Establishments you wont frequent again

[Stravinsk]

Pretty straightforward. Name a business (as specific or non-specific as you like) you'll never go to again and why -

For me, a few that come to mind...

1. A local bakery. I went in looking for a simple loaf of wholewheat bread. Upon entering the store there was no one at the counter, the shelves were 90% bare and the only thing the person had for sale in terms of a bread loaf was some Vienna white bread. This was the middle of the afternoon.

2. A local pizza place. I don't eat animal products anymore and it's not worth it for that reason alone, but even back when I did 1 pizza put me off. I had ordered before quite a few times and it was fine. However, this time when I opened the pizza substancial sections of it were burnt. You could see it and it was obvious.
If it were just an employee, I might have complained. But I know (at least, on a casual basis) the guy who owns it and runs it. He's at the front making and serving and he sees the pizzas as they're boxed.
What's the point of complaining? Someone willing to serve me a visably burnt pizza is someone who has lost touch with quality of their trade. It's stuff like this that makes one wonder about other aspects of the food or preparation of it. Enough to not order from there again.



3. A former employer. Not that I'd ever be a regular customer because I don't live near it, but as long as a certain person manages the place I'm not the least bit interested in spending any money there.

 

[Lamb]

There is a Mexican restaurant where I used to live that wouldn't do separate checks for my group and didn't bother to notify me of their policy when I made the reservation so I won't be returning. There are plenty of other Mexican restaurants in that area who are willing to please the customer

 

[psalms 91]

Longhorn Steakhouse, worst prime rib I have ever been served. Conplained online and never even got a response, will not recommned it or ever eat there again. The prime rib was full of gristle and fat and was very bad

 

[tango]

I boycotted a local gas station for a couple of years until it closed. Usually I bought my morning newspaper from them as I walked to the station. It was frequently tedious to buy it from them, you'd often see one till open with a few people waiting to pay while another person stood at the other till but not opening it. One morning I was stood at the front, waiting to pay, while the two of them chatted. In the end I just said to the guy I needed to get to work that morning, gave him a coin enough to cover the paper and told him to ring it in whenever he could be bothered.

The last straw was the time I went to try and go inside with my newspaper so I could pay for it. The door was locked. The member of staff shouted "eh... closed" across the forecourt. On the inside of the door was a big sign "OPEN 24 HOURS". So I dropped the newspaper at my feet and never went back for anything. That gas station is long gone and replaced with an apartment block.

In looking for a different place to get my morning newspaper I found a newsagent run by a really friendly Sri Lankan guy who sold a wide selection of Asian groceries. Even when I stopped buying a morning newspaper I continued to shop at his store - he was a really nice guy.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

"The Yellow Deli"

I'd never been in, but I'd gone past it a ton of times. It always seemed to be busy, and it's the only 24-hour place in town. So I went. Food was okay, but something struck me as a bit strange. The guys working there looked like a bunch of brothers, Amish or some branch of Mennonite. Idk, the 'vibe' was just a bit weird.
Come to find out that there are "Yellow Deli's" across the U.S. and Canada run by these communities calling themselves the Twelve Tribes

They look happy on their web-page, but these guys were just strange. And the food really wasn't that great.

Another local place - "Jim's Pizza". :dead1:

 

[NewCreation435]

China King, a restaurant in my area I won't go to again. The food didn't taste good and it wasn't a clean place.

Visionworks, a eye doctor's office near me because they overcharged me about $80 and didn't refund my money for months even after I complained.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

I forgot about our local Canadian Tire. The guy running the repair shop has the personality of a wet mop, unless you're a female, then you get the wet mop 'deluxe' treatment because you obviously don't know what you're talking about. But you need the wrong battery installed? They've got you covered! Want to pay your bill? Wait for the wet mop to finish chatting with the lady in front of you about nothing to do with her car or any discernible repair job at all.

The store in general is set up to confuse. Need a snow shovel during a snowstorm? Good luck. It's hiding on a wall behind the Christmas decorations. And the window scrapers/brushes? Next to the cash registers behind a display. Need a screwdriver? Next to sporting equipment at the back. Plumbing? Also at the back near the cleaning supplies. Coffee makers? Front and center by the cookware.

 

[Albion]

Before I got to the numbered examples in the OP, I thought we were going for corporations like Target, Starbucks, and Hobby Lobby (to name a few that have been the objects of widespread boycotts started in opposition to some politicized policy announced by management).

 

[Stravinsk]

Before I got to the numbered examples in the OP, I thought we were going for corporations like Target, Starbucks, and Hobby Lobby (to name a few that have been the objects of widespread boycotts started in opposition to some politicized policy announced by management).

The parameters of the thread include all business types, including public corporations but not limited to them. The only stated condition being that one was once a customer, but has made a conscious decision not to be at a specific establishment or chain.

 

[Stravinsk]

A local mechanic. Reason - my car spent over a week in the shop without getting fixed while the mechanic tried this or that (or said he did) and was charging me for his time. At the end of it he didn't even fix the problem but still wanted to get paid. I wound up taking my car to someone else.

The solution wasn't obvious for my particular car, but he could have gotten it easily enough had he made just a few inquires, as I was later told by a friend of mine who is a mechanic.

 

[hotrhymez]

Dicks Sporting Goods..i heard they dont sell guns anymore.

 

[tango]

Dicks Sporting Goods..i heard they dont sell guns anymore.

I can't say I ever cared much for Dick's - I bought a couple of water bottles there maybe three or four years ago. The bottles were all well and good but despite the fact they seemed to have a huge range of stuff there they also didn't seem to have much of anything that was of any great interest to me.

 

[tango]

I wouldn't call it an absolute boycott but I typically stay away from places like Charbucks and Dunkin Donuts unless it's really socially unavoidable. Charbucks because just about everything they sell is of low quality and way overpriced and Dunkin Donuts because although their prices aren't silly like Charbucks I'm just not a big fan of buying coffee and donuts from a place that's so obviously little more than something out of a corporate cookie cutter.

In a situation where I'm trying to meet someone for a coffee and there really is no other option I will occasionally suck it up and deal with either of them. That said the last time I set foot in a Dunkin Donuts was maybe three years ago and I honestly don't remember the last time I was in a Charbucks.

McDonalds, on the other hand, is a place I absolutely refuse to eat. The combination of utterly undesirable "food", staff that often seem incapable of processing anything other than exactly what it says on the button on their till and a generally unpleasant experience there overall means I will probably never set foot in McDonalds again. Last time I ate there was a little over 2 years ago - I was out early and needed breakfast, and McDonalds was the only option for miles. Having experienced their sorry excuse for food for the last time, now I'd rather be hungry than eat anything from there.

 

[Albion]

Dicks Sporting Goods..i heard they dont sell guns anymore.

I think that's right--or at least certain types of guns.

A great opportunity for the owner to play the role. Dick's wasn't especially moved by the last three or four school shootings, but maybe the chance to get on TV and act like he was being so very ethical this time was too good to pass up.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

Tim Hortons!
Donuts are shipped in frozen (much like Dunkin' Donuts), the coffee is incredibly scalding, and they are perpetually "out of" whatever I want to eat. Breakfast sandwiches are served cold, their "dark roast" is the same as their light roast - thin and bland. If I want a "dark roast" at Tim's I'll need an espresso shot in it for another $1.50.
Leave it to corporate America to mess things up
I haven't sworn off Starbucks yet. There are enough of them near me that some of them actually make decent coffee. One, however, I won't be going back. The last time I went, I waited five minutes for an iced coffee. When I got it, I said "I'm waiting on a croissant, too". The girl looked at me as if to say "Okay, and...?" -__-

 

[Albion]

Tim Hortons!
Donuts are shipped in frozen (much like Dunkin' Donuts), the coffee is incredibly scalding, and they are perpetually "out of" whatever I want to eat. Breakfast sandwiches are served cold, their "dark roast" is the same as their light roast - thin and bland. If I want a "dark roast" at Tim's I'll need an espresso shot in it for another $1.50.
Leave it to corporate America to mess things up

That's basically the same as my impression, but are you saying that Tim Hortons was not like this prior to expanding? I have no idea who actually owns it now.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

They were better at one time. When I first moved here the coffee seemed to be better, and they had expanded into the states a bit. They were acquired by 'Restaurant Brands' (Burger King, Popeye's Chicken) and went downhill. A number of the franchisee's aren't fair in their business practices, either. Many of them had young people come on work visas, would put them in boarding houses, and pay reduced wages. Most recently, Ontario raised it's minimum wage, and some franchisees (the children of the founders no less) cut basic things like a free coffee after a shift for employees and some other basic benefits.

 

[tango]

Tim Hortons!
Donuts are shipped in frozen (much like Dunkin' Donuts), the coffee is incredibly scalding, and they are perpetually "out of" whatever I want to eat. Breakfast sandwiches are served cold, their "dark roast" is the same as their light roast - thin and bland. If I want a "dark roast" at Tim's I'll need an espresso shot in it for another $1.50.
Leave it to corporate America to mess things up
I haven't sworn off Starbucks yet. There are enough of them near me that some of them actually make decent coffee. One, however, I won't be going back. The last time I went, I waited five minutes for an iced coffee. When I got it, I said "I'm waiting on a croissant, too". The girl looked at me as if to say "Okay, and...?" -__-

I really struggle to understand why people stand in line to pay $5 for a big cup of milk with a small splash of mediocre coffee in it.

I remember in England we had the Seattle Coffee Company. They did an OK cup of coffee - I encountered it when I first moved to the city - prior to that my only experience of buying coffee out was in the kind of cafe where you'd order a coffee and a cake, then sit and eat/drink it there. The idea of buying a cup of coffee to take to work with you was novel, but I quite liked the coffee.

Then Seattle was acquired by Starbucks, who assured us that the prices would stay the same. And they did. Kind of. The trouble was that the "tall latte" that stayed the same price as before now only had one shot of espresso whereas before it had two. The extra shot of espresso could be put in, for a price. And the coffee wasn't as good.

Once I realised I actually liked real coffee I started buying my own and taking ground coffee to work, and preparing it myself. Not only was it hugely cheaper - I could get a week's worth of coffee for less than a single cup at Charbucks - but I could also roast it however I wanted it and it was something I looked forward to rather than something I used when I needed a caffeine kick for the particularly early starts.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

We do have one independent, local place out here that's really good. I don't mind paying the extra for the Cappuccinos and Mocha's once in a while, because they really do make them well and I like supporting the 'little guy'. They're right next door to a used book place so an afternoon of reading and coffee is fun.

 

[tango]

We do have one independent, local place out here that's really good. I don't mind paying the extra for the Cappuccinos and Mocha's once in a while, because they really do make them well and I like supporting the 'little guy'. They're right next door to a used book place so an afternoon of reading and coffee is fun.

I have a local coffee shop that I really like. The guys that own it are obviously passionate about coffee although it does sometimes seem odd that there are areas where I know more than they do. That said I am something of a coffee geek

Like you, I want to support the local guy who's trying to make an honest living rather than the megacorp that just wants to pump out the cheapest garbage at the maximum profit they can manage. WIth some of their more specialty drinks you can actually watch them making it, if you're into that kind of thing. I've watched them make a coffee for me a couple of times when they were trying out a new brew method I hadn't come across before (and they were learning, so they gave me the experimental brew for the price of a regular rather than the price of a special). Basically if a local business supports me, I want to support them.