Long gone are the days when you were limited to only a few options when shopping. Nowadays, there are a ton of stores to browse from, and you no longer have to leave the comfort of your own home to get what you need. Whether you seek clothes, car parts, or food, obtaining your necessities is just a click away.
Although a vast sea of options may seem appealing at the surface, finding quality services or products can involve a lot of fishing for the right brands. These consumers shared their stories of why they will never give their money to a specific brand again, and some of these will have you rethinking your future purchases!
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#25 A Straight Evil Employer
DirecTV.
I got diagnosed with leukemia, and they spent the first month figuring out how to fire me. The second month, they insisted they never received any documentation from my physician, even when I was on the phone with a nursing assistant as she faxed the information to them.
I walked into the office one day, and they handed me a box to pack my stuff in. They then walked me out because I hadn't provided the necessary documentation within 30 days.
Screw DirecTV.
#24 The Fees That Follow You Everywhere
Sprint. My first cell phone was Sprint, and I stayed with them for years. Out of nowhere, they decided to charge me twice a month for my phone. I called to get it fixed, and nothing. I switched to AT&T, but Sprint kept charging me after I had already canceled with them. They even tried to sue me for not paying! I got them to drop the charges, but then they still sued me for not paying for some the late fees I had apparently accumulated.
#23 Absolutely Terrifying
Care.com. I had four babysitters through Care.com. The first turned out to be a paranoid schizophrenic who often went off her meds. The second stole from my house every time she was there. The third ended up hanging out with one of my family members who was a very well-known criminal, and the fourth would never bring my kid back when she was supposed to. I ended up having to travel for miles just to get to her.
When I tried to cancel my Care.com account, they would repeatedly hang up on me for DAYS. I kept calling, sent emails, and wrote letters through the mail, but still no reply. Eventually, they got back to me and said that they canceled it, but they still proceeded to charge me for the following four months. I got them to stop by reporting them for fraud. Screw you, Care.com.
#22 Food Poisoning Waiting To Happen
Logan’s Roadhouse. I went a decade ago and got a Buffalo chicken sandwich. It was raw in the middle. I told the server and her response was, “Yeah, it’s usually a safer bet to get the chicken strips.”
I will not be going back there. Ever.
#21 This Calls For A Boycott
MACY'S.
I worked as a visual merchandiser at Macy's for a few years. In 2016, a large, wooden shelf fell out of the wall and landed on me. I was obviously injured (we’re talking 40 lbs of wood crashing down onto my spine here), so I went to see their doctor.
Even though the doctor didn’t want me lifting anything over 10 lbs, Macy's still made me work. I was forced to lift heavy mannequins and climb ladders. They flat out told me that they didn’t care what the doctor had recommended. I was miserable.
I finally had surgery on my shoulder and the surgeon said he was flabbergasted at how messed up my shoulder was. He said it was way worse than he was expecting and he didn’t know how I was able to continue working with it. Only my muscles were holding my arm in place—my tendons, cartilage, and labrum were shot.
After surgery, I still wasn’t better. I had been telling them from the beginning that my neck and head hurt, but they wouldn’t allow my doctors to check it. Over a YEAR later, Macy's let me have a cervical MRI, and guess what... The results showed messed up discs in my neck which were compressing on my nerves. I have nerve damage and will need a neck fusion surgery to fix it. They found bone spurs in my lower back from the crush as well. My entire darn spine hurts, 24/7.
On top of all of that, Macy's has been fighting every single thing in court, even though my injuries are clearly shown on my scans. They refused to allow me to see pain doctors, refused to pay for medication (so far, I've paid over $3,000 out of pocket), and refused to allow me to get physical therapy. At our last court hearing, the judge flat out told them that they were hindering my recovery and that they had better get it together or he would get them together.
I lost my business, my independence, some of my friends, my strength, and my mental health. I have depression, a right arm with nerve damage, permanent restrictions (no lifting, pushing or pulling items over 10lbs), compressed nerves and herniated discs in my neck that are dangerously close to my spinal cord, fractured facets in the cervical and lumbar vertebrae, and a brain injury. I’m in chronic pain all the time. I never thought they would betray me in this way. They are self-insured, so it’s my adjuster making all the decisions to make sure I don’t get treatment.
Please, please, don’t shop at Macy's. They don’t care that I almost died on the job with them. They don’t care that I’ve suffered permanent damage that will affect me my entire life. It would have been SO much cheaper for them to have just paid for the treatment my doctors all said I needed, but instead they chose to fight every step of the way. I mean come on guys, when the JUDGE tells you to get your act together, maybe you need to rethink your malicious plan. Ugh.
#20 GIVE ME MY MONEY
PayPal. I’ve been denied the ability to withdraw my money for literally no reason whatsoever. I’ve had to verify my card five times, and the customer service is basically non-existent. I sure hope no one else experiences this.
iStock Photo
#19 Playing Games
GameStop. I used to swear by buying physical copies of games, so I’d always go to my local GameStop and get them. At some point, life started to get busy, so instead of pre-ordering games at the store, I’d buy them on the PlayStation Store.
The nail in the coffin was just the other week when I went to purchase a pre-owned game and was accidentally charged twice for the game on my debit card. It took three phone calls, two emails, and a visit to the store before I could get any progress in getting a refund. I just finished my call with customer service, and I was told I could expect to get a refund within ten days, but that experience has sealed the deal for me that they will no longer get my business.
#18 Just Plain Greedy
Allstate. I was at fault in an auto accident. I was distracted thinking about a friend who had been in a near-death incident, and I ended up rear-ending someone. No injuries, but my truck did a lot of damage to the other car. The young man who owned it was very nice. I felt awful, especially when it was clear his car was not drivable and possibly totaled. I assured him I was well insured and called my agent to verify that he would get a rental until the claim was settled. I told the police and the Allstate claims department that it was 100% my fault. I felt certain the young man would be taken care of.
WRONG! About six weeks later, he called me. He told me Allstate was very difficult. He only had the rental for a week, but they waited three weeks to inspect his car and make him an offer. They claimed he was partially responsible so they were only going to give him half the value of his car, which was totaled. He couldn't begin to get a comparable replacement for what he was offered. I spent a week arguing with the claims department, but no luck. He tried to file with his carrier for underinsured motorist coverage, but my limit of liability was $250,000, so I am NOT underinsured.
My husband and I paid him a fair amount for his car plus $1,000 for all the hassle. We then canceled every line of business we had with Allstate: auto, home, boat, motorcycle, and commercial. Our annual premiums are over $30,000, and State Farm has our business now. But I am still furious at how they treated this kid. If we weren't fortunate enough to have taken care of this out-of-pocket, this guy would have been royally screwed. A great young man with a wife and baby, working to become a licensed electrician. Just the type of person you want to punish, right?
#17 That's Just Not Right
Breyers. You can't even call it "ice cream" because they don't use enough actual cream. They get away with it by calling it "frozen dairy dessert" instead.
#16 Beware Of The Online Marketplace
eBay. Their buyer protections encourage rampant fraud and abuse, particularly when it comes to electronics and vinyl. A perfectly fine item will get a return request when all of a sudden there’s a “scratch” or defect that never existed before. If you try and deny it, eBay won't entertain your case, even if you cite multiple pictures.
Not once have I heard of a dispute going in a seller’s favor. You’re forced to accept the return, as well as pay the final value fee and shipping back. Your PayPal account is now negative $50, and your old computer or phone comes back with missing parts.
Business Insider
#15 Be Prepared To Jump Through Hoops
AT&T. So many issues, hidden charges, and lies. I started getting charged for TV through them, even though I'd never spoken with anyone in their company regarding television. I don't even own a television. I called them to correct it, and they said that it would be weeks before it would get straightened out.
They put me on hold for over an hour before I hung up, redialed and canceled my services entirely. AT&T is disgusting, and I'll never consider their products or services again.
I'm a sales representative for a pretty giant company—not as big as AT&T but certainly comparable—and the corporate office's number one rule when it comes to customer issues is to "resolve the issue immediately in favor of the customer regardless of fault or origin." Even if it's an error on the customer's part, we foot the bill, fix it and apologize that it happened. It's a little frustrating on my end sometimes because people game the system and abuse it, but it makes my job so much easier when we have a reputation of reliability.
I'm POSITIVE that if we had no competition, this policy would have been dropped decades ago.
#14 A Boycott We Can All Get Behind
Camel and Marlboro.
After smoking for 20 years, I finally quit cold turkey. I can now do physical activities without getting winded and haven't felt this good since I was a kid.
#13 Get Ready To Spend An Arm And A Leg
Mercedes-Benz. I bought a used Benz from a friend that was well maintained and in great shape. At some point, it needed an oil change and a belt replaced, so I took it to the same dealership where it had been serviced in the past.
For some reason, their system was saying that another dealership owned the car. I was quoted a price for the parts and the labor and was fine. A few days later, they called me and said that it was going to be more money because they quoted me wrong. It was triple the original price I was originally told!
I told the service manager about the price discrepancy and he said that there was no proof that I was ever quoted that. I told him I'd bring him the quote to him later on in the day.
I showed up at the dealership and the service manager proceeded to argue with me, saying that what I had brought to him wasn't an actual quote and that he wasn't going to honor it because the quote was based off a mistake in their computer system. He wouldn't admit it was a mistake in their part. He then proceeded to call me a liar and told me to leave.
So I left. Six months later, I bought a new car; a Subaru this time around. I sent a letter, with a picture of me and my new car enclosed, to the owner the dealership, explaining that they had lost a customer due to their disgusting service.
Four months after that, my parents were looking to buy a Mercedes and I started them in another, better direction. Again, I sent letters and pictures to the appropriate parties. I've sent four rounds of letters, steered four car purchasers to other dealerships, and I have no plans in stopping any time in the future.
#12 Is Cold Sushi Too Much To Ask For??
I placed an order on GrubHub for sushi and settled in to wait. I then got a call from someone at the restaurant where I ordered from. She told me my food was going to be another hour or hour and a half behind.
I started tracking the driver and noticed he was driving AWAY from my location. The restaurant had already informed him that I had been waiting over two hours for my food, and he still decided to deliver other people's food first. When he finally delivered my food, he told me that SIX drivers before him had refused to take my delivery!
Then, I opened my sushi to discover that it had gotten warm. I immediately contacted customer support. Not once did they apologize. They simply offered me a $10 credit.
"Well, our drivers are contractors, so they're allowed to refuse deliveries. If you'd like, I can have a manager contact you," the customer service rep told me. Don't you think it's worth incentivizing your drivers in some way so that this kind of stuff doesn't happen?
Surprise surprise, a manager never contacted me. I deleted my information, then the app, and I told people not to bother with Grubhub. They take no responsibility when something goes wrong.
#11 Bring. Back. The. Spooky.
The SciFi Channel once they rebranded to “SyFy.”
First of all, that’s just a stupid name. And second, they haven’t put out any quality science fiction television in years.
#10 An Epic Disaster From Start To Finish
Denny's. Forty minutes of waiting time for cold food, and another 20 minutes of waiting after we finished eating to get the bill. When we finally got our bills, everyone had their orders mismatched. It took 15 minutes for the manager to fix it. Some of the stuff on the ticket we didn't even get. We've switched to Waffle House ever since.
#9 Your Wallet And Entire Body Will Thank You
McDonald's. I know it has never been quality food, but at least it used to be cheaper than the other options. Two weeks ago, I stopped in and paid $8.50 for a breakfast sandwich, small orange juice, and undercooked hash brown.
At the local bagel shop, they offer better ingredients, better quality, and bigger portions, for a $1.50 less. Never again will I give them my money.
#8 Not Good For Publicity, At All
Kat Von D cosmetics lost me when she said she wouldn't vaccinate her kid.
#7 Free Rides For Everyone, Apparently
Uber.
My account got hacked, and someone got a couple of rides in Beijing (I live in the USA). I contacted support about it, and all they did was give me CREDITS. They wouldn't refund my money even after my darn account was compromised. Such a terrible company. I started using Lyft instead and haven't had any problems yet. Screw Uber.
#6 Overwhelming Marketing Is A Faux-Pas
Chevy. For shoving their "real people, not actors" advertisements down our throats for the past three years.
YouTube
#5 Company Ethics Matter
Nestle. I'm a Michigan resident and they are currently pumping an unlimited amount of water from the Great Lakes just to sell it back to the people of Michigan while doing absolutely nothing to aid with the Flint water crisis. It's detrimental to the environment and irresponsible socially. Nestle has a bad name in Michigan, currently.
#4 Girl Power—Even In The Hardware Department
ACE Hardware. I bought some copper pipe from them and didn’t get a good look at it until I got home. It was all corroded and green with built up gunk.
I called the store and talked to the owner. He immediately got defensive, saying: “You’re the ONLY person who's ever complained about my copper. I have MEN who know their stuff who EXCLUSIVELY buy their copper from me.” I assumed the emphasis on men was meant to be a jab at me for being a woman. How could a woman have an opinion on the quality of his copper???
“My product is made in America, you’re not going to find that anywhere else around here.” I told him I could physically see “Product of Mexico” stamped all over the piping.
In the end, he refused a refund.
#3 Insanely Illegal Practices Alert
Jimmy John’s.
I used to work for Jimmy John’s back in college. I needed some money and was looking for a part-time job. They had meats and bread stuck in the freezers for weeks, the people that worked there were miserable, and the job consisted mostly of just cleaning (but I'm not sure what we had to clean since there were barely any customers ever). After only two weeks, I had enough. But that’s not where my story gets interesting.
I later found a better job at Chick-Fil-A. I went back to JJ's to get my first and last checks, but they said they didn’t have it. I told the manager I never received my checks, and he said he had never even heard of my name. Befuddled, I asked, “Are you sure? You don’t remember conducting my interview and hiring me just two weeks ago?” He simply replied, “Nope.” So I called the district manager who was in charge of overseeing all of the JJ's in the area and told him what had happened.
He was nice the first few times I met him. A couple of times during those two weeks, he acted as the manager and hung around yelling orders at us, but he was kind to me in personal one-on-one conversations.
After disclosing the paycheck issue to him, he said he’d get right on it and call me when he found it. Another two weeks went by, and JJ's had still not called me back. I went to the store to follow up once again and guess who was at the front... Mr. District Manager. I asked him if he had found the paycheck to which he replied: “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
I called HR the next day INFURIATED and disclosed all the details of what had occurred. HR did not care either. They told me they never had my information on record as a previous working employee.
I do not go to Jimmy John's anymore. My friends do not go to Jimmy John's anymore. Jimmy John's is dead to me. And if you don’t believe in free labor either, let them be dead to you.
#2 So Much For That
One time, I bought a protection plan from Best Buy for a product that had apparently been discontinued. Best Buy would not honor the protection plan and since then, I have not stepped foot in a Best Buy again.
#1 Clingy Sales Associates *Cringe*
Ulta.
I love make-up and used to love shopping there, but the sales associates make me too uncomfortable to go anymore. Last time I went, I was stopped and asked if I needed help seven different times, sometimes by the same employees. Just leave me alone and let me shop.
