# Businesses you'll never patronize again -- and why **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776 "2002-07-07T14:41:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/101 "2002-07-11T12:22:20Z")
One resturant chain I’ll never go to is perkins , Ick the waitress acted like we were dirt and she didnt want to serve us … the kids menu tasted like the food was trucked in from the grade school cafeteria In fact theres a whole thread based on how suck this place is ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/102 "2002-07-11T21:22:59Z")
Radio Shack. Here it is staffed with condescending young men who spend a lot of time trying to sell you things vastly unrelated to what you’re there for. The final time I went in I selected a cordless phone battery: “Are you sure that’s the right one?” Yes, it’s Southwestern Bell, etc. (I had already spent some time in the past figuring out which battery was correct). “I hope you’re sure, Southwestern Bell makes more than one” (no shit). So I realize I can’t get away from this guy so I ask about my next item. I’m moving into an apartment with the old telephone cords (the round ones with the colored cords inside) and I need something that will convert that to a jack to plug in a new cord. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean…I can’t recommend that you try to do that…(my explanation again)…I guess I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” So I put back the battery, walked out and got the little converter box from Kmart for $1.50. I was tempted to go back in and educate him on what I was talking about, but I couldn’t bring myself to ever go back in there. And on the restaurants with cut up books: I’m in a college town where there is the usual pub-type restaurant, dark wood, leather, etc… with shelves of books covering all the walls. One day I pulled one out as I was interested in it, only to realize they had all been trimmed vertically to fit into the narrow shelves. A real heartbreaker. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/103 "2002-07-11T22:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gigi \* > \*\*And on the restaurants with cut up books: I’m in a college town where there is the usual pub-type restaurant, dark wood, leather, etc… with shelves of books covering all the walls. One day I pulled one out as I was interested in it, only to realize they had all been trimmed vertically to fit into the narrow shelves. A real heartbreaker. \*\* One of our college bars was called “the Library.” Funny joke – if your parents called, your roommate could say, “He’s at the library,” ha ha ha. Anyway, the Library DID have bookshelves with real, unmolested old hardcover books. One night we pulled out one of those books, titled “The Prince of Foxes,” just as the movie version of “The Prince of Foxes” was starting up on the bigscreen TV. \ **Myron,** that was Wautoma. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/104 "2002-07-11T23:49:36Z")
**Sublight** - your tale reminds me of **Hollytron** , a consumer electronics store in Westminster CA (don’t know if they are a chain or not, and don’t really care). I went in there about ten years ago to buy a CD player. None of the many salesmen, all of whom were Asians, asked me if I needed any assistance. At first I attributed this to the store being busy, which it was. However, it seemed that everytime someone at Asian ancestry would come into the store, the salesmen would immediately go up to this new person and ask if they needed help. I stood there at least fifteen minutes watching this go on, pointedly standing there, looking at CD players, and feeling like Rosa Parks at the Southern lunch counter. I even pulled out my wallet and started to ostentatiously count out twenty-dollar bills. No reaction. “That’s it,” I thought, “if the color of my money ain’t good enough for them, I’m leaving.” Haven’t been back since. (And they say _white_ people are racist. Sheesh.) **elf6c** – **Best Buy** deserves contempt for an incident with a VCR I bought from them a few years back. I had a warranty on it, had the receipt with all the info. Now, mind you, my toddler, CaptMurdock Jr., was at time in the habit of putting things like coins into various slots (including, I found out as you will see, the VCR, and also the floppy drive of my computer), and I would not expect Best Buy’s warranty to cover _fixing_ this problem. Okay. So, not knowing that a quarter shorted out my VCR, only knowing my VCR is not working, I take it to Best Buy. They assure me that inspection and repairs are covered under warranty. Fine. A few days later, they call me up to tell my I can pick up my VCR. Not that it’s fixed, just that I can pick it up. When I get there, the guy tells me that they found a quarter had shorted the VCR out, and they could not repair that for free under the warranty. I shrug, realizing that their position on this is reasonable, and prepare to take my still-broken VCR off their hands, no harm no foul, and see if my brother, Mechanical Genius, can fix it himself. At this point, the BB clerk tells me that I have to pay $140 dollars for “service.” “What service?” say I. “You didn’t fix anything!” “We still had to open it up,” BB Guy says. “But that’s covered by warranty!” I counter. “The problem was caused by something that our warranty doesn’t cover,” he replies. “But you had to open up the VCR to find that out! Now you’re charging me?” After about five minutes in this vein, I told him what he could do with the VCR and stormed out, never to return. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/105 "2004-04-30T17:17:51Z")
> [@Jackknifed Juggernaut](#): > > I recently went back to Subway for the 1st time in 5 years. This is because they refused to cut the bread for my sandwich right down the middle. It was store policy to cut the bread in a canoe-like fashion. I went to three different stores and they all refused. I said: “But Blimpie’s cuts it the way I want.” The manager’s reply: “Well then go to Blimpie’s.” > > Finally, they’ve seen the error of their ways. Yeah, they do it that way now because it doesn’t take as long, and there is more “room” in the sandwich to put the toppings. I _hate_ people who want their bread cut “the old way”. There is a special place in hell for those bastards. I wasn’t even working at Subway when they did it that way! And **Francesca** , you should check out American Apparel. They sell affordable, simple, flattering, comfortable clothes that are guaranteed to be sweatshop-free. [Note: I am not an employee of AA, just a very happy customer]. I have a long torso and a bit of a spare tire, and it’s hard to find t-shirts/tank tops that I don’t hang out of. These guys fit the bill. Back on topic: I will never, ever patronize any **Pantorama** , **UR2B** , **1850** or **Original Levis Store**. Detailed grievances can be found [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=200858). Not to mention that the salespeople are too pushy and the clothes are usually ugly and mostly overpriced. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/106 "2004-04-30T17:43:02Z")
Nah, you don’t really _hate_ them. Why’d you bump this thread? ---
**Author:** ![htns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@htns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/htns)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/107 "2004-04-30T18:44:12Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Likewise, I refuse to eat at Cracker Barrel because they refuse to hire gays and lesbians because “This is a ‘family oriented’ business.” Not true anymore. Check it out: [http://www.gfn.com/news/story.phtml?sid=12667](http://www.gfn.com/news/story.phtml?sid=12667) Good on Cracker Barrel! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/108 "2004-04-30T19:13:02Z")
Exxon, because of the _Valdez_. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/109 "2004-04-30T19:58:25Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > The pet crematory whose owner yelled and cursed at me while slamming the box containing my pet’s ashes onto the desk When my sister-in-law died, the guy at the cemetery reminded us all of a really cheesy used-car salesman. He was rushing us, listening in on the family discussions, hitting on my niece, and doing the whole “Disco Tony” thing ( 🆒 )with the gold chains and chewing gum. We reported him and he was fired (we weren’t the only ones who complained). But we have to frequent the establishment, as my husband’s entire family is buried there and the live members of the family like to hang out with the dead ones. A lot. :eek: But we continually have to bitch them out for not cleaning up the graves and just generally not caring much about the dead folks. (For the record, my husband and I only go for “send-offs”. Once they’re in, we don’t go back). ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/110 "2004-04-30T20:13:00Z")
> [@Fifteen Iguana](#): > > … The next day my wife spoke to the claims adjuster from the other drivers company who told her the driver had told HIM that my wife hit the car in front BEFORE being hit from behind. Was that correct? > > My wife said like hell it was. Then she called the other driver to give her a piece of her mind. Of course, it turned out the second driver hadn’t said anything of the kind. The claims adjuster was hoping my wife would be confused enough to agree and let them out of paying for the damage to the front bumper. … Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute. Is that a well-known insurance adjuster scam? Because the VERY SAME thing happened to me in 1996! I had the same reaction as your wife, but the adjuster immediately backed down and said she must have had me confused with another case. Gah, I can’t believe I’m getting so pissed that someone might have tried to take advantage of me nearly ten years ago. But damn, that’s sneaky. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/111 "2004-04-30T20:19:47Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by racer72_ I boycotted McDonalds after getting shitty service and still frozen Filet-O-fish sandwiches once. When complaining to the manager got me no where, I tossed one of the sandwiches (without wrapper) at the menu. The top of the bun stuck to the menu because of the tartar sauce, the fish fell on top of the soda dispencer and the bottom landed on a tray that an employee was carrying. It was at least 10 years before I patronized a McDonalds again. Y’know, the thing that really interested me most about this story is that in the other stores **racer72** had problems with, he/she complained, then went to a different place to spend his/her money. Only in McDonalds did he/she resort to a throwing-things tantrum. I wish I knew why. By the way, McDonalds is the place I avoid, because I worked there. You really shouldn’t eat that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/112 "2004-04-30T20:28:26Z")
The Barnes & Nobel Bookstore on 18th St in NYC. Years ago I went in on a cold Sunday, dressed in my cold Sunday layered "I don’t give a shit’ outfit. Some bag lady left her shopping cart between the outer and inner glass doors, and they told me to move “my” cart. I told them it was not my cart. Next thing I know, the manager is telling me “You have to move your cart.” Very blatant something-ism. Just because I’m dressed like a bag lady, don’t assume I am one. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/113 "2004-04-30T22:43:52Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > Nah, you don’t really _hate_ them. > > Why’d you bump this thread? Oh yes I do. Every time somebody asks me to do it that way, I have a little mini-tantrum in my head. And I bumped it because it was linked to a thread in the Pit, and I didn’t notice the dates until after I’d posted. It was about 4 AM. I am embarassed about it now, though. :o ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/114 "2004-04-30T22:49:44Z")
Blockbusters, for the reasons listed by others in this thread (edited movies, poor selection, etc). Also, the last time I tried to rent a movie there, they claimed that I had $18 in late fees for renting The Count of Monte Cristo, a movie that I rented from Netflix, NOT Blockbuster (I checked my netflix account - I only rented the movie once). When I explained to the cashier that I had never rented that movie, he basically took the attitude that “well, its’ in the computer, so it must be right, and you’re either lying or stupid.” I’m also the only person on the account, so it’s not possible that somebody else rented it and returned it late. Finally, when he realized that I was not going to change my story, he offered to change the fee to $15. Dude, I can still go out and buy the movie for that much! I left, leaving the movies I was going to rent on the counter, and haven’t been back since. They’re overpriced anyhow. Later, I was informed by a friend who used to work at a different Blockbuster that employees sometimes rented movies on accounts that are rarely used, and return them late because they figure the customers won’t notice, or at least won’t pay if they do. Nice, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/115 "2004-04-30T23:06:21Z")
I’m amazed at the number of other posts I agree. Oh, me? It’s not a company but a product. You better sit down first. **Girl Scout Cookies!!** Specifically the Thin Mints, but I won’t buy any cookies from them. It’s been years since the last time I had them and got food poisoning from them. I relented and tried them again a few years later but the quality was gone. No chocolately minty taste, bad cookie crumbs, the lot. What reminds me most about Girl Scout Cookies are any of the Arnotts Biscuits while I was in Australia. Australia does many things much better than the US, but when it comes to cookies, they suck big time. Arnotts definitely are not on my list. I see Costco now sells them in the US, now that Campbells Soup bought them out. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/116 "2004-05-01T01:07:14Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > And the guy started laughing and making fun of me. I said, “I thought this had an unconditional guarantee.” He said, “not if it’s _open_!” Well, duh. How am I going to know if I like it until I open it? So we started walking out, and the guy and his henchmen started yelling after us, “I’ll bet you like that Behr paint they sell at Home Depot! You probably think that’s good paint! You don’t know anything about paint!” You’re a nicer person than I am. I would have said, “But this paint’s no good. Here, look…”… popped the can open, and dumped it. Preferably on the far side of the counter. …and then remarked, “Well, it’s no good to me. You can keep it,” and left. I pretty much avoid McDonalds. Between the infamous Coffee Lawsuit and that colossal bit of inspired stupidity that involved hounding a buncha British college students to the dogs and back, a decade or so ago, these people are plainly so rich and so wildly out of touch with humanity that they certainly don’t need any of my money. That, and the words “statistically insignificant” in the Coffee Lawsuit bothered me. It was demonstrated in that lawsuit that McDonald’s coffee was served at temperatures that could cause third degree burns… but they testified during the case that they felt the number of people injured every year by their coffee was “statistically insignificant.” …and ever since, I’ve wondered what would happen if it turned out there was some sort of weird contaminant in their food that could kill one out of every thousand people who ate it. Would they stop serving that particular kind of food? Or would that one-tenth of one percent be “statistically insignificant?” Any company that makes decisions like that does not need MY business. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/117 "2004-05-01T05:35:13Z")
**State Farm**. Out of all the car wreck cases I’ve worked on over the years (as a legal secretary), they are the #1 insurance company as far as trying to screw people over. They get sued for bad faith all the time because they won’t pay up when there’s a wreck: doesn’t matter if you’re their customer or if their customer hit you; they’re gonna dick ya, or try to. I’d go with friggin’ Geico before I’d do business with State Farm. They’re overpriced and they suck, suck, suck. I hope my rage is coming across. **Quiznos**. That commercial with that guy nursing from a wolf just totally turned me off. **Burger King**. Got food poisoning from them once, and besides their food sucks. ---
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/118 "2004-05-01T17:54:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t go to Circle K convenience stores because they refused to pay for insured employees to have treatment for AIDs because “it was their fault because of their lifestyle”. Hence the nickname…Circle KKK. It was a lifestyle choice to be a hemophiliac and receive a tainted transfusion? ---
**Author:** ![Tower\_Dweller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tower\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tower_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/119 "2004-05-01T19:33:07Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Huh? > > So if his wife was in the car he could have bought the booze but not since she was standing next to him. > > Would he have been able to buy the booze if he has a 6 month old infant with him? > > Making _both_ of them have ID was completely fucking ridiculous. Clearly the employees were too stupid or stoned to understand the rules. > > Haj No, I’ve seen this before, and it seems to be store policy. When I first turned 21 my senior year of college, I would go to Krogers to buy alcohol for myself and my girlfriend. They wouldn’t sell it to me unless she was also 21. Yeah, I was buying for an underage drinker, but she was 20. Whatever. Plus there’s nothing to say I was buying it for her. The solution? My girlfriend got to sit in my car in a dark parking lot at 10pm just so I could buy a couple of wine coolers. I’m glad Krogers is keeping my priorities straight. The irony? In Virginia you can only buy hard liquer in state-run ABC stores. The ABC store managers (state employees!) only check the IDs of the people actually buying liquer. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776/120 "2004-05-02T12:30:10Z")
Just don’t ever patronize The Toy Store, here in Topeka, Kansas. About seven years ago, when my first nephew was three, I went there to look around. Aunt Baker was looking for a birthday present, but I guess I diddn’t look upscale enough. I’d just got off work after a long day and was sort of scruffy looking. Spent a while looking around the shop and was not greeted once, although better dressed customers were. I left without buying. I wrote them a letter and got an apologetic letter from the manager promising to do better, how they would use my complaint in training sessions, yada, yada. So about three weeks after that I return. Was careful to dress the same way, same time of day and week and so on. Got the same ignoring too. This time I called and the manager repeated the apology, asking me to return. I didn’t. I didn’t want special treatment, just equal treatment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/businesses-youll-never-patronize-again-and-why/117776.md?page=7)