to think that a lot of small businesses are essentially con artists?

[SecretWineBox]

Even if they don't admit it even to themselves?

I'm getting rather sick of crap service from builders (there are NO honest ones!), driving instructors (ANY instructor you are paying in fact), small online shops, local food suppliers, bad restaurants...

I really want to support small businesses but i can't afford to be ripped off all the time.

At least large organisations generally have a proper complaints process.

Then people blame big corporations for the demise of small business.... If there was a national chain of builders and tradesmen I'd be over the moon!

YABVU.

Try "find a trader" for finding a builder etc.

You can read reviews from other customers. It's worked really well for me.

I'm a small business. Nothing you mentioned however. I have a refund policy, t's and c's avail on my website for people to ignore and do my best to provide good customer service.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush.

I think you've had bad experiences and certainly I think my dad would agree with you as he has too but I have come across many great small businesses and many terrible large ones. I think size doesn't determine quality or service.
We have just completely renovated our house and employed all the trades separately - only one was awful, the others were good or even in some cases outstanding. My independent driving instructor was amazing (I was very nervous after the death of a friend in an RTA)
The indiependent patisserie I went to yesterday was awesome, the independent shoe shop not so great. I hate chain restaurants and there are loads of fab one offs round here. I use some great independent online shops - fab one that sells my fav ginger beer that I can't get anywhere else, and when they don't have it in stock and there is going to be 24 hrs delay they phone to apologise.
If businesses are crap I don't use them again, if they are great I recommend them to others.

YABU

That's a bit of a sweeping statement OP. Give me a small business rather than a tax dodging faceless corporate any day.

Yabu very very unreasonable. And a bit of a twat tbh.

I own a small business. Complaints are dealt with. I worked in one of britians biggest companies as head of complaints. Yes we charge more, but we can't make our products as cheap as some making tons of them. Our product is also higher quality. We make less margin than the huge companies.

All builders are not shit and do you think instructors should work free?

yabvu

That's a rediculous statement to make.
Small business' rely on word of mouth and will (in my experience ) bend over backwards to offer good service.

YABU

I think you make a fair point and one which a lot of people experience.

In the town I live near, there are loads of 'independent' shops - they come and go - some last some don't - it's a touristy area and the media etc make a big thing of supporting local independent businesses.

Thing is, these - mainly knick knackery shops, support at most one person and another partime family member.

The local Tesco, Sainsbury, B&q etc employ hundreds if not thousands of local people.

Who does more for the local economy?

I can see both sides. I have worked in several small businesses and have been embarrassed at the way complaints have been dealt with, by the owners.

However, I always try to use the independent shops on my High Street, I have just learnt which ones to avoid I'm looking at you, nasty lady in the card shop.

I've been sent home with several articles of clothing, from my favourite shop, to try with my shoes, then I just return the garments I don't want and pay for those I do. I wouldn't get that service (or such gorgeous clothes) at M&S.

I went to buy dog food yesterday and found that they only had the large sacks in, so I came home with one of those and I'll pop into the pet shop with the £20 I owe them later. I wouldn't get that at Pets at Home.

I would much prefer to support a small independent business than a large corporate one. Always!

Your statement is quite ridiculous

YABVVVU!
My husband has a small business, he's a builder, employs some labourers and sub contracts to trusted plumbers, plasterers, electricians etc.
He's certainly no 'con artist'!
What we've found unfair is on sites like check a trade or trusted etc. You can leave reviews about the builder but you can't about the clients.
Some people have ridiculous expectations and moan like fuck about silly things (I.e the house being more dusty when having a loft conversion) then use that as excuse to not pay for thousands of pounds worth of work and materials.
So it does work both ways I suppose, commercial and industrial jobs are a lot less hassle than working for an individual domestic customer.

There are some very good small businesses and equally there are many bad ones. If using somewhere new I look for reviews or prefer to ask for recommendations.

I much prefer to use a large company, usually cheaper and like the poster above they do more for the economy.

Many small businesses don't pay much in tax and lots only exist as its a way of playing the tax credit system to its full advantage whilst avoiding having to sign on.

YABVU. Some small businesses obviously are abit shit, as are some larger businesses. I've run small businesses for years and make sure customer satisfaction is my priority at all times. No ripping off from me!!

Bollocks. You must have mug written across your face for so many people to have screwed you over. They saw you coming.

Ive never had the experiences you describe.

The thing about driving instructors, is that it's in their best interests to drag the training out as longs as possible - they make more money. The last one took me down the same route for weeks - then turned up smelling of booze. Consequently, I've given up learning to drive.

Last builder I had failed to turn up on two separate occasions. Cost me £200 in lost earnings on top cost of work.

Ordered a hand-made white cotton dress online - turned up and the bodice was made of beige pattern fabric... (why do that??? Of course I'm going to send it back!)

Served raw chicken in a restaurant who then lied about the bill.

I think the problem may be that during a financial crash many people start businesses out of desperation and don't really have the skills to do it properly.

My local builder has the best complaints procedure in the world - he lives next door.

I note the OP complains about "driving instructors" - if you've had more than 1 - in fact as many as it requires to generalise - perhaps its not them and you are just a crap pupil?

You get charlatans in all lines of work. Big business, small business, all of it.

We use people from Checkatrade and have had some super guys and really reasonably priced.

I always use a local shop for appliance purchases too so you can try it out first, and they will be on hand (and you can go and kick up a fuss!) if it breaks down.

Euronics are pretty good normally I think, though each is a separate business under franchise so you get the best of both worlds and they price match too.

I have a small business. In better days we employed 5 - 7 people now we employ myself, one full time and one part-time person. We have struggled to survive against online bargains and the massive buying power of chain stores in nearby cities. To read some of the negative comments here I would say I understand a sense of how dare you try to exist when Sainsbury's et al do it better. We would not be able to live in our rural touristy area without having created our own employment. Just like every other small business in our area. When tourists descend on us for our 6 months of business a year there would be nowhere for them to get the essentials they need for supermarkets would have no business for the 6 months of the year there are only locals here, there would be no small shops for them to browse or pubs or restaurants or doctors even. We, the small businesses in my area are what keep this area going. Also, some of us would have aspired to growing our businesses and not always being Mom-and-Pop type shops forever so bear in mind too that your preferred big stores all started as a small business. I would far rather be the owner of my small business than the owner of your small mind OP.

My GP used to turn up drunk. He wasnt running a small business.