Today's average consumer has plenty of options when it comes to patronizing a company for the services or merchandise they offer.
But there are also reasons why a discerning patron refuses to give their money to specific companies, regardless of whether or not they desire the product.
Curious to explore this notion, Redditor Snoo_72206 asked:
"What’s a company you refuse to support and why?"
Insurance companies failed to deliver assurance to these Redditors.
Ghosted
"Progressive. A few years back, an idiot crashed into my parked car with a lawnmower while I was at work."
"The owner of the lawnmowing company decided to play games and not pay for the damage."
"My Progressive agent ghosted me and his supervisor never returned my calls."
"I eventually got the money but Progressive didn't do a damn thing."
– The_Height_of_Folly
Unlike A Good Neighbor
"State Farm. Before we met, my wife was in a car accident that permanently damaged her neck, forcing her to drop out of college and abandon her dream to play violin professionally, and requiring her to get an injection in her neck twice a year for the rest of her life."
"She's been in a 4-year legal battle with State Farm as shes entitled over $100k since she was no way at fault for it."
"But they will not budge and keep demanding ridiculous things from her. Next month she's actually scheduled to fly back to the state where the accident happened so she can undergo a 10-hour psychological analysis (when she asked her attorney why they're asking for that, she pretty much said 'because they can')."
"State Farm also recently requested she shoot a video of her attempting to play the violin and then talking to me about how it make her feel that she can't play it painlessly anymore. In a recent deposition, they actually asked her if she had intentions to get medical treatment were they to award her with the money back when it happened."
"They've become such a pain but we've made the decision to fight it out as long as we can, because giving up is what they want us to do, and we want to prove to insurance companies that they can't screw over their clients like this."
"So yeah. Screw State Farm (and honestly most insurance companies)."
– Ben-Stanley
A Major Trauma
"Dude. State Farm is the worst. My sister was in an accident when she was 16 that left her with permanent brain damage, dashing her chances of the future career she dreamed of."
"It was a 10 year battle on settlement. The hoops they made us jump through… the disgusting tactics they used. They hired people to stalk me and my other siblings and report on our behaviour to build a profile on how much she was likely to succeed had the accident not happened to bring down the settlement."
"They belittled and publicly humiliated a 16 year old girl who was in a traumatic accident where her friends were killed."
"As a pre teen seeing all this, it actually completely changed me and opened my eyes to how evil people can be. Insurance companies are disgusting."
– MalBredy
Unreasonable Payout
"I know three people with State Farm homeowners insurance who tried to make claims and got laughably microscopic payouts."
"And then they keep their policies! What the fuck are you paying them serious adult premiums for, when they see the damage to your home and reimburse you with five bucks and a gumball?"
– driffson
A major social media platform and a popular ticketing service got the stank eye.
The Parent Organization
"Meta. What if I don't want to share my private info with you?"
– skycatminepokie
Chaotic Life
"my job required me to be on social media every single day, constantly be interacting with clients posts, constantly be creating content with the intent of trying to gt clients to share the content."
"i really do believe social media is a cancer on society."
"I know that reddit is also social media, but the anonymity makes it much less toxic and consuming for me."
– garlicdjango
Unhealthy Addiction
"I was addicted to Facebook for the longest time and it wasn't until I finally deleted it (not suspended, full deletion) that I realized what a profound effect it was having on my mental health. I'm not even exaggerating. I am so much happier without it."
"The friends I talked to all the time still talk to me through other mediums, and the ones that don't, just don't. And that's fine. I'm not even judging them for it. I'm in a much better place."
– starchystar
No More Live Events
"Ticketmaster - too many fees. Just don't go to live concerts anymore."
– username987654321a
"Ticketmaster:"
"Ticket price: $40"
"Service fee: $20"
"Paperless fee: $5"
"Fee fee: $3.15"
"Because we can fee: $2.00"
"You wanna go fee: $12.00"
"Print-from-home fee: $6.50"
"No physical copy fee: $16"
"No refund policy agreement fee: $8.00"
"Total: $112.65 F'k you very much."
"Sucker."
– Soulphite
Redditors thought these companies left a bad taste.
America's Favorite Food & Beverage Company?
"Nestle, is there anything ethical about them?"
– Aggressive-Ice-1009
The Partnership
"FYI Starbucks and Nestle are best buds now and have signed a multi multi million dollar partnership."
– poopybuttfacehead
Corporate Evil
"Nestlé. They are the very model of corporate evil. Raiding water tables in drought stricken areas, using child slavery to get their chocolate, and much more!! 🤡"
– Thintieguy
Local Business Killer
"Starbucks. It’s just too easy to support a local coffee shop if I’m in a situation where I can’t make my own coffee at home."
– PaticusGnome
Some retail companies were admonished by the following Redditors.
Bad Fashion
"Jaded London, ASOS, Primark, PrettyLittleThing & any other fast fashion brands that I can’t remember off the top of my head."
– brownguyinthecorner
The Reason
"It does go further than that for me, but my opinion does stem from their exploitation of child labour."
– brownguyinthecorner
Not Target
"Walmart"
"I used to work there and refuse to go there ever again. I put in my two weeks July 2020 and I haven’t gone there since. I refuse to step foot in any Walmart ever."
– funeralxfog95
Employee Confession
"Former Walmart employee here too that refuses to shop there. Union busting, encouraging people to work off the clock, threatening you if you get caught up doing work and accrue OT, humiliating public team cheers, inadequate training for dangerous equipment, constant busy work, terrible pay and benefits... not to mention that the only reason I ended up working there is they destroyed their local competitors in the town... f'k Walmart."
– BobGenghisKahn
Discomforting Atmosphere
"I started off hating Walmart as a kid because of the fluorescent lighting and overall depressed feeling that would overcome me anytime I would step foot inside one, and my hate has only grown stronger over the years."
– ChillNyeTheStonerGuy
They say America runs on Dunkin'.
That slogan alone made me give it a hard pass. The audacity. Everyone knows Starbucks is supreme.
I know, I know, the mega java chain is on every street corner in all major metropolitan cities and many customers may think they're overrated.
But say what you will. Their quality cup of joe is so much better than the mud Dunkin' Donuts passes off as coffee.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram