Our society is built in a way that no matter what we do, every one of our actions is somehow related to certain companies. Whether they provide us a service, create and/or distribute products or anything else — there’s always a company behind it.
While we don’t really have a choice to completely boycott every single company, we can choose which we want to interact with and which we want to avoid as much as possible. So, today, let’s take a stroll through the list of businesses netizens put on their “bad list” and the reasons behind it. Maybe this will simply be entertaining or maybe it will force you to rethink your consumption habits. We’ll see.
More info: Reddit
#1
Nestle. Their CEO lobbied to legislate the use of tap water to only be used for dishes, laundry etc. The guy didn’t think people should be able to drink the water coming out of their sinks.
Ongoing, their siphoning of public water supplies to bottle and sell for a profit. This company is absolute trash, and the owners should take a long walk off a short pier.
#2
Airbnb. For their destruction of the housing market.
#3
Melinda’s hot sauce
Back in the ’80s, a Belizean lady named Marie Sharp started growing habaneros and making a hot sauce. She named it Melinda’s, after her husband’s farm. It got really popular in Belize and she found a distributor (Figueroa International) to sell her sauces in the US, where it quickly became the best selling habanero sauce.
She wasn’t business savvy, though, and the Figueroa brothers trademarked the Melinda’s name behind her back, cut her out of the US market, and started selling their own more cheaply made sauce clone under the Melinda’s name.
She fought them for the name in courts for 5 years until she could no longer afford the legal fees and finally gave up the name in return for the Figueroas dropping her sole distributor contract. (She couldn’t sell any hot sauce in the US because she was still under contract with them) Then she started over and named her sauce after herself.
Marie Sharp’s habanero hot sauce is now back on US store shelves and is 10x better than Melinda’s. Don’t support corporate theft.
It’s no secret that we live in a capitalist society. We aren’t going to delve deep into the ins and outs or the pros and cons of this way of living, as it would take way too much time, which we don’t have right now. Instead, we’re going to explain that capitalism means that society’s means of production are held by private individuals or organizations, not the government, and that everything is determined mainly by competition in a free market.
So, in a nutshell, it means that most of the things we consume are, in one way or another, owned by certain companies. Basically, you have all of the companies 100% of the time. They’re so intertwined in our everyday lives.
#4
Wells Fargo – My dad was dying of cancer and he started signing over all his accounts. The manager faxed the forms to my dad to sign and he sent them back. The last page got cut off and the manager never said anything. We did not get permission to access his account after he died because of it. We had to pay a lawyer $15k to fight Wells Fargo and get our dad’s money from them. I will never do business with them again.
#5
Ticketmaster. On 2 separate occasions something went sideways and they just said s***w you. For a Lady Gaga concert they sold a nonexistent section and the venue scrambled to put us in foldable chairs literally right behind a row of port a potties. We couldn’t see anything but smelled everything.
Then for a Beyoncé concert they sold us $1800 “VIP” tickets that were nowhere near where the depiction and they relabeled the row of seats right behind that region as “obstructed” which is true of the VIP section too, you basically couldn’t see anything.
In both cases TicketMaster said to pound sand and they reserve all rights to change anything about the seats they want.
It’s so hard to avoid doing business with them which is why I didn’t initially boycott but now? Never again. I don’t care if I never see another live concert again.
#6
Wal-mart. The company ranks in the top 5 for employees on government assistance, and at the top for retailers that receive SNAP spending. The wealthiest family on Earth is using taxpayers to cover their payroll for them.
Yet, you can pick and choose which companies to avoid, or find replacements for them, as usually one product is made and distributed by one or more businesses, and there are always competitors.
The reasons people choose to boycott certain companies can be various. It can be related to politics, social issues, personal stories with the business, or anything else – people are complicated, and so is their reasoning.
Today, let’s take a look at a list of companies that some netizens choose to boycott and their reasons behind their decision.
#7
Comcast…. Scamming customers left and right. Customer service sucks. Legit worst company ever.
#8
Chick-fil-A. The food is mid tier at best. When I moved south, everyone kept telling me to try it like it was some heavenly ambrosia. I make better waffle fries in my air fryer at home. Also, they’re a morally bankrupt company, and I will never give them a single penny of my money.
You can add Hobby Lobby to that list for the same reason.
#9
New Egg, they sent me a PC with a faulty graphics card that I returned. They sent me a picture of a broken server rack and said we can’t give you a refund because this is what you sent us.
I had to reach out on social media and they still wouldn’t give me a refund. I got so frustrated I said this felt like fraud and I was considering contacting a lawyer…my refund came an hour later.
All of these takes were collected from an online discussion, which happened under the question “What companies are on your permanent bad list and you’ll never do business with them?” Since it got nearly 4K answers, we thought it would be reasonable to turn the most interesting answers into an entertaining (and possibly educational) list.
On this list, you will find pretty well-known names, such as Nestle. Well, over the years, this company has lived through a lot of controversies, from claims about slavery and child labor to food contamination and deforestation — and that’s just a few of them. Not to mention its beyond problematic baby formula marketing. So, it’s no surprise that some people simply choose not to have anything to do with the company.
#10
The Salvation Army. 3 separate times I have caught them stealing toys meant for the Toys for Tots program by saying that they were “with the marines” and sent to do pickups. This is what happens when a good chunk of your “volunteers” are actually only there because it is court-ordered community service or they wanted work release while in jail.
#11
Verizon.
My contract was up for renewal and I went to the Online Chat to get new pricing.
The rep provided the info and tried to get me to recommit but I politely thanked him and said I was still shopping around.
A few minutes later, I received an email alert that my account settings had changed; he removed paperless billing, autopay and an employer discount.
When I followed-up, I learned there was no way that could “accidentally” happen.
I received lots of apologies, but I’d never trust them again.
#12
Adobe. They reversed their permanent licensing for people who already purchased permanent licenses and tried to act coy when people called them out on it.
Yet, Nestle isn’t the only known name in this list. There’s also Ticketmaster. It’s a ticket sale and distribution company that, over the last couple of years, has received quite a lot of criticism because of how poorly they’re managing their job.
For instance, back in 2022, when a sale for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour went live, the website crashed within an hour, with users getting logged out or stuck in a queue. Granted, 3.5 million people registered for the pre-sale program, so the traffic was heavy for the site. But the crashing wasn’t the only problem here. Many people complained about poor customer service and deceitfulness.
#13
Shake Shack. Covid hit my small business hard and we applied for the PPP loans as soon as they were made available to apply for.
We were told funds were dried up. Come to find out, Shake Shack (and a few other companies) used loopholes to treat each one of their corporate owned locations as its own business and sucked up millions of dollars of loans before actual small businesses could get it.
I’ve never set foot in one since.
#14
Uline.
Massive business supplier that openly laments that workers have rights, and activitly trys to gain back the good ‘ol days of treating your workers like cattle.
#15
Any food delivery service. UberEats, DoorDash, Postmates, GrubHub, you name it. They pay drivers barely enough, have had many controversies with taking tips, charges customers insane fees, take profits from restaurants, cause customers to blame restaurants for errors by the driver, and encourage the existence of ghost kitchens which ruins local restaurant culture.
Bad for the pockets of the customer, driver, and restaurant, all for the sake of convenience.
The next month after the sale, some fans even sued Ticketmaster for violations like intentional deception, fraud, price fixing, and antitrust, which opened up discussions about these longstanding issues in the music industry.
And again, that’s just one case of the company’s problems and the reasons people decide to avoid it as much as possible.
We’re not going to spoil the rest of the list — you will have to check it out yourself. Don’t forget to upvote and maybe even share your takes on the aforementioned companies in the comments!
#16
Personally as a veteran, companies that go out of their way to let you know they’re veteran-owned. Like blatant in-your-face patriotic or militaristic imagery and messaging. If you started the company as a veteran, fine. If there’s a little blurb about it on the website somewhere, fine. Blast American flags or stars or rifles or olive drab and camo print everywhere, or name your company some variation of “patriot”, f**k that noise.
#17
Best Western.
stayed at their disney location.
THEY HAVE BED BUGS
. and those f****r (the bugs) were so bold they just walked across the pillows like they paid for my room. i screamed like a little b***h and called management.
Manager dgaf. they did not notify anyone in the adjacent rooms and went “well what do you want me to do?” dude..i want you to process my refund, then douse me in bleach to wash away this gross a*s feeling.
#18
Progressive.
I had them for 10 years without a claim. I was rear-ended by a kid. 100% his fault. He had insurance. They gave me so many problems with pricing my car.
I went up two levels to like the agent supervisor’s supervisor. And this guy was lying to me. It got so bad I recorded him. I then put the recording on YouTube and sent links to every person in progressive that I could reach.
Only then did I get somebody who gave me a fair assessment for my car.
They originally offered me $10,000 and I ended up settling for $19,000. It was such a scam.
A little while later my friend had an accident and also had progressive. And gave her a hassle over who to take the car to. And it ended up. She was correct that she needed to take it to the dealer.
But that was enough that I switched. When I switched I had already signed up for new insurance and the agent tried to convince me to stay with progressive by saying well, you don’t know how they will treat you when you have an accident because you haven’t had an accident with them yet.
I said no but I know how you’ll treat me and I don’t like it.
#19
AT&T.
There’s a reason they’re known as American Thugs & Thieves.
#20
Pep Boys. Scr**ed me over royally and I ended up broken down in the median of a busy road in a not-the-best part of town as a scared teen. I guess they assumed they could overcharge a stupid college kid and not actually fix the car. Years, and much disposable income later, I still flat out refuse to give them my business.
#21
Blue Grass Quality Meats. I worked there, had a manager tell me to pick meat up off the floor and put it back on the rack. That floor was cleaned with chemicals strong enough to eat through my boot, and now it was on my food. When I tried to say they couldn’t make me do that, I was written up. So far as I know, that guy still works there.
#22
American Airlines.
Their error caused me to miss a flight, which I had to pay to rebook. Their response was “Nothing we can do.” They all but admitted their fault, yet wouldn’t make it right.
Never again (probably)
(Probably, because it seems like whenever I say “never” I end up eating my words somewhere down the road).