GolfHos

The UHaul article that Aske posted reminded me of a friend that will never go anywhere near UHaul.  He's had too many bad experiences with them overbooking and not having a truck ready or just poor customer service.  He'll pay more and drive further and rent from someone else just to avoid them.

Maybe boycott is too strong a word.  Are there any companies that that you go out of your way not to support?

I know some folks that will not shop at Walmart or won't buy Dominoes pizza.  Others really dislike Nike.  I'm not even talking about just large companies and their business practices, I'd also be interested in hearing about local places you'll avoid, too, maybe because of rude service or poor food or something.

I can't think of anything for me off the top of my head.  I think I was really pissed at a car rental company in one instance and vowed to boycott them, but my memory sucks and I can't remember which one it was. :-[

First and foremost, Sassenagh land agents.  [sm_stir]

I also swear off owning any offering from a certain component club manufacturer and (ex?) FIGs sponsor.  I won't even buy used which would benefit the company zippo.  Just a personality thing with you know who.  My eight year old daughter cries less.

Had a *feces*ty Dodge with a stalls-when-I-turn-right problem.  They couldn't fix it, then they tried something, installed a sensor improperly, and caused an engine fire.  In the shop for six weeks, got a loaner for FOUR weeks.  I had to go over their heads to corporate twice to keep the loaner and get them rolling on the repairs.  Fire repairs were done improperly and stalling problem not addressed, but neither dealer nor Chrysler corporate would make it right.  (We're talking replacement of a major wiring harness, after which essentially anything electrical could be turned on with the key still in pocket.)

Traded car in within one week of getting it back, vowed to never own a Chrysler product again.  That was 1988.  The boycott is nineteen years and going ...


My avoidance of big-box companies in favor of small, local businesses already has been documented.

Clive, did you have a bad experience with a big box?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/commishbob/ford.jpg)

*goshdarn* walmart. and then there's that foreign car and motorcycle thing.  [sm_devil]

I have two golf related boycotts going strong (personally anyway) - both generated from the same incident.

1)  Made a tee time through a tee time site for many local courses the day before.  Upon arrival we warmed up and were on our way to the tee box a full 15 minutes before our time - only to see a line of 12 carts already backed up.  The course had used a front/back tee sheet to book times going off the front only - 4 minute intervals.  They also double booked the times sold through the online site.  The results was a 40 minute delay is getting out, and a 5 1/2 hour round.  Upon returning to the clubhouse and asking about the screw up - the assistant pro offered no apologies - they had used 'squeeze times' (his words) to get everyone on the course (basically to make an ass load of money that day at the expense of the customers enjoyment).

My email to the head pro at the course, simply explaining what had happened and asking if this was normal, was met with a complete denial and an accusation of me being a liar.  I prompted vowed never to use that course again - Bear Creek in the St. Louis metro area by the way.

This led to beef #2 - when I posted some course feedback on the web site that sold the times (again, just explaining the situation - no name calling or anything) - that feedback (and that of two other groups from that same day) was promptly removed with no explanation.  So, someone started a thread in the 'general' portion of the site about deleted feedback - I chimed in wondering why valid course feedback was being removed, and after a few days - that whole thread was deleted with no explanation.  I promptly vowed never to use that site again - lastminutegolfer.com by the way.

Now, I have played Bear Creek once since that incident 3 years ago - I accepted an invite to a charity scramble not knowing where it was.  Oh well - it was for charity.

I have no other boycotts active at the moment.

Rick, in the spirit of a minor threadjack...

Played an early morning nine last week.  The starter offered us front or back.  Said it didn't matter.  As there was a single just going off #1 we chose the back which was wide open.  Teed off right at 6:30.  We're finishing up with #17 when all of a sudden dozens of golf carts with middle-aged ladies start arriving at pace from the direction of #18.  We walk over to the teeing area and there are two foursomes already there.  One group had teed off and drove off as we walked up.  The others were waiting their turn (par 5).  Turns out it's a regularly scheduled, weekly, nine-hole association.  Plays at 8:00 every Wednesday. 

They let us play through and were quite gracious about it but my buddy was miffed.  He called the clubhouse and was told "I thought you'd be done by now".  I know a twosome can easily finish in 90 minutes but we were in no hurry especially since we felt no urgency to get finished before a certain time.  We felt we should have been told as we would have waited five minutes and gone off #1.  No admission or apology was forthcoming. 

BTW, when I called the night before to see if there was a spot open I explicitly asked if they had any tournaments or whatever going.  Explicitly told it was all clear.

Anyway, point being I don't think golf course starters have to pass an IQ test and they perhaps have a vested interest in the daily take.  I'm surprised stories like yours and mine don't happen much more frequently.

Going back there tomorrow morning though.   ;)

I have a few. Oddly enough, at the top of the list is:

U-haul- Showed up on moving day to pick up my truck that I had reserved weeks ahead of time to be told they didn't have a truck for me (despite having a lot full of trucks), then treated by the manager like it was somehow my problem, not his, and then ultimately driving away in a truck but only after 40 minutes of demonstrating I wasn't planning on leaving the lot without driving away in a truck. If I'm going to get a truck anyway, why force me to throw a fit over it? Do the right thing a-hole.

Others:

Walmart- because they're evil, it's just that simple.

Domino's Pizza- Because Tom Monaghan is evil, and yes I know he doesn't own them anymore. It might just be that their pizza blows.

General Motors- Largely based on our experience with a Pontiac Grand Am that Laura brought to the marriage, but also based on other GM cars I've either dealt with or seen dealt with. (I'm not really fond of Fords or Chryslers either.)

A certain component club manufacturer and ex-FIGs sponsor- Dude rubs me the wrong way, can't honestly quantify it other than him coming off as a self aggrandizing weenie with a serious chip on his shoulder. I know he does some good things, but he must also have a double jointed elbow for all the patting of his own back he does. Also slings more mud at the competition than is my preference from a business I want to patronize.

Exxon- I've just boycotted them for so long I don't honestly know why (probably has to do with Exxon Valdez) but I truly can't imagine a life without boycotting Exxon. I also prefer to not frequent Sinclair Oil if possible, mostly because I don't care much for Earl Holding.

Olive Garden- Food sucks, never once had good service.

Apparently I'm more disgruntled than I realized.  :-\

I remember a time when I got caught up in a boycott of "Sals Pizzeria"... and then after this little bloke threw a trash can through the window all hell broke loose... troubled times they were....

Walmart is really the only place I boycott on principle alone. I tend to avoid chain restaurants when possible, but only because I think their food is usually pretty average. I can't remember the last time I ate in a chain restaurant for an actual sit down, table service meal, and I can't think of a reason why I would do it again any time soon.

century media

DirecTV.

DishNetwork.

Ruby Tuesdays (Although Karen Makes me go in there when we go to The Mall of America)  [sm_cussing] [sm_chairshot]

The little pizza joint in town. (Hello??!!  Can I get a *fudge*in' beer?  This is twice now!  You're done.  *8==>*head.)

Maddie's 2nd grade teacher.  1 Parent - Teacher Conference was enough.  Bitch.  (Maddie is now in 4th grade)

Prolly some others.

I have boycotted Coke... they ran this competion were you got a 'game card' where you peel a sticker back to see if you won a prize... only problem was the card was see through if you held it up to the light.  I rang Coke and they said there was nothing wrong with the cards.  So I called the Gaming and Lotteries Commission who agreed that the cards were see through and requested that Coke cancel the promotion due to the widescale cheating that occured.

Subsequently, by way of compensation Coke decided to send me cartons of Coke for weeks on end... I'm sure they did it just to spite me... bastards...

Yeah, my oldest son's first grade teacher a long time ago.  Wanted to hold him back because he was immature.  Problem was, he was the most mature first grader I (and the head of elementary education in the local district) ever saw.

Companies;  they all suck once they get big.  It would hard to boycott everything. :-[

I realized I've moved away from anything Nike.

Walmart.

And as soon as Northwest Airlines has any real competition at MSP I will be done with them. Alas, their monopoly doesn't seem likely to end soon.

I've grown disenchanted with boycotting, it just doesn't seem to work.  There was a time when I thought we could fight the man (any man), power of the people, by the people, yada, yada, yada,...now...not.  The big get bigger, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle gets screwed very hard.

Convenience is king. 

But I do try to support on a more local level, I'll go to my local golf pro and pay a little extra (for whatever) instead of driving 10 miles North and getting the same product at a reduced rate.

Does boycotting even work? Can any of you that support this theory site case evidence where you have driven someone or something out of business as a direct result of you(r) boycott, or even drastically reduced that entity's bottom line?

Dig deeper, tell us why or what is at the root of your boycott.

Just curious, not trying to "McDuff" anyone.  :)

Makes me feel like a big man, okay?  >:(

It's a bit like driving a fuel efficient car or carpooling or recycling or voting.  You, by yourself, are not going to effect change.  If there are a few hundred million of you doing the same thing it starts to make a difference. 

It's generally a good thing when people try to make a difference.  Even when they're completely *goshdarn* wrong. ;)

You can probably close the file on that one.

Welcome, Brother Seamus.  8)

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

i guess i'm the only one boycotting  CM?
 [sm_disgust]

I'm boycotting them too--unwittingly.

$$$

Strict 'No Nike' policy in place, has as much to do with  shoe contracts in the NCAA as the fact that they tend to produce shoddily designed (or outright copies of OTHER companies stuff)  and even more shoddily manufactured products in sports from Hockey to Track and Field, which is a damn shame given the companies downright organic roots in Eugene, Oregon.

WalMart isn't 'Evil', but the morans what shop there may be... [sm_devil]

I've considered boycotting NAPA for continuing to sponsor No Talent Hack Extrordinaire Michael Waltrip for over a decade, but my NAPA rep is SMOKIN' hot... ;D

Convenience may be king, but apparently the Little Prince also has a say.

I have limited my boycotting to those that have treated me poorly.  Which means I should really be boycotting women as well - but again, the Little Prince also has a say.

mfh productions. they suck

now thats funny  ;D

DirecTV:  I guess, not much of a boycott, but I just won't deal with them again.  Very poor customer service, and product.

DishNetwork:  The same I guess, but my feelings are stronger.  Very difficult to suspend/cancel service when we moved.  3 different stories from 3 different customer service rep.s.  Had to go back to the house 3 weeks after closing, climb up on the roof and dismantle to LMB, or whatever the hell it is.  They were holding 300 bucks for it, even after I sent it to them, I still never got my money back.

Ruby Tuesdays:  2 drink limit to adults with children.

Pizza joint in town:  Very poor service.  2 times in a row, we are the only people in the place.  25 minutes to get a beer, and I never got a second one.

Maddie's 2nd Grade Teacher:  Stupid bitch.  But I'm taking Clive's advice.  Now the healing can begin.


As far as one drop of rain to fill an ocean...........Whisker-Du summed it up well, it's pretty much what I do.  To say;  I throw my can in the recycling because it's the right thing to do.

I don't really boycott anything but if you piss off my wife.......see ya.

She is boycotting Best Buy and will not even go in the store. Sometimes I have to just go to get my fix.

We also had problems with Ford and Dodge so probably won't see those in my garage soon.

I had the impression women were boycotting you.   [sm_devil]

Tell me it's because of poor service.

He short-changed them.

That's not right.  I shouldn't be doing that to fellow hobbits.  Commence self-smiting.   :sad3:

Not in size per say, but perhaps in longevity  :-X [sm_shock]









Tough crowd  [sm_devil] ;)

I'd like to boycott my electrical company but that wouldn't work for sure.  We've had 5 power outages in 4 months. 


With a family and walmart being so close we go there to save money on the staples. 

There are chain restaurants I will not eat in like Applebee's and Olive Garden.  The food plain sucks balls.

And this local sandwhich place called Gourmet Deli.  It was next door to my wife's work when we lived in Norman.  She didn't get much time for lunch so we ate there a lot.  The owner was a complete bitch and acted mad that you ordered something.  And you would never know whent the turkey would be "questionable" to say the least.  Sometimes one of us would get slimey ass turkey and the other good turkey.  We took stuff back so often and finally gave up.

Wendy's and Subway will never see me in their store either.  Found what looked like a pubic hair in my burger at Wendy's and Subway is just gross.  I've heard some horror stories about people getting food poisoning from Subway especially later at night.  Yummy cold cuts sitting out since lunch. [sm_disgust]

I'm boycotting Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz.  Sure, they beg me to buy their vehicles, but I'm hanging tough.  No hyphenated cars for me.

When I saw this, I thought "I don't boycott anyone anymore, it' gets too hard to keep them all straight." Then I saw the two posts about the ex-figs sponsor, and I remembered. Now I don't know if I'm thinking of the same one, but the 'breaking his arm from patting himself on the back' comment makes me think that it is. Not to mention the 'This clubhead is bigger than the rest, I'll get right down to the bottom of it' comedy act.
Oh well, don't want to think about negative thoughts.

It's who you're thinking of. But then doesn't that put him in the other boycott thread? I guess he can fit in both.

You also told me (the first time we golfed), whilst wearing a Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball cap about your boycott of Major League Baseball (Strike '94 right?).  That is a boycott I can sink my teeth into, and I have tried, they are not getting as much money out of me as they used to, it's probably been 5 years since I last paid for a ticket out of my own pocket, and maybe 5 0r 6 years prior to that.  I'm not sure what I'm doing would be considered striking though, and I clearly don't think it has an effect on that entity at all for reasons stated earlier.

I stay away from big box stores in general, and Walmart in particular, in favour of locally owned and operated stores.

A textbook store back in college.

They sold me the wrong book (same title, author, version, copyright date, etc, but not the right book!) for a class.
So, I go to return it, according to their proudly stated' easy' return policy.
The book is in new condition, I have the receipt, and it's within the time allowed by their policy.

I go to the return/service counter.
The lady, who had been helping other customers find new books very happily and efficiently, finds out that I am returning something.
Suddenly, her cheerful demeanor goes away, and she starts moving slower than a slug.
After a good 20 minutes, she finally completes the form that says that I have returned the book, and tells me to go stand in the cashier line to get my money back.

I go stand in the cashier line (both lines are 3-4 people deep)
The other cashier finishes through his line fast, and cheerfully calls me over to his line.
And, as with the lady before, as soon as he finds out that I have a return, the efficient, cheerful employee becomes the stupid, slower-than-a-slug employee with an attitude problem.
After a few minutes of this guy trying to count out the money (which for buyers he can do easily, but not, apparently, for returners), he says that he doesn't have a nickel that he needs.  But, he can give me all the money, minus five cents.  (Apparently they had no change in the store other than what he had in his cash box.)

At this point, I am too angry to speak, and I take the offered money and leave. 

 [sm_angry9]

I boycott nickels.

I forgot: we boycott the Boy Scouts of America, too, because of their anti-gay stance.  Pleasant enough to the little lads when they ask for donations and such, but a firm decline nonetheless.  I appreciate the many good character traits they instill, but I can't abide a group that indoctrinates prejudice in children.

Not boycotting MLB per se, just avoiding buying anything with this:

(http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0Je5qh3coRGSCIAfASjzbkF/SIG=11sfdq7ui/EXP=1183171575/**http%3A//img.clubic.com/photo/00115831.jpg)

logo on it, because a cut goes to all the parties involved in the 94 strike, the MLBPA, the teams and the leagues.

So, when I need a new wool ball cap, I buy a minor league one.

Fortunately, if I want wool from now on, it will have to be from Ebbets Flannels, because 'Official' MiLB hats are now some kind of supposed 'Performance Fabric' (read "Polyester Mesh")

(1) Applebees.  Poor service with average food.
(2) A local golf store called Oklahoma Golf Superstore.  Bought a no name driver there once for $150, & they told me if I didn't like it, I could bring it back for a good trade in allowance towards another driver.  Within a week, I knew it was not working, and when I took it back, they offerred to give me a $25.00 trade in.
(3) Wal Mart.  They made my wife mad & she's the boss.