Have you ever boycotted a business, and why?

In My Humble Opinion
101

Blockbuster Video

Back in the mid-90s, I used to rent movies from them every few weeks or so. I would usually drop off the movies in their drop box, often a few days late. Then I’d pay the late fee the next time I was in the store to rent something. I did this for years.

Then one day I got a very rude letter from somewhere deep in the bowels of their corporation demanding that I pay my outstanding late fee, of just a few weeks ago, immediately, and threatening me with all sorts of consequences if I did not do so. I would have been fine with a stern letter reminding me of my small outstanding debt, but this missive was just nasty. If it didn’t open with “Dear Deadbeat,” it might as well have.

So, after years of being a regular customer and a rather lucrative source of very profitable late fees, I took the letter, my Blockbuster card, and a few dollars in cash down to the store, and handed them to the sheepish clerk behind the counter. That was the last time I’ve stood in front of a Blockbuster clerk.

Go, Netflix!

102

[QUOTE=ianzin]

First and foremost, British Airways. I’m lucky enough to travel a lot. I’m not very fussy about airlines, because in my experience they are all kind of the same. When it comes to booking flights, I tend to just go online, punch in the destination and see who is offering the best deal. My one and only rule is: not British Airways.

This company, and everyone who works for it, simply could not care less about customer satisfaction or any related concept. They just want to get your money, and after that you’re on your own. They have been caught and prosecuted for their ‘dirty tricks’ campaign against Branson’s Virgin airline. They don’t care if they run out of half the meal options on a flight so that you get no choice. They don’t care if they promise great in-flight entertainemnt and then, on the day you actually board the plane, the system is ‘out of order’ and there’s no entertainment system. They don’t care if they tell you to use the automated check-in system and then, when you try to, you find it doesn’t work. They just don’t care, end of story. If you want to be treated with contempt, with utter and complete indifference, then book your flights with BA and you’ll see how it feels.

More than any other company I know, BA are perfectly happy with a business model that says ‘Take the money, cut corners and then just get by on insincere apologies’. Here’s a typical BA experience. ‘The check-in system is out of order today, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause’. ‘Your flight will be delayed by 9 hours, we apologise for any inconvenience’. ‘We were offering chicken or pasta, but we’ve run out of chicken so, sorry, there’s no choice’. ‘There is a technical problem with the in-flight entertainment, we apologise for any inconvenience’. ‘We were unable to put your luggage on this flight, so it will follow on a later flight about 12 hours from now. We apologise for any inconvenience’.

I will never, ever give this mendacious, indifferent, disagraceful organisation another penny if I can help it. In the airline business, there are so many other players who at least seem to make an effort and who gets things right more often than not, and who deserve my money more than BA.

[/QUOTE]

The worst of it is that up until maybe ten years ago, BA was probably the best airline in the world. Then they embarked on a bunch of cost-cutting and outsourced practically everything, and now, well…

They went from being the best airline in the world to the worst. Gee, thanks, management.

103

My grandfather was one of the first people to use a car to commute to work. It was a Model T Ford.

The Model T is known for its “idiosyncracies” (to put the best face on it), and my grandfather swore at that car and swore at that car and swore he’d never buy another Ford again as long as he lived.

And he never bought another Ford, and my dad never bought a Ford, and, well, I broke the family tradition when I bought a used Mustang as a parts car. It had a cracked block. :rolleyes: So now I’m back to not buying Fords. :smiley:
I also boycott Citibank, who are nickel-and-diming scum, and Frye’s, who flat-out lied to my wife about a display-model DVD player she bought and then wouldn’t make it right.

104

Capital One. I got credit card offers from them twice a week every week for almost 2 years before I got fed up and called to ask them to stop. Seriously, twice a week? If I didn’t want it the first 140 times why would I want it the 141st? Also the have shady credit reporting practices.

105

[QUOTE=longhair75]
a couple of thread below this one is the thread discussing the Chevy Volt Hybrid.

I owned a 1979 Chevy Malibu that I bought new. Well, I thought, one lemon does not mean the whole company product line is bad, so when I got a chance to buy a used 1985 S-10 blazer, I thought I would give Chevy one more chance.

I have been boycotting Chevy ever since
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I feel your pain. I bought a Vega. That is a long sad story. Warped block,busted suspension etc etc etc.

106

[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
A local Barnes & Noble. I was there one freezing cold day, looking my Sunday freezing cold best, and twice they told me I could not leave my homeless person’s cart in their vestible.
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I’m sorry, but that’s hilarious! Appalling, but still funny. :slight_smile:

For me . . .

I say “no” to Wal-Mart for reasons already given.

I don’t shop at Safeway. (U.S. grocery store chain.) A few years ago when I was a little old lady of about 30, they started having their cashiers call the customers by their first names. So if I gave them my ATM card or wrote a check, when they were done they would say very cheerily “Thanks, Jodi!”

This really rubbed me the wrong way. I’m not calling you by your name, Ms. Cashier, even though I can see from your nametag it’s “Misti,” and I think we both know we ain’t friends. So I grabbed a comment card and put something like “don’t call me by my first name, it presumes a familiarity we don’t have and comes across as really fake. And if it bugs me at my relatively young age I can only imagine how it goes over with your more elderly customers.”

They sent me back a letter that said “We’ve started calling customers by their first names because market research indicates it’s friendly and the customers like it. If you don’t like it, then pay cash and we won’t know what your name is.” Or, I thought to myself, I can take my ATM card and my business over to Albertson’s.

I can’t say I’ve literally never been back, but I do make a point not to shop at Safeway if I can help it. The funny thing is that they very shortly thereafter discontinued that ridiculous policy because they found that customers did not like it, and also that the cashiers did not like it. Specifically, the young female cashiers found they were being hit on by male customers who certainly did find them extra friendly. They told the cashiers they didn’t have to do it any more because it was inviting harrassing behaviors. (So I am told by the daughter of an acquaintance who was a checker there back then.)

107

My husband and I used to go to an antique mall not so far from our house, and we’ve spent not a few hundred dollars there. Once we came across a chair we thought we might want to buy, and we decided to take a picture of it so we could think about it. A manager came over and told us no photography was allowed. We left and haven’t been back.

108

I boycott Chick-fil-a for reasons already mentioned.

I boycott Allstate because they completely dropped my father’s insurance coverage when he purchased a motorcycle shortly after graduating from college.

Kroger is also on my boycott list because of their support of FLOC’s boycott of the Mount Olive Pickle Company. (This may not really count, though – I won’t go in a Kroger anyway because their stores are worse/nastier than Food Lion.)

I wish I could boycott Best Buy after the way I was treated by the douchebags in the car audio department at their Crabtree Valley Mall location, but the alternatives in my area (Circuit City and HH Gregg) are pathetic.

109

The City of Berkeley, CA

It’s literally a college town – the University of California was there first, and the city grew up around it. I went to school there, love my alma mater, and am crazy fanatical about its football team.

The city *hates *the University. They hate that it draws people into their pristine environment…with their cars! :eek:

And so the city started a lawsuit to block the long-overdue and desperately-needed upgrades to the university’s football facilities.

I think if enough football fans come in and out of town on game days without depositing a cent into the city’s coffers, the city’s business might slap their representatives upside the head and ask them to stop worrying about foreign policy and pay attention to business.

110

I am boycotting a whole shopping center. See, in Charlottesville VA they decided to build a shopping center on top of Pantops mountain, on the East end of the city. What should have been left in it’s natural state or at least made into a park is now a big expanse of asphalt and buildings. They won’t see any of my business.

111

[QUOTE=The Them]
Heaven can’t help you if you eat whatever it is they’re calling “food”. I wouldn’t take any of that shit if it was free.
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Except for the store brands, they have the same grocery items as any other market or grocery store, so this seems a strange thing to say.

112

[QUOTE=Jodi]
I’m sorry, but that’s hilarious! Appalling, but still funny. :slight_smile:

For me . . .

I say “no” to Wal-Mart for reasons already given.

I don’t shop at Safeway. (U.S. grocery store chain.) A few years ago when I was a little old lady of about 30, they started having their cashiers call the customers by their first names. So if I gave them my ATM card or wrote a check, when they were done they would say very cheerily “Thanks, Jodi!”

This really rubbed me the wrong way. I’m not calling you by your name, Ms. Cashier, even though I can see from your nametag it’s “Misti,” and I think we both know we ain’t friends. …
[/QUOTE]

This! THIS! Sweet Jesus, does this get in my craw! (And, shit, I’m only 38!) It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one. What you say they told you, that stuff about “it’s more friendly, blah-blah-blah,” I’d already figured out on my own, but I simply can’t stand it. Then, again, coming from a Southern family, how could I? :wink:

I’ve been known to ask phone reps to please address me as “Mr. Pluck”, and NOT “Li’l” when they’ve taken liberties with my name. So far, they’ve been okay with it. A little taken aback sometimes, mind you (and I don’t blame them, but their training), but in the main, okay with it.

Of course, I’ve also asked reps, clerks, et al., when I don’t know their last names (or when their name tags don’t indicate as much, or when it’s not possible for me to ask their surnames), to please address me as “Li’l”, depending on the situation (and my mood and “X” other factors). After all, it kind of icks me out to have this imbalance going on, y’know?

113

Not technically a boycott, but there’s a local marine store that I wouldn’t buy a boat from if the forecast were rain for 40 days and nights because of their commercials. I did tell them as much when all the local boats dealerships had reps at a boat show at the mall.

The same reasoning applies to a local tire dealership. I’ll carve something out of stone first.

Actual boycotts.

Sony for the rootkit.

Just added Circuit City for the reasons mentioned. Moot at this point as we only have Best Buy right now, but I expect one within five years.

Would like to boycott Microsoft, but considering my line of work that would benefit me as much as boycotting oxygen.

114

As stated in another thread, I boycott my local Chevron station because they topped their gas pumps with those accursed television monitors which are nothing but a commercial-delivery scheme. I HATE the loud, yammering things with a passion and haven’t returned to this station even though it’s the most convenient one in my town. I’ve e-mailed my complaint in to them but haven’t received a reply, of course.