[Misc] Companies you hate, and will avoid using/buying from if you possibly can

[Thunder Bolt]

TUI - couple of years ago we booked a last minute, and I mean last minute deal with them as our first holiday after Covid. We wanted a fairly short flight as we were still nervous about flying at the time. Less than 24 hours before we were due to come home we got told our flight was going to gatwick via Birmingham! Turned what should have been a two and half hour’ish flight into over five hours. To avoid paying compensation they moved the flight departure forward.

We still believe they knew this would happen or at least be a possibility before we booked and didn’t tell us, as I said it was very last minute. When we complained they said it was for operational reasons whereas the pilot admitted on board it was because they had two half empty planes and was therefore for financial reasons.

Have never used them again and never will.

They treat their staff badly too. My daughter worked for them, a colleague made a mess, tried to let her take the blame, which she refused to accept.
She was put on gardening leave, and started proceedings for constructive dismissal. In the end, they settled out of court.
She then got a far better position at Unilever.

 

[LANGDON SEAGULL]

Dyson , Wetherspoons, Warburtons, Sports Direct - essentially any Tory enabler . Mass market coffee shops I avoid like the plague , MacDonalds, News Corp and that’s just off the top of my head

 

[Nobby]

The Sun
Tesco. Absolute crooks
Dyson
Wetherspoons (shame)
Mail
Express
Telegraph
Brewdog

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Ah. Thank you. Didn’t know much about him.
I don’t use SD.
Not previously out of any knowledge of the business but the place gives me anxiety. Huge stores, filled literally to the rafters with cheap looking stock. And the only time I ventured into one with the intention of buying something, the staff were so disinterested I lost the will to buy anything and bailed. I was looking for trainers.

If SD gives you anxiety don't ever try TKMaxx !

 

[Nobby]

TUI - couple of years ago we booked a last minute, and I mean last minute deal with them as our first holiday after Covid. We wanted a fairly short flight as we were still nervous about flying at the time. Less than 24 hours before we were due to come home we got told our flight was going to gatwick via Birmingham! Turned what should have been a two and half hour’ish flight into over five hours. To avoid paying compensation they moved the flight departure forward.

We still believe they knew this would happen or at least be a possibility before we booked and didn’t tell us, as I said it was very last minute. When we complained they said it was for operational reasons whereas the pilot admitted on board it was because they had two half empty planes and was therefore for financial reasons.

Have never used them again and never will.

Oh and another one for TUI
Had a two week holiday booked for 13th March 2020 to Spain.
Based on the fact that Spain and Italy health systems were falling apart with the first Covid wave, we phoned on the 11th to say we were worried about plane flights and that we thought it was a huge risk to travel.
They asked if we were cancelling and we said yes we would have to.
Within three days most of Spain was locked down and flights were being turned around in mid air. Those holiday makers who had made it to Spain were locked in their rooms until they could be returned to the UK - some took two weeks to get back - food and water taken to rooms if they were lucky.
When we went through the claims process to get our money back (full holiday payment, not just the deposit), we were informed that as we had cancelled there was no recourse to a refund.
Even when they could not have fulfilled the contract we were not entitled to any refund at all.
Took it legal but no recourse as the imbecile Johnson’s Govt still has no negative travel advice out to Spain. UK locked down on 23rd seven days later. So anyone travelling from 23rd March got refunds but we had none

TUI are a dreadful bunch

 

[Chicken Run]

Canham & Sons Butchers Hove,
Yes the Sandwich’s are fantastic but as a Butcher they are rude, pretentious and ridiculously expensive, I do appreciate @Herr Tubthumper will be along to say “I’m in” on hearing this

 

[Is it PotG?]

Apple
WeBuyAnyCar
Panini

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Another Apple hater here.

All through my career there's been challenges getting Apple products to connect to industry standard systems - Novell, Windows, Linux, VAX VMX, Unix - you name it, it's always Apple products that create the issues.

In the modern day - Apple are the only manufacturer who's products can't be charged with a generic USB C charger. Why ? Because they want to be seen as different and hip. Don't get me started on the headphone socket !!! Thank god the EU is dealing with it - there's a few on here who would never have expected to see me type those words

As for customer service - Mrs WS always insisted on me helping her with issues she was having with her iPhone ( she's given up now because it always ends in a argument of "Well you work in IT" with my retort "And I told you not to buy this crap" ). Anyway, once I agreed to take it to the Apple shop for her. You had to make a f***ing appointment !!!! Really ?? Then sit on a bench for 45 minutes plus with other Apple owning wankers until your number came up. NEVER again. In fairness they fixed it in ten minutes.

So for me - Apple, Apple, Apple all day long.

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

On the back of reading ‘ultra processed people’, the food industry/big outlets in general.

 

[Icy Gull]

Scottish Widows, I won’t bore you with a litany of inefficiency and couldn’t give a shit prevaracating but avoid like the plague is my advice

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Spoons - Tim Martin is an absolute shit of a man, who has played his part in wrecking the country. Never going to willingly give him a penny.

Dyson - another traitor to the nation, and frankly every single one of his products I’ve ever used has been shit. All style / design over function or reliability.

Subway - just revolting food.

Dyson for exactly those reasons. Over-engineered over-priced tat. And the man is a prize hypocrite - strong Brexiteer who does all his manufacturing in other parts of the world.

and anything to do with Jim Alexander, (edit, sorry, Jim Ratcliffe) the CEO of INEOS. Another huge hypocrite Brexiteer. Was deep in to deals with lots of subsidies to build the engines for his Land Rover copy Grenadier in the Old Ford engine factory in Bridgend, South Wales, and then ditched it all to buy a factory in Hambach, Germany, because of the convenience and economic advantages of having it based in Europe. So screwing over a needy community in South Wales (where my daughter lives, not that she has anything to do with all this) and going against everything, as far as I can see, that he advocated. I hope he buys Man Utd and they crash and burn!

 

[vegster]

I won't won't use a Tesco unless absolutely desperate. A colleague left to work for their buying dept and was treated abysmally by management.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Canham & Sons Butchers Hove,
Yes the Sandwich’s are fantastic but as a Butcher they are rude, pretentious and ridiculously expensive, I do appreciate @Herr Tubthumper will be along to say “I’m in” on hearing this

I’m glad some get my “humour. “

Their scotch eggs, which used to be displayed in a large bowl in the window, ALWAYS tempted me in.

 

[Live by the sea]

Amazon , Ryanair . McDonald’s , KFC , BurgerKing , Greggs , Subway and Wetherspoons. I think that covers all oh and coke.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Dyson for exactly those reasons. Over-engineered over-priced tat. And the man is a prize hypocrite - strong Brexiteer who does all his manufacturing in other parts of the world.

I still have a 22 year old DC02 vacuum cleaner, which still works well and is relatively simple in design. He did lose his way after this and over-designed things so much that his Hoovers now look like science fiction space guns and found solutions to problems which didn’t exist.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Any company that has the word “solutions” in their name.

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

Dyson for exactly those reasons. Over-engineered over-priced tat. And the man is a prize hypocrite - strong Brexiteer who does all his manufacturing in other parts of the world.

and anything to do with Jim Alexander, the CEO of INEOS.

Isn't that Jim Ratcliffe ?

 

[Normal Rob]

None. I'm not picky and have zero integrity.

Edit: damn, I forgot about Vax.

 

[razer]

Ticketmaster. Robbing, thieving, monopoly twats.

 

[BN9 BHA]

You'd better not visit Australia

No plans to be fair, not for me.