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

[NETSRIK]

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.

I boycott Argos after one of their delivery lorries trashed my friend's parked car and they refused all liability. They're never getting another penny from me.

I've not shopped in Tesco for almost 20 years. They moved into my local area and forced the 4 butchers, 2 greengrocers and 3 bakeries out of existence. It fundamentally changed where I lived. I hate it when supermarkets do that anyway but that was the worst.

That's a good point, I always report or review good service.

Yes, a fairly new local Italian restaurant. The food was nice but i've never felt so unwelcome anywhere I've eaten. It was like the waiter couldn't get us out quick enough! We had the table for 2 hours which was fine, they removed the wine glasses off the table when we'd finished the bottle so took the hint after our main courses and didn't order dessert. Reading the reviews we're not the only ones to have felt like this.

British Airways for cancelling an internal flight 12 hours before it was due to leave for 'operational reasons'. What I think this meant is that we are giving up this route in a weeks time and cannot be bothered. It was just before NYE and I needed it to get down to London. They then charged me 3x the cost for a flight from a different airport 2 hours drive away.

Also had a couple special moments with some obnoxious and patronising airline stewards on a couple of flights. Now avoid them at all costs if possible. Now I just use EasyJet who have never let me down.

Ditched so many hairdressers for 30/45min 'waits' as they cannot schedule their time properly I have lost count. My current one is fantastic so it can be done.

Halfords. I don't know what it is about the place (or me?) but we simply cannot get served in there. Dozens of orange clad staff wandering around aimlessly or chatting to boy racer friends looking to upgrade their souped-up chavmobile Golfs.
Dad and I went in years ago to get licence plates made that day as ours had been nicked.
We spoke to a total of six members of staff who all told us to wait and they would be right back.
No one ever came back. They just moved to another aisle and continued to wander around talking to other staff members or went out back and then returned to the store but never spoke to us. It was fucking weird.

We were in the store for an hour and 45 minutes before we managed to get one person to help (who we believed meant it). However, he shrugged and told us he was going on his lunch and that we should come back in an hour and he would make up our plates.
We left. DF ordered the plates online from another company and we just didn't drive the car until they arrived.

Years later DH and I went to buy bikes for the kids at Christmas in a different Halfords. We approached various staff members who told us that they would be with us shortly.
They then walked to the opposite end of the store and stood around there instead or went out back for a bit. DH hadn't quite believed me when I'd told him of my earlier experience. We just burst out laughing and went to Sports Direct instead.

The final time was after a wedding. DH's mum was wanting us to head back and pick the impeccably behaved so no problem kids up ASAP (no reason except she didn't care for babysitting much and despite our required overnight stay hours away, she had assumed that babysitting overnight didn't include any of the following day) so we needed to do a breathalyser test to make sure we were legal to drive. Halfords did sell breathalysers but getting just one staff member to tell us where to find them in store was like pulling teeth.

Weird shop. Hates customers. 🤷

My local village greengrocers. I try to shop local where possible and support businesses like these where I can.
The older lady who runs it has done so for decades. I think it was her mother's before her too. But she's so RUDE! She will tell me what I do and don't want ("No, you want this cabbage here. That type's no good. You just have to boil this one. You can make a nice stew for dinner" Meanwhile I'm trying to buy a white cabbage for a salad!
Another example is that, say, you ask for nectarines, she'll tell you that you don't want those but plums will do just fine, that this batch is lovely, very sweet... then she'll pop some in a bag, hand them over and ask for payment while you stand there, gob open trying to say no thank you, you wanted nectarines.

The final time was when I asked for a cauliflower (pointing at the one I wanted but knew she didn't like customers touching after covid began) and instead she pulled one out from under the counter, turned it away from me while she put it in a bag and charged me £1.10 for it. I got home and found it was manky and brown. Fuck it. I went back. She berated ME saying it didn't matter and I should cook it with some cheese sauce and it wouldn't make a difference. I just haven't bothered going back.

Pizza Hut and Boohoo.

@NETSRIK @CaptainHammer I also have a particular check out person in my local sainsburys

Even if all the other lines have queues and his doesn't I would rather wait

Sorry @Georgeskitchen not @CaptainHammer

Vodaphone. It's some years ago now but I was emigrating and told them I wasn't renewing my contract.

They phoned me 36 times to try to persuade me to renew my contract. Even though I was leaving the UK.

Oh yes Vodafone here too.

I moved to EE and rang for a code to transfer my number. They started out by saying that EE don’t actually keep the promises they make (first rule of business, don’t slag off the opposition, it shows you in a bad light.)

I repeated my request for a code, and they went on to say that there were several offers with them I hadn’t taken up.

Again I repeated my request and she started going through the offers trying to find me a deal at which point I asked to speak to her manager. She seemed surprised and asked why, at which point I told her that I had asked for a code 3 times and instead of giving me a code she had been nothing but obstructive, and had led to me not only wanting to leave, but to commit to never doing business with them again.

She gave me the code but I will never do business with them again.

Local “open all hours” type shop. It is literally 2 mins walk from my front door, but I don’t think I’ve ever left without me or one of the dc crying. I was delighted when a Tesco local opened up 10 mins walk away.

ASDA

It' the only time ever a shop worker has told me to 'Fuck off'. And after I complained they ignored me.

On the other end of the scale when my carer couldn't get to me the Tesco driver not only carried my delivery in to the kitchen but asked me if I wanted him to put things away - yes I did email his manager to say how kind he had been.

Local village hairdressers. All very fancy when it opened up. The owner and staff were young people that were also good friends and quite honestly, if your face didn't fit and you just aren't made to feel welcome at all.

I walked in the first time to give it a try and a passing worker who I believe did the tasks such as bookings, floor sweeping, stocking etc stopped, gave me an up and down body look, clearly saw something he didn't like and sashayed off totally ignoring me and made some comment to a stylist as he passed her, causing her to look up and me and giggle! I stood there like an idiot waiting for him to come back and let me book an appointment.
Horrible experience! It was my wedding day hair and trial I wanted to book so it certainly took some shine off the experience. There was no where else local to go as the other hairdresser isn't very good and my usual, mobile one was on maternity.
Thankfully my hair was nice on both days but I have never gone back after because the stylist held conversations with other customers and her colleagues and didn't talk to me much at all.

Harvester - 3 out of 4 of us got food poisoning. They sent us a £20 Harvester voucher which I promptly gave to my brother.

Wowcher - a company similar to Groupon but their customer service is shite. I bought a bed via their website but then changed my mind and wanted a refund. They then said, as I'd technically purchased the bed with their Wowcher credits, that was how I was getting my refund. So I was stuck with £200 of Wowcher credits that I didn't want. As it was just before Christmas I took the opportunity to buy Christmas presents with the credit. Most of the stuff I've bought has resulted in a complaint to the company. Of course, they tell me to contact the seller direct. They really are completely useless and I was relieved when I'd finally spent all my credit

Oh yes, a local hairdresser who turned the hot tap on full and sprayed my head without checking temperature first. They closed down a few years later.

@DreadPirateRobert

Years later DH and I went to buy bikes for the kids at Christmas in a different Halfords

You had a lucky escape. We've bought 3 bikes from Halfords over the years. All were assembled shoddily. Worst was when we had one built with stabilizers added - they used bolts that were too short for the stabilizers so one came loose and caused my son to fall over and badly gash his leg and elbow. When we took it back to complain, they couldn't have cared less and even tried to charge us for a pack of longer bolts to replace the ones that they'd put on.

When he was older, we got another bike from them and on the first ride out, the front wheel came loose as they hadn't tightened the wheel nuts.

The third was when they hadn't set the gears so you couldn't change up/down between all the gears.

I think their in store "experts" are pretty poorly trained, if trained at all.

I boycott Sports Direct because of my views on Mike Ashley, and Ryanair because of my disagreement with Mr O'Leary's business model.

Ryanair, on account of the boss Michael O'Leary being a massive cunt.

I boycotted a restaurant close to us because of the patronising manner of the manager, particularly when dealing with complaints or even questions.

He once replied to a Tripadvisor review mentioning poor value for money sandwiches for a birthday lunch questioning that it can't have been much of a birthday celebration if they only had sandwiches

They've closed down now. Terrible shame.

@canary1

It would be useful to compile a list of places with no women - only toilets and changing rooms to boycott them

what is it about all gender toilets that put you off? x

Itsu

Got food poisoning and could not stray more then ten steps away from a toilet for two days. Was self employed at the time so lost wages in the process. They refused to admit any liability and tried to fob me off with a good will gesture £5 voucher.

The local corner shop that has a paypoint to top up gas and electric. They won't top you up unless you buy something, and not just a little something either, it has to be £5 shop or more! Obviously this is bad form, and they shouldn't be doing it but I complained to paypoint and they've done nothing about it, so I boycotted the shop altogether.

A number of places

I'm either easily offended or too old and crabby to put up with too much crap.

Among them are:

Lush (all the reasons already quoted)
BodyShop (its a shame, I used to LOVE their products)
Toni & Guy (I'm still raging over this one 3 years later)
Claire accessories
Anywhere with multiple toilets which are all unisex. Just fuck off with that.

Clarks - bought a pair of quite pricey (for wellys) pair of boots for DD which split within a week. They were quite clearly new but they basically implied it was general wear and tear. Then implied I might have stolen them. Then refused to refund as there was no manager in. Sorted it out in the end but haven't been back since.

Lush for the business about staff being forced to accept kisses from customers

I'm pretty much at the end of my tether with Superdrug due to their incessant up selling at the till - no I don't want a packet of tissues/ £30 perfume/ spot cream. Surely this doesn't work on anyone?