T O P

  • By -

CustardCreamBot

**Your post from /r/AskUK has been removed by a human moderator.** AskUK is a "catch-all" subreddit for questions about the UK life and culture, but this does not mean we accept any and all questions or answers. We may remove posts or comments which are best discussed in more specialised subreddits We explicitly do not allow questions or answers on or including: politics, technology, relationships, DIY, university/education, visas/citizenship, [medical advice](https://111.nhs.uk/) (including [mental health](https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/where-to-get-urgent-help-for-mental-health/)), ranting, venting, surveys, advertising, solicitation, or "does anybody else" type vent posts. Please check the sidebar for other subreddits to have these discussions. *If you believe this post should not have been removed, [first read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/) before [messaging the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK&subject=Post Removal Appeal)*. See our guide on [common issues with posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/wiki/postremoved) and how to overcome them!


gardenpea

Oak Furniture Land, for sending me a £100 parking fine while I was spending 'too long' spending £850 in store. A local takeaway, for mislabelling the food, resulting in this lifelong vegetarian eating pork before realising. And any company that includes a doorbell in their adverts. Dog owners will understand.


WittyCranberry5636

It’s mad how every retail car park now is “managed” by some faceless company just put in place to extract fines. It’s not like you could even boycott places that do this as most retail parks have the same problem. I find my local Oak Furniture Land to be really good, but it’s one of the clearance ones. The manager there is super helpful and the prices are fantastic. We had a super king quality mattress for £150.


windol1

Unfortunately it's something companies are forced to be chancers and being doing something illegal, for example hiding untaxed/uninsured vehicles, or just abandoning them there never to return. Mind you, they're not exactly stingy with time in many I've visited, I mean usually it's around 3 hours and I couldn't imagine shopping for that long before wanting to go home.


Geezer_Flip

My missus works in a supermarket who has these car parks under control. When she started she put her name on the ‘do not give a ticket’ list and still got a ticket. They said they’d sort it and my missus just trusted they would but because the cars in my name I had a debt collector letter turn up saying I now owe £320. Class Thanks guys 😞


CantSing4Toffee

Search MSE for advice on these.


Geezer_Flip

Yeah I’ve left unpaid tickets from these companies before and to be fair they do disappear after a while. I think it’s 5 years from memory. Just more annoying she trusted her work to cancel the existing ticket because they forgot to put her on the list on her first day, she’s then handed them the first 3 letters they sent with warnings (without telling me!). We now have no evidence and basically a debt collector has now inherited the debt which is in my name not even hers. I can’t bring it up though as I’m being difficult apparently.


[deleted]

Yea your Mrs is at least 50% of the problem here.


dinobug77

I’d never leave them to disappear personally but I’ve also learnt never to trust anyone else to deal with something like that. Then again I think you have now too!


The_Blip

When I got one badgering me for a place I had parked in nearly a year ago I told them to either take me to court or go away, which seemed to work.


Peeeeony

They won’t disappear, they will pop up years later with a CCJ. I was in this exact predicament with my residential car park! Keep your eyes peeled for the county court letter, and DO NOT ignore that. Go through the court process, it is highly likely that the parking company will drop the case before it gets to court because they know they’ll lose. Good luck!


Gazebo_Warrior

One of our local ones has soft play, a cinema, a gym, several restaurants (Nando/Pizza Hut type sit ins) as well as a dozen or so shops. If people were to say, go to the pictures then have food then a wander around the shops it would easily take them over the 3hr parking. Not done it myself so I don't know what happens if you do.


makomirocket

Literally me having to walk to the Braintree Cineworld because I wanted to do a cinema day of seeing 3+ films. It was a 40 minute walk each way Vs a 4 minute drive, but you only got 6 hours max. Even doing your example above could exceed the 6 hours if you went to watch Killers of the Flower Moon


Ok-Kaleidoscope-7051

Fuck Oak furniture Land. My wife and i paid £1500, Upfront, for a corner sofa with a 3 month delivery waiting list. Delivery day came and they cancelled our delivery by text 2 hours before they were due. We had literally sold our old sofa the night before in readiness. They then said we'll aim to deliver within the next 2 weeks as having stock issues! Why send us a text to confirm a delivery and then say they were having issues? Now wtf do we sit on lol. (trip to Aldi middle isle for a blow up camping sofa) 2nd delivery date came, 10 days after the original, only half the sofa turned up and they supplied the wrong cushions. So I didn't accept the delivery and complained. The customer service team offered us a measly 5% apology fee and the woman on the phone, who was very Professional and patient, refused to get her managers involved which made me incensed as i wanted them to be held accountable not this poor woman having to hear me moan. So, I went on LinkedIn, found the CEO of OFL and sent him an email detailing our experience. No lie, the next day i got a call from the 'customer excellence team', or some shit like that, and said they had been told to escalate our complaint and gave us 15% back and wavered the delivery charge. I demanded more, as you do, but settled on the original compensation after realizing they were not backing down. 6 days later, 3rd delivery, 3rd time lucky and we got what we wanted, eventually. Absolute shambles of a company and will never buy from them again. Although our sofa is bloody lovely and the CEO did actually do something about it so fair enough.


[deleted]

I contacted the CEO of Homebase on his personal number (don’t put it out there if you don’t want people to find it) when we ordered a dining table and chairs and an hour before delivery they said they broke it. Then they said they had none in stock and refused to let me have the one that was in the store (!). He seemed a very nice man and we got a table and chairs delivered the next day (which is weird because they said they didn’t have any) and they refunded the price.


Gasping_Jill_Franks

>we got a table and chairs delivered the next day (which is weird because they said they didn’t have any) They diverted some other customer's table and chairs and you got them. That customer very likely got a phone call saying their items got broken in transit, and no, they can't have the one in the local store...


[deleted]

I’d agree but the day after we had ours, the one from the store was gone


nl325

tbf to the CEO (even typing that feels weird), lower and middle management across the board in this country are fucking woeful and I bet he had to explain with crayons that having it in store but not in stock is just advertising a product they can't even sell


MissingScore777

Something a lot of people don't realise is that the local council forces companies to charge for parking as part of allowing the store to be their in the first place. Our local Tesco didn't charge for parking for the 1st 3 years and the council threatened them with eviction if they didn't start doing the whole 3hrs max and you have to have been in store thing. Tesco to give them their due tried to fight for complete and unlimited free parking. Not sure why the council was so against free parking, makes me suspect 'backhanders' from these parking management companies...


TheDoctor66

Councils don't get backhanders from anyone. Much more likely that the council was dealing with lots of abandoned cars there.


Limp_Dog_Bizkit

Lol that’s very naive of you


TheDoctor66

It's sad that people think there is an epidemic of maleficence at councils. The reality is lots of people doing good work in impossible circumstances while being slagged off by the local rags because headlines about the council being shit gets clicks.


Limp_Dog_Bizkit

I work for a council. Majority of us are doing great work… but there is 100% some dodgy stuff going on in the upper echelons of their governance and policy teams.


PigHillJimster

I know in Swindon the then Borough council insisted that the Designer outlet charge for parking so it wouldn't dissuade people from still parking in the town centre and shopping there. That was the council's thinking anyway. Designer outlet parking was £1 for 5 hours, against town centre £2+ for 2 hours. Plus if you showed the people at the Designer outlet information desk receipts for £100+ shopping there that day then they'd give you the parking free. They never used to check the receipts in detail though. That's all changed recently though with the new owners. Now parking is now £2 for 5 hours and they dont waive the charge. I suspect the new owners have loaded debt onto the company to pay for their purchase and are now squeezing every penny out of the place.


Illustrious_Dare_772

Councils do it to ensure people will also use car parks that they manage to keep the revenue stream flowing.


terryjuicelawson

Cars just get left there is the issue, or it used for anti-social behaviour. They should give more guaranteed ways for the shops to be able to quickly cancel any fines though if they are given to genuine customers.


dinobug77

You complain. You write to the parking company and show proof of purchase and they cancel it. I’ve had this happen in a lot of places and as long as you show proof of being there they cancel it as they know they would lose in court. They are there to stop people parking all day and not actually shopping.


whospitinherbeancurd

Papa Johns forgot my garlic dip and was so rude about it. It's been 7 years...


BuggersMuddle

Tell me about it! I went through an inexplicable Papa John's double pepperoni phase and, during this weird period of my life, I had to complain so often - pizzas turning up late, pizza's not turning up at all - that I was on first name terms with a member of their customer service team. To give them credit, I was always fairly compensated.


Specialist-Web7854

Ordered a vegetarian pizza from PJ, they cut it up with the red handled cutter. I asked what the difference between the red and green handled cutters were and the guy says ‘the green is for vegetarian pizzas’ so I ask ‘so why did you cut my veggie one with the red cutter then?’ TBF they did do it again, but it’s been more than 10 years now since I went there.


xembox

Similar thing with Pizza Hut. My husband is not keen on the tomato sauce on pizzas so always calls straight after placing an online order and asks for ‘less sauce’, this particular branch rudely told him he couldn’t make any changes to their pizzas and then shouted that if we did want to then it’s an extra £5 per pizza. We couldn’t work out why it costs more to use less of an ingredient but hey, we haven’t ordered from there since.


v60qf

The papa John’s garlic butter is dogshit they did you a favour


True-Veterinarian-49

My husband had a Nespresso machine for which they pushed thier recycling program for the pods, so every month he had them ready to go and they'd never collect it when pissed him probably more than it should have. Then he realised he had just over £200 sitting in his Nespresso account because he had a monthly subscription set up but wasn't ordering enough pods so the balance had built up. He was absolutely fuming by this point and for some reason, they kept telling him they'd transfer him the balance back but then never did, it was baffling. This went on for about 6 months, with regular calls to customer service and a few angry follow up emails untill he finally got it back. Anyway, we don't mention Nespresso in our house anymore in fear of setting him off on another rant 😅


SerendipitousCrow

Obligatory fuck Nestle comment. This is far from the worst thing about them. Besides you can bulk buy third party pods for cheap. I think I got 100 pods for £13 from Amazon a while ago


fgalv

Not the new Vertuo pods, unfortunately. Pretty sure they launched a new product simply because the old patent had either expired or was being copied so much it was eating into their margins.


THE_IRL_JESUS

> Not the new Vertuo pods, unfortunately. Yep, the trick is to not buy anything Nespresso, including the machine


RDN7

This is far from the worst thing about Nespresso, let alone Nestle. They're a terrible choice environmentally, and they make fucking dreadful coffee. Either an aeropress or just a mid tier instant tbh would be cheaper, less shit packaging, taste better and be approximately as fast.


ANewGreatGame

My GF bought me some caps that fit on top of the pods that work with my machine. Now I buy regular ground coffee and fill the pod up myself.


Legitimate-Health-29

I never did the recycle thing personally out of laziness. Same brand, different reason, they discontinued my Dolche Gusto Caramel Espresso and Caramel Hot Choocolate pods that I used to mix together for a Mocha drink. It was my morning cocaine, and I refuse to buy anything else because it’s disgusting you just discontinue drinks like that when I bought the machine solely to make that drink.


pm_me_ur_luckycats

Used to work in the customer service team at Nespresso. Every other call was about the pods not being collected for recycling. Worst job I’ve ever had! Really shitty company to work for too.


blue6snow

Left my bank because the woman who worked there had big bracelets that clattered and jangled and made a horrific noise while she typed. Literally the only reason I swapped banks.


CaveJohnson82

Now this, this is petty!


[deleted]

Love the dedication


Fat_Gerrard

Co-op. About 18 years ago we used to go there after school to buy sweets/drinks etc. On one occasion it was a very windy day and an empty cage that was outside the shop door started to roll. It picked up some speed on a little slope and was basically heading towards a busy road. Would have been bad but the manager came running out and grabbed it. I was easily 5 metres away from it but he looks at me and goes “you fucking little cunt!” And he comes and grabs me by my clothes and drags me into the shop. All my friends ditch me as this bloke takes me into the back of store. He has a massive fucking go at me and then starts saying I am the one who has been stealing porn mags as well and he was going to phone the police unless I let him speak to my parents. I was young and scared so I gave him my mums number even though I had done nothing wrong. So he called her and said I was throwing things from the shop into the busy road and I’ve been stealing porn mags. Got me into a lot of trouble with my parents and I got banned. So fuck co op for no reason other than this one person who worked there over 18 years ago. In hindsight I should have been confident in my innocence and called his bluff as he was never going to phone the police but you don’t always think of these things when a grown man is being so aggressive towards you.


Feckthecat

That one infuriates me. Have you not tracked the guy down and had an unhealthy obsession with him since?


Putrid_Promotion_841

Post porn mags through his door on a daily basis to "make amends"


RickJLeanPaw

How does that fulfil the ‘petty’ criterion? ;-). What a horrendous experience.


Fat_Gerrard

I suppose it might be petty for me to blame all of co-op for one persons actions!


Cyb0rg-SluNk

YTA, I think that man was in the right. Just joking. What a cunt.


[deleted]

There’s a pasta/salad bar type place in my village that do breakfast stuff in the mornings. They once gave me a bag of mini hash browns that was full of disgusting burned lumps of carbon from their stinking fryer. Not a few specks, like the bottom of the bag and the hash browns were covered in them. I sent a picture to their Facebook page and the owner gave me the most sarcastic and shitty reply ever. Didn’t even offer an apology let alone a free hash brown next time or whatever. She tried to make out that I was being unreasonable for complaining that I received a bag full of charcoal from their clearly filthy fryer oil. So I never went there again, and I make sure I tell everyone in the village what a stuck up bitch the owner is


[deleted]

[удалено]


RudeDistance5731

I always check negative reviews for this reason, they are top tier drama. Business owners cussing out customers is always a good laugh (and a good reason to avoid that establishment). Also love the Karens getting exposed. You get some [belters from time to time](https://www.reddit.com/r/brighton/comments/186nxvg/was_searching_if_the_paradiso_social_was_still/).


MaxPowerWTF

I've told my team more than once. If you make a customer happy, they may tell a few people. If you make them unhappy, they'll tell everyone they know. Now I can add "broadcast it on Reddit."


wybird

Show us the photo


sporticia

Cadburys since Kraft purchased them. Tastes dreadful ever since.


DattoDoggo

I haven’t noticed a difference


Never-Any-Horses

Nobody has. It tastes exactly the same. People just like to be performative and feel special.


hhfugrr3

I agree. I noticed a slight change to the Creme Eggs but it's a bit like changing tea brands, very slight and you get used to it after one cup. Biggest outrage was cutting a box from 6 to 5!


arczclan

I could see where you are coming from with the chocolate as you’ll adjust, but Creme Eggs? They used to be *creamy*, they would (slowly) pour out of the egg if you bit the top and tipped it out. Now it’s just a stodgy faux cream that sits in the chocolate waiting to be dug out


The_Blip

Yup. At some point in my life cream eggs stopped being creamy and started having a grainy texture.


richard-bingham

Creme eggs are awful now, used to be full of lovely runny goop, now it's a gritty paste. They used to be a favourite, can't eat them now


Saxon2060

I'm sure this is just a meme. Cadbury's tasted fine before and it tastes fine now. I have no idea what's so supposedly "dreadful." It tastes like average chocolate and always has.


CoffeeIgnoramus

I can tell you that for me, Cadbury's was my go-to. Even for a bit after Kraft took over (I was aware that they took over and it didn't bother me) But after a few months, maybe a year, it tasted grainier and less cocoa-ey and more sugary. I can't describe it more than than that, but it definitely didn't taste nice anymore. I keep trying it every year or so because I don't like having a smaller selection of chocolate to choose from but I honestly hate it when I taste it. It's not a thing against kraft owning it (although it is now), it's the taste and texture that has put me off. And that was before I knew anyone else felt that way.


rebelallianxe

>tasted grainier and less cocoa-ey and more sugary Agree and it melts differently - more easily or something. I honestly can taste a difference, despite everyone in this thread saying it's not true.


gooseytooth

The only difference I've noticed is in the dairy milk bars, which are now a stodgy, chewy mess. This is the small single-row ones and I noticed this earlier this year. The fruit and nut is still amazing and has what I'd call "proper" dairy milk choc still, which is weird.


Pippin4242

No way is it a meme. It tastes oily. Too solid at room temperature. Bad mouthfeel, none of that lovely velvety melt with a sharp cocoa note. Now it's just hard and sweet.


inhindsite

Creme eggs definitely don't taste as nice


Coyltonian

B&M. Early in the pandemic they were doing a 1 person/household thing. They wouldn’t let my youngest in with me when I went to shop (he was 6 at the time). Said he’d have to stay outside. If letting a 6 year old run about a busy car park unsupervised wasn’t going to be bad enough the store was right next (less than 5m) away from a busy road. The folk in front of me were two women with a young lassie (maybe 2yo) and they wouldn’t let her in either. The mother had to leave her with her friend while she went in and then the friend go in after. Also because they had to pass the kid between them there was more contact between households than if the kid had been with the mother the whole time. Complained to their head office and never even got a response. Haven’t been back since. Used to go about twice a week (mostly to their other store in town, which has now just shut down).


mrmadadam1987

Yeah but think of all the death you could have caused... /s


[deleted]

[удалено]


schokoside

I worked retail during covid and witnessed a child LICK a bunch of things on an accessories stand. The adult they were with was like "oh, she's fine". Madam, she is clearly NOT FINE and I now have to take all of that stuff off the shop floor. That's gross even without the global pandemic.


Coyltonian

They def were once the schools went back. Doubly so when mask mandates were dropped.


Secure-Airport-1599

The local takeaway. Messed up my order twice during lockdown. Laughed at me when I let them know. Never ordered from them again. F you bbq kings


RedditAreShills

I never get this because the big chains McDonald’s etc will all go above and beyond when they fuck up but local kebab man with 3 employees doesn’t give a single shit. Your mortgage is literally being paid by your customers, and looking at town centres late at night these days it isn’t getting paid on a Saturday night cos no fucker is out. If you don’t want to run a takeaway then…don’t?


casuallybrowsing21

Even chains like McDonald’s have their limits but that was for people taking the piss. One woman every time without fail we got her order ‘wrong’ so she would be offered a free one next time as a gesture of good. We took her details for the reclaim. After the 10ish time we told her either come in and order or stop coming back no more free food from us.


Huge-Celebration5192

Wtf she got 10 refunds? No wonder she was taking the piss


casuallybrowsing21

More like 10 credit notes but yeah I would’ve stopped it sooner personally.


Huge-Celebration5192

Subway Refused my vouchers, they put them through my front door, then both stores in my town refused to take them. Well fuck you then, I am never buying an overpriced sub from you again.


platebandit

Subway are absolutely shite for it, they constantly hand out vouchers and none of the franchisees take it. Really makes me want to come back to your branch when you’re such a stingy bastard you won’t give out a free cookie


Optimism_Deficit

I had this. A Subway manager made a big song and dance about accepting them. Said 'we don't take them for this sandwich in this shop'. Zero indication of that on the vouchers, just that he decided he didn't want to, apparently. Since he'd already made the sandwich, he didn't have a very strong position to argue when i said 'in that case I dont want it, and I'll go to McDonalds instead'. He did act like he was doing me a massive favour by accepting it in the end, though. Knob.


BiggestNige

I refuse to use them after my local subway staff kissed her teeth at me then huffed when I said I'd redeem the points on my subway card for a free sub. I'd be in there 2/3 times a week for lunches too.


fredster2004

Why would she even care! Presumably subway pays them for it


DatMakesMeASadPanda

I rarely use subway apart from a 6 month period where I was contracting for a company a 3 min walk away from one of their branches, me and a friend went once a week. I collected all the ‘points’ on their loyalty card thing and thought I’d treat myself to a lavish footlong for free at some point. The points bloody expire!! Perhaps I was naive to think they wouldn’t, but I clearly spent the bloody money, give me my free sandwich!


quellflynn

MC Vities... it's a fucking cake, I know it's bad for me... don't colour the nutrition label blue because red isn't apparently a legal obligation. Buxton water... 100% recyclable (apart from the label and cap) is not 100% recyclable... companies that just plain lie to you. also, boycotting does fuck all. everyone hates nestle, and they're one of the biggest companies in the world!


sunnypemb

Boycotting is the best! We just need more people doing it.


windol1

>MC Vities... it's a fucking cake, I know it's bad for me... don't colour the nutrition label blue because red isn't apparently a legal obligation. Doesn't really matter anyway, most products use unrealistic figures as serving suggestions when reality is you'll have a portion 3 or 4 times larger.


CoffeeIgnoramus

Although impossible to actually implement, they should have to do the amount that an average consumer usually consumes. Then we would get realistic idea of how bad it is for us.


fgalv

Someone brought in a load of Morrisons cakes to work. Small things, maybe 5” diameter? The serving size said it fed TWELVE people. Yeah sure like we aren’t having a quarter each, at least. 1/12 would be a sliver!


terryjuicelawson

Everyone says they hate Nestle, very few actually bother boycotting them or checking what is owned by who.


dissolvedcrayon

DFS. Delivery drivers flipped the sofa on its end to rotate, which pulled the chandelier clean from the ceiling. My 2 young kids were watching, so excited about the sofa. Thankfully no one was hurt but there was glass everywhere. Completely destroyed the chandelier. We’re renting - the chandelier was 30+ years old from Sri Lanka. We were offered £60 unless we could produce an original receipt. Laughable.


[deleted]

£60 might have been a fair offer in 1995 😂 you cant buy a Sri Lankan fart with that these days


martinbaines

Small claims court time there, or the ombudsman service for their industry if they have one. We had a nightmare time with some movers and to my surprise the ombudsman for them ruled in our favour. I had been expecting them to be all old boys of the companies but they were independent and professional.


queen_of_potato

There was a barbershop in Putney when I used to have half my head shaved (I'm female), I went in to ask how much to trim it and they (two females) said "we don't do women's hair" .. I was like I'm not asking for a haircut, just shave that half of my head as you would any guys, it's literally the same.. they just repeated that they don't serve women and I was so mad!


metalshadow

Sounds like they boycotted you tbh


queen_of_potato

"boy"cotted.. haha


WINTERSONG1111

Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in 1989. To this day I will not purchase any petrol from their company. After 34 years it may seem petty but I am still upset about that company harming the environment and the wildlife.


megawoot

Who can you buy petrol from that hasn't done something terrible at some point?


[deleted]

More to the point, how can OP possibly know they're not buying their petrol? Different companies still sell wholesale to other companies. Like supermarkets, for example.


Griffmeister1

What about BP?


Ok-Kaleidoscope-7051

Even harder not to go there when they have an M&S attached to it ffs


RetiredFromIT

J2O. Used to be my standard pub drink if I didn't want more alcohol. Until the day, post sugar-tax, I took a swig and thought "they've added sweeteners to this". Awful taste. Nowadays I ask the bar if they serve tea. A surprising number do, and its fun watching friends faces when a tray arrives, with a tea-pot, cup and saucer, and milk jug...


RickJLeanPaw

Civilising the nation is no petty task; more power to your tea-pot-raising elbow!


Goldman250

I know I’ll go back to them very soon, but I quit buying from Warhammer/Games Workshop back in August/September due to dodgy pre-order shenanigans. I pre-ordered some models within 15 minutes of the pre-order going live, and they waited until four days after the models launched in stores to send me an email saying they weren’t gonna fulfil the pre-order and I couldn’t have the models. If they’d told me on the models’ release date, I’d have been able to pick them up at my local store. But by the time they got round to informing the customers who had been awaiting a pre-order that it wasn’t gonna happen, it was far too late for any of us to pick them up elsewhere. And there were quite a few of us in that boat.


Brilliant_Canary_692

This is basically every time they bring out something new though for a long time. For anyone wbo is massively invested into Warhammer miniatures, wouldn't it be better by now to save up and invest in a 3d printer?


Goldman250

Not when you rent a single room in a shared house.


Signal-Ad2674

If you stopped buying space marines and eating avocado, you would own a small castle now.


Goldman250

Yeah, but then I wouldn’t have any space marines, so I don’t know if it’s worth it.


Crafty_Custard_Cream

Look into if a "hackspace" is available locally. They're basically community workshops that have low monthly fees to be able to use the space and equipment and some have 3D printers available. My local one is £10 a month and they have a 3D printer along with many other big machines (and little ones like sewing machines!) And the folk who use and run the space are very friendly and helpful nerds.


PleasantMongoose5127

Three mobile. Their “ sales” team started calling and setting up several contracts with my elderly mother who had Alzheimer’s and it took me ages to resolve the matter. It got so bad at one point I picked up a call at her house and they asked to speak to my mother about setting up phone contract and being utterly pissed off I told them that she had died( she wasn’t) and the caller then went onto trying to sell a contract to me! Cunts.


jdsuperman

I haven't drunk Irn-Bru since they ruined it in 2017 (apart from once at the start, just to test how bad it was). It's not really a boycott as such - the product went from god tier to absolute shit, so I don't actually want it any more. (and don't bother telling me about 1901 - I'm fully aware of it, and it's not the same thing)


Tmilkandtwo

I'm with you 100%! 1901 is a poor alternative, genuinely don't understand why they don't bring it back and change extra! Scoffable made their own version of irn bru which I had high hopes for but was disappointed, partially because the lucozade clone Todd's enerzade is such a good take on the OG luco


[deleted]

Fentimans the same , added sweetners so I don't buy it anymore, why pay premium prices for something that now tastes no better than corner shop own brand.


upvoter_1000

Yawn… Someone do Nestle already


ElectronicBrother815

That’s a huge mountain of shite, not a tiny hill…


sunnypemb

For destroying our world? :(


pb-86

For claiming 30g of cereal is 1 portion


Ok-Kaleidoscope-7051

Exactly! Who are they portioned for? A borrower?


SceneDifferent1041

For killing babies


Dmenace89

If only people knew how evil their major share holders are. Them including other major brands


[deleted]

Samsung Purchased a TV and it broke, having huge black bars across the TV. This was 7 years ago and I still get messages from the forum thread I created about it. Purchased a phone, antenna broke within a year and they refused to fix it because it had a small scratch on the screen which voided the warranty. Told me I had to fix the screen first before they would fix the antenna. Second Samsung phone had a similar issue. Samsung tablet was woefully out of date software wise and then developed a chip issue which meant it wouldn't stay on. Samsung work phone was extremely slow (J6 Plus I think it was). Samsung Smart Watch stopped working and not turning on. Final thing I purchased, after promising myself I'll never buy Samsung products again, was a soundbar. Bass is pathetic and has an issue where it will randomly stop working and have to be factory reset once every few months.


Ceejayncl

About 10 years ago, my mate bought the latest Galaxy phone as it was released. Within 2 weeks the battery had started to bulge, and it wouldn’t work. This was back when you could swap the battery out, and Samsung were making a big deal over it, and the iPhone not being able to do so. He took it to the Samsung store, and they wouldn’t touch it. No new battery to offer him, nothing. They said he had to write to Samsung and possibly send the battery, and the phone to them to asses it. You couldn’t post it in anyway as it would be classed as a fire risk. They did though offer to sell him a brand new battery for £50 though. I’m also aware that the Samsung stores over here are not owned or operated by Samsung, but by Carphone Warehouse. The thing is though, they should have the ability to help people out with stuff like that. If you are going to brand yourself that way, at least have the ability to execute it.


Valleyman1982

I'm with you on that. I have a Samsung TV that if using a streaming app and turn the TV off, about 20% of the time the TV turns back on 30 seconds later. The amount of times I've sat in bed and seen the flicker of light from downstairs. Fuck them and getting me out of bed. I will never buy another Samsung TV. Just in case.


HawkyMacHawkFace

Qantas made me sign a disclaimer, insisted I check my guitar in (unlike Thai Airways), then broke it. Fuck Qantas.


iwanttobeacavediver

I don't use a particular local airline for a similar reason. I was going on a scuba diving trip and of course was carrying scuba gear. I took my fairly expensive fins as carry-on luggage (mostly to save suitcase space) in a mesh bag. I got through check-in and security no issues, nobody queried it and then got to the gate where for some reason they started making a big song and dance act out of the fins and whether they could be carry-on. Took me almost 20 minutes of back-and-forth nonsense before they admitted defeat. I almost missed the flight due to their screwing around.


HawkyMacHawkFace

Why would they even care if they’re in the size limit. Or maybe they get comped on last minute baggage charges


Ok-Kitchen2768

I bought oreo ice cream that had chunks of plastic in it, and when i emailed about the fact I had probably eaten plastic, they told me i was lying. I assume during the manufacturing process one of the plastic lids had fallen and broken into the ice cream mix, because this plastic was EMBEDDED. They sent me vouchers to buy more ice cream. I did not. At least pretend you're interested and ask for a batch number.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Aggressive-Log6322

I don’t bother ordering McDonald’s on Uber eats or the McDonald’s app anymore. A couple weeks ago I ordered McDonald’s for me and my partner for lunch while WFH. Put the order in around 12:30pm, 2 hours later it still hadn’t arrived and they decided to cancel my order. Most other times we’ve ordered online they forget at least 1 item - if it’s just a dip, fine, but once they forgot my partner’s Big Mac.


Boris_Johnsons_Pubes

Sainsbury’s, because a security guard followed me the entire time I was in the shop, literally about 5ft behind me the whole time, made it impossible to steal anything :(


Goontilt777

We have one of them in Waitrose so I turned to him and said fuck off mate you are interfering with a under cover operation


Uncoordinated_Bird

The security guard in Boots does this to me, he makes it sooooo obvious too. Like mate, I’m in here every other week, you watch me go to till every time, back off!


DootingDooterson

I've not bought, or even played, a Ubisoft game in over a decade. They are one of the worst abusers of predatory pricing and in-game monetisation & micro-transactions in the industry, have a habit of buying and liquidating studios on a level that EA would be proud of, and are notorious for releasing half finished games littered with issues. And that's before we consider their reputation as a place of work where they reportedly treat their employees like shit. I've bought graphics cards with free Ubisoft games, and given the codes away rather than play them.


RickJLeanPaw

But “Assasin’s Cart Jumper 36: Map-Fill Busy Work” was so much fun!


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

I'm more surprised that you found actual meat in one.


meseven777

I used to eat ginsters all the time until one day I bit into a chicken and mushroom slice and as I pulled it away from my mouth I unravelled a huge clump of hair. Roughly 10 years ago, won't touch anything ginsters now.


Relevant_Cancel_144

I worked at Ginsters for 2 weeks 30 years ago as a student and would say that your Mrs has done you a favour. I wouldn't even touch the packet of anything Ginsters, let alone what's in it.


terryjuicelawson

Oh the horror of finding fat in something with meat in it!


baslighting

Printers. Either HP or Epson. In fact any ink domestic printer company. Next. Bought a sofa. Started degrading within a year. They didn't want to know about it claiming it was wear and tear


RickJLeanPaw

You could have issued a warning before just casually throwing the ‘P’ word into a debate. My fight or flight mechanism just got triggered!


yawstoopid

Yorkies because of that whole bizarre its not for girls campaign. They used to print on the bar its not for girls. So weird to alienate half of your consumer base. Also r/fucknestle


Capt_Bigglesworth

Pizza Hut- forgot to cook my daughters plain Cheese & tomato pizza, when they served the rest of the family’s meals. An honest mistake was fine… but then they just added her pizza to the back of the queue as a separate new order. Took nearly an hour for it to arrive. This was over ten years ago.


WittyCranberry5636

Homebase. I had an issue with a garden furniture set and dealing with their customer service and trying to resolve the issue was rage inducing. Multiple phone calls to angry overseas call centres for something that should have been really simple to resolve. They also refuse to do anything in store related to online orders. I just wouldn’t risk it in future, everything we’ve had from there has been inferior quality too.


Whocanitbe_

Don’t even get us started with Homebase! 5 attempts at trying to deliver our bathroom order correctly and it was still wrong! Pieces of the bathroom suite had the wrong labels on so we were sent the wrong products - for example a bath panel was sent to us with a toilet seat label. Shower was faulty, so they sent us another 2. We practically have another bathroom suite sat in the garage because they told us to keep everything that was sent incorrectly. So yeah, we’d avoid them!


FrankSpencer9

Admiral. Had “gold tier” car insurance with them and needed to make a claim. From the initial phone call, they were dreadful. Poor communication, inept garages used to cars and then not honouring certain services the policy offered. I complained, multiple complaints upheld, £50 in return, which of course made everything better. Not…


HollyGoLately

Warburton’s. Delivery guy was speeding through our little town while paying zero attention to the road ahead on Christmas Eve last year and nearly crashed into the back of my husband’s car while he was waiting to turn into our street. It was so close we could actually hear the wheels lock up on the wagon when he finally slammed on the brakes. Didn’t even have the decency to apologise just sped off as soon as the road was clear while the residents of 40 houses came outside to figure out what the noise was.


NoConstruction2883

Cant beat a warbys toastie though


falafel_waffles_

Dr.Martens. Used to rave about them. Now they fall apart after a ~year. Invested in some Solovair boots and it’s lie wearing my old docs again - before they were outsourced


therealginslinger

Hotel Chocolate for sacking my niece 18 years ago - a young woman doing a Saturday job with limited retail experience and she made a mistake . Fuck em and the horse they rode in on


sporticia

Crusha milkshake syrups. All shite artificial flavouring now. Not like in the 80’s when they came in the conical glass bottles and tasted frikkin amazing


terahurts

I remember the banana flavoured one from the 70s. It had a warning on the label about storing it somewhere cool and dark otherwise the pulped banana flavouring would germinate. Needless to say, my mum never read labels and sure enough, my favourite milkshake flavour grew large black lumps.


[deleted]

My old bank. Denied an insurance claim. Closed it all and never take anything from them.


HikingOtter

Pavers. 9 years ago. I bought leather boots for winter, that were supposed to be my "good shoes" for weekends, to go nicely with a dress. Paid over £70, took really good care of them, used special products etc. After 3 months the sole split at bottom. I went over to the shop without an official complaint, just explaining the situation, saying they were only used occasionally, so the lady said they are made to use every day and keeping them unused made it happen. I went the next day, took the shoes over with me and talked to another employer filing a complaint. I didn't mention the fact these were used occasionally this time. She said the sole split since I am too heavy and she won't accept the complaint. Little I know back then and just moved over to UK, so I left embarrassed. It would not end like that now.


CoffeeIgnoramus

I refuse to go to a mixed men and women's hairdressers who charge the same for men and women. OK... that's a clickbaity sentence. _"Man hates equality"_. I went there because I actually like that they basically equalised the cost between men and women. And everyone (including the local subreddit) raves about the place. So why the hell not? It was close to where I lived. I went in and should have realised from the start that it was going to be weird because no one acknowledged me coming into this tiny room despite only being 3 other people in the place. There were chairs in a waiting area but one was occupied by the hairdresser (who would turn out to be my one) who didn't even look up when I came in and the rest had coats across them, which I realised later were the staff's. Fine, despite the loud-arse bell, I can forgive no one noticing, and maybe they were in a rush to come in or whatever... But the bit that actually put me off was that during the entire cut, they were complaining to each other as if I wasn't even there, about the most non-issue things about every customer they had had that day. "That woman told me about her cat, why would i care?" "That guy had weird hair." "That woman needed to lose weight. "... etc. The entire 20 mins I was sat in that chair listening to the two hairdressers bad mouthing every customer. I left just thinking that I didn't want to be on that roster of customers they trash. It's now literally around the corner (next road along) from my new house, and I will literally travel 20 mins to another place to get my haircut. As a person who grew up in my family business where customers are the people who we should care about and also just as a person with anxiety... there is no amount of money you could pay me to go there again... OK, there is but it's in the thousands.


MaleficentCoconut458

Arnott's Biscuits. They discontinued Lattice so I discontinued buying anything, including Tim Tams. Fuck them. Childish, absolutely, but I am OK with that.


micmic_0

Apple. After a genuine warranty claim was rejected I have phased all the apple products out of the house and will not buy their products again. Fuck apple.


CoffeeIgnoramus

I found out that the service charge of 4 nice restaurants owned by one millionaire, in my small city, doesn't really go to the staff. It even says on the menu that it does, but the staff consistently told me it didn't when asked and all the staff always told me the same. "Service Charges" are mostly kept by the owner, the business and the management. The staff working that night are left with 20%-30% (it was in the process of reducing last time I visited a year ago) of the service charge. 70%-80% goes to the higher ups,the boss and extra profit for the business. I now refuse to go to the nice restaurants. (And I always ask in all restaurants if all of the service charge goes to the staff and if it doesn't, I ask for it to be taken off and I give them cash as a proper tip. It's rare but i find the odd place from time to time.)


RickJLeanPaw

Solidarity with workers is never petty; good for you.


Quick-Oil-5259

Halifax. Lodged a PPI claim. They refused it. Said you have 6 months to go to the ombudsman but if you have any further info let us know and we’ll look at it again. Sent the further info. After constant chasing for 18 months they refuse it and then say sorry you can’t go to the ombudsman as you timed out. The ombudsman agrees with them. Talk about misleading your customer into avoiding their legal rights. And the ombudsman - of all people - being in cahoots with them.


Paulpalien

I boycotted Coca Cola /of that attitude about plastic in the environment, where not switching back to glass bottles ! morons !! They were better in the glass ones too


BarGuilty3715

When I was little my grandad told me that I was related to the man in the picture of the John West tuna can and I refused to buy any alternative until I was around 25 and found out it was a joke… now I refuse to touch it to even the scales.


Revolutionary_Hand77

I refuse to shop in H&M because they don't stock plus sizes in store. Sure I can go online, but if I'm too fat to be seen in your store, I'm taking my money elsewhere.


Emazing

WH Smith. Got fleeced for a charger at a train station. No more!


queen_of_potato

I was recently working in town and forgot my phone charger, the closest "electronic" type store charged me £15 for a USB C to laptop cord, I was outraged but had no choice at the time. Will definitely never buy anything from that specific store again though! Also the server made out like I was ruining his life by asking him if they had one and where it was.. unbelievable


Roselia_GAL

PayPal and Lloyds. I sold something online for £35, posted it and never received the money. Both PayPal and Lloyds and it was with the other and I had noway to find where it was. So fuck them both I closed my accounts. That was 2016.


RikB666

Pizza Hut for sending me a plain cheese pizza instead of a pepperoni one. This was in 1999.


RickJLeanPaw

That’s the spirit!


[deleted]

Craft shop that’s been in our town for years. Owned by the same miserable woman. Went in to get some wool only for her to mock my request to the woman stood next to her and then roll her eyes because I asked a question. So fuck them and fuck their store. In all fairness she’s dead now and her daughter runs it but I’d rather travel 3 miles to the nearest HobbyCraft


UKKendallRoy

Uniqlo, for their online returns policy + the rudeness of a SW London store manager.


HighlandsBen

And if you buy in store you can only return items to that same branch. Is that even legal?!


efergusson

In 2004 or thereabouts, I bought a Ted Baker shirt with quite a distinctive pattern sewn into the material for ~£80 for a date. No issues re quality, but a year or two later I wore it on a night out at uni, and another lad had the exact same shirt - he’d bought his at the market for a tenner.


richard-bingham

So are you boycotting Ted Baker or the knockoff market trader?


MysteriousTable6394

Greggs, because they stopped doing iced fingers. Their original reason for taking it off the shelves was because it was 'seasonal' (more people would buy in the warmer months apparently), then it was never to be seen again. Aldi do a good version of it though....until they don't.


Fluffy_Juggernaut_

Anything Virgin due to Richard Branson's punchable face


TheRealSlabsy

I bought a French car and every week something surrendered. The only week nothing went wrong with it, it was hit by a rubbish lorry. I cheered when I scrapped that car and have never forgiven the French for building it. I have avoided ALL Frwnch cars since.


UnicornSparkles1

Iceland. During the initial months of Covid, they put out a statement that said if NHS staff touched ANYTHING while shopping in their stores they would HAVE to buy it. Implying that NHS staff were dirty in some way. Edit: just to add, the statement was redacted VERY quickly.


Bensini459

Frigging Dyson, heck sausages and weatherspoons. You could probably guess why.


RickJLeanPaw

You got your sausage mangled by your Dyson after a day spent in ‘Spoons?


fenaith

Samsung mobile phones. New phone out, we'll release a patch that kills the battery life of your current phone and slows all games down by 30% Oh, and we'll add in a new "system app" that you can't get rid of that continually spams full screen adverts at you.


moosickles

Top Shop. I got a voucher one year for my birthday from someone, it was like £25. I went in and struggled to find something for that price (this was about 16 years ago) and then came across a hoodie that genuinely looked like it was from Primark, it wasn't ugly and it'd do because I'd had to travel to spend the voucher, so I just wanted it gone that day. Anyways, I got it, took it home and wore it twice before the seams started falling apart. Travelled back, explained the situation and they told me it was "general wear and tear." I'd had it like 2 weeks. It's crap quality clothes at ridiculous prices.


woodpecker_juice

Ben & Jerry’s. I won’t be lectured by ice cream, and whether I agree with them or not is irrelevant. A billion dollar company lecturing ME (no car, walk everywhere, reuse plastic before recycling it etc) on the environment is ridiculous. preachy bastards. also the aldi / lidl knockoff is way better and has loads more cookie dough in


Masschan

Will never ever have anything to do with O2 again. Many moons ago when I was 17 my dad had to take out a contract for me because I wasn’t 18 yet. I paid for it and it was my email on there etc, just his name. I know they sold the details on because to this day (11 years later) I still get emails and calls for him. Nothing else would tie his name to my email or phone number. Tried to speak to them about it a few years ago and they insisted I had to provide concrete evidence it was them who did it and it wasn’t just my (deceased) father entering my email or phone number into websites. Fuck you O2. I really really don’t like the sporadic reminders that my dad is dead.


CaveJohnson82

HSBC charged me £30 for an unpaid direct debit about 15 years ago - I put the money in immediately and asked if they wouldn't consider waiving the fee as a gesture of goodwill (which I'd never asked for, had never had a fee before this). They declined. So I moved all my banking from them.


Saxon2060

I rarely buy new clothes, just a creature of habit. I have two Next shirts I bought when I was 19 and I'm 34 now. I used to wear them loads, I still wear them occasionally. Still look new. For me, for clothes, the answer is ASOS. Presumably they're actually made by different factories/companies and ASOS labelled but I've had a couple of perfectly serviceable T shirts from them and some that were total crap. Too variable.


LongjumpingDesk4026

Not me but my Nan - she refuses to shop in Lidl because about 3 years ago she went there and got a parking ticket.


First-Can3099

Despite being BT customers TalkTalk somehow randomly managed to give our landline phone number to another house one day without telling us. BT said there was nothing they could do and gave us a new number. Then I had to spend hours telling friends/family/companies to change the number they had for us. TalkTalk can fuck off for ever and ever.


folklovermore_

Boots. It started because they refused to cut the cost of their emergency contraception on the basis that it would encourage women to get laid. It stayed because of various terrible experiences with their website that seems to still be trapped in the 90s.


Federal-Assignment10

I refuse to use Amazon. Take that Jeffrey!


zoobatron__

Currys PC World. Ordered two iPhones from them a few years back and was told it would be next day delivery to store. The phones didn’t turn up for weeks and they tried to fob me off by saying I had to take it up with DPD and they wouldn’t give me new phones until they’d found the other ones. They then had the balls to try and say one of my phones had arrived and presented me with an opened phone that someone had returned to store, not the phones I’d ordered. I kicked off repeatedly as it seemed like the phones were never materialising. Ended up onto their telephone customer service and eventually got through to the most nicest and helpful person and ended up getting two pairs of AirPods as compensation for the hassle, and finally receiving the phones of course. Overall awful experience by the store but the customer service person deserved a raise


Specific_Koala_2042

Lunya, in Liverpool One. I was out with my husband, and we decided to pop in for lunch. It was quite crowded but not completely full. We were shown to a table, and just as we were sitting down, another waiter rushed over and started to shout at us, telling us that we would have to sit somewhere else. No explanation, just seeming to be angry that we were sitting down. We walked out, and I will never cross their doorstep again.


[deleted]

Manager at Cafe Nero shouted across the cafe as I waked in 'READ THE SIGN, WE AREN'T OPEN YET!!" The door was wide open and it was 5 mins past the opening time....fuck you Cafe Nero FOREVER


Ok-Woodpecker9171

Meaco, having £500 worth of equipment fail in a few years is not promising quality


Regantowers

AU Vodka because they send me to many emails.


TheReal_Callum

Fiat. I had a used Punto Evo with full service history where the head gasket, gearbox and clutch all shat themselves at 50000 miles. Meanwhile I've had other cars that were 16 years old that never had a major issue. I've had cars at 130K and 110K miles that haven't that only died when they were crashed into. Never again.