What pointless one woman/man boycott are you staging?

[nevergoogle]

Here's my one woman boycotts.

I have boycotted Wadebridge because they elected a total wanker to the town council who said that disabled children should be culled to save money. I rarely visit Wadebridge anyway.

I have also boycotted Dartington Hall Estate for unreasonable parking fines. I park outside the grounds. Nobody cares.

And lego minifigures as DS2 always ends up with a frigging princess or mermaid or something and we have to deal with the tears. I'm sure their sales figures are unaffected.

None of my boycotts will make any difference whatsoever. I realise this.

So what are your pointless boycotts?

Duchy Originals products - Prince Charles is a spoilt, smug twat who gets enough support from my taxes without me buying his food too.

I will grudgingly admit that they seem to make some really lovely things but I have never bought any.

McDonalds - DH is a chef and won't even contemplate setting foot in the place, so I'm boycotting it by default tbh, but can't say it's any hardship.

Apple (sort of) - IL's bought DD an iPad a couple of years ago and she does get the occasional gift card to buy apps, but I DH or I download any music that she wants and convert it for her as the Apple Store is so overpriced and it pisses me off that once you have one Apple gadget you're sucked in to getting everything Apple so they all link up and having to buy everything through them. DH and I both have various Android gadgets rather than Apple for the same reason.

Anything celebrity chef branded, or celebrity branded in general, particularly if the celeb in question has made a very good career out of a genuine talent/career path then diversified into something completely random purely to make cash from their name...gives me the range.

The Guardian - I do look at it on line but haven't bought it since they featured a big 'thing' about Paul Hollywood in it last year.

I did boycott a local sewing shop for a few years after they refused to let 2.5 yo newly potty trained DD use their loo. I had to give in eventually as they are the only sewing shop we have that doesn't involve a 20 mile round trip.

frankie and bennys for putting chicken in a vegetarian panini

Cafe rouge for putting chicken in a vegetarian salad, and then taking it away just to remove the bits they can see, handing it back to me with chicken still in the bottom

Vodaphone - just see how they got access to their green field head quarters by holding west berkshire council to ransom - so unethical!

Newbury bypass - I would rather drive though the town instead of around

o no saskia why are metallica dicks?

Ryanair. They were incredibly rude to me and my children about 18 years ago and I've managed to live without using their services and not pay any more for my travel.

Leicester Forest East. Because it's a dump and not surprised about food poisoning being mentioned abouve.

I do occasionally shop in Tesco's but I refuse to have a Club Card as my protest that they are mean to farmer's according to a farmer I met in the queue at the till in Sommerfield just before it got taken over by Tesco.

Bristol Airport. Because the security staff are obnoxious and you have to pay to drop someone off. Oh, and you have to pay for plastic bags and trollys. They wouldnt let me use my own specially purchased clear washbag, and commented on the amount of makeup I was carrying despite the fact I also had a hat and was clearly going to a wedding.

Subway. It always stinks. Ditto our local KFC.

Salcombe. Full of the worst kind braying Brits, vastly over priced food and drink. Thinks far too much of itself.

Emirates airline. I was on a riding holiday this year with one of their flight attendants in the party, she was an utter bitch, so I won't ever fly with them.

A local taxi company after they chewed DP out over calling a taxi for someone else (which is part of DP's job, that he'd done a million times before, and said cab company has a deal with DP's work for discount trips for staff so they would call them first for client's taxis). It was just ridiculous so neither of us deal with them.

I used to boycott the second corner shop down the road. The guy was rude, especially to women. I saw him openly mock several typically about stereotype crap (so if they bought chocolate or wine he would make gendered comments about them), laughed at me for the exact same thing every time he saw me (about my cloth caps, kept making jokes about women and fashion). So I stopped going in. I'm guessing many others did as well as it closed down last year and recently the shop was bought up and became part of the Premier chain. Pretty much everyone agrees it's far nicer now (though I still haven't been in there as I like the one that's closer).

I've been boycotting BP petrol stations for 20+ years - I used a faulty pump at one. It didn't cut off when the tank was full, worse missed when it first came out I was looking at the gauge thinking it's taking a lot - I got petrol all down my legs and shoes. I mentioned it politely in the kiosk and got rudely told I should have been watching what I was doing, petrol pumps aren't supposed to shut off and now he had to clean up all the petrol I'd spilled...
I was furious - was on my way to work so was late because I had to go home and change, ruined my (cheap) shoes and trousers. I wrote to BP to complain - they sent me a generic reply, with a vague overtone I was on the scrounge and a £10 gift voucher (I didn't want - didn't cover the cost of my clothes or the petrol anyway) - all I wanted was to be told that I was right - the pump was faulty. I've never forgiven them. (I would buy petrol from them if I was desperate though - so far I haven't had to)
I also boycott Churchill insurance - for a similar amount of time - phoned for a quote, it was a few pounds cheaper but still wanted to phone someone else. Pushy salesmen said he'd send me the docs to speed things up, I wasn't committing to anything. Went with another company. Got chased for payment, told I had to pay a cancellation fee(?) , send the docs back at my expense etc etc and I was threatened with being 'put on the 'insurance blacklist' .
I notice both companies are still going and doing well enough without me ...

One that I really should never admit to on here but hey ho,

I won't consider donating to our local women's aid branch after getting a right telling off on the phone for daring to ask of they would like a donation of something that wasn't money (whole, unopened boxes of nappies and baby clothes)
She was really rude and spoke to me like I was an idiot who was trying to pass off some junk onto them.
I complained to their head office and didn't even get a reply.

I took the stuff to a local charity that support families with sick children and they were really grateful for them and passed them onto families that we're struggling and they were friendly and polite!

Unlucky . People say a lot against Tesco but when one of their bottles of drain cleaner had a faulty top and leaked all over my fatface trousers (£40 worth) they gave me £30 cash (I'd had them a year so thought that was fair) and refunded the drain cleaner. Much better customer service than BP obviously!

Dulux, because they named one of their paint colours "Sexy Pink".

Professor Iain Stewart, TV presenter/geologist guy. He once judged a mosaic exhibition that I had entered. He gave first prize to a sodding sink, that was in no way the best thing there. I didn't even get 3rd despite getting 2nd in the public vote. I boycott him by growling at the TV when he's on.

When our paths crossed again this summer at the beach however, I smiled politely. I doubt he noticed the evidence of a long held grudge in my eyes and went on to have a lovely time at the beach.

After being spoken to and dealt with in a twrribly patronising manner by the sales man in Br*fords Exeter I boycotted them and took our watches to be serviced elsewhere.
They are now closed.
I feel for the other employees but not the bad breathed rude man!

I am ready, willing, and able to boycott my very favorite show (the Walking Dead) if certain things come to pass.

My latest boycott is John Lewis - cos they told EVERYONE in Scotland they'd put the prices up if a majority voted for independence. But I can still pee in their loos. What I will miss is the view from the cafes - the one in Edinburgh has great views over the Forth to Fife; the one in Glasgow, if you choose your seat well, has good views down Buchannan St. The scones are good but pricey and nothing special. Sometimes you get good bargains in the sales in the yarn department. Clothes will have to be bought elsewhere. Apart from the toilets, I go in a few times a year, so not a huge loss to me or them. The last thing I bought there, apart from yarn , is a necklace which has broken with little wear.

I also avoid Starbuck's (but no huge loss as I don't like the coffee that much) but I use Amazon (so I am a hypocrite really).

What else? We used to boycott SAfrican goods, so I should boycott Israeli goods. But I don't do the shopping much these days - and DH agrees but he boycotts much else - US (due to GM mostly), Turkey (human rights), several others. So it's quite difficult. (And we are quite lazy!!)

flip Tescos are good...swapped a bag with a broken zip for DD2 and then gave me £2 back because it had been reduced since I bought it!
But it wasn't the money ...it was the principle...
It was faulty, I wasn't to blame - that's all I needed to hear - and maybe that the nasty man was out of order....

My mum is boycotting the programme about cilla. I innocently asked her if she was watching it and she almost imploded with fury 'that awful common woman!!! she can't sing, she's horrible, she has that awful accent. rage rage rage'

It was a bit scary. My mother is 85.

I boycott British Airways for refusing me a refund when i couldn't get on the plane in SA. It was not my fault that i could not take my flight and they should have been more understanding. 6 yrs on and i won't be swayed:) bastards.

I boycott Israeli fruit and veg, even though they pay Palestinians to cultivate them, and I will never go to Portugal until Madeline McCann is found.
Both futile but I can't help myself.

I'm boycotting one of my friends.

I told her I was planning to do something I've always dreamed of and instead of being excited for me she went "that costs a lot of money, around £XXXX, you'll never afford it." I'd budgetted and could afford it AND it costs much less than she thought.

and then a few weeks later she passed on an invite for me to go stay with her daughter who lives abroad and followed that up with "we know you can't afford the flight so we've found Richard Branson's email and we're going to ask him to let you fly for free."

I was mortified. And only slightly relieved when I found out they'd yet to ask Richard Branson to let me fly for free. (and for the record, yes I am on benefits due to disability but given the proposed date for me to fly was more than a year away I could probably have saved a few pounds each week and flown budget)

Ah I've just thought of another - I don't like that blond young Bristolian comedian that's on Mock the Week because he is always making 'jokes' about overweight people. It's really mean so I never watch anything with him in.

Nestle.

I boycotted Laura Ashley for about 5 minutes after they sold us a sofa and two chairs in the same fabric but with one chair massively darker. After getting their 'impartial third party' quality control person round to assess, who mysteriously decided it was 'within the degree of acceptable tolerance' they totally refused to refund or replace. So I never bought anything there again. Until I realised they're one of my favourite shops and I want to buy loads of stuff from them

I've been boycotting The Real Greek for about 8 years after they gave us and several other tables an embarrassingly stingy, shit overpriced starter and even when faced with half a dozen irate customers refused to take the item off the bill or offer anything in place. Everyone else adores them so I don't think they're overly bothered. I'm sticking at it though.

Ooh I'm also boycotting all surveyors after our first one got the age of our house wrong and the second told us a totally rotten window was in good condition, a 20 year old broken boiler was fairly new and a roof had asbestos in and needed to be specially disposed of at great expense when it didn't.

If they or any of their ilk think they're getting hundreds of pounds out of me ever again, they're sorely mistaken. So there!

The fact that the bank will still require me to use their services makes it slightly less than effective, admittedly...

Oh oh oh and Premier Inn!! Tried to book a room, website let me get to final step and then at payment confirmation stage said it was down for maintenance, come back in 30 mins. 30 mins later the price had gone up. Head office acted like I was cheeky and insane when I rang asking then to honour the original price. Bastards!

I think I need to start a boycott spreadsheet...