Do you refuse to do business with any company because of a bad experience with them?

[The Tradition]

IHG (the company that manages hotels like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza) lost my business forever. I was a member of their loyalty program and had a bad experience and stopped choosing them. The bad experience was Wi-Fi. I showed up at one of their properties and there was a sign at the desk saying "Our apologies, but our Wi-Fi isn't working right now. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Okay, shit breaks down and stuff happens.

Visited this property again about four weeks later. Same sign is still on the desk. Okay, so the Wi-Fi NEVER works there. The ability to get on the internet via the hotel Wi-Fi was pretty freaking important back then. I don't think I had a phone that created a hotspot.

So, I stopped staying at IHG hotels and started chasing loyalty status with Hilton brands.

Fast forward a few years... we had some work thing going on and we all were REQUIRED to stay at the same Holiday Inn property. Upon check-in, the clerk asked if I wanted to join the loyalty program. I thought I was already a member, but I didn't have any activity for a couple of years so maybe my account expired, and I drove all day to get there and I was tired and just wanted my freaking key card, so I just said, "Sure, whatever."

Fast forward a few weeks and I got an email from IHG stating that I violated the terms and conditions by creating a duplicate account, I was banned from the program, I forfeited all my points, and I am a terrible human being.

Dafuq?!!?

For this reason, IHG is dead to me. I would rather sleep in my car instead of in one of their properties.

Is any company on your "banned for life" list?

 

[goldmom]

I avoid businesses where I’ve had a bad experience or bought a bad product or they’ve provided a shoddy service.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Kind of a crazy story:


A few weeks back we got Culver's, on Hickman, and took it over to my parents before watching an Iowa Game. I then dropped my wife and daughter off and went back to Hyvee to grab drinks for the day. After arriving back at my parents place I ate the remaining cheeseburger my daughter or wife had not chosen, it had a metal razor in it:

I called them and told them, they apologized and said they would call me later to let me know what they were going to do, they never did. People have told me to sue them, I don't want their money, but I won't eat there again.

 

[seminoleed]

Kind of a crazy story:


A few weeks back we got Culver's, on Hickman, and took it over to my parents before watching an Iowa Game. I then dropped my wife and daughter off and went back to Hyvee to grab drinks for the day. After arriving back at my parents place I ate the remaining cheeseburger my daughter or wife had not chosen, it had a metal razor in it:

I called them and told them, they apologized and said they would call me later to let me know what they were going to do, they never did. People have told me to sue them, I don't want their money, but I won't eat there again.

You sure someone in your family didn't put it in there?

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

You sure someone in your family didn't put it in there?

I did just up the life insurance........

 

[fsu1jreed]

Now that's ban worthy

 

[The Tradition]

Kind of a crazy story:


A few weeks back we got Culver's, on Hickman, and took it over to my parents before watching an Iowa Game. I then dropped my wife and daughter off and went back to Hyvee to grab drinks for the day. After arriving back at my parents place I ate the remaining cheeseburger my daughter or wife had not chosen, it had a metal razor in it:

I called them and told them, they apologized and said they would call me later to let me know what they were going to do, they never did. People have told me to sue them, I don't want their money, but I won't eat there again.

That sucks because Culver's is freaking delicious.

I do miss the Holiday Inn Express cinnamon buns, though....

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

That sucks because Culver's is freaking delicious.

I do miss the Holiday Inn Express cinnamon buns, though....

It was my go to burger spot, in a pinch. I always liked it because I thought they were of a higher quality than say burger king...... they were.... until I bit a razor.


* I call it a razor, it appeared to have been the chisel end of one of the cleaning tools. But it really was a piece of metal that my daughter wouldn't have known anything of if she picked that one.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

tl;dr Hertz sucks and I will never use them again
—————

I was traveling on a hiking trip to Patagonia last December. When booking a car that will cross an international border between Argentina and Chile you have to talk to an agent. So I called the international line and made my reservation. The very nice woman confirmed verbally I had a reservation and sent me a confirmation email. The email was in Spanish with a confirmation # and I didn’t think to translate it.

When I showed up at the tiny airport in Patagonia the line to get a car was over 1 hour long, no Gold counter, etc, so I waited. When I got to the desk they had no record of my reservation. No problem - I gave them my confirmation number and the email I received only to learn that it was not a reservation. The agent had placed me on a wait list and apparently the email said (in Spanish) that I needed to call back a few weeks before my trip to finalize the reservation. None of which I was told my the original agent. Long story short they had no cars for me despite many hundreds of cars I have reserved from them in the past.

I took us another hour to find a shitty car from a local place. When I got back to the US I called to complain. They basically said “tough luck” - they didn’t even give me a courtesy lie that they would train the agent or improve their process to send communications in English to English speaking customers. I cancelled my membership on the spot and will never use them again. I’ve probably spent $5,000+ in rentals year to date. All of which went to a combo of Sixt, Avis, Budget and National.

 

[Bank of Hawk]

tl;dr Hertz sucks and I will never use them again
—————

I was traveling on a hiking trip to Patagonia last December. When booking a car that will cross an international border between Argentina and Chile you have to talk to an agent. So I called the international line and made my reservation. The very nice woman confirmed verbally I had a reservation and sent me a confirmation email. The email was in Spanish with a confirmation # and I didn’t think to translate it.

When I showed up at the tiny airport in Patagonia the line to get a car was over 1 hour long, no Gold counter, etc, so I waited. When I got to the desk they had no record of my reservation. No problem - I gave them my confirmation number and the email I received only to learn that it was not a reservation. The agent had placed me on a wait list and apparently the email said (in Spanish) that I needed to call back a few weeks before my trip to finalize the reservation. None of which I was told my the original agent. Long story short they had no cars for me despite many hundreds of cars I have reserved from them in the past.

I took us another hour to find a shitty car from a local place. When I got back to the US I called to complain. They basically said “tough luck” - they didn’t even give me a courtesy lie that they would train the agent or improve their process to send communications in English to English speaking customers. I cancelled my membership on the spot and will never use them again. I’ve probably spent $5,000+ in rentals year to date. All of which went to a combo of Sixt, Avis, Budget and National.

You’re screen name is the most accurate, $5,000 is a lot to spend on rental cars.

I’ve always been happy with Hertz. Had a flight cancel in NY last summer and grabbed an economy car from their lot and drove to Chicago airport to pickup my actual car. No hassle for anything and was only charged $30.

 

[The Tradition]

tl;dr Hertz sucks and I will never use them again
—————

I was traveling on a hiking trip to Patagonia last December. When booking a car that will cross an international border between Argentina and Chile you have to talk to an agent. So I called the international line and made my reservation. The very nice woman confirmed verbally I had a reservation and sent me a confirmation email. The email was in Spanish with a confirmation # and I didn’t think to translate it.

When I showed up at the tiny airport in Patagonia the line to get a car was over 1 hour long, no Gold counter, etc, so I waited. When I got to the desk they had no record of my reservation. No problem - I gave them my confirmation number and the email I received only to learn that it was not a reservation. The agent had placed me on a wait list and apparently the email said (in Spanish) that I needed to call back a few weeks before my trip to finalize the reservation. None of which I was told my the original agent. Long story short they had no cars for me despite many hundreds of cars I have reserved from them in the past.

I took us another hour to find a shitty car from a local place. When I got back to the US I called to complain. They basically said “tough luck” - they didn’t even give me a courtesy lie that they would train the agent or improve their process to send communications in English to English speaking customers. I cancelled my membership on the spot and will never use them again. I’ve probably spent $5,000+ in rentals year to date. All of which went to a combo of Sixt, Avis, Budget and National.

Budget is horrible. The website is the buggiest crap show ever (but the app is even worse). And you have to set all sorts of promo codes and partners to get the best deal and money back, like with an Amazon gift card or airline miles, but half the time you get nothing? And good luck trying to call customer service. You will wait and wait and wait until your phone eventually dies.

 

[DogBoyRy]

IHG (the company that manages hotels like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza) lost my business forever. I was a member of their loyalty program and had a bad experience and stopped choosing them. The bad experience was Wi-Fi. I showed up at one of their properties and there was a sign at the desk saying "Our apologies, but our Wi-Fi isn't working right now. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Okay, shit breaks down and stuff happens.

Visited this property again about four weeks later. Same sign is still on the desk. Okay, so the Wi-Fi NEVER works there. The ability to get on the internet via the hotel Wi-Fi was pretty freaking important back then. I don't think I had a phone that created a hotspot.

So, I stopped staying at IHG hotels and started chasing loyalty status with Hilton brands.

Fast forward a few years... we had some work thing going on and we all were REQUIRED to stay at the same Holiday Inn property. Upon check-in, the clerk asked if I wanted to join the loyalty program. I thought I was already a member, but I didn't have any activity for a couple of years so maybe my account expired, and I drove all day to get there and I was tired and just wanted my freaking key card, so I just said, "Sure, whatever."

Fast forward a few weeks and I got an email from IHG stating that I violated the terms and conditions by creating a duplicate account, I was banned from the program, I forfeited all my points, and I am a terrible human being.

Dafuq?!!?

For this reason, IHG is dead to me. I would rather sleep in my car instead of in one of their properties.

Is any company on your "banned for life" list?

Unless it’s extremely convenient I avoid american airlines and a holiday inn brands.

 

[JMNSHO]

MUSICIANS FRIEND/GUITAR CENTER

I bought a Fender Princeton Reverb guitar amp from them a few years ago. It cost about $1200. I needed it for a recording session and it arrived with non functional amp tremolo. It was very close to studio time and I wasn’t able to count on the return to come through in time, so I took the sales person’s advice and put a second amp on a CC with the plan to return the first one when the second one arrived.

That’s exactly what I did.

The refund never came through.

The debit card I initially used, expired in the midst of the transactions, and they refunded the expired card. At least that’s my best guess as to what happened; they had no clue and didn’t care.

Several dozen hours of phone calls and emails yielded no satisfaction. No help from the local bank, credit processing bureau, etc.

I paid for 2 amps and got 1.

Don’t buy from Musicians Friend or Guitar Center.

 

[joelbc1]

Never have bought a Firestone rubber product since they busted the local union 40+ years ago…don’t use Bridgestone golf balls, either…
I have bought 2 or 3 automobiles conditioned on the fact that the Firestone / Bridgestone tires had to be removed and replaced with any other brand of equal value. Dealers are happy to do this.

 

[goldmom]

I had a great experience with Budget at the Salt Lake Airport. We had rented a compact car but the guy at the counter saw we were from Jacksonville and he was from FL too - so he upgraded us for free to a big 4 wheel drive Nissan SUV which was great when we went all over Utah and Wyoming.

 

[Scruddy]

Mazda

 

[McLovin32]

IHG (the company that manages hotels like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza) lost my business forever. I was a member of their loyalty program and had a bad experience and stopped choosing them. The bad experience was Wi-Fi. I showed up at one of their properties and there was a sign at the desk saying "Our apologies, but our Wi-Fi isn't working right now. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Okay, shit breaks down and stuff happens.

Visited this property again about four weeks later. Same sign is still on the desk. Okay, so the Wi-Fi NEVER works there. The ability to get on the internet via the hotel Wi-Fi was pretty freaking important back then. I don't think I had a phone that created a hotspot.

So, I stopped staying at IHG hotels and started chasing loyalty status with Hilton brands.

Fast forward a few years... we had some work thing going on and we all were REQUIRED to stay at the same Holiday Inn property. Upon check-in, the clerk asked if I wanted to join the loyalty program. I thought I was already a member, but I didn't have any activity for a couple of years so maybe my account expired, and I drove all day to get there and I was tired and just wanted my freaking key card, so I just said, "Sure, whatever."

Fast forward a few weeks and I got an email from IHG stating that I violated the terms and conditions by creating a duplicate account, I was banned from the program, I forfeited all my points, and I am a terrible human being.

Dafuq?!!?

For this reason, IHG is dead to me. I would rather sleep in my car instead of in one of their properties.

Is any company on your "banned for life" list?

You shouldn't have violated the terms and conditions, brah

 

[The Tradition]

I had a great experience with Budget at the Salt Lake Airport. We had rented a compact car but the guy at the counter saw we were from Jacksonville and he was from FL too - so he upgraded us for free to a big 4 wheel drive Nissan SUV which was great when we went all over Utah and Wyoming.

Now I always get an upgrade from them, but that really doesn't make up for all the other crap.

 

[ButtersHawk]

Subway. I got a nasty case of food poisoning from them. Haven't ate there in 10+ years. My fear of them was so bad that if a WalMart had Subway in their store I actively had to use the opposite entrance because just the smell one time made me vomit in the bathrooms.

 

[The Tradition]

Mazda

Explain. Mrs. Tradition and I both drive Mazdas. They're really good cars.

 

[Scruddy]

Explain. Mrs. Tradition and I both drive Mazdas. They're really good cars.

I just got one of the lemons and Mazda absolutely f'd me on the issue. My mom had the same car actually and had zero issues with it. I don't think that negatively of them as a brand in general but won't give them any more of my money bc of that issue and the customer service that went with it.

 

[The Tradition]

The founder of the company I work for basically only drank Miller Lite.

He would bring everyone together at the Miller's Ale House for a team dinner the night before the monthly corporate meetings every month.

One night, he ordered a bucket of Miller Lite in the bottle and the waiter told him that they were out of Miller Lite. The boss told this poor guy, "There's a Publix across the street. They have Miller Lite. Go over there and get some. I'll make it worth your while."

The waiter refused.

That was the last time we ever had a team dinner at Miller's Ale House.

 

[seminoleed]

Subway. I got a nasty case of food poisoning from them. Haven't ate there in 10+ years. My fear of them was so bad that if a WalMart had Subway in their store I actively had to use the opposite entrance because just the smell one time made me vomit in the bathrooms.

Same with Wendy's for me.

 

[desihawk]

Amica insurance
I was with them for 10 or so years for auto and home until price checked to find i was paying double, so when coverage expired (this was for auto) i didn’t renew and switched to another company. 3 months later amica bills me (for the 3 mos post coverage expiry). when i told them i’d switched the dicks wanted proof. when i sent rhem proof they wanted to know what i was paying. i told them to shove it. they actually sent it to collections. i wrote to the regulator body (forget which one) and it was taken care of but i was left disgusted by what until then i had considered to be a very respectable organization. i switched out home ins also.