Customers like me and you are mostly happy to open up their wallets for the things they really, really like. Think of Starbucks frappes, iPhones, dinners at Olive Garden, or Bath & Body Works candles; every product, service, restaurant and store has its loyal clients.
Often, however, businesses take their loyalty for granted and forget the obvious fact that a single mistake or faux pas costs a lot. And by “a lot” we mean not just reputation and money, but customers on whom the whole business relies in the first place.
“What is your ‘never again’ brand, item, store, or restaurant?” someone asked on Ask Reddit, creating one hell of a thread that makes the businesses in question blush big time.
#1
Home Depot.
I went in with a HUGE order for custom cabinets. They said, “Oh, honey, you need to send your contractor in so that we know these measurements are accurate.” I said, “They are accurate, he gave them to me.” They said, “Oh, honey, why don’t you ask him to come in and manage this order for you? Just in case your measurements are wrong.” When I persisted in being allowed to order the cabinets, they told me I would have to hire a Home Depot contractor to double check my measurements. This was not a policy thing, but a “you’re a stupid female, please bring a man with you next time so we can help you.”
I made the mistake of asking if I could at least buy the sink I’d picked out. They told me no, they really didn’t feel comfortable selling me anything for my kitchen remodel without my male contractor present.
I took my cabinet order elsewhere, but I ended up in Home Depot again a few weeks later because I needed a sink aerator. You know, the little dealie that attaches to the end of the faucet? I couldn’t find them, so I asked a worker to help me. He said, “Oh, we don’t sell those anymore.” I was like, “Huh???” and he told me, “Yeah, you can’t just buy faucet parts like that anymore, you’ll need to buy a whole new faucet.” I said, “I find that hard to believe, can you just point me in the direction of your plumbing parts and I’ll find it myself?” and he laughed, shook his head at me like I was a stupid child, and said, “Ma’am, no. Just no. You can’t buy just an aerator anymore.”
I went across the street to Lowe’s, walked in, said, “Can you please help me find a sink aerator?” and the dude led me right to them. Cost like $4.00.
I still have rage thoughts about how rude and misogynistic the Home Depot folks were. And short-sighted, as well, as they turned away thousands of dollars worth of business–I guess a worthless drop in the bucket to them.
Image source: azemilyann26, Mike Mozart
#2
Nestle. They actively push baby formulas in poor third world areas where water is commonly contaminated and parents don’t make enough money to buy enough formula to feed an infant. Nestle knows that the use of their products result in higher infant mortality rates due to dysentery and disease, but they refuse to stop.
I haven’t bought anything from Nestle in over 20 years.
Image source: kalysti, [deleted]
#3
Soon after she left me in 1998, my ex wife wanted to meet for a post mortem conversation. I suggested we meet at Pizzeria Uno. About 20 minutes into our agonizing conversation, she looked around and said: “Wait. You hate Pizzeria Uno.” I replied: “I sure do. I’m not going to ruin a place that I like with terrible memories. I’m never entering a Pizzeria Uno again.”
And I haven’t.
Image source: IGHOTI907, JJBers
#4
Planet fitness. Moved back to my home state from SF. Forgot to cancel my membership. Tried from the App: Nope. Tried from my local Planet Fitness: Nope. Said i had to MAIL IN A COPY OF MY LICENSE ANS PROOF OF MEMBERSHIP. So i cancelled that credit card because that was easier than getting my membership cancelled.
Image source: Domo-omori
#5
Planet Fitness. Manager called me after I had emailed about an issue and left a voice mail. Except when he hung up, he missed the receiver and I was treated to two minutes of him trash talking me. Called back and said “Yep, go ahead and cancel that membership and next time make sure you hang up”.
F**k those chain gyms.
Image source: CoryVictorious
#6
Nike. I grew up loving the brand but after I heard they used forced labor from Uighur Muslims in China I’ve decided I’ll never buy anything new from them again.
Image source: Nolliehardflip1738, Aman Jakhar
#7
Red Robin. They offered my father a corporate job, then rescinded it upon learning the reason he spent the last 6months out of the workforce was to beat leukemia.
Image source: FatStoner2FitSober
#8
Jared. I went in with something specific in mind for a ring and asked the salesman to please show me what he had comparable to that criteria. Right off the bat he put his hands up and said “whoa whoa whoa, slow down. Just be calm.” And quite frankly that set my teeth on edge because I don’t think there’s anything aggressive about truthfully answering the question “how can I help you” ya know? He then kept trying to get me a latte and telling me to relax and settle down which was only serving to upset me more. When he finally got around to showing me merchandise, he showed me a ring that had an inclusion so large in the stone that it looked like a giant scratch through the middle. And when I said “this ring has a scratch in it” he insisted to me that I didn’t know what I was looking at and that I wasn’t properly appreciating the beauty of this ring. When I pointed out that I didn’t even need a loop to see the “scratch” and asked if perhaps he had something else to show me, he told me this was the only stone I could possibly get for that price and that I would have to be willing to up my budget significantly. I thanked him and made to leave and he made a s****y comment about how I’d never find anything as nice as what I showed him. (I found something far superior at a local jeweler for an even better price).
So yeah, whenever those stupid “He went to Jared!” commercials come on I always yell out “you can tell because her ring has a f*****g scratch in it!”
Image source: Empkat
#9
Wells Fargo.
1) Fake Accounts scandal
2) Auto Loan insurance scandal
3) Mortgage Loan scandal #1 (changing customer terms)
4) Mortgage Loan scandal #2 (2008)
5) PPP Loan scandal
Image source: xxAntiMATTerxx
#10
Hobby Lobby I don’t agree with their business practices.
Image source: lissam3
#11
Anything on Amazon shipped from China.
Image source: GanksOP
#12
Doordash. When 50% of my orders never made it to me, and one of the drivers cusses me out for having the audacity to ask for my food, they go on the never again list.
Image source: angrylittlehobbit, Marques Thomas
#13
My wife used to work at Applebee’s. After seeing Applebee’s food prep and kitchen cleanliness, she refuses to eat there ever again.
It’s worth noting that she used to work at Taco Bell, and still eats there regularly. So Applebee’s doesn’t live up to Taco Bell’s high standard of food safety.
AverageFatGuy added:
Applebee’s. Because I can eat microwaved food at home.
Image source: ubeor
#14
H&M, Forever 21, and the like!! Fast fashion nightmares.
makeemsayunhhh replied:
Wear Vintage! There are thousands of quality vintage garments that were made 10, 20, 30 years ago that will last another 30+ years. No need to keep producing clothing that falls apart and goes to landfills.
Image source: Infamous-Planter-958, Mike Mozart
#15
Ohio Savings Bank. They charged me 300 dollars over the span of a year because, unlike normal debit cards, every time I put my pin in instead of signing, it charged me an extra dollar fifty. By the time I caught it most of the charges were past the 30 day refund policy so they gave me 10 dollars as a refund.
I didn’t make a fuss because I know it’s not the workers fault but I did withdraw all my money immediately and switched banks. F**k that place.
Image source: rosenewt, Anna Shvets
#16
P.F. Chang’s
2006, I was recovering in a Military hospital, and was stuck in a wheelchair for a long while. My wife and I decided to eat out, as a change of pace from our room.
We opted for P.F. Chang’s as we had heard some good things about it, and we love Asian Food.
First problem: the front door was a revolving door. You cannot go through a standard revolving door in a wheelchair. The regular door that’s next to every revolving door to allow handicap access had a large potted plant in front of it. When we asked how we could get into the restaurant, we were looked at like we were crazy. Took then several minutes to make accommodations for me to get inside.
Second problem: none of the freestanding tables in the restaurant were spaced far enough apart to allow a wheelchair used to move between them. (36 inch minimum according the Americans with Disabilities Act) So when I had to use the bathroom, it meant I had to disturb a dozen people and have them stand up, and push their chairs in. They didn’t mind of course, but I felt like an a*****e.
And to top it all off, they got my order wrong.
I’ll never eat at that restaurant ever again.
Image source: two-stumps
#17
Angel Soft toilet paper.
It might as well be called “S****y Fingers”
Image source: anon
#18
Temptations cat treats, there’s something in those things that turn cats into absolute junkies.
Image source: New_Game_P1us, Lisa Zins
#19
Samsung for putting menu ads on my TV that I paid for…
Image source: romeo_papa_mike, Mike Mozart
#20
Bank of America. The McDonalds of banks.
Image source: mr_baby_pigeon
#21
Pottery Barn.
My wife was pregnant with our first child, so full nesting mode engaged. We ordered a chair for the kids room/nursery/whatever the f**k it’s called, a nice glider with an ottoman, perfect, in theory, for 3am feedings. We ordered it at around 5 months out. Everything was on track until 3 weeks from delivery date. We had called many times to confirm since shipping was delayed, but still on track for the due date. They told us it was now back-ordered for 6 months. These things happen, but there’s no way they found out about a 6 month delay 3 weeks from delivery on a 9 month lead. It was a s**t show! My wife, now fully in the grasp of preggers-crazy went ballistic. We got in cancelled and found another one from some similar place (restoration hardware?) it came in time.
Ok, then Pottery Barn’s ottoman shows up! What else came was a charge for the ottoman. Now we start fight 2 so they would refund our money and retrieve the ottoman. Kid turned 2 months old before it got cleared up. F*****g s**t show, man. My wife still flips the store off every time we drive by. This was 8 years ago.
Image source: Im_your_id, Mike Mozart
#22
Sprint- couple of years ago they let someone buy over $2,000 worth of phones in my mom’s name. Didn’t ask for ID or anything. They got an address but it was off by a couple of numbers. My mom didn’t notice for a couple of months when her credit got flagged when they were trying to get approved for a loan or something. She fought with Sprint to get the charges removed from her credit. We’ve never had Sprint before so don’t know how that was a massive oversight especially with no ID and the wrong address.
Image source: Avatar_014, Mike Mozart
#23
Dominoes. My order was delivered by one of their drivers. The website offers contactless delivery. They are supposed to leave it on the doorstep and go.
Delivery guy gets here without a mask. Knocks on door. I ask him to mask up before I answer and he refuses. I tell him I ordered contactless delivery. He says “well you didn’t leave me a f*****g tip.” So I open the door and write zero on the paper. Asking him: “and this is how you thought you would get one?”
Flash forward to the next day and my card gets charged $100 over the cost of the pizza. I call and complain and I’m told to send an email.
So I email them and get a response back that they talked to the driver and he said I’m lying. That I was very grateful and left him a huge tip that they won’t refund unless I can provide proof.
So I sent him the security footage from my front door. Complete with sound.
Refund was in my account next day. But I’ll never use them again.
I ended up taking them to court over the attempted fraud. The court ruled it also as illegal trespassing because they attempted to force me to leave my home or allow them to enter despite my expressly telling them I did not want this while ordering, plus I have a good lawyer thanks to work. The company was also fined for the employee’s actions but I know a lot less about how that one ended since I just ended up being considered a witness in that case.
The way this should go down in my area is simple. Driver leaves food at door and receipt on a small stand. Then returns to their car. You grab the food and sign receipt, you leave a tip (many places also let you tip online now after order arrives). Then once you are safely inside the driver gets out of the car and grabs the stand and receipt so they can leave.
Image source: Zetta216, bobbsled
#24
The dollar store in my area has $1 steaks. I can’t imagine trusting a $1 steak to not kill me.
Image source: nitrotitan, Mike Mozart
#25
AT&T from back in the days of long distance, said they’d get me a good rate to Thailand, which we call all the time. Bill comes and its 10x the advertised rate.
I call. The first guy can’t fix the bill. I escalate to a “manager”. He says “You are correct. I’ll fix your bill.”
Next day he calls back and says “we’ve decided not to fix your bill”.
Image source: dudinax, Mike Mozart
#26
Victoria’s Secret. Overpriced for meh quality.
Image source: EquanimityVibe
#27
Anything from the “Wonderful” brand, Pom wonderful, Wonderful pistachios, Halos, Justin Wines, Fiji Water, etc.
Billionaires from Beverly Hills destroying lives of farmers. Depleting local farmers of their water. Destroyed thousands of old a*s oak trees in San Luis Obispo County to plant more vines for their stupid wine. We all know the real reason is because of the water they now have access to there. I know a lot of families who have lost their farms because of them. They are big and powerful and they know it. Just a bunch of a******s who don’t seem to ever have enough money. Watch Water and Power on Netflix for more info.
Side note: Do you remember a time when it was just Cuties? But now there’s cuties and halos. They used to be the same company. The owners had a big fight about when they were to harvest. So they split the trees up and went their separate ways. Paramount farms (Halos) wanted to harvest early, when Sun Pacific (cuties) wanted to wait to harvest. Same fruit. But I will always buy cuties and never halos. Screw Stewart and Lynda Resnick.
(I also worked at Pom Wonderful for a year. Yes I regret it)
Edit: I guess Netflix took down the documentary I was referring to. But it’s available to rent on Amazon, Vudu, and Apple TV for those who are interested in learning more about these crooks.
Also was told Behind the Bastards podcast did an episode on them as well as The Dollop.
Image source: Spacecat88-
#28
Dell, for laptops anyway. They have this devious little feature: the charging cable has a thin data wire inside that tells the computer the charger is from dell. If you plug in a charger that does not have this, even if the voltage is correct, the computer will throttle the cpu way down by sending false overheating signals, and will only increase the battery charge if the machine is off. To make this way worse, that data pin wears out and breaks very easily, and even if your charger still works, which it often does, it is borderline unusable. Since you can only get a replacement from dell, replacement chargers are unusually expensive.
This “feature” cannot be turned off in any intended way. There is a program you can use to bypass it by disabling the specific type of thermal cpu throttling they use, but that only works on intel cpus. If you have an amd, tough luck, and even if you dont you shouldn’t have to disable hardware safety features using 3rd party software just to use hardware that is perfectly functional except for one unnecessary part that is designed to break.
Image source: CarbonIceDragon
#29
Ashley furniture
Tried to use the extra protection plan we brought for our sofa that broke. They picked it up and then they tried to deliver it back to the wrong address 4 GOD DAMN TIMES.
We were without a sofa for a month and a half when we were told us it would be 7 days because they couldn’t figure out how to update our f*****g address.
I literally had to go into a physical location because their phone customer service just couldn’t figure out how to update a simple address and refused to escalate and it was literal insanity. I wish I was exagerating.
Image source: sav575757
#30
American buffets.
Ryan’s, Golden Corral, Old Country Buffet, etc…
I worked at one. Trust me. Do not.
Image source: DabKogurzim, Daniel X. O’Neil
#31
Long horn steak house.
Reason: all but 2 people in our party (of 15 people) got horrid food poisoning. Mine was so bad that I threw out my back from vommiting and retching, and couldn’t take pain medicine without throwing it up. So I couldn’t sleep because of having intense stomach and back pain that lasted a week.
Image source: PassiveHulk, JJBers
#32
Home Advisor. I’d swear it is just advertisements with fake reviews. I got a horrible contractor for a kitchen through them, it took over a year. They had 4.8 stars and hundreds of reviews on HA. The lost their BBB status in the process, I had to get the state to threaten their license, just to get them to finish.
Image source: anon
#33
Generic American Cheese Slices from Walgreens.
Dog needed medication. We typically encase it in some yummy soft american cheese. Kraft was like $5. Ouch. NoName was a buck for 16 slices. SOLD! Kraft slices also make a damn fine grilled cheese sandwich on the cheap.
Except that the dog wouldn’t touch it. Like actively turned away and refused to go near it.
We had to get white slices when we went to the store next time because he needed to forget the yellow ones. It was that bad.
Image source: KiniShakenBake, Alan Levine
#34
Game of Thrones.
This franchise is dead to me. I couldn’t care less about any new books coming out (lol), prequels, sequel, cosplays…
It’s pointless. It’s cruel. It’s burnt.
Image source: space-throwaway
#35
FedEx. Complete, utter, absolute s**t. Every. Single. Time.
Image source: uglyasfukk
#36
AT&T – happily dumped their a*s when I moved out of a complex that had a contract restricting tenants from using anything but AT&T. Forgot to mail my router back to them (never mentioned on the cancellation call) and was suddenly overdrafted because they still had my bank details. This scum tier company then told me that they could not place the money back into my checking account and I would have to wait THREE F*****G MONTHS for a visa gift card with the total of my refund.
Politely raised hell to anyone they put me on with and no one could do a thing other than fail to explain why they could direct deposit out my account but somehow could not put money back in. Hope TV and ghouls that run the business fail into homelessness – I am not kidding, f**k the people who run that sh**hole.
Image source: ThurnisHailey
#37
Every Subway I’ve walked past always smells amazing, and every time I order a sub it is a disappointment.
Image source: manlikerealities, Nigel Cooke
#38
Not me, but my dad.
He refuses to eat at Subway ever again because when we broke a chocolate chip cookie in half to share, a long strand of hair came out from inside one of the chocolate chips.
Image source: AddaboyShankle, Mike Mozart
#39
Shoes from walmart. Never again. Bought a pair of boots, went hiking up a trail/mountain. The entire bottom came off when i was 90% up the mountain. Had to make my way back down in socks.
Image source: ps4stonemovies
#40
I ordered a different type of gravy at Cracker Barrel, and they brought it out to me still in a plastic pouch with microwaving instructions on it. I know things are prepackaged and reheated in a lot of places, but to not even bother dishing it up?
Image source: Splendidissimus
#41
Bonafont bottled water in Mexico. It is very rare that I buy water bottles at all, but when I do, I actively avoid that brand even if it’s cheaper.
Reason? Was my first ever 2 minute unskipabble ad on youtube years ago.
Edit: As some of you have pointed out, 2 mins is unlikely and thinking about it it was probably a 30secs ad. Still, I’m being petty over the unskippable feature rather than the lenght.
Image source: Moldruin, Recentlyacactus
#42
Target brand tampons. I’ll skip the details. If you know, you know.
Image source: sarebear77, Karolina Grabowska
#43
Greyhound bus. If you’ve got no other option, buckle up, it’s going to get weird.
don_juicy added:
Greyhound. I will NEVER step foot on one of their buses again. Every single time I’ve rode with them, something catastrophic happens.
From buses breaking down to felons getting arrested mid-trip, I think it’s safe to say I’ve had enough
Edit: Story time as requested by u/momcantsleepthesaga (it’s a little long lol whoops)
So in my sophomore year in college a few years ago I was on my way back home for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, everything went smoothly with booking and boarding the bus for my trip.
Naturally, I sat in a row with no people in it so I could secure a window seat. That way I can listen to music and stare out the window the whole time to avoid people.
Little did I know, I was in for a surprise. Some random guy decided he’s going to sit right next to me. I thought nothing of it since the bus was getting crowded anyway, so it seemed inevitable that the vacant seat next to me would be filled. I decided not to be so antisocial and made small talk with the guy.
Turns out, he just got out of jail! On his way to wherever to start the next chapter in his life. I’m not put off by it at all and was genuinely happy for him since he seemed like a good guy. As the conversation came to a close, we were actually about halfway to our destination. I guess we were both astonished by how the time flew because he told me he was going to go smoke in the bathroom in the back. “Cool” I said as he got up and left.
I glance back at the bathroom and see the big “NO SMOKING” sign right over it. “Jeez, I don’t think this guy is supposed to do that” I thought to myself. The smell of cigarette smoke quickly filled the already foul-smelling bus, alerting the bus driver that someone was obviously smoking in the bathroom.
The woman driving the bus made an announcement to remind passengers that we were not allowed to smoke in the bus, but the deed had already been done, and my new felon friend kept going.
The bus driver gets really mad at this point and pulls over. I knew instantly that this would add at least a good 20 minutes, but that was a gross underestimate. Felon guy waltzes back out the bathroom clearly smelling like cigarette smoke, and that’s when the driver starts to berate him via intercom.
Apparently, she had heard his story about how he just got out of jail and did him a favor by letting him on FOR FREE! What a nice lady (at least before she got mad). It quickly escalated to her calling the police to escort him off of the bus as they continued to argue in the funky bus.
It was an awkward half an hour wait before the police arrived to remove arrest the felon. By that time an hour had already passed and I was already pissed. The traffic the rest of the way there was terrible too adding another hour to the trip. Silly me for not learning my lesson after that trip I guess
#44
GMC. Make it so that you have to take your whole front end off to change a headlight bulb.
Image source: Swatter33
#45
Skullcandy headphones.
Bought a pair once, they broke, got them replaced, they broke, got them replaced, they broke, gave up.
Didn’t do anything out of the ordinary with them, I’dd pull them apart a bit to place them.over my head and SNAP, two pieces…
Image source: uitSCHOT
#46
Melons from Sprouts Farmers Market. I don’t know where they get them, how they store them, or how they ship them, but, in order to prove I am not insane by doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result, I have given up trying to find a decent melon there.
Image source: [deleted]
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