Building up a positive reputation is very difficult, but blunder after blunder can damage it. In a similar vein, it takes a lot of focused effort to turn people into loyal, returning customers… but losing them is possible if you’ve got the wrong strategy. And no business is completely immune to shocks to their profits if they consistently let their customers down.
Today, we’re looking at some of the biggest offenders in the business world, as shared by frustrated internet users in a viral thread on AskReddit. Scroll down to get a better understanding of how some brands, stores, restaurants, and companies earned their ‘never again’ moniker for these disappointed people.
Bored Panda wanted to learn about brand loyalty, including at what point businesses should get worried and start adjusting their strategies, as well as what issues they should prioritize. So, we got in touch with marketing psychology expert Matt Johnson, PhD, the host of the Human Nature and Psychology of Marketing blogs. He was kind enough to shed some light on our questions.
#1
Wal-Mart. Because of the everything.
Image credits: templenameis_beyonce
"Brand loyalty, depending on the industry, can be remarkably resilient. Consumers often stick with familiar brands even when alternatives exist. This stickiness is rooted in habit, emotional attachment, and identity alignment," marketing psychology expert Johnson told Bored Panda in an email.
"So, when customers begin to abandon a brand en masse, it usually signals that something significant has gone wrong. Minor complaints or isolated incidents don’t typically warrant a strategic overhaul. But when dissatisfaction becomes systemic—declining product quality, perceived ethical breaches, poor customer service, or a major shift in brand values—loyalty erodes quickly."
#2
We bought a flea medicine from Hartz to use on our cat and she became lethargic and didn't eat anything. We took her to the vet and they told us that they have been trying to get that medicine off the shelves because of how it affects animals. I was in a theater watching despicable me when my cat finally passed away. It sucked knowing that my cat is dead because of some money-hungry brand who doesn't care about the safety of the animals it gives its products to.
#3
Neiman Marcus. I went there to buy a Prada bag for my mother. She had a knock off she loved, so I figured she’d appreciate the real thing.
I wear t-shirts to work, but this day it was at least a fancy one. It didn’t matter. The sales lady told me “It’s very expensive,” rolled her eyes and walked away.
So, I went next door to the actual Prada store and bought one.
I don’t need to be judged by an angry middle aged woman working retail, thank you very much.
Johnson, the creator of the Human Nature and Psychology of Marketing blogs, explained that businesses should become "seriously concerned" when their formerly loyal customers start to disengage publicly. Especially across multiple channels like reviews, social media, and direct feedback.
"The priority should be addressing issues that threaten the brand’s core promise—what customers believed they were buying into. For example, if a health-conscious brand starts using questionable ingredients, or a premium service cuts corners, the perceived betrayal can trigger lasting damage," he said.
"When multiple concerns arise, companies should triage: prioritize issues that impact trust and value perception, especially those coming from long-term customers or high-value segments. Strategic shifts should be driven by a clear pattern of eroded loyalty, not isolated noise. In other words, if your brand’s story is no longer believable to your most loyal fans, it’s time to rewrite the narrative."
#4
Panera. They raised prices and shrank their portions a while ago. Not worth it anymore.
Image credits: dan1326
#5
Comcast. A door-to-door salesman straight up lied to my dad, saying they had a four-DVR setup that would cost less than what we were paying AT&T. When the installation guy got there, he said that no, they didn't have a four-DVR setup, he was told to give us the standard two-DVR setup. Which was absolutely not something that would work in a house with six people with wildly different tastes in TV shows.
So my dad tells him never mind, we're sticking with AT&T then, but because the Comcast guy had already installed our new cable box, he couldn't take it back with him, so we had to mail it back to Comcast ourselves.
The kicker is, five years later Comcast tried to bill my parents for the cable box, saying we never sent it back. My parents insisted they did, and Comcast wanted the UPS receipt, which obviously we no longer had because it was five years ago and we hadn't heard anything from them before this. So my parents refused to pay, Comcast sent a collections company after us, and when my parents explained the situation to the collection company, they were like "those f*****s, we'll take care of this." That was, thankfully, the end of it.
Image credits: Shawnarris
#6
Nestle.
As Investopedia notes, consumers tend to remember brands that reach them on an emotional level. Other important factors when it comes to brand recognition include exemplary customer service, exceeding customers' expectations, being seen as an expert in a niche, and using social media to draw attention.
Recently, Forbes looked at the most trusted companies in the United States, evaluating data about employee trust, customer trust, investor trust, and media sentiment.
At the time of writing, Forbes reports that the most trusted company in the US is Nvidia, followed by ServiceNow, KKR, S&P Global, and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). In sixth place is Vertex Pharmaceuticals, followed by Fortinet, Parsons, Boston Scientific, Lockheed Martin, and Apple.
#7
Olive Garden. First the meals got s****y and I could deal with it, but then the Alfredo sauce did too and that’s where I draw the line.
Image credits: anon67543
#8
Wayfair. Delivered a wooden table that had a huge split on the side and was broken where you put the leaf to extend the table.
Got FOUR redeliveries and ever single time it was the EXACT same table with the same damage. Eventually got a full refund but did they seriously think that would work? Makes 0 sense to me.
Bonus: Ordered a bedroom set around the same time and paid for delivery and assembly. The "Assemblers" were 2/3 through the assembly and told me they couldn't finish because they couldn't understand the instructions.
Had them take all the stuff back and also got a refund.
Image credits: TheSublimeStyle
#9
Is it me or every brand is in a process to reduce costs, making products and services of bad quality, losing the original magic, and even rising prices to the point where is scam to buy the product again?
Image credits: chocodove92
Next up in terms of trustworthiness are Taylor Morrison, NASDAQ, FTI Consulting, Amgen, American Express, MSCI, Prologis, Visa, and Synopsys, clocking in at spot number 20.
Microsoft is in 33rd place, IBM is in 40th, Alphabet is in 101st, HP is in 110th, Coca-Cola is in 143rd, Nike is in 162nd, Disney is in 165th, the Home Depot is in 178th, and Delta is in 217th.
#10
Spirit airlines. Never again. F**k them.
Flight from Vegas got canceled. They don’t even bother trying to put you on another flight, not only that you have to pay extra for the next flight available. I told them they can go f**k themselves and I want a refund, the customer service person told me he can refund me spirit credit, that’s when I lost it. After enough b******g, he gave me my money back to my credit card and I bought a flight on delta.
Edit: thanks for the silver kind person. After my experience I made it a point to go on several review sites and made a PSA to never fly spirit again. This was one of many incidents I have had to deal with them, this one just broke me because I was flying back from Vegas, I can only handle Vegas for 2 nights, after that I want the f**k outta there, having to stay there another night was not something I wanted to do. Also it was not weather related as they told me, No other flights into detroit that day were cancelled, I checked, I even told that to the customer service agent, he shrugged it off.
Image credits: Realdoctorman123
#11
I took my beater woods truck to a local tire shop for an alignment. They told me they couldn't align it because I had a sticky U-joint, and then charged me for and hour of labor because they had to "take the tie rods off." I argued because a) u-joints don't impact alignment and b) there was about an inch of grime on the castle nuts, so there's no way the tie rods came off. They brought out a manager who just made s**t up about how alignments work...I am a mechanical engineer. I think they thought they could get away with it because I am female. Nope, I filed a complaint with the state and they were fined for lying about service costs.
#12
A hospital in my area. My brother and his wife just recently had a baby there. My first nephew and their first child. He was born two weeks premature by scheduled c-section, but you couldn’t tell since he was more than 9 pounds when he came out. If he went full term he could have been more than 11 pounds.
Anyways, he arrives and everything is going well, his blood sugar was a little low, but the doctors claimed it got better. A day later and he begins twitching every once in a while. My sister in law asks the pediatrician and the nurse why and they said that it was fine. The day after that and the twitching increased and he began doing it every other minute. My brother and his wife panic and ask the doctor but the doctor checks his blood quickly and says nothing is wrong but if they’re still worried about it they should wait to go to the pediatrician on Monday (3 days later).
As soon as they leave the hospital despite the baby still twitching they turn around and ask for the doctor to please look one more time. He refuses and tells them that they can’t look anymore because they are discharged from the hospital.
Refusing to believe that their baby was okay, my brother and his wife took him to a different hospital’s emergency room. The doctor there took one look at the baby’s blood and immediately prepared a bottle of formula for him. His blood sugar was 36. If you aren’t familiar with blood sugar then just know that sugar that low can be deadly. My sister in law’s milk hasn’t come in yet, she didn’t know that, and the pediatrician at the first hospital only gave the baby 2 ounces of formula in 2 days. He baby was very close to going into shock. If they took the doctors advice and waited until Monday that baby would have been dead before reaching home.
Edit: My sister in law was checked many times for gestational diabetes and she didn’t have it at any point. The hospital is in Pennsylvania but I won’t name which one at least until my brother and sister in law decide to sue or not. I and most of my family agree that they should sue but they’re much more focused on their new baby at the moment. The baby is fine now and getting fed plenty at home with a mixture of both breast milk and formula.
Meanwhile, according to Newsweek, the most trustworthy companies around the world include Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Sony, Schneider Electric, JB Hi-Fi, Legrand, Lowe’s, Siemens, Whirlpool, and Murata Manufacturing.
These companies are the ones that customers, investors, and employees trust the most in terms of advertising, communication, fair treatment of workers, and how they’re portrayed on social media.
#13
Purina.
RIGHT NOW AS I'M TYPING THIS, They have friskies canned cat food (at least the seafood ones) on the shelf that are tainted and toxic.
It killed one of our cats and nearly killed another. Symptoms include vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and kidney shutdown.
They are lying, claiming the food is fine, and it's dated through October of 2020, so rather than pull it all so they can get the poison ones off the shelves, they are just leaving it. Because that's cheaper.
They paid my vet bills without my even having a necropsy done. They know there's a problem, and they don't care. Complain enough and they'll cut you a check, but that's not going to bring your cat back.
F**K PURINA.
#14
1800Flowers. F**k them. They waited several days after I placed an order for Mothers day to tell me that they wouldn't be able to fulfill the order. They waited until the day before, putting me in a bad position.
Now I google my Moms ZIP, add flowers and have a few choices. I call the local shops directly andq1 1800flowers is cut out of the process.
Image credits: philodendrin
#15
Dell laptops. One of the only times I actually sprang for the full deal warranty. About 3 months into owning it, I lifted the lid only to have the plastic bezel around the monitor separate entirely from the lid, all the stupid little plastic clips broken. Figured okay, no problem. Full warranty, easy fix. After contacting support, I was told plain and simple that my warranty does not cover ANY plastic part. It was a bloody Dell, the entire laptop was plastic.
Of course, the ranking of trustworthy companies can change very dramatically over the coming years and decades. Some brands can make comebacks while other trusted household names end up sidelined.
(If you’re reading this in the far-flung future, hey, how are you doing, how are things going in year 20XX? Who are the most trusted and reviled brands in your day and age?)
#16
Chili's.
I don't know how this even happens. But I was served fried chicken that was cold and literally had ice on it.
Edit:
To anyone reading this later on, I want you to know that Chili's PR staff has contacted me trying to smooth things over.
Yeah right.
Chili's served me frozen food and I'd rather trash them forever than be sweettalked with a gift card.
Image credits: anon
#17
Starbucks. I'm tired of average coffee being peddled off like it's some seriously gourmet s**t. Find a smaller chain, something regional. Or a locally owned shop where the owner works there and actually loves coffee. You'll get better service, better quality, better availability, and better clientele to share it with than the Burger King-esque customers at Starbucks.
Oh, and their f*****g hypocritical politics injection.
#18
Applebee's. First time I ever got food poisoning from a restaurant.
Image credits: PM_ME_YOUR_WORRIES
What are some stores, restaurants, and companies that you’ve boycotted, dear Pandas? How come? Did you decide to avoid these brands because of one particular incident, or was it due to a gradual loss in reputation?
On the flip side, what are some businesses that you could say that you proudly support with your hard-earned cash? Let us know in the comments.
#19
BP. Because their greed caused the largest oil spill in American history.
> BP has denied pressuring the Horizon’s crew to cut corners, but its plans for completing the well kept changing, often in ways that saved time but increased risk.
#20
Frontier internet. They're one of the sh**tiest ISP's I've ever had, I will never go back, no matter how cheap it is.
Image credits: imnotsteven7
#21
F*****g At&t it's one thing after another with these a******s. They've been taking 60$ a month from my checking account for the last seven months for a prepaid phone that I don't have they can't tell me why or take me off auto draft because I don't have a phone number to look up the phone that i dont own.
Just spent almost an hour at the bank trying to dispute this s**t. It's just the most recent in a long list of fuckery caused by At&t.
Those twats.
#22
Turbo Tax. Did my return, got a notice that my e-file needed to be corrected, logged back in to fix it and my return wasn’t there anymore. 6 hours on the phone with 3 tiers of tech support, each one trying exactly the same thing. Finally they were just trying random s**t, so I tried random s**t in parallel, managed to get to my return with the invoice number from paying for the service WITHOUT logging in. Tried to get them to understand that this was a Very Bad Thing that they should report to someone... and they told me they had no access to anyone technical and no way to submit bugs.
This from the company that lobbied to make it illegal for the government to offer tax filing service.
#23
Tim Hortons. Quality is gone.
They no longer have in store bakeries, the coffee blend is god awful, the menu is huge, the speed of service is horrible and the way the owners are treated by the franchise is just disgusting.
They need to stop trying to do everything and get back to focusing on what made them great.
Image credits: betelgeux
#24
Walmart, i've never witnessed such terrible situational awareness than in the people that shop at Walmart. I always leave the place angry and I don't think I've been to one in a couple years. The prices are also not that great, you can most likely find everything they have at other places for a lower price if you watch for deals and sales.
#25
I bought an engine from AutoZone for a vehicle I owned. They had a vendor build the engine, and it was supposed to ship to my house. I waited three weeks for it to arrive, but it never did. I contacted their store, was told that it hadn't shipped yet and was coming via FedEx freight. I kept up with the tracking # but couldn't get anywhere with it. I kept calling back every couple of days to see what was going on, and no one could figure it out. I finally managed to find out that it had shipped via another company (RL freight), and had been delivered to somewhere else. It was like pulling teeth to get a refund on an engine I never received. It took another two weeks to get the refund.
I won't buy a soda from AutoZone now.
Image credits: WaulsTexLegion
#26
A bar I went to on my 25th birthday. I got there first and opened a tab to get my first couple of drinks before my friends showed up and started buying for me. At the end of the night I went to get my bill, which should have been under $20. Instead, I got a single piece of paper with the total of $85. It did not come with an itemized slip. (EDIT: For the people who can't gather this from context, that was unusual. All the times I'd gone to the bar before, I got itemized receipts. All of my friends that night got itemized receipts when they closed out.) I spent 20 minutes, on my birthday, at the bar, calling out the bartender's name, asking for an itemized receipt, while he pretended he could neither see nor hear me.
I went home and reached out to management and explained the story to them, including how long I tried to get his attention. Her reply: "If you thought there was an issue with your receipt, you should have asked the bartender to explain it to you."
Never again.
Case anyone cares, it's Penn Social in DC.
EDIT: Since this seems to be coming up a lot: This is America, so not "chip and pin". They won't serve you unless they first swipe your credit card. I could not simply "leave without paying", it was going to be charged to me no matter what. My experience with disputing charges is that it's not super convenient, so I was really hoping to be able to deal with this at the bar without having to do that.
So please don't be one of the 337 people who have told me "I would have just left."
Image credits: Oudeis16
#27
Macy’s. Got a credit card through them to buy a suit. My parents offered to pay the card off as a birthday present. Cue months of them calling me 5+ times a day, asking where the payment, that had already been made, was. Harassing me to make more and larger payments. When it was finally payed off, they then tacked on a “completed payment fee” and never sent a bill, so the whole d**n thing started all over. I was genuinely about to file a lawsuit over harassment or something.
It was unbelievable, because I would tell one person the payment was made, and then get 4 more calls the same day asking the same thing. Then rinse and repeat tomorrow.
Image credits: Thromok
#28
UPS. Worked in the warehouse for 2 whole days. Im unloading the Semis of packages when my boss tells me to hurry up "If it breaks, it breaks. Not our problem" i lost all respect for them that day and quit at the end of my shift.
#29
Wayfair. Purchased a $1000 sectional couch that was delivered with damaged upholstery. They refused to let me return it and instead offered me 10% off my next purchase. Yeah..... Never using that discount code.
Image credits: KingofClikClak
#30
Golden Corral. That place is a festering pile of s**t.
#31
I will never go to my local Benihana again after they removed the glory hole and installed a bathroom attendent. Even when the workers went on strike, the Benihana manager wouldn't budge and even replaced the stall walls with an impossible to drill through material. There's a Benihana 15 minutes further away that still has their glory hole so I expect my local Benihana to shut down within the next few months.
#32
Lyft. They recently charged me a damage fee for damages I could not have plausibly caused. I sent statements explaining how it couldn’t have been me. They sent back a standardized statement and didn’t give me any additional information. There is no phone line to talk to a representative. I sent them multiple follow up emails, which they never responded to.
Now I have to write a statement for my credit card company to dispute the charge.
#33
AT&T.
I was told that canceling my cable and internet services with them would cost me $50 to not return the modem and cable boxes. I didn’t care, as I would’ve had to mail them in and didn’t want to mess with the hassle, so I didn’t. 6 months later I find a $487 charge on my MasterCard and it was from AT&T. It was $150 per piece of equipment, and a $37 service charge (you know, charging me money for their hassle of having to charge me money). I asked if I returned the equipment would they rescind the charges, they said yes, I returned the equipment and they refused to take off the charge. I confirmed with them that they received the equipment and they said yes they did, but wouldn’t rescind the charges after all. I fought it up their chain of command as much as possible and even tried to fight it through MasterCard but they couldn’t do anything about it either.
TL;DR AT&T screwed me out of $487, and lied to me, so f**k them.
#34
Well, not me but my dad. General Motors. He used to work at a car factory in Alameda County, California that was a joint venture between GM and Toyota. When the Great Recession got bad, the big automakers were bailed out. At about this time, GM pulled out of the plant. Then when Toyota pulled out and the plant shut down in 2010, they gave all of their employees a severance package. GM didn't, though. Just pulled out and left. So according to Dad, GM is now on his "s**t list."
#35
If I see something is being shipped by OnTrac, I'll cancel. The three times they were the delivery company from Amazon, they lost one package completely and tried to say it wasn't their fault. The second package was also deemed lost but then showed up on my door step something like six weeks later. The third time it sat on "shipping label created" for a week and I just contacted Amazon and canceled the package. You don't find a lot of positive reviews out there and any positive ones you do find seem like they were written by the company via a fake account.
Image credits: apocalypticradish
#36
Kitchen Aid and Cuisinart. Both have gone really downhill and I was enormously disappointed in food processors from both.
Also Dyson. Cheap plastic housing that breaks continuously.
I'm rather domestic, obs.
#37
PayPal because their customer service team is comprised of actual chimps.
#38
Expedia. They'll take your money (actually, more than they said they would), if you complain, they'll tell you there's literally nothing they can do about it (a lie), then put you on virtually never ending hold hoping you'll give up.
#39
Cancun, a little Mexican restaurant in my area. They had a bunch of tacos on their menu, all of which listed cheese and white sauce as ingredients. The fish tacos didn't, so I ordered them and didn't bother specifying that I didn't want cheese or white sauce. Well, they came out smothered in both and I couldn't eat them, so I sent them back. The waiter came out and made a huge show of interrogating my husband about why "she" (meaning me, sitting right there across the f*****g table, fully capable of speaking for myself) sent back the food, and told my husband that it wasn't the restaurant's fault that "she" didn't just assume that the tacos would obviously come covered in ingredients the menu didn't mention.
When I said that he should be talking to me, the one with the problem, he said that he was only comfortable talking with "the one who would be paying the bill." I asked to speak to the manager, and as he was leaving to get him, I very clearly heard him call me a b***h on his way out. The manager backed up his sexist p***k of a server, so we left without paying, have never gone back, and have told others not to go. F**k that place.
#40
Bank of America. They would always run all my bills before my direct deposit and then charge me up to 500 dollars in overdraft fees. After they did this to me three months in a row I closed out my bank account and will never use them again.
Have never had this problem with the bank I have been with for 15 years now.
#41
I run the front desk at a hotel and they are an absolute nightmare. They also straight up lie to the guests and to the hotels constantly. Truly one of the most shady companies I've ever dealt with.
They purposely try and deceive people who don't know any better into thinking that they are dealing with the hotel directly. They create adds in such a way that when people google the hotel's phone number, a number to Expedia comes up, and if the customer asks if the are speaking directly with the hotel front desk they will say yes.
There have been countless times where guests have called to cancel their reservation that was booked through Expedia. I inform them that they will have to contact Expedia directly, since they pre-paid through them, but that it will be no issue because the hotel does not charge a penalty fee for cancellation. An expedia representative will call the hotel with the guest on hold and ask about getting it cancelled. I tell them it's no problem. They ask if we will be charging a penalty fee, and I tell them no. All is right and good, right? NOPE.
I then get a call back from the guest who is upset, saying that the Expedia representative told them they could not be refunded because of the fee charged by the hotels cancellation policy. Taking the guests money and blaming it on the hotel, and keeping all of the profit. This has happened countless times.
I once had a guest while at the front desk call about cancelling 3 days out of a multiple day reservation, as she had to leave earlier than expected. They pulled the same b******t with her, not knowing that she was at the front desk.
After me telling the representative that the cancellation is fine and we will not be charging any penalties, they get back on the phone with her and blatantly lie.
I asked her to hand her phone to me and that was quite a surprise for the representative. Who said that "there must have been a misunderstanding".
#42
Applebees.
Used to be my go-to restaurant for fairly cheap, tastey food, and half-price apps. But the quality of the servers there has always been pretty bad. Then one time, we got a server who made us wait for 20 minutes just to take our drink order on a night with like 6 or 7 people in the whole place. Then took another 25 minutes to bring us our appetizers. Then disappeared altogether. At some point a manager came over and we were like, "Hey, what the f**k is going on?" The manager was pretty much useless in resolving the issue with our waiter. We never even ordered entrees. We ended up leaving without entrees and left no tip.
Jorge, if you're out there, you can go straight to hell.
Tried going to an Applebees last month after not going for 4 or 5 years, walked in, waited 3 minutes for the hostess to greet us, she never did. We left and went to Chicago Pizza Kitchen. Never again.
#43
Victoria's secret. Their bras used to fit like a dream. They have definitely taken some short cuts while expanding. Their items are all gimmicky now and it's hard to find a good fit.
#44
Lularoe. I only bought stuff to help out a friend that was trying to make ends meet. Luckily she quit after about a year. Bought 3 pairs of leggings over the course of the year and none of them made it the year without holes. $25 each. Never again.
Also, I felt gross buying from an MLM, but like I said, just supporting a friend.
Image credits: seeyousoonbaboon
#45
(Super girly probably won’t be seen) Ulta. Every time I go into this store without my make up on, none of the staff help me or even glance my way. When I have makeup on they make sure to ask me if I need help. I do know they aren’t trying to associate with me because I’ve walked in right before a group of young, full faced girls and the two staff at the door went to them first.
I have decided after the last time I went it would be the last.
#46
State Farm.
I have heard stories of how great they were with other people's claims, that other customers were well taken care of, and I feel a twinge of envy.
Several months before my middle child was born, our water heater broke and leaked all over the hall tile and under the wall in the kitchen. We sopped it up with towels and called our agent. She had remediation workers there a short time later, fans on the carpet, checking the drywall - all the standard stuff. The adjuster met with us and went over all of the stuff that would need replacing, carpet and tile. Our tile was contiguous, so it all went, it was ugly orange tile, so we were thrilled to get some new tile of a different color.
We selected a contractor and he did his assessment. He told us that we would also need our kitchen cabinets replaced because the water had soaked up the sides and it only looked ok because the toe kick was hardboard, but the sides were particle board and the water would have irreparably damaged the hidden material.
This was early June.
The adjuster said hell no, The contractor got angry, the adjuster got angry and 4 MONTHS LATER the adjuster finally agreed to have a 3rd party inspector come and take a look. During this pissing contest, I asked my agent to intervene, she said that what the adjuster says, goes. The independent inspector comes, I take him to the kitchen, he pulls the fridge out and says, after less than 3 minutes of being over, "Yep, those need replacing".
Now I have a contractor performing demo work while I have a 2 week-old newborn in the house. The work was completed to our satisfaction in 2 weeks time. Once the work was done, we cancelled our State Farm policies and moved auto to Progressive and home to Allstate. Our agent was interested then, came to the house and brought over a swag bag. Almost 20 years later, all that is left from the swag bag is a well-used State Farm pot-holder that I refuse to toss as it serves as a reminder of our ordeal.
I chuckle at the State Farm mailers I get every 2 months or so as I chuck them into the recycle bin.
#47
Burger King. You messed with your french fry recipe in 1998 and I still haven't forgiven you. F**k you "King".
#48
Apple, I used to be really into back in the beginning of high school but I could never go back. I don't want a device where it's OS treats you like a child and locks down any form a customization and limits you to their proprietary store if you want to download anything.
Image credits: pops992
#49
Kat von D cause she's a racist motherf*cker.
#50
Door Dash.
#51
Popeyes. Bit into a chicken tender from them to find it completely raw on the inside.
#52
I've told this before, but I'll do it again for s***s and giggles.
I will never eat at Arby's again.
Once upon a time, at a Treasure Coast Florida Arby's, I decide I'm hungry and snag myself a nice, messy Arby-Q sandwich. Every time I ate them, I always lamented how they'd be better with a slightly toasted bun.
Well, I make my order, pay, sit down and take a bite. My fervorous hunger is rewarded by a resounding crunch! They toasted my bun! While still chewing, I pull my burger away and look it over. There is not a slight bit of tanning in bun and now that I hold it and analyze it, it doesn't feel remotely stiff like a toasted bun would.
As I sat there, food still in my mouth, a wave of horror came over me and prompted me to open uncap the bun.
I saw the largest [Palmetto Bug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_woods_cockroach) I'd seen in quite some time... or half of it at least.
Now, I'm a good person, at least I feel I can be more often than not. But at that moment of mind-fuckery mixed in with a serving of disgust and a side of 'why me?', I snapped. I rushed towards the cashier stations and winged the burger at the closest wall/barrier I could see, spat the food all over their floors and cussed them up one side and down the other.
I've not set foot in an Arby's since then and I now have a vicious hatred for any kind of 'wet bread' texture that has ruined quite a few meal types for me (I can't even dunk f*****g cookies in milk!!!)
Never again.
#53
Midas. I got a coupon for a $20 oil change, tire rotation, and inspection from the grocery store, so I decided to go and use it before taking a road trip. A few weeks after the oil change and everything, I started to notice a wet spot in my parking space when my car wasn't there, and it kept growing, and never drying. I took my car into the dealership because it was still under its limited warranty, and yep, it was an oil leak, whoever changed my oil at Midas had stripped the plug. Dealership patched it for free, and it held for a while, but years later I needed to shell out for a new oil pan, and it was a costly repair.
Served me right for cheating on the trusted family-owned shop next door that's never f****d me over. The one time they made a mistake, they owned up to it and made it right, for free, as soon as they could.
Oh, and the one time I went to Valvoline, the guy went off on me for having a f****d up oil plug, so that's made me not want to go there again, even though I probably should give them another shot because their hours are really good and they didn't actually cause any damage.
#54
Verizon.
When I called to cancel because I was switching to AT&T prepaid, they insisted that I had the pricing of my new plan wrong because it couldn't be so cheap. I pushed back and ultimately got the rep to cancel my plan (or so she said).
Two months later I get a bill for my Verizon plan and they claimed I wasn't eligible to get it refunded. She had actually just put my account on hold for a week, so on my end it looked like it had been canceled.
I had to report them to the BBB to get my money back and they will never get my money again.
#55
Used to be a health inspector.
In my first year a lot of my old favorite restaurants were ruined for me, but none so bad as the discount sushi place my college bestie and I used to frequent.
They had roaches BAD. In my time at the health department I never saw them worse than in that kitchen. We got calls about the roaches at least twice a month, and every time we went they were back with a vengeance. They were closed for them multiple times, but just never kept up with the pest control and cleaning necessary to get rid of them.
They were also dying tilapia red and selling it as red snapper on their menu. This is pretty common around here, but it's super illegal because it's literal false advertising. Fun fact: some people are allergic to tilapia. Not sure I want to be around when that restaurant owner finds that out.
They had hundreds of cardboard boxes stacked outside their back door, plus a bunch of old equipment they weren't using. This added to the roach problem and any day it could turn into a rodent problem. One time I drive by and they had animal cages back there, too. I don't wanna know that story...
Add to that: I'm pretty sure the employees are all indentured servants or victims of human trafficking. They all show up in the same beat up white van every day and work a 12+ hour shift. The owner is unkind to them and they don't respect him. He says he can trust them to do their jobs, but was sketchy when we said to fire them and hire employees who will. We never had proof, but it was always upsetting and struck me as off.
He tried to bribe me and my coworkers multiple times, too. I'm not a health inspector anymore but he still tries to give me free food or money when he sees me. He opened a new restaurant and I didn't know it was his, so and friend and I went to go check it out. I was told that appetisers were free for me only. Then I saw him in the back. We had to leave.
Never again. It's too sketchy and too likely to get me sick.
#56
Levi's
For 20 years I could order Levi's online without trying them on. I just needed to know my size and knew the'd fit. I'd order a few pairs every few years.
Then sometime in the past 10 years QA went off a cliff and of the last 6 pair I ordered, all were of a different cut, two too tight in the groin, one too short, and of the three that fit, two developed quarter sized holes in the groin/rear pocket area within 6 months of normal wear.
Wranglers seem a bit better nowadays, but not much.
Meanwhile, I still have one of my first pairs of Levi's that I wear at home because they're a bit too big for me now (lost weight). Still in acceptable condition.
#57
Volkswagon. I bought a brand new Golf from them, and waited to be notified that it had been delivered. After waiting a month and having heard nothing, I rang the dealer and was told that the saleswoman who had served me had left the day after I placed the order and the guy who had picked up her workload hadn't done anything with it. They promised me that they'd expedite the order. Three weeks later, I finally get my new car, and I'm very happy with it.
The next week I get an automated phone call asking me to complete a sales survey, one of those "How do you rate our service from 1 to 5 if 1 is very good and 5 is very poor." I marked them down because I'd had a crappy service. The next day I had the new sales guy on the phone shouting at me because my poor mark had got him called into the manager's office.
Volkswagon: Good cars, bloody terrible customer service.
#58
(Warning, disgusting story ahead)
I went to Dickeys Barbecue pit, their food isn't amazing but I was craving southern food and my suburban town in California doesn't have many options. So me and my girlfriend buy some sandwiches and have them for dinner, they're cold and taste like salty sweat. The next day I have uncontrollably s******g liquid s**t and vomiting multiple times an hour. If I was alone I would have gone to the emergency room but my dads a nurse and was there. I vomited something like 20 times in the whole day and kept dry heaving afterwards. The diarrhea came so fast and uncontrolled that it ruined multiple pairs of underwear and a rug that was by the toilet (Why my dad has rugs in the bathroom I don't know but I s**t on it when bent over the toilet). It took only a day for me to feel better and I was already eating heavy foods again, but lo and behold guess who comes over to see me well again and s***s herself in my bathroom? My girlfriend, the only other person who ate at Dickeys. So I spent the rest of the day, after having just s**t and vomited myself to death, helping my girlfriend when she was s******g and vomiting. I think we're closer to each other after that experience.
TL;DR: Ate at Dickeys Barbecue pit, sh**ted and vomited ruining clothes and a rug. GF came over and s**t and vomited too.
#59
Wolf cola. Let me explain, first of all boka haram has adopted them as their official beverage of choice. As if that wasn’t enough (it was for me and my wife) the VP of worldwide distribution gets on LIVE TV and says he doesn’t like dogs? It’s a sinking ship I don’t see it lasting more than a few more months.
#60
GameStop.
Trying to sell me opened “display” copies of games I know for a f*****g fact employees were able to take home and play. Once you take a quality seal off of something it is no longer new.
“This is the last copy we have, it’s opened and the disc was removed and put into a sleeve with my grubby a*s neckbeard fingers but I promise it’s new!”
4 times in a row this happened which is how I know they are lying about not having any other copies.
F**k you in the a*s GameStop and I hope gaming goes purely digital one day and I can watch you fold.
#61
Papa Johns. I know there's a lot of situations where people will get unlucky and get food poisoning on one single incident and swear it off and be like "oh that place is awful, never again" when really they would be fine going back there but one time in college my mom arranged a little valentine's day surprise by sending a pizza and some soda to me on campus. I was all excited to have valentine's day with my at-the-time girlfriend. Have a little free pizza, go out to a movie, have a little s*x on an extra long twin dorm bed.
Instead I had some free pizza and spent the night puking my brains out. Never again.
#62
Sony. Which bit? All of it.
I was a big VAIO and camera user; I bought a new one every year, until I realised two things: firstly, there was zero support after warranty. Secondly, the things expired 366 days after purchase. Thirdly, installing driver updates that didn't actually come from the Sony website invalidated the warranty, plus Sony didn't do driver updates.
Finally, a Sony CD anti-copy scheme basically rooted and then killed my computer.
So, screw Sony. Since then, I've also bumped into them on a professional level, and it's just the same: they hate you as a consumer, they hate you as a business partner, and they hate other Sony departments.
The famous Sony multiwaveband radios, of course, were never designed or made by Sony so they're OK.
#63
I worked for a *day* at Abercrombie and Fitch Kids. They told me that we had to say "Hey Guys, how's it goin?" as customers entered and if we didn't, we were subject to write ups because if the customer ended up being a secret shopper, we'd end up getting points off if we didn't say those exact words. We also had to spritz the place every half hour with that horrific cologne that I can only imagine S*x Panther to smell like. I refuse to ever shop at their stores again, though it helps that I'm almost 30 and was never a California surfer.
#64
JDMRacingMotors... Gave me a damaged motor and claimed a compression test was the only way to test the engine and said it passed. Barely held on in one cylinder. To make matters worse, if you put coolant in where it ought to go, it would come out of the oil pan. Made a few calls and had email exchanges with their "mechanics" and was informed coolant and oil touch regularly and that is how it cools the oil. Wrong on so many levels. Never got my money back either so I ended up using the good parts from the exterior to rebuild my old engine.
Image credits: pitifuljester
#65
Spirit Airlines, at some point I expect them to start charging you for oxygen in order to breathe on their flights.
The amount of money you save isn't worth the minimalist flight experience you get. Other airlines might be at the slighest bit more expensive for a flight, but say with Southwest you get free bags, United you get free TV/Movies to watch, and so on which overall makes the travel day more enjoyable in the grand scheme of things. Spirit is like flying in a hollowed out tin can in the sky.
PS: I get it, some people dont care about in flight experiences and just want to get somewhere by plane.
#66
I went to Walmart at like 1 in the morning and there was a middle aged man and a maybe 17 or 18 year old guy literally fist fighting over a bag of lays ships. Someone later came over to break it up I guess because the both walked out with no chips. Now I don’t go to Walmart past 12.
#67
United Airlines.
This was at least 10 years ago: Was flying from I-don't-remember-where to Phoenix as a leg on my journey. The plane was overstuffed and hot, the speakers were playing ads for United services non-stop, the flight attendants were going up and down the aisles trying to get people to sign up for credit cards. Couldn't rest, couldn't be left alone, couldn't concentrate on my book. Got out of that hell-tube and was walking to my next connection and I was accosted several different times by MORE United employees in the terminal trying to get me to sign up for their stupid-a*s credit card.
#68
Tony's Pizza Palace (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). September 26, 1986 was the day I buried my infant son. He was 11 months old and died from complications due to being born 3 months premature (his twin brother is healthy and got married 3.5 years ago).
After returning from the burial ceremony to the funeral home we went out to our cars and found fliers tucked under the windshield wipers: "Having a family get-together? Why not have it at Tony's Pizza Palace? Ask about our group discounts"
**Edit:** I thought I should add this... Tony's happens to be one block away from the funeral home, three blocks from the second biggest hospital and about ten blocks away from the second biggest shopping mall in the city; all of which are in a straight line. I figure some 17 year old kid, working part time for Tony's was given a pile of fliers and asked to put them on cars at the mall. The kid, not thinking, saw all the cars and probably started at the funeral home, then went to the hospital parking lots and was probably out of fliers before he even got to the mall. I seriously doubt anyone in management (or perhaps I hope that nobody) at Tony's was aware that this happened. But it happened on a day that I won't forget and I still haven't gotten past it.
#69
AMC. I understand the concept of wanting people to pay for "a-list priority access," However, the management is so poor that the kids working are grossly understaffed. Lines to buy food are about a 30 minute wait without paying $19.95 a month because they allow roughly 3-4 or so a-list members before one normal movie-goer.
#70
Blimpies subs. I eat out a lot for work but when you give me the ultra s***s I'm done. I'm talking pressure washer intensity of liquid coming out every 15 minutes for two days straight. The second time it happened was the nail in the toilet.
#71
Lakme, an Indian cosmetics brand which sells overpriced trash. Most of their products don't even match an average Indian woman's skin tone.
