Which companies are dead to you?

[Machines]

Renault - Had a Megane that had so many problems. Renault tried to charge me for well established manufacturing defaults. Sold it to WBAC and saw it was scrapped a year later.

o2 - Tried to double charge the last month on a contract exit, threatened me with legal action until I proved to them there are 12 months in a year, not 13.

Scottish Power - Refused to take dated GPS tagged photos of meter reading when I moved in, insisted on using massively inflated estimates. Awful customer service hold music.

 

[Aidan63]

Blackstar amplification

 

bought a Fly3 twin set up, use it as PC monitor speakers and for noodling on guitar a bit

 

power supply failed after getting increasingly noisy over time

 

odd voltage 6.5V, highish current, opposite polarity on the connector, so basically unique. Thing is plastic welded sealed unit, and they don't offer a repair service. £30 for a new one, no discount even though I registered as owner when I bought the pack new. Every thing should be repairable where possible. I had a to and fro exchange with customer service, no deal to be done, the script allowed no flexibility, so  told them I won't be buying anything they make again, they didn't bother to reply, they don't care. The power supply costs more than a single amp combo and they go for decent money on ebay, occasionally non UK market ones turn up listed on there so they are sought after, partly because you can buy the amp on its own without p/s and use it on batteries but also because the p/s fails, went down the rabbit hole online to find plenty of other examples of failure.

 

I bought a non genuine p/s half the price delivered from Holland, so far so good. It's a nice sounding speaker set/amp, just galling they don't use a common standard power supply like most pedal makers, but that would be too easy of course.

[jezzaboy]

Kwik fit. Around 2005 my wife took our Ford Focus in for its mot. They said to her it needed £600 worth of work as the brake disc, drums on the back, pads  and shocks needed changed. Took it to a local garage that was recomended by a friend and it passed its mot easily. And the garage has looked after our cars ever since. The mechanic in my local place said that KF were notorious for trying to rip folk especially women off.

[ead]

Any firm that advertises on TV during rugby matches.

[JazzyJ]

33 minutes ago, jezzaboy said:

Kwik fit. Around 2005 my wife took our Ford Focus in for its mot. They said to her it needed £600 worth of work as the brake disc, drums on the back, pads  and shocks needed changed. Took it to a local garage that was recomended by a friend and it passed its mot easily. And the garage has looked after our cars ever since. The mechanic in my local place said that KF were notorious for trying to rip folk especially women off.

I found myself in the unfortunate situation of working for Kwik-Fit for a few months after they bought out a decent fast fit that I had been with for 13yrs. What we were told to do by management to rip folk off was shocking. I didn't hang around long. AVOID at all times.

[elcastillian]

17 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Phillips made me redundant over 30 years ago and I've not bought anything sold by them since.

 

Same here Jean-Luc Pickguard, but, 

I was not made redundant by Philips. I managed to survive all of their moronic management, but they

left their mark. I couldn't possibly have anything in the house that bears the name Philips

 

[TheGreek]

DFS - I bought a pair of custom made 3 seater/ 2 seater Chesterfield sofas - made from Danish leather (no fences or barbed wire so no nicks in the leather). They were around £1500 each at the time. Needless to say not only were there problems with the finished items but they were significantly late.

 

"Guaranteed delivery within 16 weeks" amounts to "we'll give you your money back" - not a discount - so you either cancel your order and go somewhere else (after 16+ weeks) and wait or put up with their crap CS. 

 

All the "deep buttons" are different depths and, though there were no nicks in the leather, there were what looked like scuffs. Possibly acquired in transit?

 

Asked for them to deal with the issue - they would have had to take them both (leaving me with no furniture) and redo the buttons but during the process of re-doing to the depth of the buttons this would inevitably impact on the next hole - eventually making one or more visible. They refused to remake the sofas - again, they would cancel the Credit Agreement and I could go elsewhere but I would be without living room furniture till I purchased something else.

 

Prior to purchase they sent me a £100 voucher which I forgot to take with me - they wouldn't honour this.

 

I can get a bit uppity sometimes but my "uppity-ness" was justified when DFS featured on one of those TV programmes about poor CS. The one with Anne Robinson, so it wasn't just me!!

 

I later wanted a footstool - didn't go back to them!!

[NancyJohnson]

My mum had a longstanding embargo on buying Irish after my brother got shot in Northern Ireland.

 

It was actually said brother who talked her round: 'It was the IRA who tried to kill me,' he said. 'Not the people working for Kerrygold.'

[Huge Hands]

5 hours ago, Machines said:

Renault - Had a Megane that had so many problems.

 

 

I bought a 2001 Laguna estate in 2005.  Had it about 9 months.  It used to eat tyres and had so many problems.  I ended up selling it for scrap money and lost a packet.  I swore I would never have another Renault again, but this year I bought a Trafic van.

 

After a year of expensive repairs, I am ruing not sticking to my own rules...... 

[Roger2611]

Right, here we go!

 

Hotpoint, my still in warranty fridge started leaking air in, we tried a new seal, no change, Hotpoint came out and viewed it, said it needed a new door, still leaked, they then realised the whole frame had warped, guess what, yep, that's not covered by warranty...b'stards!

 

Gillette for putting the crappiest gel on the Mach 3 blades that barely last one shave now....40 years a customer now lost!

 

Amazon for the same reason many other have mentioned

 

Weatherspoons because Tim is a cockwomble

 

Milton Keynes and Nottingham for money grabbing tricksy parking rules! 

 

Seat, every time I was away from home the darned car broke down on my wife

 

Microsoft, for constantly trying to kill my computers with rubbish updates...hello Chromebook which is far better

 

Bartolinni because every time I have had a bass with Barts installed I have hated the sound

 

There are probably loads more but I am just old and grumpy!

 

Rog

[SteveXFR]

The entire bicycle industry for making 27.5" wheels obsolete and messing up production so badly last year that now all bikes are extremely heavily discounted.

These two factors combined mean my top spec, incredibly good enduro mountain bike is now worth half of bugger all. The whole bike is now worth less than I could have sold the frame for last year.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Facebook , gilette, FA, Premier league, , England football team, uefa, fifa, BBC , itv, channel 4, Netflix ,Sky, guardian , daily mail, the Sun ..just stop oill, extinction rebellion . Woke Disney +, woka cola , the Green Party , the Labour Party , the Conservative Party .snp , Liberal Democrats 
 

As for BT , they're infinity set top box was pants when I was with them . Being told my wardrobe was the problem with their crap signals proves how rubbish they were . When I moved home , they sent a letter threatening me with debt collectors to my post office temporary address for £38 . Thing is I settled up when I moved , but their administration system said otherwise .Also, they were the last utility company to get disconnected when I moved . Truly awful company . 
 

I could put Unilever , procter and gamble and edf also . However, as procter and gamble and Unilever have so many household staple items , it would be nigh on impossible to avoid completely . As for Edf , they are one of the big energy companies that are going nowhere and smaller companies can still be swallowed up , amalgamated or dissolved etc. If edf stopped harassing me for smart meters they wouldn't be a problem .

 

Apple for example should be on my list , but I still use their electronics . 

Edited February 23 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[nekomatic]

8 hours ago, Machines said:

Scottish Power - … Awful customer service hold music.

Now we’re getting down to the real crimes against customer service!

[prowla]

Ah yes - Apple for bricking 2nd hand iPhones & iPads. 
Apple for artificially reducing the lifespan of their batteries via software. 

[tauzero]

36 minutes ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Facebook , gilette, FA, Premier league, , England football team, uefa, fifa, BBC , itv, channel 4, Netflix ,Sky, guardian , daily mail, the Sun ..just stop oill, extinction rebellion . Woke Disney +, woka cola , the Green Party , the Labour Party , the Conservative Party .snp , Liberal Democrat's 
 

As for BT , they're infinity set top box was pants when I was with them . Being told my wardrobe was the problem with their crap signals proves how rubbish they were . When I moved home , they sent a letter threatening me with debt collectors to my post office temporary address for £38 . Thing is I settled up when I moved , but their administration system said otherwise .Also, they were the last utility company to get disconnected when I moved . Truly awful company . 
 

I could put Unilever , procter and gamble and edf also . However, as procter and gamble and Unilever have so many household staple items , it would be nigh on impossible to avoid completely . As for Edf , they are one of the big energy companies that are going nowhere and smaller companies can still be swallowed up , amalgamated or dissolved etc. If edf stopped harassing me for smart meters they wouldn't be a problem .

 

Apple for example should be on my list , but I still use their electronics . 

 

I think your English teacher deserves an honourable mention too.

[Norris]

"Hello this is Currys customer services, how can I help?"

 

"You've been taking a direct debit from my account for years, as far back as I can see in my statements. I don't use that account for direct debits, and never, ever buy extended warranties"

 

"I'll get that stopped and refund it all back to you"

 

Obviously not the first time they had a conversation like that, but a nice surprise that they handed my money back without hassle. Actually some good customer service for a change but I still haven't bought anything from them since

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Facebook , gilette, FA, Premier league, , England football team, uefa, fifa, BBC , itv, channel 4, Netflix ,Sky, guardian , daily mail, the Sun ..just stop oill, extinction rebellion . Woke Disney +, woka cola , the Green Party , the Labour Party , the Conservative Party .snp , Liberal Democrats 
 

As for BT , they're infinity set top box was pants when I was with them . Being told my wardrobe was the problem with their crap signals proves how rubbish they were . When I moved home , they sent a letter threatening me with debt collectors to my post office temporary address for £38 . Thing is I settled up when I moved , but their administration system said otherwise .Also, they were the last utility company to get disconnected when I moved . Truly awful company . 
 

I could put Unilever , procter and gamble and edf also . However, as procter and gamble and Unilever have so many household staple items , it would be nigh on impossible to avoid completely . As for Edf , they are one of the big energy companies that are going nowhere and smaller companies can still be swallowed up , amalgamated or dissolved etc. If edf stopped harassing me for smart meters they wouldn't be a problem .

 

Apple for example should be on my list , but I still use their electronics . 

Ha! "Woke".

[LowB_FTW]

13 hours ago, Boodang said:

Apple. I had a lovely iPod (the one that looked like an iPhone but isn’t) and I’d loaded it with tons of music apps which were quite cool and I used them often. As it was getting old I kept the thing in flight mode to stop it from connecting and doing a weird update as it was ticking along nicely. Then one day it refused to boot up and displayed a message saying unless I did an update it wouldn’t work anymore. Did the update and it wiped ALL my apps as they now unsupported. Most of the apps don’t exist anymore and I can’t get them back. Gits! 

This isn't really Apple's fault though. Yes, it's a pain that you had to run the update, but this clearly fixed the boot issue you had, it's the App developers that no longer updated their apps to support the newer version of the OS that are at fault here, IMO.

 

Mark

[Jackroadkill]

23 hours ago, lozkerr said:

 On my last day, I nuked my laptop and Blackberry for no other reason than pure spite.

 

Loz, I don't know you but I bloody admire you.

[badger]

4 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Facebook , gilette, FA, Premier league, , England football team, uefa, fifa, BBC , itv, channel 4, Netflix ,Sky, guardian , daily mail, the Sun ..just stop oill, extinction rebellion . Woke Disney +, woka cola , the Green Party , the Labour Party , the Conservative Party .snp , Liberal Democrats

we didn't start the fire ...

[mr4stringz]

On 22/02/2024 at 22:47, lozkerr said:

Brewdog, because of the owner's attitude. Which is a bit of a shame because the beer's decent.

 

Wetherspoons, because of Timbo's treatment of his staff during the pandemic and because of his support for the B-word.

Yep, these two are a fair way up my list too.

[Gasman]

Curmudgeons of the world unite!

[MacDaddy]

Panda Audio, because when I bought my Future Impact, I was unaware that to use it properly you have to buy more expensive gear.

 

Apple. Just because I don't want to be locked in to their money grabbing incompatibility.

 

The fruit market in a city up north, because over 40 years ago I bought a bag of oranges and half of them were off.

 

Bob Dylan. For going electric.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Status- My Streamline was a bitter disappointment. Sounded OK, but I've heard and owned better. Wasn't happy with the volume jump in the series/parallel switching. Fretboard delamination in several places at once.

Cracks appeared in the lacquer around the bridge monorail. Then the batteries leaked 9 months in... never happened before or since. It was cursed. 

Sold at a horrendous loss. Wouldn't buy another. 

 

Ashdown- Been cut up whilst driving on the highways and byways by Mr Gooday more than once. 

That's reason enough for me...

 

Hastings Insurance- My car was hit by another whilst parked. Only partial details were left,  not including the other party's insurance provider. 

I contacted Hastings (my insurer) to find out who the insurer might be so I could make a claim. Basically was told it was my problem and to go and do one. 

So I have.  You'll not see a single penny of my money again. 

 

KFC- I'd rather starve. 

 

TGI Friday's- Ditto.

Edited February 24 by Lfalex v1.1
Thought of more..

[chriswareham]

On 23/02/2024 at 10:46, knirirr said:

Samsung ... their "smart" televisions are a bit dodgy when it comes to privacy.

 

There's a very good reason for that. Rather than use the Android operating system like everyone else, they use their own thing called Tizen and an utterly appalling software framework called Enlightenment. There's a number of very long and - to a programmer like me - entertaining articles and posts about them.