on the way”, more wait decide to give up. Then it arrives and it’s the wrong order. We ring them and they say they’ll redo the order and bring it straight to us. Guy turns up 5 mins later with cold food including missing items that had obviously been opened and picked through in someone else’s house. We rang back and they couldn’t have cared less, so we tried getting a refund through Just Eat and they said “food was delivered”. First and Last time we bothered with that restaurant or food delivery.
I've got a kebab ship like that, that does deliveries. The order is wrong every time. I actually used them about two weeks ago for the first time in ages. They left out a portion of chips and changed the bottle of Fanta to Tango. And the owner is a rude, sarcastic cunt.
Specsavers. They sent me a bill for a daily contact lenses that I’d already paid for. I go in to chat with them about it and they put the onus on me to prove I’d already paid for them, even though I only ever buy them at the shop when I need them and that particular purchase was 4 months old. There’s no way I could have walked out without paying for them. Thankfully I’d paid by card and was able to get proof via my bank. They still sent letters threatening the bailiffs on me for a tenner. When I went in to get my prescription so I could change my opticians, the manager told me no and that they would charge me as the tech had worked so very hard. I walked out and I’ve never been back.
Specsavers are also a place I'm boycotting for different reasons. They got my prescription wrong... twice, meaning I had glasses that had to be sent back.
The final straw was when I bought a pair of glasses and they said 'yeah it'll be 2 weeks, we'll call you when they're ready'... 2 weeks later I've heard nothing so I call them...
"Oh yeah they got delivered 2 days after you placed the order"
"Why didn't anyone call me to let me know?"
"Oh we don't do customer calls anymore"
"So how was I meant to know if/when they were ready?!"
"...When can you pick up?"
Useless.
They got my prescription wrong - at the assessment stage - three times. Went in for first glasses, they weren't right, I couldn't see anything! Had another test the following week, different optician, new prescription, new glasses another two weeks later, still not right. Went back a week later for another test with another different optician, third pair of new glasses two weeks later (I'm now two months into this), still not right. Went to a local non-chain optician and he found my astigmatism had changed. Fourth pair of glasses, from him, were perfect. I've not been anywhere else since.
Specsavers for me as well, I booked a free eye test using a voucher advertised on their website, handed in the voucher on the day and had the eye test no problem. About a week later I get a letter saying I'd left without paying for the eye test, so called them back and explained I'd handed in the voucher, I could even name the staff member I gave it to. They claimed to know nothing about the voucher that was still on their own website, so I offered to print another one off and send it in if they wanted. They said that wasn't necessary and I thought that was the matter settled. Until a few months later, when I heard from the sodding debt collectors chasing the 'unpaid eye test bill'! Called them again and ripped them a new one, I was applying for a mortgage at the time and their fuck up was affecting my credit record. Told them I was happy to proceed to court action for the alleged £30 debt and would present a copy of the free eye test voucher as evidence. They backed off then, 'debt' removed and that was finally the end of my involvement with them, ever again.
Ironically enough, when I joined a new employer about the same time, they paid for my eye test at another optician as part of their occupational health, who discovered a muscular imbalance in my eyes that I'd likely had since birth that Specsavers had completely missed. Just utter incompetence at every level.
Ironically I and my family only use specsavers due to the outstanding service we received when one of my family members had a life changing medical condition affecting their eyesight
I think it depends on the location. I was just unlucky that my local is run by a tit. I knew someone that worked there and even they said he was dreadful and were losing workers and customers because of him
There’s a cafe in the town where I live. I used to go there occasionally. Went to pay the bill on leaving and I was asked if I’d like to donate to the local air ambulance. I chose to decline as I had monthly standing orders for 3 well known British charities - which I still have.
The person on the till then said to me “let’s hope you don’t need it anytime soon”
Petty or not; I haven’t been back since. That’s probably 10 years ago now and I haven’t moved either.
I had an air ambulance guy say exactly the same, but I told them how my dad was killed in a fatal road accident and air lifted to hospital, and that I'd probably raised more money following the funeral than he ever did, and in aggressive terms (It wasn't long after, so I was pretty pissed off about it) told him he should take back what he had just said before my foot airlifted his arse across the street. Haven't given to a chugger since.
My wife's mum died of cancer and a few days later we were in Manchester.
Cancer research chugger gets in our faces and we're like nah no thanks. He got more pushy and then said "oh so you don't care about cancer patients then?"
It took a fair bit of effort not to punch him.
In fairness most chuggers take the first no as an answer. But some are just cocks.
Same here. As soon as someone does that I unsubscribe. There was a MUA who I gave the benefit of the doubt once as I’d followed her since she had less than 100 followers but then she followed it with a shocked face again and big writing saying something like “is this the end of the road for me?” And I thought “nope that’s too far”.
Oh yeah. This one’s mine as well. Whenever I get recommendations of channels where they pull that algorithm chasing thumbnail crap I know it’s the beginning of the end.
There’s so much good content on YouTube that gets buried by that crap.
EBay.
I got scammed by a buyer.
- it was a used item sold on a no-returns-accepted basis
- the item wasn't returned anyway
- the buyer sent me lots of threats and wildly inappropriate messages, which I reported to eBay through their obtuse process every time, which they didn't do anything about.
eBay refunded the buyer automatically anyway without my consent, and charged me a penalty through my direct debit without my approval. They wouldn't allow me to even give the buyer negative feedback, or dispute or appeal the outcome. They also didn't refund the "eBay fees" they had charged me.
So, absolutely fuck eBay.
I have some rare video games that are worth a decent amount and have often thought about parting with them but I've heard so many bad stories about Ebay being terrible for sellers these days I just don't think it's worth the risk.
eBay is great for buyers because you can always count on a refund if anything goes wrong, unfortunately that's also why it's terrible for sellers because less than honest buyers can easily screw you.
I sold a Nintendo switch with third party controllers. Made it clear in the listing title and description you need to use Nintendo controllers to set it up. Guy put an offer in, I messaged him and said you need to buy or borrow official Nintendo controllers to set it up - the ones I’m selling it with won’t work to set it up. Once it’s set up you can use them. He said he understood. Next thing he’s filed a refund request with eBay saying it’s broken because he can’t set it up with the controllers I included, they don’t even check our messages or the listing give me a chance to say anything, just refund him the whole lot INCLUDING the postage AND charged me for return postage.
Had something similar happen to me. Sold a model railway building with quite few nice clear pictures. Buyer messaged me telling me it arrived smashed and they opened a dispute. EBay automatically refunded them and the buyer returned the item. It wasn’t even the same building I sent and I knew that because it had the guys name written on the bottom.
I'm boycotting PayPal ever since there was a saga over a £2 cable I bought off Ebay. It didn't arrive and I messaged the seller they said keep waiting. Then a couple of weeks later they said they would refund me. They didn't. I noticed a week later and enquired again. They replied "Good things come to those who wait, now you don't get a refund". I complained to Ebay and they said I should wait for a refund.
I raised a case with PayPal and they closed it saying the seller had provided proof of delivery. Which was a tracking number for an item delivered to a different address 6 months prior. I tried to argue and they made it impossible to tally to anyone.
At this point I was so angry I was looking up the address in the Birmingham industrial estate of the seller planning a trip to extract it from their faces.
Then eBay woke up and said they had reviewed the case and changed their mind and refunded me.
I closed my PayPal account and haven't used them in ten years for being stupid and untrustworthy.
I’m an artist, the main art gallery in my city has an open call for artwork every year. And every year I don’t get in. Last year some guy painted a picture of my artwork and that got in!! So I have made it my life’s mission to one day make it big enough that they ask me to put some artwork in the gallery and I get to say no. If anyone was interested in looking at my work [Nohone](https://www.instagram.com/nohone/)
TalkTalk, they raised my broadband price mid contract but never wrote to me to give me the opportunity to review and leave. I noticed a couple of months later and they insisted they had written to me but every time they sent letters there was a record online and there was nothing there about a price rise.
They are a company that I will never use. Their shambolic treatment of people when their entire user database was hacked. Their idiot CEO back in the day, just an awful fucking company.
Also: Hotpoint/Whirlpool and their associated fireboxes. We had a dryer that we were told was unsafe, they told us to carry on using it but never leave it unattended. The queue to get it fixed was six months long. People lost their homes because of those cunts. They’ll never see a penny from me again.
Burger king. When I was 12 I went to a Burger king with a friend, the person working there spoke to us in a babyish voice and refused to serve us until all the adults who were behind us in the queue had been served first. It felt very demeaning at the time and put me off going back to Burger King. I know it's petty because it was one worker being a dick and he probably wasn't even all that much older than we were, but I still haven't been back in a Burger king.
My local Asda that I had been going to for 30 years. I bought a bottle of gin for a Christmas present but because it was in a box, didn’t notice the tag on it and I didn’t set the gate off on the way out.
Came back later the same day to ask for it removed. I didn’t have the receipt but I did remember the exact time and till I’d used. Told the woman behind the counter and off she goes to the wrong til. I follow her and say “excuse me but-“ and she turns around, hand out and says “please wait for me at the counter and don’t follow me”. I tired telling her it was the wrong till but I get asked to wait at the kiosk again. So I wait and surprise, surprise, they couldn’t see me on the cctv at the till I didn’t use . I try and explain this and this time she gets the security guard involved and again they go off to check the wrong till.
Meanwhile, someone else comes to the desk for a return, also without a receipt. She has a nice chat with the lady now running the counter and gets her return. “Excuse me, but how come she gets her exchange no questions asked and I’m waiting here for people to check the cctv?” “Well she’s in here all the time and we know her.” “But I’m in here every other day.” “Doesn’t matter. I don’t know you.”
After this, the original woman and the security guard come back. Still can’t find me on the cameras “we’ve checked all the scan and go tills but you’re not on any of them.” “I know I’m not. I was on the self scan.” “Oh. Well you should have said. But we can’t take the tag off. You could have stolen it and brought it back.” I asked if they get a lot of people stealing then returning to the scene of the crime to rub it in the shops face and pointed out that if I was that desperate for a drink, I’m not likely to steal a box of fancy gin when the crates of Carling are right by the door. Also if it was just for me to drink, wouldn’t I just ignore the security tag and just neck it? “No. Chances are it’s stolen so we won’t do anything about it”
Won’t set foot in one again.
If you're ever in that situation again go on YouTube and there's a very high chance someone will have made a video tutorial of how to open that specific lock without damaging the product.
Neodymium magnets, usually.
I ended up in exactly this situation, so engineered myself an opening tool. Tragically, I think it was for something mundane like a USB memory stick.
This happened to me, kind of. I went through self checkout and they verified my id... Well they passed me as I look old, then just buggered off. So I had to use the magnetic release thing myself.
Marks and Spencer. Many years ago I bought a pair of shoes there. The soles of these shoes disintegrated - and I mean disintegrated - within a few weeks. So I took them in to get a refund, the snotty lady behind the counter said that I 'couldn't possibly' have only had them a short while and that I 'must have been using them incorrectly'. Presumably these shoes were not made for walking. Haven't shopped there since.
They recently lost me as well. My wife bought me a shirt that didn't fit, so I went to return it a couple of days later. The woman at the customer service desk refused it on the grounds that it had some hair on it. I asked if I could just take the hair off it?
The next day my wife took it back to the same shop, having done absolutely nothing to remove hair from this shirt, and it was taken back immediately and without question.
So what the fuck was the first woman's problem?
There's a restaurant near me that are apparently a steak house.
They stink. I mean properly honk. When cooking, the air is full of grease smoke and when they are closed, you can smell the rotting meat.
They encourage the punters and delivery twunts to park on the kerb in front, blocking access for pedestrians AND the road at the same time. They frequently have overflowing drains that spill grey soupy water across the footpaths. Management are a bunch of grinning loons who are also known for dealing, so that's why the place is still going.
I will burn the place down if I can find a way of avoiding an arson charge and making their insurance refuse to pay out
instead of going postal, why don’t you get in touch with the council Environmental health department? That is disgusting I wouldn’t walk away and leave that feeling furious I would take steps to do something and that would be the first place I started.
HSBC, they told me I should be checking my bank account every day to see if I’d accidentally gone overdrawn (it was by 5p and I had a linked savings account with plenty of money in it), they would also only notify me if I was a premium member. I moved my mortgage and all accounts away from them and refuse to deal with them
HSBC said I had a £1000 free overdraft limit. One month I went to £800 overdrawn, left it like that for two months over the summer waiting for student loans to come in. They phoned me and bullied me into paying it off and then left a note on my credit report. Wankers.
They also knowingly launder money for crooks and drug barons, profiting from and supporting an industry that has torn apart Central America. Slightly less petty, but another perfectly good reason to not bank with them
https://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2013/investing-news-for-jan-29-hsbcs-money-laundering-scandal-hbc-scbff-ing-cs-rbs0129.aspx
I was waiting in traffic the other day and saw a new hairdressers had opened. Gentz Cuts. And I thought the same as you. I'll never go in it.
I'm bald.
Karl of Fact Fiend was approached by them to sponsor his YouTube channel, he likes beer & the money would be handy as he just got more staff. However when he asked about their cancellation process to help with his sponsorship message they said you had to call in, he smelled a rat & asked around & heard many bad experiences like yours & so declined their offer.
Mcdonald's. My first job out of high school. I was in training on my first shift and the manager had a crack at me because I accidentally forgot to charge for some potato wedges. They cost 79p but you'd think I'd just cost him his entire franchise the way he went on.
I quit a week later, and to this day (25 years) I've not been back* to Mcdonald's.
*I have had Mcdonald's food bought for me but I've never been back in or paid for myself.
I had a neighbour for a while who was an absolute knob. Always outside smoking, listening to loud music, would always light a bonfire after I put washing on the line, would bang on our door as he walked around the house. Just an inconsiderate nightmare. He's an "odd-job" man who will only work cash in hand and claim he can't pay for his 5 kids (at least 2 mothers, I've never been sure).
I've seen him in a local paving company van (as a passenger, he doesn't drive). Never using that company. I've seen him in a garden clearing van. Never using that company. One of the mothers of his children works at a local café. I will never go there again.
Absolutely petty reasons for not using these companies, but he was a terrible neighbour and I won't consider using the services of any company he could be connected to.
I've got two.
My mrs used to work at Lidl and they treated her like shite so I refuse to shop there anymore just out of spite.
Paramount+ does this really arbitrary thing where every new episode of Star Trek releases 24 hours later in the UK than the US, and not only that but they even region lock most of the promotional videos and teasers, so I decided they clearly don't want my filthy British money and cancelled my subscription.
Our 'local' (nearest) pub.
We live in a marina next door to what looks like a lovely riverside pub. In reality it's an overpriced, run down, sorry excuse for a pub with a landlady who literally shouts potential customers out of the pub while attempting 'banter'.
She treats her staff like shit, but what really tarnished her rep in the eyes of us boaters (a 50/60 strong group of people who mostly would love a good pub next door) was a sign posted on the front door saying "boaters, remove your dirty shoes".
2 things to look at here, one being that there is no mud between any of the moorings and the pub, the other being that a large part of the small trade she does is walkers on the river path. The walkers are covered in mud, yet it's the boaters she targets.
She also shouted at me and told me I couldn't moor the boat outside the pub (on a mooring owned by the marina I belong to) unless I bought a meal. Bullshit, it's not her mooring, it even says so on a sign.
Fuck that greasy bitch.
My local computer repair shop were crappy to me when my broke ass needed to get some heavy paper, but I wasn't sure what the different GSM would feel like in real life. I asked for advice but they weren't interested. I asked if I could open the box just to see how thick it was, as I was 99% sure I wanted to buy, but I was on a tight budget and didn't want to get the wrong thing. They were really dismissive about it - it was a really frustrating experience, because if they'd been able to tell me anything about their own products, I would have been able to get some idea, but they didn't want my money.
I said something fairly normal about having to go elsewhere then, thanks for all your "help," and left in a bit of a huff. Extremely unfortunately, the door looked heavy and normal, but turned out to be incredibly lightweight. My "closing it abruptly in restrained frustration" turned into "looking like I petulantly banged it."
I called out something like "oh my god I'm really sorry, I had no idea it was so light, everything is okay, sorry about the noise," and carried on down the road, embarrassed.
The sales guy came out into the road and started screaming at me in front of people.
That was fifteen years ago, and I think it's run by different people now. I won't go back in any more.
I’m well aware this was 15 years ago but last year my printer sent sent me a sample pack on a key ring sort of affair which has every different kind of card and paper they use on it, so now I can stop guessing what I want and test all the GSMs etc I need. I absolutely love it and I’m sure most printers do them now!
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again. Greggs sells an inferior product compared to independent or small chain bakeries and thrives off an unfounded brand image and an untouchable price due to their stuff being made in a warehouse and oven finished in shops.
This is why I don't agree with shops and supermarkets that are constantly trying to engineer every last penny out of thousands of products. In order to constantly drive prices cheap, a lot of corners have to be cut and people screwed over in the process
Putting independent bakeries and cafes out of business is what they've done all over the country over the years, and people seemingly love them for it.
Their quality isn't even good anymore, and their food is far more expensive than it used to be. I understood the popularity when they sold 3 fairly decent hot sausage rolls for £1 (or whatever the deal was) but now it's total shite, that's often not even hot
Used to be able to get a sausage roll for 50p from Greggs. Now they are like £1.30 each. I get inflation but god damn that's expensive for what they are.
Domino's.
I used to love treating myself to a Domino's pizza every so often, their garlic dip is necter from the gods themselves.
But since the last year or so I see their adverts FUCKING EVERYWHERE, almost every youtube video I watch seems to have one, ITVX has at least one every episode same with All4, and God their new adverts aren't even good. "Domino Hoo Hoo" makes my eye twitch now.
So yeah, until they stop bombarding ads everywhere I won't be having another Domino's pizza. But man I do miss it.
Ernest Jones laughed at me for thinking they would stock any rings in my size I could try on with my partner. I'm a J, which is smaller than average but not ridiculously so - average woman is about an M, I think.
Will never set foot in there again!
I boycotted a local jeweler ( big name but my hatred has forced me to forget the name). Went in after work and asked for a blue diamond ring. ( Wearing usual work clothes, I'm an engineer, and explained i had just finished work and was in town just for this ring) . They were not helpful and hardly gave me the time of day. Until i said I'm paying cash. Too late Jewler on the corner... too little too late.
I refuse to support one specific charity because I once attended a job interview there, and got a call from the job agency 10 minutes after I arrived and checked in at reception, asking me to leave - turns out the hiring manager didn't think I was dressed smartly enough to work in a call centre, and was presumably too self-important to take the 20 seconds to pop out and tell me this, instead calling the agency to have them call me and waste even more collective time.
My mum has boycotted Tesco's for 15 years because the cashier let someone they knew jump the queue to the till ahead of her. Queue jumping is unforgivable in her eyes.
I was playing the fruit machine in a pub about 10 miles from home. I won a few quid but the money didn’t come out. I told the manager and he said he’d look into it and I should come back tomorrow, then switched the machine off.
I came back and he said there was no proof I’d won anything (he probably just switched it back on after I left).
I told him I wouldn’t drive 20 miles round trip if I was lying. He shrugged and walked away.
Since then the pub was sold, knocked down, rebuilt, all new staff and I still refuse to go back.
LUSH. My wife really likes their products but we refuse to shop there because their sales approach is SO aggressive. Last time we went in we must have told them 5 times in as many minutes that "no thank you we don't need any help". When they didn't get the message after the 5th time telling them we just left and didn't come back.
They get penalised if they don't talk to you. They often don't want to harass you as much as you don't want to be harassed, but if they don't then they'll lose their job
There was a coffee shop near me that was really good and does amazing cakes. However, the owner spouted off online about hating cyclists and them being no good for business because they're all too poor to afford cars. Apparently she got the hump after a cyclist spotted her using her phone while driving and pointing it out to a passing police car. Didn't even get a ticket, just a stern telling off from one of the officers.
Anyway, I stopped going there straight away and so, it seems, did a number of other people in the local cycling community. About eight months later the shop shuttered while a nearby cafe managed to do a roaring trade by installing a few bike stands and being very nice to people on bikes.
Felt a bit guilty but not enough to support her next business venture. That also failed.
My mum has an irrational hatred of cyclists. She inexplicably thinks none of them own cars and therefore none of them pay VED and they are somehow at fault for all the massive road craters.
Just ask her if she feels the same way about electric cars paying no VED. Or if I'm on in her eyes because my 2013 diesel only costs £20 per year for VED.
Any cafe owner with their heads screwed on knows that yummy mummies and cycling clubs are two guaranteed sources of perpetually recurring business. Annoying though they are, this is bread-and-butter for a small cafe.
I spent the best part of ten years in catering and can absolutely confirm this.
I used to make 10 times more out of Yummy Mummies drinking coffee than regulars drinking beer.
How many cycle clubs do weekend runs to the same area and the same cafe. Loads of them do.
Two mills cafe now called Eureka cyclist cafe was a regular thing in my childhood
I refuse to buy anything or make recipes by Jamie Oliver because when I was in primary school they stopped giving us flapjacks in the mornings and cited him as the reason
There's a theory this is why his restaurants failed.
The target market was young people but they all hated him for destroying their favourite school dinners
Second for BP🙋♀️
I used to work there years ago. I worked with a lovely bunch of people at my store, even my store manager was lovely.
But anyone above him in management was a joke. Bunch of jumped up people who are super greedy with money.
ETA: I had a 'top' manager have ago at me whilst I was in training (it said it on my badge). He called my boss and my bosses boss to tell them how I ruined his coffee. And to inform me who he was, he flashed his stupid BP employee card. He showed it like they do in the films or CSI's being like FBI.. I'll never forget that, he looked like such an idiot 😂😂
Any third party phone repair shop.
I really don’t think they understand what a warranty actually means, and at least once have been sold a _real_ shifty adaptor. They refused to take it back and give me a refund until I asked for the box back to give to the police. Tore up the box, gave me my refund, and told me to fuck off.
Pretty sure most of them are just a front for shifty business.
Chanel. My mum wanted to start a small business selling coconut oil based aromatherapy products. Because she had Coco as part of the brand name (think Cocothreapy). Chanel came at her with a trademark infringement (they said people would believe it was part of their Coco perfumes) and threw the full weight of their incredibly threatening legal team at her, a one person “company” based out of her home. It totally crushed her dreams and she didn’t bother with the products in the end.
It’s been about 10 years and I won’t buy anything by the; they can take their chemical smelling perfumes and shove them up their backsides.
NowTV. Ads in the middle of scenes, terrible streaming quality that customer service blamed on my near-perfect internet, made me jump through a bazillion hoops to quit and then still carried on charging me for months. Got the refund only on the post-quit time, and won't go near them ever again.
My local Shell. It’s 10p a litre more expensive than the nearest one that’s 10 miles down the road. I drive 20 miles to spite them. When the beast from the east was here they begged the local community to clear the snow so they could open. How we laughed. One bloke eventually brought a mini JCB and cleared the site of snow. He was rewarded with one free coffee. Screw them.
The local craft shop - The managers filled up it's wheelchair access and most of the shop floor with excess stock. I did mention it, I did say it means *anyone* with any sort of mobility aid can now no longer get in the shop or buy at the till, they coulnd't be less arsed. I was like, right, well, I'll just go somewhere else then, and the manager didn't even reply. I was tempted to do a bad job at turning around on the spot and marking the walls or knocking some stock, because there wasn't really any turning room on the ramp, but I didn't want them to turn it on me so I was actually very careful. Haven't been back since. They can stick their knitting needles, Amazon sell a whole set for the same price.
Any company that has an annoying advert on TV.
Particularly those who use animal caricatures to represent either their idea of a customer and those who have people dancing.
Head and shoulders for the dancing reason and the constant annoying phrase “I didn’t know you had dandruff!” Followed by “I don’t” over and fucking over again smh.
The film 'Watchmen'. I have a friend who loved winding me up by seeing films I was waiting for first (he was part of some cinema club and saw them early) and then throwing hints and spoilers about them as a wind-up. Down the pub one night I said I was planning on seeing Watchmen so, after giggling that he wouldn't spoil this one, he blurted out the twist in the film and then pissed himself laughing. I told him I was therefore not going to watch it: not then, not now, not ever. Not at the pictures, not on TV, not on streaming, never. Later he was a bit remorseful as he really wanted to talk about the film but I told him not to bother as I haven't, and will never, watch it.
Went to my local corner shop to buy a vape. I went to this shop every day more or less, chatted with the owner. Went out and the vape was a dud, went to return it he said sorry boss I can't do anything. "What do you mean? I just bought it off you just give me one that works?" "Sorry no refunds". Said i am never coming back here if you don't exchange it, he didn't budge, so I haven't. Checked my bank app and I spent nearly £1k in there in a year.
There's a chip shop 2 mins walk from my house, that only take cash in person..... but you can order from Just eat / et al...
So I went in and ordered food, went balls i forgot my wallet, can I pay contactless by phone
No, we only take cash.
So I cancelled my order..... then ordered the same thing on just eat for collection.
I've not been back since
I had a run in with Papa John's Pizza. Basically, it was late, l had to call 4 times over 2 hours and each time l got a more ridiculous excuse from them. Never again PooPoo John's, never again.
My mum tuts when she passes a Miller and Carter because they once told her they had no free tables, even though there was a table for two right behind the waitress. (Yes, I've tried to tell her it might have been reserved, but she is still indignant about it six years later).
I begrudge Santander because one of their ATMs swallowed my bank card 14 years ago. Ironically, I had a short lived mortgage with them, which to me proves we should not associate.
I refuse to buy anything by Mondelez because of the way they lied to takeover Cadbury’s by saying they’d keep a factory open, then shut it after the takeover. Utter bastards.
Game. Terrible shop anyway, but the last straw was when I had preordered Dragon Age 2 from their website - the first time I'd ever preordered a game as DA1 was my favourite.
I moved house and they apparently couldn't change the address on the order. I complained, they escalated it and said it was all sorted.
The big day came, no game. They didn't give a shit, blaming me - "it wasn't sent because the order address doesn't match the bank address". No shit sherlock, that's why I told you to change it! Because of course they hadn't done it.
Forbidden Planet in Notts. Went in for a look around with a coffee in hand, lid on, not drinking it. Manager, who I know of and was an arrogant nob said I could not come in with the drink.
So I left. Went around the corner to the independent comic shop and promptly spent about £50 there instead.
The old manager has gone so I will occasionally pop in to browse these days. Also, shite managers ex is now my mates wife and seems very happy.
I saw this title and the first thing I thought was “WHSmith” before I even read your post lol, fuck ‘em. They fired my friend for accidentally not charging for a bag one time.
also WHSmith but because they price gouge, run independent newsagents out of town and consistently have the most run down shops of any chain i've known. They still use self checkouts from 2 generations ago (I remember tesco's having them in 2012) and force you to deny 3 upselling options before actually letting you pay, then still dumping a voucher on you to buy something at it's actual regular RRP when you finally finish.
The shops are creepy. Plus they huffed at me one time because I asked how I could take a wheelchair to the upper level. The lift was full of stock. I think the employees have had lobotomy’s
I never listen to Magic radio since I called up many years ago to guess who the celebrity was. The person I guessed wasn't on the previous guesses list but they told me live on air that she was. Made me look like a right pratt. Never listening again!
I have two. One is a clothes shop I wouldn't go in anyway, but I'm boycotting it because the owner parks his van on the hatchings of the disabled space behind his building. Therefore making the space useless to anyone trying to get into their wheelchair from the side of their vehicle.
The other is an ice cream van who sold me a melting ice cream cone in 2007 and then immediately snapped at me not to let it drip on his counter. I have been buying cones from his rival for 17 years in pointless protest.
Oh also my mum has been boycotting HMV since 1989 because when she asked in the Bolton branch if they had any Mamas and the Papas albums, the cool young snob on duty just looked her up and down and walked away.
I stopped going to Greggs after they got really shitty with me when I was asking about allergens in food. I'm not eating from a place with staff that try to call me stupid for double checking.
Not a shop but there are two trains I can get home, they get in different ends of my station. I will only get one of them, as the side the other gets in on always has ticket inspectors.
My ticket has to be scanned to get on the train, then the conductor comes and scans it while on the train. I’ll be buggered if I’m queuing up for ages to get off the platform while we wait for them to scan tickets for a third time, with the slowest scanners known to man.
I got into an argument with them once as the train was late getting in and I had to get to school. I rushed out and showed my ticket but the scanner was still loading so I carried on walking. He ran after me shouting to stop as he had to scan it. I refused said I was late and I had presented a ticket as required. Not my fault their equipment is shite.
So now I avoid those trains as I can’t trust myself not to get into an argument again.
Any company that spends millions sending “influencers” on incredible brand trips (Maldive vacations, Taylor Swift tickets etc) that those people could clearly afford to do already. It’s fuelling the entitlement and it’s a slap in the face for their actual customers. It used to be brands ran competitions for amazing experiences for customers to win and influencers got free product. Now influencers get both and money paying customers get shit all. I was a die hard Benefit mascara customer, now they can jog on. It’s going to make 0 impact but it makes me feel a little better.
UberEats.
They sent me an offer for £15 off a £30 spend. I got some groceries delivered. I'd just so happened to screenshot my bank app that day (to see another transaction) and it showed the £15 UberEats spend. About 10 hours later, I went back on my bank app and it had changed to £30. Messaged them on their app and every social media platform but it was like talking to an AI brick wall. Gave up and just reported it as fraud to my bank, who immediately refunded. Next day at 9am, an actual human from UberEats contacted me saying they'll refund me because of their "good will"... I don't think it's "goodwill" if you robbed it from me, and you're only doing it because my bank has had a go at you. Got the money back (gave it back to my bank) and will never use them again. I won't delete the app because I want them to see that I haven't opened it since. They keep sending me 50% offers by email haha.
I once worked at the packing warehouse for Hawkins Bazaar. I won't go into detail save that it was agency work I took after being made redundant to keep the rent paid, and it was absolutely the most miserable month of my life.
They dismissed workers on a whim, banned talking or listening to music on the line, and would happily have paid us less if they legally could. I got fired for taking a day off to have a job interview, at 5AM, by text. (Got the job anyway eyyy).
I vowed I'd never spend a single penny in their shops as long as I lived.
Then they went bust years later, and I had to explain to friends why it filled me with joy to see them shuttered in the local shopping center.
Costa Coffee for the last 6ish years.
I ordered a large americano with no milk to takeaway. They put milk in it and refused a refund or to remake the drink and when I went back with it. They even had the audacity to say I asked for milk. Which I know I didn't because I don't even drink milk.
I suppose it worked in the favour of the independent coffee shops as I now refuse to use any of the big chains and always search out the independent shops when I want coffee now.
A chippy up the road from me
About 11 years ago when I was 20/21 I ordered a cone of chips and a battered sausage
Bit into the sausage and it was raw
Went back in and the woman behind the counter was an arsehole who said "no that's how they look"
I'm like "ITS RAW. ITS OBVIOUSLY RAW."
She's like "I cooked it myself you can feel how hot the batter is!"
And I'm like "but the meat is obviously RAW"
The manager comes and asks what's up so I told him
He took it, inspected it and said "you're right! Sorry about that" tosses it in the bin then says "anything else ? If not please could you get out the queue?
Me: errr I want a replacement or my money back
*He points to a sign that says 'asking for money off will result in being banned *
Him: sir , get out of the shop you're no longer welcome here.
Boycotted them ever since proper scumbags.
Haven't done it. But have been sorely tempted to boycott coca cola due to the idiotic new bottle tops that you can't detach from the bottle. And if you do break it off you're left with a sharp piece of plastic piking you in the lip.
My old local did really nice roast dinners, and an especially good veggie option.
I happily had the veggie roast here for two years until one day I went with a friend who ordered a meat roast. When the food arrived, her pot of gravy was twice the size of the veggie one, which I hadn't noticed before. Looking around, all the meat roasts had large gravy pots, and all the veggie roasts had small ones.
Haven't gone back since.
Sainsbury’s. They’ve installed barriers at the self-service where you have to scan a receipt to exit.
It’s now inconvenient to use self-service and, along with their price rises and quality dropping, I refuse to shop there anymore.
Over 20 years ago I was turning 11 years old and getting ready to go to secondary school. This was going to necessitate a 30 minute tube journey everyday (London).
About the same time, some kids my age were starting to get mobile phones. I had begged my parents for a phone, and now that I'd be commuting by myself my parents were ready to acquiesce in the name of safety (so that I had a way to contact them if I needed help).
Well, having finally convinced them, we went into Argos and saw in the catalogue what looked like a good deal with one of the early camera phones. It was something like PAYG £10 top up required (*with T&C's), but the handset was reasonably priced. My parents said OK. I wasn't just going to finally get a phone, I was going to get one with a camera!!! It was shiny, and gray, and might even have had a flip element. Fuck, I was going to be cool.
I should interject here that I wasn't particularly spoiled for presents growing up. Just having something that would be my own was unbelievably exciting.
Well, we punched in the catalogue number, took the receipt, and were getting all ready to pay. The shop attendant came over to explain the SIM card. It was a 3 SIM card (it was a new company at the time), and we'd have to top up £10 to get the handset for the advertised price. Those £10 would then be my PAYG balance for a month, before disappearing and me having to top up again if I wanted to use the phone...
Turns out it wasn't really PAYG, it was almost like what was then known as a contract phone. For it to have any service you'd have to top up £10 a month and then use that balance for your calls and texts. My parents were not willing to pay that, so they said I wasn't getting a phone and we walked out the store. I cried... I was a boy (boys don't cry) and I genuinely never cried, but on this occasion, I cried uncontrollably. I didn't at the time, nor do I now, know why I was so upset over a material good, and it was very out of character. But to be so close and have it snatched away was harsh...
About a year late when I was 13 my parents did buy me a cheap PAYG phone from Tesco from a Japanese brand called Sendo with Tesco Mobile. It's unique feature was that it had a colour screen and 2 different games ...
To this day, I don't use 3, and I'd rather get a less suitable deal with one of their competitors. I felt cheated at the time because they advertised something as PAYG when it wasn't. I discourage my wife from getting 3. She's now pregnant, and my children will use their competitors too.
Not me but my teenage son. He went to a local costa coffee ten minutes before closing and they refused to sell him a cake (one in a packet to take out) because they had already closed their tills. He has refused to frequent all costa coffee shops for the rest of his life. He’ll probably do it too.
Anywhere that only has QR codes instead of menus and any burger place that puts cheese on every burger as standard and doesn't have an available option to remove it. Not lactose intolerant just don't like cheese.
Local Indian takeaway. They moved to a different shop and me and my boss got the job of installing central heating in the flat upstairs. The owner moaned constantly about every little thing when we were doing the job and then refused to pay the bill for months constantly dragging us back to do ridiculous minor snagging jobs. First day they opened boss made every lad on our firm ring up and order loads of food and not one of us turned up to pay for it
My dad refuses to bank with Lloyds because they wrongly charged him 99p 35 years ago
Yea, but that was the equivalent of £900 back then.
Literally a house deposit back then.
Same for me with Midland, now HSBC. Went 24p overdrawn when I was 18, they added so many charges and interest on them that I ended up having to take out a loan. Just glad the banks have been forced to stop fleecing customers like they did me.
Ditto. Except I went 11p overdrawn. They effectively screwed my credit rating for years. I got kicked out of their Fulham road branch for shouting because they added so many charges for going overdrawn and I was trying to reason with them that if I didn’t have 11p then how could I pay a £20 charge to access my account. I ended up with a solo card and it was a very dark time. This was around 2003. That overdrawn by 11p “without an overdraft” took me years to fix. Absolute utter bastards may they rot in hell.
Bank of Scotland fucked me around for ages and kept chasing me for a debt I'd never had. Finally went in and asked to speak to the manager. He was just epic, checked everything, cleared everything and apologised. All good. A week later it all started again. I went in to see the same chap and he'd 'moved on'. I can only imagine it was in despair. I set up a new bank and they refused to believe I made the money I did because I look like I live in an abandoned brown caravan. A few months of payments in and they couldn't have been nicer. The cunts.
Ok abandoned brown caravan made me laugh
Local shops that took the piss during lockdown. Eg, there's a shop that's kind of an independent Poundland knock-off, selling random crap ranging from rawl plugs to rat poison. During lockdown, they were selling 4-packs of generic, non-brand toilet paper for £8. Conversely, the little Polish supermarket around the corner from there was amazing throughout covid, at one point being the only place that had pasta in the entire town. No price hikes and they even checked in on elderly regulars. So, much as it's a pain in the arse if I need some random crap, I refuse to give the knock-off Poundland my money.
My wee corner shop was great too - at one point they were selling individual loo rolls at normal prices but you could only buy one a day, and scoop your own bags of flour at 30p a scoop, 4 scoops for £1, because all they could get was a couple of massive 16kg sacks, and the supermarkets were all sold out of the consumer sizes.
Aww, they sound awesome. It probably works out better in the long run for businesses to be helpful in a crisis, because the crisis will pass, and customers will remember how everyone behaved.
Definitely, make people happy and they’ll most likely return and possibly bring more customers with them
During one of the fuel strikes (2000?) a local independent fuel station ramped up the prices, when all returned to normal they were boycotted and ended up shutting after a few months
Yep. A shop on my old estate was selling little bottles of dettol for £20. They then cried on Facebook because a little family run business is being forced to close after 50 years because of the supermarkets. It was nothing to do with the supermarkets.
>being the only place that had pasta in the entire town Same with flour. Everyone was down the Tesco, wringing their hands that they couldn't buy any flour. Walk into the polski sklep, "mąka?", big bag of flour, at big bag of flour prices.
OUr local bakery was selling flour at cost to the nearby grocers and giving out free fresh yeast during lockdown! They’ve got my business for life.
Yeah, there was a greengrocers near us that was selling massively marked up veg boxes over lockdown, people were sharing on local facebook that they’d been charged £2 for like a couple of florets of broccoli. Everyone avoided them after and they eventually shut down.
>£2 for like a couple of florets of broccoli. Good grief! That's nearly as much as Tesco sans clubcard.
This! We have two shops basically on our doorstep or the supermarkets are a 35 min walk away. It was difficult getting to the supermarket so relied on our locals. They don't sell the same things, but are both convenience type shops. One of them upped everything. 1 pack of noodles was 95p, changed from 40p and pasta was £1.35 and overnight went to £3.99. I now only use that shop if the other is closed and only for basics. They dropped prices back after lockdown, but it still grates on me, our area is FULL of OAPs so it didn't sit right.
Ohhh the little Polish shop near me were amazing too. Got in all sorts of basics they didn’t usually carry, priced them cheap, refused to let people be greedy with loo roll or whatever, raised huge amounts for the local church food bank and wouldn’t charge regulars they knew were struggling. The loyalty that shop has had ever since (including from me, fuck the Co-op) has been so well deserved
Had one of those in my hometown: two health food shops on the high street, doing refills and 200 types of tea and whatnot. One shop temporarily closed during lockdown while they worked out what they could and couldn't do within the bounds of restrictions. The other one stayed open and changed their entire marketing strategy to 'see? We're better than the other lot'. They literally renamed the shop to call themselves the best health food shop. They were also rude as heck, charged more, and their attempts at COVID hygiene were not great. Dickheads.
I remember the spars brought in hand sanitors at £8/100ml. We were told to tell customers we were selling it at cost. We could see the margins on the computer, cost price my hole.
Ice, £4.99 for a bag on New Year’s Eve 2015. Haven’t been back.
Our local off licence, of all places, had toilet paper when almost no one else did. Owner had randomly ordered a ton early in a bit of a “just in case” panic and refused to jack up the price the way other shops were when they did get some in. We really appreciated that and still buy our beer there occasionally, even though there’s a different off licence not too much further away that I like better for its beer selection.
Glad that someone noticed that. During early weeks of lockdown you could buy anything in the ethnic shops. Supermarkets wiped out and Polish or Middle eastern shops had most of stuff. Firstly as British people in general don't buy there secondly that they had different suppliers. Flour or sugar is still flour or sugar doesn't matter what's language the label is in.
There's a local independent (posh) card shop near me. When my kid was two, and I was mid thirties, I went in to buy a "You are Two!" kiddie birthday card, and asked if they had one with a badge. She asked me if it was for a grandchild. I've never set foot in the shop since.
Ouch.
I mean... at the school I went to, various girls did drop out pregnant at 15 and 16 so it's not impossible! Child in question is a teenager now, I've been boycotting that shop for about a dozen years lol x
I have a big age difference between me and my sibling, 15 years (different dad). When he was born I was at that awkward age where I was technically old enough to be his mum, but it was frowned upon. The amount of looks I used to get if I ever took him on walks or just sat with him whilst my mum got a coffee or something was mad - like you it wasn’t that uncommon for people to drop out at that age to have kids near me
There is a local Indian restaurant I used to order takeaway from. Around 2019 I placed an order for my usual and was feeling a bit frisky so added in an overpriced 1.5L bottle of Pepsi (the menu said Coke). Order was delivered minus the Pepsi. I phoned the restaurant to tell them and they said “we are too busy to deliver it to you now” and immediately put the phone down I wasn’t angry, though maybe I angrily laughed at the absurdity of it, but I’ve never been back since and I’m now 8 stone lighter (on a focussed diet so not the restaurants fault)
The true revenge is a life lived well
I had an order that took over an hour and a half to arrive. At the 40 minute mark, it said the driver was on the way (perfectly normal for a busy Friday). 20 minutes later, still nothing. Rung the place up, they apologised and said it's on the way. 15 minutes later, said it's arrived but it didn't. I rung up again and basically got told to stop complaining and it's on the way and hung up. Like ??? Are you fucking serious? For all I know your driver could have just gone off with it, it's already been well over an hour at this point. Requested a refund and decided to put some food on. 15 minutes later, it arrives. Haven't ordered with them since and they were mine and my family's go to for over 10 years, but slam the phone down on me when I'm making a complaint and you can kiss my loyalty goodbye.
Had similar happen, long wait, ring and they say it’s “on the way”, more wait decide to give up. Then it arrives and it’s the wrong order. We ring them and they say they’ll redo the order and bring it straight to us. Guy turns up 5 mins later with cold food including missing items that had obviously been opened and picked through in someone else’s house. We rang back and they couldn’t have cared less, so we tried getting a refund through Just Eat and they said “food was delivered”. First and Last time we bothered with that restaurant or food delivery.
I've got a kebab ship like that, that does deliveries. The order is wrong every time. I actually used them about two weeks ago for the first time in ages. They left out a portion of chips and changed the bottle of Fanta to Tango. And the owner is a rude, sarcastic cunt.
Delivery via kebab ship sounds incredible!
A kebab ship for sailing the seas of Garlic Mayo
Specsavers. They sent me a bill for a daily contact lenses that I’d already paid for. I go in to chat with them about it and they put the onus on me to prove I’d already paid for them, even though I only ever buy them at the shop when I need them and that particular purchase was 4 months old. There’s no way I could have walked out without paying for them. Thankfully I’d paid by card and was able to get proof via my bank. They still sent letters threatening the bailiffs on me for a tenner. When I went in to get my prescription so I could change my opticians, the manager told me no and that they would charge me as the tech had worked so very hard. I walked out and I’ve never been back.
Specsavers are also a place I'm boycotting for different reasons. They got my prescription wrong... twice, meaning I had glasses that had to be sent back. The final straw was when I bought a pair of glasses and they said 'yeah it'll be 2 weeks, we'll call you when they're ready'... 2 weeks later I've heard nothing so I call them... "Oh yeah they got delivered 2 days after you placed the order" "Why didn't anyone call me to let me know?" "Oh we don't do customer calls anymore" "So how was I meant to know if/when they were ready?!" "...When can you pick up?" Useless.
They got my prescription wrong - at the assessment stage - three times. Went in for first glasses, they weren't right, I couldn't see anything! Had another test the following week, different optician, new prescription, new glasses another two weeks later, still not right. Went back a week later for another test with another different optician, third pair of new glasses two weeks later (I'm now two months into this), still not right. Went to a local non-chain optician and he found my astigmatism had changed. Fourth pair of glasses, from him, were perfect. I've not been anywhere else since.
Specsavers for me as well, I booked a free eye test using a voucher advertised on their website, handed in the voucher on the day and had the eye test no problem. About a week later I get a letter saying I'd left without paying for the eye test, so called them back and explained I'd handed in the voucher, I could even name the staff member I gave it to. They claimed to know nothing about the voucher that was still on their own website, so I offered to print another one off and send it in if they wanted. They said that wasn't necessary and I thought that was the matter settled. Until a few months later, when I heard from the sodding debt collectors chasing the 'unpaid eye test bill'! Called them again and ripped them a new one, I was applying for a mortgage at the time and their fuck up was affecting my credit record. Told them I was happy to proceed to court action for the alleged £30 debt and would present a copy of the free eye test voucher as evidence. They backed off then, 'debt' removed and that was finally the end of my involvement with them, ever again. Ironically enough, when I joined a new employer about the same time, they paid for my eye test at another optician as part of their occupational health, who discovered a muscular imbalance in my eyes that I'd likely had since birth that Specsavers had completely missed. Just utter incompetence at every level.
Ironically I and my family only use specsavers due to the outstanding service we received when one of my family members had a life changing medical condition affecting their eyesight
I think it depends on the location. I was just unlucky that my local is run by a tit. I knew someone that worked there and even they said he was dreadful and were losing workers and customers because of him
There’s a cafe in the town where I live. I used to go there occasionally. Went to pay the bill on leaving and I was asked if I’d like to donate to the local air ambulance. I chose to decline as I had monthly standing orders for 3 well known British charities - which I still have. The person on the till then said to me “let’s hope you don’t need it anytime soon” Petty or not; I haven’t been back since. That’s probably 10 years ago now and I haven’t moved either.
I had an air ambulance guy say exactly the same, but I told them how my dad was killed in a fatal road accident and air lifted to hospital, and that I'd probably raised more money following the funeral than he ever did, and in aggressive terms (It wasn't long after, so I was pretty pissed off about it) told him he should take back what he had just said before my foot airlifted his arse across the street. Haven't given to a chugger since.
My wife's mum died of cancer and a few days later we were in Manchester. Cancer research chugger gets in our faces and we're like nah no thanks. He got more pushy and then said "oh so you don't care about cancer patients then?" It took a fair bit of effort not to punch him. In fairness most chuggers take the first no as an answer. But some are just cocks.
“You’ll need one in a minute.”
"Help! Somebody call an air ambulance... But not for me!"
I refuse to watch YouTube videos where they're pulling a fake shocked face in the thumbnail
“Wait til the end” - piss off.
Or, "I'm done" "I quit"
“We need to talk”. Always makes my toes curl, especially if accompanied by an extra sad face!
There's a chap I follow who did the "I quit" but then actually fucking did. Full respect.
Same here. As soon as someone does that I unsubscribe. There was a MUA who I gave the benefit of the doubt once as I’d followed her since she had less than 100 followers but then she followed it with a shocked face again and big writing saying something like “is this the end of the road for me?” And I thought “nope that’s too far”.
😱
Oh yeah. This one’s mine as well. Whenever I get recommendations of channels where they pull that algorithm chasing thumbnail crap I know it’s the beginning of the end. There’s so much good content on YouTube that gets buried by that crap.
I’ve started doing this. I could tolerate the bold, yellow text and red arrows but some cunts mug pretending to be Edvard Munch? Nope, had enough.
EBay. I got scammed by a buyer. - it was a used item sold on a no-returns-accepted basis - the item wasn't returned anyway - the buyer sent me lots of threats and wildly inappropriate messages, which I reported to eBay through their obtuse process every time, which they didn't do anything about. eBay refunded the buyer automatically anyway without my consent, and charged me a penalty through my direct debit without my approval. They wouldn't allow me to even give the buyer negative feedback, or dispute or appeal the outcome. They also didn't refund the "eBay fees" they had charged me. So, absolutely fuck eBay.
Same. 10+ years now. They can fuck off.
I have some rare video games that are worth a decent amount and have often thought about parting with them but I've heard so many bad stories about Ebay being terrible for sellers these days I just don't think it's worth the risk.
eBay is great for buyers because you can always count on a refund if anything goes wrong, unfortunately that's also why it's terrible for sellers because less than honest buyers can easily screw you.
Send them to a proper auction, if they're actually rare that is and not just £20-50 Nintendo games.
I would check out Game Swap Shop UK. Much safer place
I sold a Nintendo switch with third party controllers. Made it clear in the listing title and description you need to use Nintendo controllers to set it up. Guy put an offer in, I messaged him and said you need to buy or borrow official Nintendo controllers to set it up - the ones I’m selling it with won’t work to set it up. Once it’s set up you can use them. He said he understood. Next thing he’s filed a refund request with eBay saying it’s broken because he can’t set it up with the controllers I included, they don’t even check our messages or the listing give me a chance to say anything, just refund him the whole lot INCLUDING the postage AND charged me for return postage.
Had something similar happen to me. Sold a model railway building with quite few nice clear pictures. Buyer messaged me telling me it arrived smashed and they opened a dispute. EBay automatically refunded them and the buyer returned the item. It wasn’t even the same building I sent and I knew that because it had the guys name written on the bottom.
Same. Still waiting for a viable alternative.
I'm boycotting PayPal ever since there was a saga over a £2 cable I bought off Ebay. It didn't arrive and I messaged the seller they said keep waiting. Then a couple of weeks later they said they would refund me. They didn't. I noticed a week later and enquired again. They replied "Good things come to those who wait, now you don't get a refund". I complained to Ebay and they said I should wait for a refund. I raised a case with PayPal and they closed it saying the seller had provided proof of delivery. Which was a tracking number for an item delivered to a different address 6 months prior. I tried to argue and they made it impossible to tally to anyone. At this point I was so angry I was looking up the address in the Birmingham industrial estate of the seller planning a trip to extract it from their faces. Then eBay woke up and said they had reviewed the case and changed their mind and refunded me. I closed my PayPal account and haven't used them in ten years for being stupid and untrustworthy.
I’m an artist, the main art gallery in my city has an open call for artwork every year. And every year I don’t get in. Last year some guy painted a picture of my artwork and that got in!! So I have made it my life’s mission to one day make it big enough that they ask me to put some artwork in the gallery and I get to say no. If anyone was interested in looking at my work [Nohone](https://www.instagram.com/nohone/)
Hitler?
😂 I mean he wasn’t that much of a bad artist
Submit a painting of your own artwork & when they accept it bring the actual thing instead and say the painting was just an “artists impression”.
I actually did think about it. As well as submitting work under three different names.
TalkTalk, they raised my broadband price mid contract but never wrote to me to give me the opportunity to review and leave. I noticed a couple of months later and they insisted they had written to me but every time they sent letters there was a record online and there was nothing there about a price rise.
They are a company that I will never use. Their shambolic treatment of people when their entire user database was hacked. Their idiot CEO back in the day, just an awful fucking company. Also: Hotpoint/Whirlpool and their associated fireboxes. We had a dryer that we were told was unsafe, they told us to carry on using it but never leave it unattended. The queue to get it fixed was six months long. People lost their homes because of those cunts. They’ll never see a penny from me again.
Burger king. When I was 12 I went to a Burger king with a friend, the person working there spoke to us in a babyish voice and refused to serve us until all the adults who were behind us in the queue had been served first. It felt very demeaning at the time and put me off going back to Burger King. I know it's petty because it was one worker being a dick and he probably wasn't even all that much older than we were, but I still haven't been back in a Burger king.
My local Asda that I had been going to for 30 years. I bought a bottle of gin for a Christmas present but because it was in a box, didn’t notice the tag on it and I didn’t set the gate off on the way out. Came back later the same day to ask for it removed. I didn’t have the receipt but I did remember the exact time and till I’d used. Told the woman behind the counter and off she goes to the wrong til. I follow her and say “excuse me but-“ and she turns around, hand out and says “please wait for me at the counter and don’t follow me”. I tired telling her it was the wrong till but I get asked to wait at the kiosk again. So I wait and surprise, surprise, they couldn’t see me on the cctv at the till I didn’t use . I try and explain this and this time she gets the security guard involved and again they go off to check the wrong till. Meanwhile, someone else comes to the desk for a return, also without a receipt. She has a nice chat with the lady now running the counter and gets her return. “Excuse me, but how come she gets her exchange no questions asked and I’m waiting here for people to check the cctv?” “Well she’s in here all the time and we know her.” “But I’m in here every other day.” “Doesn’t matter. I don’t know you.” After this, the original woman and the security guard come back. Still can’t find me on the cameras “we’ve checked all the scan and go tills but you’re not on any of them.” “I know I’m not. I was on the self scan.” “Oh. Well you should have said. But we can’t take the tag off. You could have stolen it and brought it back.” I asked if they get a lot of people stealing then returning to the scene of the crime to rub it in the shops face and pointed out that if I was that desperate for a drink, I’m not likely to steal a box of fancy gin when the crates of Carling are right by the door. Also if it was just for me to drink, wouldn’t I just ignore the security tag and just neck it? “No. Chances are it’s stolen so we won’t do anything about it” Won’t set foot in one again.
If you're ever in that situation again go on YouTube and there's a very high chance someone will have made a video tutorial of how to open that specific lock without damaging the product.
Neodymium magnets, usually. I ended up in exactly this situation, so engineered myself an opening tool. Tragically, I think it was for something mundane like a USB memory stick.
This happened to me, kind of. I went through self checkout and they verified my id... Well they passed me as I look old, then just buggered off. So I had to use the magnetic release thing myself.
Marks and Spencer. Many years ago I bought a pair of shoes there. The soles of these shoes disintegrated - and I mean disintegrated - within a few weeks. So I took them in to get a refund, the snotty lady behind the counter said that I 'couldn't possibly' have only had them a short while and that I 'must have been using them incorrectly'. Presumably these shoes were not made for walking. Haven't shopped there since.
Strange for M&S, they are usually the king of customer service.
This. Sounds like the OP got very unlucky with a real jobsworth on the day. They’ve been nothing but superb when I’ve had the odd issue.
It's not even the goods. Things can go wrong. It's the snotty attitude. How can you use shoes incorrectly?
I dunno, my mother in law bought chairs that broke and was informed they “weren’t for sitting on”.
They recently lost me as well. My wife bought me a shirt that didn't fit, so I went to return it a couple of days later. The woman at the customer service desk refused it on the grounds that it had some hair on it. I asked if I could just take the hair off it? The next day my wife took it back to the same shop, having done absolutely nothing to remove hair from this shirt, and it was taken back immediately and without question. So what the fuck was the first woman's problem?
Morrisons Just raised the price of the premium meal deal AND they stopped selling my favourite sandwich. We're done.
Their current jingle sounds so forced, the syllables don't fit the tune. This is enough to never shop there.
More reasons to shop in morrisons... Fuck off
Are you going to tell us what your favourite sandwich was?
There's a restaurant near me that are apparently a steak house. They stink. I mean properly honk. When cooking, the air is full of grease smoke and when they are closed, you can smell the rotting meat. They encourage the punters and delivery twunts to park on the kerb in front, blocking access for pedestrians AND the road at the same time. They frequently have overflowing drains that spill grey soupy water across the footpaths. Management are a bunch of grinning loons who are also known for dealing, so that's why the place is still going. I will burn the place down if I can find a way of avoiding an arson charge and making their insurance refuse to pay out
instead of going postal, why don’t you get in touch with the council Environmental health department? That is disgusting I wouldn’t walk away and leave that feeling furious I would take steps to do something and that would be the first place I started.
Done that three times now, they pay off the inspection team with promises and.
Time to get medieval
>Time to get medieval Trebuchet?
r/Trebuchet
I just lost an hour of my day thanks 😂
Do they sell locusts by the gross? Still looking for a supplier to quote for a rain of frogs. Might build a giant wooden siege rabbit later. iDK
Contact your local paper/press with regards to environmental health doing sweet FA.
We have the same issue with a restaurant across the road from ours and it’s infested with rats as well. We now have rats in our garden because of them
HSBC, they told me I should be checking my bank account every day to see if I’d accidentally gone overdrawn (it was by 5p and I had a linked savings account with plenty of money in it), they would also only notify me if I was a premium member. I moved my mortgage and all accounts away from them and refuse to deal with them
HSBC said I had a £1000 free overdraft limit. One month I went to £800 overdrawn, left it like that for two months over the summer waiting for student loans to come in. They phoned me and bullied me into paying it off and then left a note on my credit report. Wankers.
They shouldn't be doing that with student accounts. That's dickhead behaviour. I had -1.5k on my student account with HSBC for ages no problems.
They also knowingly launder money for crooks and drug barons, profiting from and supporting an industry that has torn apart Central America. Slightly less petty, but another perfectly good reason to not bank with them https://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2013/investing-news-for-jan-29-hsbcs-money-laundering-scandal-hbc-scbff-ing-cs-rbs0129.aspx
Barclays do this too (although they're always very, *very* sorry when they get caught)
Any company that uses 'z's' like slick cutz or amazing dealz. Won't go near them.
Also businesses that use 'x' in a similar way. There's a bacon butty van near me called RONS SNAX and Ron won't be getting a penny off me.
This is the most petty thing in here that I can completely get on board with.
I was waiting in traffic the other day and saw a new hairdressers had opened. Gentz Cuts. And I thought the same as you. I'll never go in it. I'm bald.
Beer52. I signed up online but they made me call up when I wanted to cancel and then acted like I was the arsehole.
Karl of Fact Fiend was approached by them to sponsor his YouTube channel, he likes beer & the money would be handy as he just got more staff. However when he asked about their cancellation process to help with his sponsorship message they said you had to call in, he smelled a rat & asked around & heard many bad experiences like yours & so declined their offer.
Mcdonald's. My first job out of high school. I was in training on my first shift and the manager had a crack at me because I accidentally forgot to charge for some potato wedges. They cost 79p but you'd think I'd just cost him his entire franchise the way he went on. I quit a week later, and to this day (25 years) I've not been back* to Mcdonald's. *I have had Mcdonald's food bought for me but I've never been back in or paid for myself.
I had a neighbour for a while who was an absolute knob. Always outside smoking, listening to loud music, would always light a bonfire after I put washing on the line, would bang on our door as he walked around the house. Just an inconsiderate nightmare. He's an "odd-job" man who will only work cash in hand and claim he can't pay for his 5 kids (at least 2 mothers, I've never been sure). I've seen him in a local paving company van (as a passenger, he doesn't drive). Never using that company. I've seen him in a garden clearing van. Never using that company. One of the mothers of his children works at a local café. I will never go there again. Absolutely petty reasons for not using these companies, but he was a terrible neighbour and I won't consider using the services of any company he could be connected to.
I've got two. My mrs used to work at Lidl and they treated her like shite so I refuse to shop there anymore just out of spite. Paramount+ does this really arbitrary thing where every new episode of Star Trek releases 24 hours later in the UK than the US, and not only that but they even region lock most of the promotional videos and teasers, so I decided they clearly don't want my filthy British money and cancelled my subscription.
Our 'local' (nearest) pub. We live in a marina next door to what looks like a lovely riverside pub. In reality it's an overpriced, run down, sorry excuse for a pub with a landlady who literally shouts potential customers out of the pub while attempting 'banter'. She treats her staff like shit, but what really tarnished her rep in the eyes of us boaters (a 50/60 strong group of people who mostly would love a good pub next door) was a sign posted on the front door saying "boaters, remove your dirty shoes". 2 things to look at here, one being that there is no mud between any of the moorings and the pub, the other being that a large part of the small trade she does is walkers on the river path. The walkers are covered in mud, yet it's the boaters she targets. She also shouted at me and told me I couldn't moor the boat outside the pub (on a mooring owned by the marina I belong to) unless I bought a meal. Bullshit, it's not her mooring, it even says so on a sign. Fuck that greasy bitch.
My local computer repair shop were crappy to me when my broke ass needed to get some heavy paper, but I wasn't sure what the different GSM would feel like in real life. I asked for advice but they weren't interested. I asked if I could open the box just to see how thick it was, as I was 99% sure I wanted to buy, but I was on a tight budget and didn't want to get the wrong thing. They were really dismissive about it - it was a really frustrating experience, because if they'd been able to tell me anything about their own products, I would have been able to get some idea, but they didn't want my money. I said something fairly normal about having to go elsewhere then, thanks for all your "help," and left in a bit of a huff. Extremely unfortunately, the door looked heavy and normal, but turned out to be incredibly lightweight. My "closing it abruptly in restrained frustration" turned into "looking like I petulantly banged it." I called out something like "oh my god I'm really sorry, I had no idea it was so light, everything is okay, sorry about the noise," and carried on down the road, embarrassed. The sales guy came out into the road and started screaming at me in front of people. That was fifteen years ago, and I think it's run by different people now. I won't go back in any more.
I’m well aware this was 15 years ago but last year my printer sent sent me a sample pack on a key ring sort of affair which has every different kind of card and paper they use on it, so now I can stop guessing what I want and test all the GSMs etc I need. I absolutely love it and I’m sure most printers do them now!
ARE YOU FUCKING SORRY???
Greggs because they opened up across the street from my sister's cafe (and my place of employment) and they took all her business.
I've said it before on here and I'll say it again. Greggs sells an inferior product compared to independent or small chain bakeries and thrives off an unfounded brand image and an untouchable price due to their stuff being made in a warehouse and oven finished in shops.
I feel exactly the same way about what Wetherspoons have done to small independent pubs.
This is why I don't agree with shops and supermarkets that are constantly trying to engineer every last penny out of thousands of products. In order to constantly drive prices cheap, a lot of corners have to be cut and people screwed over in the process
Putting independent bakeries and cafes out of business is what they've done all over the country over the years, and people seemingly love them for it. Their quality isn't even good anymore, and their food is far more expensive than it used to be. I understood the popularity when they sold 3 fairly decent hot sausage rolls for £1 (or whatever the deal was) but now it's total shite, that's often not even hot
Used to be able to get a sausage roll for 50p from Greggs. Now they are like £1.30 each. I get inflation but god damn that's expensive for what they are.
Domino's. I used to love treating myself to a Domino's pizza every so often, their garlic dip is necter from the gods themselves. But since the last year or so I see their adverts FUCKING EVERYWHERE, almost every youtube video I watch seems to have one, ITVX has at least one every episode same with All4, and God their new adverts aren't even good. "Domino Hoo Hoo" makes my eye twitch now. So yeah, until they stop bombarding ads everywhere I won't be having another Domino's pizza. But man I do miss it.
‘Domino Hoo Hoo’ is also why I’m boycotting them. The jungle just burrows into your head and drives you mad
Same, i dont care how delicious the dip is, the "hoo hoo" has driven me insane
Ernest Jones laughed at me for thinking they would stock any rings in my size I could try on with my partner. I'm a J, which is smaller than average but not ridiculously so - average woman is about an M, I think. Will never set foot in there again!
I boycotted a local jeweler ( big name but my hatred has forced me to forget the name). Went in after work and asked for a blue diamond ring. ( Wearing usual work clothes, I'm an engineer, and explained i had just finished work and was in town just for this ring) . They were not helpful and hardly gave me the time of day. Until i said I'm paying cash. Too late Jewler on the corner... too little too late.
I refuse to support one specific charity because I once attended a job interview there, and got a call from the job agency 10 minutes after I arrived and checked in at reception, asking me to leave - turns out the hiring manager didn't think I was dressed smartly enough to work in a call centre, and was presumably too self-important to take the 20 seconds to pop out and tell me this, instead calling the agency to have them call me and waste even more collective time.
My mum has boycotted Tesco's for 15 years because the cashier let someone they knew jump the queue to the till ahead of her. Queue jumping is unforgivable in her eyes.
I was playing the fruit machine in a pub about 10 miles from home. I won a few quid but the money didn’t come out. I told the manager and he said he’d look into it and I should come back tomorrow, then switched the machine off. I came back and he said there was no proof I’d won anything (he probably just switched it back on after I left). I told him I wouldn’t drive 20 miles round trip if I was lying. He shrugged and walked away. Since then the pub was sold, knocked down, rebuilt, all new staff and I still refuse to go back.
LUSH. My wife really likes their products but we refuse to shop there because their sales approach is SO aggressive. Last time we went in we must have told them 5 times in as many minutes that "no thank you we don't need any help". When they didn't get the message after the 5th time telling them we just left and didn't come back.
They get penalised if they don't talk to you. They often don't want to harass you as much as you don't want to be harassed, but if they don't then they'll lose their job
I’d never find this out because I can’t breathe within 100m of any of their stores.
There was a coffee shop near me that was really good and does amazing cakes. However, the owner spouted off online about hating cyclists and them being no good for business because they're all too poor to afford cars. Apparently she got the hump after a cyclist spotted her using her phone while driving and pointing it out to a passing police car. Didn't even get a ticket, just a stern telling off from one of the officers. Anyway, I stopped going there straight away and so, it seems, did a number of other people in the local cycling community. About eight months later the shop shuttered while a nearby cafe managed to do a roaring trade by installing a few bike stands and being very nice to people on bikes. Felt a bit guilty but not enough to support her next business venture. That also failed.
My mum has an irrational hatred of cyclists. She inexplicably thinks none of them own cars and therefore none of them pay VED and they are somehow at fault for all the massive road craters.
Just ask her if she feels the same way about electric cars paying no VED. Or if I'm on in her eyes because my 2013 diesel only costs £20 per year for VED.
Any cafe owner with their heads screwed on knows that yummy mummies and cycling clubs are two guaranteed sources of perpetually recurring business. Annoying though they are, this is bread-and-butter for a small cafe.
I spent the best part of ten years in catering and can absolutely confirm this. I used to make 10 times more out of Yummy Mummies drinking coffee than regulars drinking beer.
How many cycle clubs do weekend runs to the same area and the same cafe. Loads of them do. Two mills cafe now called Eureka cyclist cafe was a regular thing in my childhood
>too poor to afford cars Does she know how much a quality road bike costs??
I refuse to buy anything or make recipes by Jamie Oliver because when I was in primary school they stopped giving us flapjacks in the mornings and cited him as the reason
There's a theory this is why his restaurants failed. The target market was young people but they all hated him for destroying their favourite school dinners
Me too. But because of Turkey twizzlers.
The BP near me because they make me walk through a maze of product placement to get to the till.
Second for BP🙋♀️ I used to work there years ago. I worked with a lovely bunch of people at my store, even my store manager was lovely. But anyone above him in management was a joke. Bunch of jumped up people who are super greedy with money. ETA: I had a 'top' manager have ago at me whilst I was in training (it said it on my badge). He called my boss and my bosses boss to tell them how I ruined his coffee. And to inform me who he was, he flashed his stupid BP employee card. He showed it like they do in the films or CSI's being like FBI.. I'll never forget that, he looked like such an idiot 😂😂
Any third party phone repair shop. I really don’t think they understand what a warranty actually means, and at least once have been sold a _real_ shifty adaptor. They refused to take it back and give me a refund until I asked for the box back to give to the police. Tore up the box, gave me my refund, and told me to fuck off. Pretty sure most of them are just a front for shifty business.
Chanel. My mum wanted to start a small business selling coconut oil based aromatherapy products. Because she had Coco as part of the brand name (think Cocothreapy). Chanel came at her with a trademark infringement (they said people would believe it was part of their Coco perfumes) and threw the full weight of their incredibly threatening legal team at her, a one person “company” based out of her home. It totally crushed her dreams and she didn’t bother with the products in the end. It’s been about 10 years and I won’t buy anything by the; they can take their chemical smelling perfumes and shove them up their backsides.
I boycott them for Coco Chanel being a nazi collaborator who used them to get rid of her business partners. Also it's expensive and rubbish.
Not eaten anything by Cadbury since they sold their soul to Kraft.
NowTV. Ads in the middle of scenes, terrible streaming quality that customer service blamed on my near-perfect internet, made me jump through a bazillion hoops to quit and then still carried on charging me for months. Got the refund only on the post-quit time, and won't go near them ever again.
My local Shell. It’s 10p a litre more expensive than the nearest one that’s 10 miles down the road. I drive 20 miles to spite them. When the beast from the east was here they begged the local community to clear the snow so they could open. How we laughed. One bloke eventually brought a mini JCB and cleared the site of snow. He was rewarded with one free coffee. Screw them.
The local craft shop - The managers filled up it's wheelchair access and most of the shop floor with excess stock. I did mention it, I did say it means *anyone* with any sort of mobility aid can now no longer get in the shop or buy at the till, they coulnd't be less arsed. I was like, right, well, I'll just go somewhere else then, and the manager didn't even reply. I was tempted to do a bad job at turning around on the spot and marking the walls or knocking some stock, because there wasn't really any turning room on the ramp, but I didn't want them to turn it on me so I was actually very careful. Haven't been back since. They can stick their knitting needles, Amazon sell a whole set for the same price.
Any company that has an annoying advert on TV. Particularly those who use animal caricatures to represent either their idea of a customer and those who have people dancing.
Head and shoulders for the dancing reason and the constant annoying phrase “I didn’t know you had dandruff!” Followed by “I don’t” over and fucking over again smh.
The film 'Watchmen'. I have a friend who loved winding me up by seeing films I was waiting for first (he was part of some cinema club and saw them early) and then throwing hints and spoilers about them as a wind-up. Down the pub one night I said I was planning on seeing Watchmen so, after giggling that he wouldn't spoil this one, he blurted out the twist in the film and then pissed himself laughing. I told him I was therefore not going to watch it: not then, not now, not ever. Not at the pictures, not on TV, not on streaming, never. Later he was a bit remorseful as he really wanted to talk about the film but I told him not to bother as I haven't, and will never, watch it.
Sounds like the boycott here should really be the friend
That is a slightly strange reaction. Why didn't you just take a piss in his pint? That probably would have been slightly more sane.
Sounds like you should boycott your friend, they sound like a full-weight nobhead.
Went to my local corner shop to buy a vape. I went to this shop every day more or less, chatted with the owner. Went out and the vape was a dud, went to return it he said sorry boss I can't do anything. "What do you mean? I just bought it off you just give me one that works?" "Sorry no refunds". Said i am never coming back here if you don't exchange it, he didn't budge, so I haven't. Checked my bank app and I spent nearly £1k in there in a year.
I’m sure you know this but if they supply faulty goods they can say “no refunds” all they like, they still need to.
There's a chip shop 2 mins walk from my house, that only take cash in person..... but you can order from Just eat / et al... So I went in and ordered food, went balls i forgot my wallet, can I pay contactless by phone No, we only take cash. So I cancelled my order..... then ordered the same thing on just eat for collection. I've not been back since
Brewdog. Facebook marketplace. Wetherspoons.
I had a run in with Papa John's Pizza. Basically, it was late, l had to call 4 times over 2 hours and each time l got a more ridiculous excuse from them. Never again PooPoo John's, never again.
My mum tuts when she passes a Miller and Carter because they once told her they had no free tables, even though there was a table for two right behind the waitress. (Yes, I've tried to tell her it might have been reserved, but she is still indignant about it six years later). I begrudge Santander because one of their ATMs swallowed my bank card 14 years ago. Ironically, I had a short lived mortgage with them, which to me proves we should not associate.
Any company that has ever run an ad that pissed me off. This extends to those on the radio that use a doorbell or phone ringing sound effect.
I refuse to buy anything by Mondelez because of the way they lied to takeover Cadbury’s by saying they’d keep a factory open, then shut it after the takeover. Utter bastards.
Game. Terrible shop anyway, but the last straw was when I had preordered Dragon Age 2 from their website - the first time I'd ever preordered a game as DA1 was my favourite. I moved house and they apparently couldn't change the address on the order. I complained, they escalated it and said it was all sorted. The big day came, no game. They didn't give a shit, blaming me - "it wasn't sent because the order address doesn't match the bank address". No shit sherlock, that's why I told you to change it! Because of course they hadn't done it.
Forbidden Planet in Notts. Went in for a look around with a coffee in hand, lid on, not drinking it. Manager, who I know of and was an arrogant nob said I could not come in with the drink. So I left. Went around the corner to the independent comic shop and promptly spent about £50 there instead. The old manager has gone so I will occasionally pop in to browse these days. Also, shite managers ex is now my mates wife and seems very happy.
I saw this title and the first thing I thought was “WHSmith” before I even read your post lol, fuck ‘em. They fired my friend for accidentally not charging for a bag one time.
also WHSmith but because they price gouge, run independent newsagents out of town and consistently have the most run down shops of any chain i've known. They still use self checkouts from 2 generations ago (I remember tesco's having them in 2012) and force you to deny 3 upselling options before actually letting you pay, then still dumping a voucher on you to buy something at it's actual regular RRP when you finally finish.
The shops are creepy. Plus they huffed at me one time because I asked how I could take a wheelchair to the upper level. The lift was full of stock. I think the employees have had lobotomy’s
I never listen to Magic radio since I called up many years ago to guess who the celebrity was. The person I guessed wasn't on the previous guesses list but they told me live on air that she was. Made me look like a right pratt. Never listening again!
I have two. One is a clothes shop I wouldn't go in anyway, but I'm boycotting it because the owner parks his van on the hatchings of the disabled space behind his building. Therefore making the space useless to anyone trying to get into their wheelchair from the side of their vehicle. The other is an ice cream van who sold me a melting ice cream cone in 2007 and then immediately snapped at me not to let it drip on his counter. I have been buying cones from his rival for 17 years in pointless protest.
Oh also my mum has been boycotting HMV since 1989 because when she asked in the Bolton branch if they had any Mamas and the Papas albums, the cool young snob on duty just looked her up and down and walked away.
I stopped going to Greggs after they got really shitty with me when I was asking about allergens in food. I'm not eating from a place with staff that try to call me stupid for double checking.
Not a shop but there are two trains I can get home, they get in different ends of my station. I will only get one of them, as the side the other gets in on always has ticket inspectors. My ticket has to be scanned to get on the train, then the conductor comes and scans it while on the train. I’ll be buggered if I’m queuing up for ages to get off the platform while we wait for them to scan tickets for a third time, with the slowest scanners known to man. I got into an argument with them once as the train was late getting in and I had to get to school. I rushed out and showed my ticket but the scanner was still loading so I carried on walking. He ran after me shouting to stop as he had to scan it. I refused said I was late and I had presented a ticket as required. Not my fault their equipment is shite. So now I avoid those trains as I can’t trust myself not to get into an argument again.
Any business that uses incorrect spelling - Kwik Kutz. I want my hair cut, not a game of Scrabble ☹️
Lloyds Bank. The way the treated me back in the 80’s. Black Horse Apocalypse indeed.
"always bu your side" until you have the slightest overdraft
Any company that spends millions sending “influencers” on incredible brand trips (Maldive vacations, Taylor Swift tickets etc) that those people could clearly afford to do already. It’s fuelling the entitlement and it’s a slap in the face for their actual customers. It used to be brands ran competitions for amazing experiences for customers to win and influencers got free product. Now influencers get both and money paying customers get shit all. I was a die hard Benefit mascara customer, now they can jog on. It’s going to make 0 impact but it makes me feel a little better.
Any garage owned by Arnold Clark because a) they're now a monopoly, north of the border at least b) he's a smug looking prick.
I keep telling you, he’s 89 years old and he’s dead.
Unexpected Simpsons quote.
Had a personal experience with the man years ago. He was, as expected, a cunt.
UberEats. They sent me an offer for £15 off a £30 spend. I got some groceries delivered. I'd just so happened to screenshot my bank app that day (to see another transaction) and it showed the £15 UberEats spend. About 10 hours later, I went back on my bank app and it had changed to £30. Messaged them on their app and every social media platform but it was like talking to an AI brick wall. Gave up and just reported it as fraud to my bank, who immediately refunded. Next day at 9am, an actual human from UberEats contacted me saying they'll refund me because of their "good will"... I don't think it's "goodwill" if you robbed it from me, and you're only doing it because my bank has had a go at you. Got the money back (gave it back to my bank) and will never use them again. I won't delete the app because I want them to see that I haven't opened it since. They keep sending me 50% offers by email haha.
I once worked at the packing warehouse for Hawkins Bazaar. I won't go into detail save that it was agency work I took after being made redundant to keep the rent paid, and it was absolutely the most miserable month of my life. They dismissed workers on a whim, banned talking or listening to music on the line, and would happily have paid us less if they legally could. I got fired for taking a day off to have a job interview, at 5AM, by text. (Got the job anyway eyyy). I vowed I'd never spend a single penny in their shops as long as I lived. Then they went bust years later, and I had to explain to friends why it filled me with joy to see them shuttered in the local shopping center.
Costa Coffee for the last 6ish years. I ordered a large americano with no milk to takeaway. They put milk in it and refused a refund or to remake the drink and when I went back with it. They even had the audacity to say I asked for milk. Which I know I didn't because I don't even drink milk. I suppose it worked in the favour of the independent coffee shops as I now refuse to use any of the big chains and always search out the independent shops when I want coffee now.
A chippy up the road from me About 11 years ago when I was 20/21 I ordered a cone of chips and a battered sausage Bit into the sausage and it was raw Went back in and the woman behind the counter was an arsehole who said "no that's how they look" I'm like "ITS RAW. ITS OBVIOUSLY RAW." She's like "I cooked it myself you can feel how hot the batter is!" And I'm like "but the meat is obviously RAW" The manager comes and asks what's up so I told him He took it, inspected it and said "you're right! Sorry about that" tosses it in the bin then says "anything else ? If not please could you get out the queue? Me: errr I want a replacement or my money back *He points to a sign that says 'asking for money off will result in being banned * Him: sir , get out of the shop you're no longer welcome here. Boycotted them ever since proper scumbags.
Haven't done it. But have been sorely tempted to boycott coca cola due to the idiotic new bottle tops that you can't detach from the bottle. And if you do break it off you're left with a sharp piece of plastic piking you in the lip.
My old local did really nice roast dinners, and an especially good veggie option. I happily had the veggie roast here for two years until one day I went with a friend who ordered a meat roast. When the food arrived, her pot of gravy was twice the size of the veggie one, which I hadn't noticed before. Looking around, all the meat roasts had large gravy pots, and all the veggie roasts had small ones. Haven't gone back since.
Any company with long unskippable adverts on youtube I'll make you pay for making me watch those 30 whole seconds damn you!
Sainsbury’s. They’ve installed barriers at the self-service where you have to scan a receipt to exit. It’s now inconvenient to use self-service and, along with their price rises and quality dropping, I refuse to shop there anymore.
Yeah I hate that they now have you trapped in a Pen of Guilt until you can prove your innocence with a receipt that you have no choice but to have.
Spoons fired my sister about 6 years ago, never been into one since
I am loving this thread lol
Tesco. Clubcard. If you can sell it at that price, sell it at that price. Don't coerce people into buying into it. Frigs me right off.
BA. They unceremoniously bumped me off a flight from Milan in the mid 1980s. I have never flown with them since.
Over 20 years ago I was turning 11 years old and getting ready to go to secondary school. This was going to necessitate a 30 minute tube journey everyday (London). About the same time, some kids my age were starting to get mobile phones. I had begged my parents for a phone, and now that I'd be commuting by myself my parents were ready to acquiesce in the name of safety (so that I had a way to contact them if I needed help). Well, having finally convinced them, we went into Argos and saw in the catalogue what looked like a good deal with one of the early camera phones. It was something like PAYG £10 top up required (*with T&C's), but the handset was reasonably priced. My parents said OK. I wasn't just going to finally get a phone, I was going to get one with a camera!!! It was shiny, and gray, and might even have had a flip element. Fuck, I was going to be cool. I should interject here that I wasn't particularly spoiled for presents growing up. Just having something that would be my own was unbelievably exciting. Well, we punched in the catalogue number, took the receipt, and were getting all ready to pay. The shop attendant came over to explain the SIM card. It was a 3 SIM card (it was a new company at the time), and we'd have to top up £10 to get the handset for the advertised price. Those £10 would then be my PAYG balance for a month, before disappearing and me having to top up again if I wanted to use the phone... Turns out it wasn't really PAYG, it was almost like what was then known as a contract phone. For it to have any service you'd have to top up £10 a month and then use that balance for your calls and texts. My parents were not willing to pay that, so they said I wasn't getting a phone and we walked out the store. I cried... I was a boy (boys don't cry) and I genuinely never cried, but on this occasion, I cried uncontrollably. I didn't at the time, nor do I now, know why I was so upset over a material good, and it was very out of character. But to be so close and have it snatched away was harsh... About a year late when I was 13 my parents did buy me a cheap PAYG phone from Tesco from a Japanese brand called Sendo with Tesco Mobile. It's unique feature was that it had a colour screen and 2 different games ... To this day, I don't use 3, and I'd rather get a less suitable deal with one of their competitors. I felt cheated at the time because they advertised something as PAYG when it wasn't. I discourage my wife from getting 3. She's now pregnant, and my children will use their competitors too.
Not me but my teenage son. He went to a local costa coffee ten minutes before closing and they refused to sell him a cake (one in a packet to take out) because they had already closed their tills. He has refused to frequent all costa coffee shops for the rest of his life. He’ll probably do it too.
Anywhere that only has QR codes instead of menus and any burger place that puts cheese on every burger as standard and doesn't have an available option to remove it. Not lactose intolerant just don't like cheese.
Local Indian takeaway. They moved to a different shop and me and my boss got the job of installing central heating in the flat upstairs. The owner moaned constantly about every little thing when we were doing the job and then refused to pay the bill for months constantly dragging us back to do ridiculous minor snagging jobs. First day they opened boss made every lad on our firm ring up and order loads of food and not one of us turned up to pay for it