Any company you refuse to use?

[Venod]

Apple

A company so far up their own harris they think the launch of a new phone deserves a show business type event and then impose restrictions on how you use the phone, get over it its a phone and there are better alternatives out there.

 

[EltonFrog]

Barclays Bank, for some minor slight that incurred my displeasure many years ago. If you asked me, I can’t remember what it was that irked me so. Not even for ready money.

 

[I like Skol]

Autoglass.

One of their franchises screwed up a replacement windscreen on my car and damaged the wiper arms & paintwork too. I didn't find out they hadn't sealed it properly until months later the water ingress had rotted the wiring loom behind the dashboard, costing me nearly £1300 to replace. They ignored recorded delivery letters and offered me a "goodwill gesture" of £50! Their legal team only settled after I initiated court proceedings.

No apology, no admission, no explanation just a cheque in the post. Daffodils.

Forgot about these cowboys. They f'd up the paintwork on my new van by hacking out a windscreen, presumably with a blunt axe?

Obviously you are not there to see the carnage but when rust bubbles started creeping out around the window seals 12 months later I kind of guessed what might have happened. They were adamant that it was nothing to do with them and even agreed to remove the bonded screen to prove it.
Once the screen was out and the vehicle moved out of the dinghy workshop into the daylight it was clear that the previous removal had been conducted by a clumsy relative of Fred Krueger. That cost them £500 in bodyshop costs to be put right.

To make matters worse they did other damage to my van while it was in their care and tried to cover it up by bending the tail board back into place and fitting a new light cluster. So, not only are they crap at their work but they are lying cheating devious b'stards too.

If I ever have to take a vehicle to them again (and this will be a last resort!) I will stand there and watch them do the job from start to finish and tell them why.

 

[nickyboy]

Seems to be a lot of noses cut off to spite faces

I've had some shocking customer service experiences in the past. Hasn't stopped me using that brand and giving them more custom. All boils down, for me, to the transaction I'm doing, not the one I've done in the past

 

[Dirk]

I'm never using Windham's the Drapers again.
They had a nice cardy in their window for about five years but they didn't have my size when I finally went in.
And then they wonder why they were losing business!

 

[stephec]

Seems to be a lot of noses cut off to spite faces

I've had some shocking customer service experiences in the past. Hasn't stopped me using that brand and giving them more custom. All boils down, for me, to the transaction I'm doing, not the one I've done in the past

I can sort of see your point on that, but I usually go by the thought that every company gets things right, but on the occasion that they don't I judge them on their actions at putting things right.

Admit your mistakes and bend over backwards to correct them, then you'll get my business again.

Shirk your responsibilities and I can hold a grudge with the best.

 

[Drago]

Guinness never make a mistake. Their product is perfection, every single time. In many decades of enjoying their product I have never had a bad one.

 

[classic33]

Lush - virtue-signalling liars making money out of other's misery.
Carphone Warehouse - because it incorporated Phones 4 U and John Caudwell is a ****
Arnold Clark - seen how they treat their salesmen
Dulux - they make false claims on their products, calculating that the cost of paying damages is less than the increased sales

Also gave us EE, a part of the company based in Rochdale at the time.

 

[Edwardoka]

[QUOTE 5415335, member: 9609"]Like any other typical consumer I tend to go with the cheapest.[/QUOTE]
Not aimed at you in particular, but your comment reminded me of the absolute farce that was being a TalkTalk customer. Easily the worst company I've ever dealt with.

Cheap, nasty - and completely useless. I don't think my connection stayed up for more than a couple of hours with them, would be bad when it was up, and would cut out for days at a time. I presume they are called TalkTalk because you need to send every message twice to stand a chance of it getting through.

Abominable customer service, having to go through the same steps every time you called, not listening to you when you tell them that you've been through this rigmarole twenty times - clearly reading from a script rather than the notes on the account.

They then tried to charge multiple times for engineers to be called out to the exchange, and then when you say "your service has literally never worked properly, we're leaving" they had the gall to try to charge a punitive early termination fee despite them not upholding their side of the contract.

I'm getting het up just thinking about it and it was over 2 years ago

 

[MountainSide]

Barclays Bank, for some minor slight that incurred my displeasure many years ago. If you asked me, I can’t remember what it was that irked me so. Not even for ready money.

Funny isn't it. I was with HSBC for decades, business and personal. With them since they were called Midland Bank and I personally knew people who worked there and got a fantastic friendly service. Fast forward a few years and I am using Telephone banking to (we all know where) overseas call centre. Neither of us could understand each other and they blocked my account because they could not understand my "password". Dozens of calls and complaint letters later and they still insisted I had to take my passport and other means of identification to my home branch before I could access my money again. Needless to say I accessed my money again by closing all of my accounts with them, which funnily enough did not require any means of identification. Would never use again. I'm sure the people at the top would be horrified to hear how awful their staff can be but they are so far removed these days that I doubt they even have a clue.

 

[Cavalol]

Admit your mistakes and bend over backwards to correct them, then you'll get my business again.

Shirk your responsibilities and I can hold a grudge with the best.

Absolutely.

Had a nightmare once with the usually excellent Orange mobile ‘phone company. It took maybe 4-6 weeks to sort out but I have to give them credit, they more than atoned for some false promises and relatively minor grief they caused.
In actual fact, they went beyond what I would expect to make amends and I’d happily use them again and again.

Back to the original post, for me it’s all about how a company speaks to you and treats you. Can’t be doing with bad manners and misery when you politely contact a firm, and it’s one reason the likes of Car Transplants in Nantwich can go and whistle the theme tune to One Foot In The Grave our of their miserable collective arses.
The sullen and surly attitude you get by daring to enquire over a car part on the ‘phone is just amazing, perhaps having the audacity to be a customer offends them? I’d rather walk than use a part they’ve got in stock.

 

[byegad]

Guinness never make a mistake. Their product is perfection, every single time. In many decades of enjoying their product I have never had a bad one.

Also their ex-director is the only recorded spontaneous recovery from Alzheimer's on record, shortly after he dodged jail on a financial matter.

 

[byegad]

On a personal note, being a Yorkshireman!
I'll never buy again from Honda, poor customer service after a 1 yr old motorbike broke down in 1972 or Apple, having lost several hundred pounds worth of audio-books when my iPod died.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Vodafone - I wanted to legitimately stop my contract which had expired. They were very rude, and then randomly charged me £5 at a later date for no reason, which took 45 mins on the phone to get back

 

[Drago]

+1 for Vodafone. I ordered a new SIM, 2 weeks later still not arrived.

"Well, why didn't you say so sooner?", said the arsey lady on the phone.

"Because I've been in hospital following a heart attack, and had other things on my mind than running around after your poxy organisation", replied I.

They were so shocked they allowed me to cancel the contract then and there. Contrast this with Tesco, who are a fraction of the price, and their customer service is first rate.