PlanetFeedback's BrainChain (sm): What Brands Don't You Trust?

HP Inc.
Amazingly poor customer service

Celestron Telescopes
Shoddy equipment, poor customer service, deceptive repair practices

HP Inc
Amazingly poor customer service

Did I mention HP Inc and their really poor customer service?
I'm sure I did, but just in case...

HP Inc.
Amazingly poor customer service.

DHL, US Bank

DHL

1. AT&T, Verizon and just about any phone company.You cannot a
believe a word they say. Same thing goes for most cell phone
companies.
2. McDonalds - I thought the mentally challenged people were only
suposed to clean the dining room, not manage the place.
3. Walmart - I'm done with that place, I feel like I am entering the
National Socialist Party Headquarters when I walk into a Sams.

1. Microsoft- namely customer service. Can't understand 90% of them
and it is always your fault no matter what.

2. Wal Mart- nough said

3. McDonald's- Will they ever get an order right?

1. E-Machine computers. CRAP. If you purchase one, you might as
well open your car window on the way home and throw some money out the
window while you drive, it is the same thing.

2. AOL. It sucks. They can't stand that they were run out by
high-speed internet. Because let's face it, who wants to pay AOL on
TOP of what they pay for high-speed? Back in the day where AOL ruled,
it was one of the only ways you could get online and it was all dial
up. I will NEVER get it again because first of all, they never "let"
you cancel, they keep giving you free months. Then when you say you
don't want them finally, and they do "cancel" your service, you still
get automatically billed for it every month afterwards. STAY AWAY
from ANY company who only bills automatically!

3. HotWheels Playsets. They are junk and fall apart, and it takes a
mechanical engineer to figure out how to even build the complex
tracks.

Sony - They HATE their customers.

Verizon - They can't compete with Vonage so they sue them.

Wal-Mart - Good luck finding a parking spot, fast register, decent
working shopping cart, etc.

RIAA - They made it a habit to extort money out of innocent poor
people.

Best Buy - Its actually Worst Buy. They don't like to exchange items
if they are defective (I'm probably the only sucker they do this to).

1 - CoolMaxUSA: Poor quality products; lousy customer service. THE PSU
actually fried my MB. The customer support system does not exist.

Trackfone

1- Polaroid, I will never in my life purchase another polaroid
product.

2- Verizon

3- Ford

4- National Grid

5- The Bush admin.. (sorry couldn't help myself)

Fred Meyer/Kroger

NEVER shop there!! They are overpriced, under paied and the managers
are horriable! When I worked for a Fred Meyer (now owned by Kroger) I
was told to LIE to the customers to get them to buy the expensive
stuff that was crap instead of teh cheaper stuff that seemed to last
forever. It has been 2 years since I finally gave up and stoped
shoping there. I can get everything I need at Costco, Winco or
Target. Yes, I shot at Target, love the store and have NEVER had a
problem there.

Wal-Mart

Overpriced and they treat there workers like crap.

Fred Meyer/Kroger

See Above!

1. HMO/Rotekatze - Ordered a CD from her in December 2005; she said it
would be shipped the weekend after payment was received; did not
receive CD until mid January 2006; Also saw complaints from one
customer who ordered a drawing from her in December 2003 and has not
received it as of January 2006. Drawings she did before 2006 looked
very nice, but more recent ones showed diminishing quality. In the TV
industry, this is known as 'Jumping the Shark'

2. Rayovac - Batteries do not last nearly as long as Duracell or
Energizer over normal usage.

3. Peter Pan peanut butter - Somewhat odd taste to it; Tastes much
worse than Jif and also worse than Kroger brand

1. Sprint - I tried repeatedly to get a phone from them (the only
land line provider in my new town) when I moved here and they couldn't
see around the protection on my credit reports due to an identity
theft incident. When I told my story to locals, they laughed and
said Sprint is notoriously bad around here.

I wonder if their name change (to Embark) is to get away from the bad
reputation.


2. Virgin Mobile - Another cell phone company that puts your on hold
and charges you for the minutes. Their prices are sky high, but I
guess they thrive on people who can't get cell phones from other
companies and are desperate.


3. Verizon - the source of so many headaches! When I left Boston, I
cancelled my bundled phone & internet service...or so I thought. They
kept billing me for the internet despite calls and emails. I almost
flipped out when they sent my account to a collection agency. I had
never had one of those calls before! Quite a shock.

Their DSL speeds are pathetic, too. Thank goodness I have a T1 line
now.

Goodwill Industries

Ralph's/Cala Market

Coca-Cola

1. Cingular- Even if your service doesn't work, you still have to pay
$150 per phone to end it!

2. Yahoo- Watch for automatic withdrawls on your bank statement after
they claim to cancel your service!

3. Mary Kay Sales- Their products are amazing, but look into an
opportunity to sell with them and they will flat out lie to you until
after you've handed your money over!!

(1)
Intuit: Quicken, their product, does not do what they say it does,
constantly goes berserk by doing the wrong things, and not because I
pressed the wrong keys. Their customer support staff are, with one
exception, the most ineffeficient and ineffective staff people I have
ever encountered. The exception is one man who admitted frankly the
program had many bugs, and then helped to fix some of them--but far
from all!

(2) Intuit: Quicken, as above.

(3) Dell, because they give poor support, and, worse, they cheat on
the price they say they are going to charge, elevate it, and then
claim innocence.

Phillips Electronics. Every time we buy a Phillips electronic item,
we have to return it.

Panasonic. Only works with other Panasonic products.
We tried a DVD recorder with an RCA TV, Sharp DVD/VCR.
The didn't 'talk' to each other. 5 trips to the store that day.

ANy electronic device, article of clothing, trinket, toy or morsel of
food sold at Wal*Mart.

need i say more?

(1) The Cingular 'To Go" Phone Service or their "To Go" Phone service
plan. I had way too many issues with their customer service over
billing. It was an absolute nightmare. This relates only to their "To
Go" Phone Service.

I can not really think of any other brands that I do not trust. Thanks
for letting me share this information.

Target - Several terrible customer service situations have made Target
the one and only retail chain where I refuse to shop.

Sony - I used to be a major Sony fan, with a Playstation 2, big-screen
TV, and Sony home theatre system. But after the famous "rootkit"
fiasco, I won't be buying any new Sony stuff. I'm still using my
current Sony stuff until it wears out though.

Aquafina & Dasani - Contrary to popular belief, neither is actually
spring water. Technically the bottles don't actually say it's spring
water, so it's not technically a lie, but who are these morons who pay
spring-water prices (and more) for New York municipal water that's
been run through filters?

1. Dell
2. Dell Computer
3. Dell Computer, Inc

Dude, I make a big mistake - I bought a Dell. Decent looking product,
virtually useless customer service unless you make a PITA out of
yourself. Then they give you stuff to get rid of you. Well,
congrats, Dell. It worked with me. Goodbye.

By the way, I agree with the person who said any American made car. I
am patriotic, but I am not careless with my money. I have owned 12
imported cars and two American (Ford and Chrysler). The imported cars
were all designed better (exception:original bug), and performed
better. Interior quality and ergonomics better also. For so much
innovation in the US, you would think our cars would be better.

Well, that's an easy one!

1. Jeep (see my shared letter)

2. Kenmore. 5 years into the Refrigerator of my Dreams, I have $500
in repairs (2 trips) and who knows how much for spoiled food for both
of the times it stopped working. Excuse me, but a refregerator should
last more than 5 years without needing any more than a coil cleaning!

3. Service Master. What a load of you-know-what! I tried calling
them when Sears made me wait 2 weeks for service. Out of the 3
companies that reaponded, not a single one showed up! At least Sears
did... eventually!

1. Dell

2. Walmart

3. AOL

Verizon

Verizon

Verizon

oh, and also, Verizon

Ford Motor Company - After years of owning Ford vehicles I finally
woke up and purchased a Toyota. Haven't had any problems and the
dealership is awesome. Toyota truly stands behind their product 100%.
The Toyota vehicle speaks for itself. Ford on the other hand was
constant trips to the shop.

Gateway Computers - After purchasing a Gateway all I experienced was
headaches. The sales team was all nice before purchasing the computer.
After the purchase was complete I had a difficult time getting anyone
to listen.I finally racked my purchase up to a costly mistake and
purchased a Dell. I donated the Gateway (costly paper weight) to
Goodwill. They said they had techs would would attempt to fix the
computer and put it to good use.

Dish Network - Having enjoyed Dish Network for several months the dish
on the house stopped receiving a signal. After going through countless
calls with customer service I was informed I would have to pay $99 to
have a tech come to the house. I wondered why I would have to pay them
to repair THEIR equipment? I was informed that had I purchased the
warranty policy it would only cost me $39. I was never offered a
warranty policy when signing up for the service. I even inquired about
equipment malfuntion before signing up and was informed it was all
covered in my contract. Well needless to say I paid the early
withdrawal fee and had Direct TV installed the next week. Once again -
a costly mistake!

I don't trust Walmart anymore, they are liars and promise breakers.

1)Ponds (cold cream manufacturer)

2)Columbia House

3) WalMart

Time Warner Cable--we were so happy to get out of Houston and away
from them.

Walmart--nuff said


Lexmark--never bought a product so broken down and useless. We
couldn't even sell one in our garage sale out of the box for 5 bucks.

1) AOL
2) Ameritech/SBC
3) Sears Repair services

Direct TV because of their lack of business acumen in resolving
customer complaints and their shady business dealings with the
contractors they deal with.

Firestone car centers-I took my car in for an oil change and my check
engine light went on. Took my car to another mechanic because I had
my suspicions, every waiting for their car had astononmical repair
bills (400 or more). The mechanic said a valve had been put in
backwards, instead of looking at a 600.00 repair bill, it still cost
me 125.00. Unscrupulous mechanics.

Dry idea deodorant- it bleached the underarms of my shirt.

AT&T - I am not sure I have anything against its original core
business but got terrible customer service from AT&T Cable, Cingular
Wireless (now owned by AT&T), and SBC (now owned by AT&T).

ADT Security - I worked briefly with an ADT rep a number of years ago
to try to develop a plan for a security system for our office. He
just could not think creatively about our needs. He had his set
solutions and could not think beyond them. When we bought our house,
it came with an ADT system installed by the previous owners (actually
a system from a smaller company that ADT had purchased). In the midst
of all the things one has to do to move into a house, ADT should have
had no trouble getting us to continue the service. We scheduled a
sales call and the terms were so bad that we decided we should shop
around, after all. We ended up going with a smaller company that was
able to re-use all the existing equipment and provide better service
at a much lower price. We then got a series of letters from ADT
trying to get our business -- initially threatening to come remove the
equipment and later trying to play up the advantages of signing up
with them because we already had their equipment and they would make
us a deal.

All American car companies - It may be irrational but I was a child in
the 1970s and formed my impressions of them then. I do not follow
cars much but while I realize they have made progress in the last
three decades, in the mean time my parents, my wife, and I have owned
a series of Hondas, Toyotas, VWs, Mazdas, and a Nissan. Other than
the Nissan (which my wife owned when we first started dating and was
on its last legs at that point), all have performed well. At this
point, I do not even think about the American brands when looking for
a car.

In case it is not obvious, I think there is a lesson here for
companies. Early experiences matter. Let a 10-year-old see you
producing bad cars and you may lose the opportunity to be considered
in ten purchasing decisions over the years. Provide bad cable or cell
phone service to a 25-year-old and you may end up with a 50-year-old
unwilling even to consider whatever fantastic technology you are
trying to sell by then. AT&T and other huge conglomerates also should
be careful about rebranding too quickly. It spent over 100 years
building one of the great brands in the country and then bought a
bunch of poorly run cable companies with terrible customer reputations
and thought it would be a good idea to slap the name "AT&T" on those
reputations before it had turned around the actual quality.

Gateway/E-Machines - Gateway used to be great, but ever since they
purchased E-Machines, their products have gone waaay downhill. Also,
good luck getting in touch with a decent customer service or
techinical support rep!

Sears - I used to work there, so I may be biased. They really treated
their employees like crap. Also, their credit card's usually come with
extremely high interest rates, even for those with decent credit.

GM/Dodge - I purchased a used 97 Dodge Intrepid two years ago. Within
a month, the transmission died, as well as the transmission control
module, and there is some sort of really weird electrical problem that
I can't figure out. I did some research, turns out the tranny's they
use for this car don't last past 100k miles, if you are lucky enough
to even get that far. A company that continues to put questionable
transmissions in their cars, is a company that I will never purchase a
vehicle from again in my life!!!

1. Dell

2. JC Penney

3. Lane Bryant

1) WalMart
2) UPS/FedEx/DHL
3) PetSmart/PetCo

Sprint - I actually left AT&T to take their service and it sucked.
Needless to say, we came back!

45 min to an hour just to get a rep on the phone about billing or
service issues and they were CHARGING minutes against my cell for the
call!

CompUSA - I have had NOTHING but hassles out of them. They are shady
and their merchandise is second rate!

For example, I came in on the FIRST DAY of a sale they had to purchase
a Microsoft Optical mouse, they were conveniently out of them, offered
no rain check, no substitution, but said I could purchase the item up
front and IF more came in, they would ship it to me.

But there were no guarantees they'd even get any more, they'd
essentially be holding my money until they found out if more were on
the way and I'd have to pay to have it shipped to my home!

Ameritech - I have NEVER been so happy to see a company get bought out
in my life!

The service itself was crap, the reps who were supposed to be helpful
weren't and they basically knew they had everyone in Cleveland held
hostage because there were no other local phone options back then!
Thank God for Vonage!

Regis hair salons.

PetSmart

Delta


It takes a LOT for me to give up on a brand or company and since I
dont shop particular brands often I dont have a lot of bad stories.

IKEA - Customer Care should be called Customer Care-less!

Starbucks - Overpriced

Air France - an easy way to lose your luggage.

1 Dell

2 Lexmark

3Apple

Maytag.

Three strikes...

l. Stove
2. Washing Machine
3. Refrigerator (stop laughing)

You're OUT!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honda

Terrible overall first time experience purchasing a Civic, both with
the vehicle and the dealership. No more Hondas for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Microsoft... Don't even ask.

Capital One - Worst of the worst

Ford - My 2005 Explorer didn't last - hd on going problem - dealership
in my area sucks

Town and Country Ford, Bessemer Ala - no longer own a Ford due to them
- horrible service department

AmSouth Bank - refuses to cash bank customers checks without
thumbprints.

Taco Bell- their food tastes good but it makes me sick, so I've never
gone back

Volkswagen- I've heard horror stories about those cars, and when
something goes wrong it costs a fortune to fix.

Hanes...while easy to find and buy, they are cheap and fall apart
quickly.

Michigan Bulb company.... You can guarantee death of most plants. Oh,
they'll keep replacing them, but how many years do you have to wait to
get success?

Turkey hill or shop rite ice cream... Can we say "cardboard box flavor
has leaked into the product"?

1) t-mobile

2) wal-mart photo (does that count?)

3) Motorola

1) Walmart
2) T-Mobile
3) Charter Communications

LG Electronics. Might be good products, (although I seem to get a lot
of returns on them), but they have lousy customer service.

Charlescraft - Way too many returns on this product. Every time I see
my customers buying that label, I always try to steer them to a better
brand.

GE Cordless phones - Returns on this item almost every week.

Thanks for asking...

1) see 2

2) Sears

3) see 1

T-mobile, since they always have an excuse to get your money upfront
and give crappy service, McDonald's and hmmm, have to come back for
the third.

Walmart - Their business practices are deplorable

I can't think of any others right now...I'll be back!

Sleep comfort: the sleep number bed. Their guarantee says it'll last
for 20 years. we had ours for 5 and a seam split in one of the air
chambers. You have to pay for part of the fixing if they are going to
heed their own warranty and you have to pay for shipping to and from
the facility. what a load of crud.

Hunter Douglas (window treatments). they charge about twice their
competitor's prices and their crap falls apart after a very short
amount of time.

Hyundai/Kia/daewoo yes, their cars are very inexpensive, but I
haven't met a driver of one yet that hasn't had a problem with it
falling apart right outside of the warranty.

DHL - grossly overpriced when compared to FedEx
Mentioned this on the other thread, but anything

Herbal Essences - the commercials were revolting, insulting and
tasteless. I'll never use those products again.

VEET (depilatory) - it doesn't work AT ALL and the "bladeless razor"
broke the second time I tried it.

Starbucks - sneaky way of operating - tries to squash the little guy.

Listing brands that you don't trust is a lot easier than naming brands
that you do trust.


Roxio (creator of CD and DVD burning software)
UPS
Walmart

Hartz Flea and Tick products - The Zodiac line a few years back not
only killed fleas and ticks, it killed some older and younger pets as
well. I don't think that's what the company was going for.

Apt. 9 brand of clothing from Kohls - I love Kohl's clothes, but this
particular brand either shrinks or falls apart.

Dodge- My first car was a '92 Dodge Spirit. Considering that that was
in 1997, that's not a terribly old car, right? Well, by the time I
had it the speedometer fluctuated wildly from 0 to 120 as soon as it
shifted into high gear. After maybe six months of driving it, a
headgasket blew, cracking the block beyond repair. I was carless for
a long time after that, because my parents were convinced that I had
driven the car to an early grave. A few years later, I started
driving a '95 Dodge Caravan. A few months into driving it, the
speedometer started dancing. Sure enough, six months later the car
blew a headgasket while going down the interstate. My parents
conceded that maybe Dodges were just crap. We haven't bought one
since. I know plenty of people have great luck with Dodge, and I'm
smart enough to realize that two crappy cars out of thousands doesn't
equal a crappy car company. Still, I don't trust them, and I'll never
have another one!

Wal-Mart- My mother told me that if you can't say anything nice, don't
say anything at all. Therefore, I have nothing to say about Wal-Mart.
I shop elsewhere. 'Nuff said.

Wal-Mart - I don't boycott them, but I think they're a horrible
company

General Foods - they're touting their cereals as being "whole grain"
but they use enriched wheat flour in which nutrients are being taken
out. Very misleading.

Mr. Coffee - I've never seen a Mr. Coffee that keeps coffee hot
(needless to say, I don't buy them)

Microsoft - that's an easy one . . .Bill Gates can't seem to put out a
product without a security flaw

GM - 'nuff said? My old beat-up '93 Ford has had fewer problems than
my mother's low-mileage Chevy minivan which is eight years newer.

Any HMO ever created - they screw up, and then you the patient have to
fix the problem ... if it's fixable.

Yoplait: everything they make, including "light" yogurt, contains
high-fructose corn syrup. This includes the ones marked "health or
healthy". Frozen products too. I don't care how cheap it is or how
many charities they support; until they get that poison out of their
products they won't come in my front door.

1) GM

2) IKEA - they never have what I want in stock

Off hand, the company I hate the most is Ray Ban. I spent a good
chunk of change for nice polarized sun glasses and they literally fell
apart months later. The frame sucked so bad that the glasses weren't
able to be repaired. I called them, e-mailed them and used PFB back
in the day and never heard word one from them. Ray Ban sucks big
time.

That's an easy one for me, GM, Ford, and Chrysler.