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Original poster

Are there any shops/restaurants etc. that you boycott due to a bad experience/service?

242 replies

NETSRIK · 27/02/2022 21:50

I have two - Co-op (due to their manager in my local store selectively targeting only certain people about what were essential items in their shopping during Covid.

And Asda as their supermarket online delivery customer service line is really bad.

OP posts:
KylieCharlene · 28/02/2022 09:14

Curry's/PC world (or whatever it goes by now)- went in there at Christmas to purchase two laptops. Stood around ages being ignored. Decided to approach a young member of staff who I'd noticed hanging around only to be told in an extremely rude manner that he was too busy to help me. I went back to where I was waiting and watched the guy who was doing nothing other than pouncing on people trying to sell them phones.
Was later served by a guy I'd nabbed who smelt of piss.
TKMaxx- followed around the store by a horrible young woman who had me down as a shoplifter.
Superdrug- I used to enjoy shopping in Superdrug but the sales assistants at our local branch as just too much. You can't pick anything up without them rushing to try and sell you something else on the shelf and I find it really rude and intimidating the way they are always on their headsets talking to each other and their gaze never leaves you (maybe they think I'm a shoplifter tooConfused).

alongtimeagoandfaraway · 28/02/2022 09:26

JD Sports refused to refund a pair of trainers bought for my 8 year old daughter when the sole came away after 2 days. They insisted they were sent away for testing and said that it was clear they had been abused.

She had played in the garden with her sister and that was all.

Testing proved they were faulty and I eventually got my money back but I have not spent a penny in there since. Daughter is 30 now and is VERY sporty, as is her sister. They could have had a lot of money from me over the years.

Also French Connection after their FCUK campaign which I thought was crass. I haven’t bought from them since.

DidgeDoolittle · 28/02/2022 09:28

Lush because of their campaign against the police.
Body Shop since they started against JKRowling.
Currys because of their appalling customer service.
WH Smith because... well just look at it!!

BabyTurtIe · 28/02/2022 09:30

I had the same with jd sports and some trainers, my sons fell apart after 6 weeks, they were pretty expensive so I would have expected them to last longer than 6 weeks, they sent them for testing and said there was no fault despite the plastic and the back ripped through and digging him in his foot, I got a refund through a charge back though! So I avoid them now.

megletthesecond · 28/02/2022 09:30

Pret a manger. For turning a blind eye to allergy guidelines.

florianfortescue · 28/02/2022 09:35

A pizza place in my town because I once saw the chef out the back having a fag with one hand down the back of his trousers scratching his arse. He was extremely sweaty too and the thought of him touching food made me feel queasy.

It's a shame because it's a beautiful location right in the centre of town and is the only place round here that does sourdough pizza!

Latenightreader · 28/02/2022 09:38

I haven’t been to a Bella Pasta (are they now Bella Italia?) since I was given recycled lettuce in the Durham branch 20 years ago. They said it wasn’t reused, I pointed out that there was a smudge of mayonnaise on it… I don’t remember the full details now, but it was grim.

MotherOfWhippets · 28/02/2022 09:44

HSBC - really did one on me when I was a student - got into a bit of trouble with a small overdraft and they bullied me into taking a loan where the interest was more than double the loan and basically I could never pay it off. They've been made illegal now but they told me I would have my account closed etc and I had no option but to take it.

Kwik-Fit - they're terrible with lone women. Tried to get me to have nitrogen in my tyres and told me I needed my brakes done as I was in danger of being killed they were so bad. Took car to my local (woman owned) garage and she said they didn't need doing and that last week she had had to intervene when a client of hers who had just been widowed took her husbands car in and they tried to convince her thousands of pounds of work needed doing to it. Bastards.

Asda - had a really, really rude driver during lockdown he was vile. Also you get more substitutions than the actual things you have ordered rendering the service completely useless.

Local fruit and veg shop - they're held in some sort of god-like status by the village page but they completely give me League of Gentleman vibes and I was in there once and they were vile to a woman with a young child who dared to touch an apple or something.

Sainsburys - seems a theme - there's a woman who works on the tills and I would rather queue for twice as long than go to her. She's obsessed with football and aggressively grills you about it. Saying you have no interest in football only makes it worse Confused

Tronkmanton · 28/02/2022 09:49

My local post office. I went in there when DS was a baby with him in my arms. Queued for ages, even though it’s a tiny place, then just as we arrived at the counter he puked all over me, down my neck, over my coat etc. (None went anywhere else tho, no mess in their shop other than on me). The miserable cow at the counter didn’t say a word. She didn’t even help me open the door, let alone come & help me to the car. There was no one else in there either so it wasn’t like she was too busy to come & help. This was 15 years ago, I still drive to the post office on the other side of town to avoid her!!

FrenchyQ · 28/02/2022 09:53

Frankie and Benny's..glutened my coeliac husband (we had rung to check he'd be able to eat there and double checked when we ordered). They gave us a load of free meal vouchers as an apology...which obviously never got used as we were never going to go back!.

Cex, daughter bought a reconditioned phone from them but changed her mind on it and returned under their term and conditions. They tried to claim there was a fault with it (shed only had it a couple of days and hardly used it). We had to fight to get a refund.

EthelTheAardvark · 28/02/2022 09:55

A local-ish branch of a well known chain of bookstores. They employed friend's son, heaped him with praise, asked him in to help with special promotional events, left him in charge occasionally. Then shortly before he was going to clock up two years and get job security, they suddenly said they had had complaints and dismissed him, although they couldn't produce any record of the complaints and didn't go through any sort of warning process. He discovered only later that this was a common tactic with this particular branch.

Pixies74 · 28/02/2022 09:58

Wahaca as I got food poisoning from a piece of raw chicken 😷 Shame as I love Mexican food.

newtb · 28/02/2022 09:58

M'y local pharmacy and have made a complaint. There was contamination in the only factory in France producing iodothyronine that I take for a thyroid problem, and they established a protocol to supply existing patients. I begged thé pharmacist to fax my prescription to Sanofi and she refused. I ended up with hypothermia, was scammed on the internet via old - my brain wasn't working - and ended up being admitted to a psych unit. So, I no longer go there.

Jijithecat · 28/02/2022 10:14

One of the big supermarkets. They block my driveway every single week when they deliver to my neighbour. I wouldn't mind so much but if they reversed two metres back they wouldn't be blocking me in.
I've asked the drivers nicely not to do it but they still continue. Spent half an hour trying to get through to Customer Services. When my call was eventually answered the call handler told me they park as close as possible to a property. When I pointed out that the Highway Code says you shouldn't park across a dropped curb he hung up on me. This made me all the more determined to never shop there again.

Crumbs22 · 28/02/2022 10:18

Halfords: I had to use their helpline due to being charged twice and the 'person' simply said their records only show one payment and refused to listen to me, I was sneered at for asking to take my query further. I had to resolve it with my credit card company instead. Ironically in store the staff were always very polite and helpful but I can't get over how stupid I was made to feel by the helpline service.
A Jaeger store local to where my mum lived: this was years ago and we went in to look for some things for her. The looks we were given! They totally ignored us and to this day I have no idea why.
Hobbs: I worked hard there for free as a lowly student placement and was treated so appallingly, I vowed never to buy anything from them ever. I never have and it's been nearly 40 years.

Babyroobs · 28/02/2022 10:20

I never buy from Hotel Chocolat after they were absolutely horrible to my lovely friend at an interview. She was still upset months afterwards. never will buy from there.

CailleachGranda · 28/02/2022 10:29

A local restaurant

Last year when restaurants were allowed to open but not serve alcohol, they posted that people would be free to bring their own. But they were charging corkage

When a man very reasonably pointed out, on their FB page, that that was cashing in, they replied and called him "Karen"

So no custom from me now

Rivermonsters · 28/02/2022 10:53

Pizza Hut in Liverpool

Carbiesdreamhouse · 28/02/2022 10:54

Also lush for encouraging and enabling young girls to mutilate their bodies.

AnchorWHAT · 28/02/2022 10:55

Tapi carpets, over £600 for a carpet with a ten year guarantee that developed a dark patch they said it was due to sun coming in through patio doors and tough luck.

ShineTogether · 28/02/2022 10:59

Pret A Manger: their track record and responses to allergies has been astonishing and I won't give money to these callous people. Their excuses were and are shameful.

Reiss: sold me a pricey jumper which turned out to be genuinely faulty (quality of fabric issue) and they wouldn't refund, only a store credit with a short expiry deadline. Years ago and I'm not over it yet!

ShineTogether · 28/02/2022 11:02

@megletthesecond

Pret a manger. For turning a blind eye to allergy guidelines.
Not just me then! I sometimes wonder how everyone else missed this when it happened
UnUdderOne · 28/02/2022 11:16

Oh yes, and John Lewis. Rubbish customer service.

CallyfromBlakes7 · 28/02/2022 11:23

@megletthesecond

Pret a manger. For turning a blind eye to allergy guidelines.
The guidelines didn't exist before that incident, they were brought in as a result of it.
YessicaHaircut · 28/02/2022 11:32

Lush and Body Shop, for the reasons already outlined on the thread.

A local Thai restaurant (sad about this as the food is lovely). I booked a big table there for my hen do and they asked for £100 deposit which would then be taken off the bill on the night. Fine and I paid it. Then after we’d had our meal I noticed that they hadn’t taken the £100 off and they tried to say that they wouldn’t, as the money was just to hold the table for us and wasn’t deductible from our bill. I think they’d reckoned on us all being so drunk that we wouldn’t care (as they knew it was a hen do) but my sister and I refused to pay and stood our ground. They eventually relented but it really spoiled the evening and I won’t go back there.