Hey everyone,
I recently thought today of companies that I actively avoid and the reasons why.
Harvey Norman is one for keeping JobKeeper payments and Nestlé due to multiple reasons.
Please explain in the comments which companies you boycott. An explanation and link to relevant documentation/articles would be good!
i just youtubed some of the ads, you're right they aren't toxic at all just like you said very preachy and an odd choice telling your customers they need to be
but I didn't see anything wrong or anti male in the ad itself.
Exactly. One Superbowl commercial from years ago and guys have these memories of being told all males are violent sexist people, but in reality the add was just a preachy attempt telling guys to try and be better and call out guys that might be d*&ks. Yep, was a preachy commercial, but it wasn't 'attacking all men's
And yet there's guys, years on, still butt hurt over a commercial that wasn't even shown in this country :)
all the fancy shaving equipment is overpriced anyway. can buy a straight razor handle and enough disposable blades on ebay for $20 to last a whole year.
Sanitarium. I don't feel compelled to support a church.
That's why I refuse to watch anything Tom Cruise is in
Mission Impossible tho! :(
Quiksilver - declining quality and the company replatformed its website and no longer accepts e-gift cards even though mine is still valid. Have a couple of hundred dollars in gift cards that cannot be used. If I could use my gc I would but will not be returning as a customer.
Officeworks - manager of my local store will never accept a price beat claim. After a dozen attempts I gave up. Despite me going through the t&c's with a fine toothed comb, their refusal to price beat is why I no longer shop there. Eg On the latest attempt to save a few dollars on a powerboard, I was left waiting for ~40mins while manager went out the back to find a way out of it. Obviously she was hoping this amount of time would be enough for me to leave the store but I persisted. She came back with 'The competitor charges $15 if you lose your receipt and need a re-print. Officeworks don't charge a fee for that so therefore the T&Cs are not the same. Cannot price beat'. Not worth my time or effort anymore.
These are terrible examples of customer service! Noted re both.
Any website that sends me and email 'reminding' me of something I had in my cart.
Jeep. Because it's a Jeep.
Forgot to add TikTok, used it once and my god what a dumpster fire of a platform.
Nestle. When I was in my teens they had a promotion to send 3 foils from their coffee tins to get a red Nescafe mug. I sent 3 foils but have never seen the mug.
Everything Facebook (Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger) because of their practices of creating addictive experiences.
Google, if there's an alternative - due to tracking and ads
Google, if there's an alternative - due to tracking and ads
Do you also boycott other media with ads like TV, radio, Facebook, Ozbargain etc?
Yes, mostly. As I said no Facebook for me. TV and Radio is fine, their ads aren’t targeted. In all other places it’s google, that’s exactly why I try to avoid it. For example I don’t use chrome, won’t buy any google hardware including any Android phone.
DuckDuckGo - great alternative to Google
Latitude GE Credit and 28 Degree with $6.95 + $0.95 monthly fees + 21.99% interest
Ummmm, wouldn't the percentage interest depend on what you owe?
Scratch that. Read it as = 21.99%
any company that rorted jobkeeper
Buy Aussie Now. Untrustworthy, constant lies and ignoring of refund requests with disdain for their customers.
No point boycotting when the big guys are subsidiaries of bigger guys.
Exactly people don’t realise capitalism isn’t ethical
Kogan, after several items lasted just out of warranty, a TV was rarely used and left unplugged and last a month out, all things lasted just out, a GPS was displaying signs of failure before 12 months and they still belligerently resisted warranty, they then sent a survey, I told them I would not recommend them, got a reply stating we will contact you, they never did!
Kogan are trash
Harvey Norman for rorting JobKeeper.
KFC for the extremely annoying ads on TV.
Harvey Norman was the major player in introducing GST into overseas purchases as well.
TELSTRA
SKYNEWS
FOX
Samsung - Poor build quality, products don't last long enough. Purchased a phone and fridge, never again. They spend a lot more on marketing, rather than building products which last long.
Kogan - Grey imports. Never purchased anything yet.
Whats wrong with grey imports? You're basing your boycott on a company you haven't dealt with?
Pretty much any Chinese company including any of Ozbargains favourites (Xiaomi, DJI, Edifier, Huawei, Aliexpress, etc)
TIL, Edifier is a Chinese company…
I'm inclined to do this now with China bullying Australia.
Even though it's a pity, a lot of great Chinese companies. I've had a number of Xiaomi phones that have been good.
You know you don't, but you can keep lying. No one cares
No one cares about individual actions, but the sum of boycotts will add up to something.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/huawei-australia-battered-in-2…
Lol ok. Free Hong Kong and Taiwan is a country 😂
It's about China making it hard for it's residents to buy Australian products that they want to buy. For me anyway.
Allianz
Malaysia Airlines - terrible service + bad security at Kuala Lumpur
CK - clothing poor quality
Trip.com - refund process took over a year
Gillette
Gillette - boys will be boys
Shopback is top of the list
High value purchases never track but small with cashback in cents magically always get tracked.
Appliances Online: Refused to price match with iBuys (which is a legit Australian retailer). As well as another time where I purchased an item that was in stock, only to be told 2 weeks later that it wouldn't arrive for another month+ because it wasn't in stock.
Qantas: Not a strong boycott since its very hard to do, but I had a 24hr trip turn into a 50hr nightmare because of a flight delay and they didn't offer any kind of compensation. I would've been happy with, "here is a nice chair in our lounge for you to sleep in".
Subway Ghungalin: They refused to accept a free sub coupon because I had chosen one of "premium" subs. I was ok with that and asked for a different one but they refused to do it unless I paid for the "premium" one they made. Petty, but screw them.
Edit: Oh and BP: All petrol companies are bad, but they especially ticked me off with how badly they handled that oil spill that time…
Edit2: Oh and all the Ubereats stuff if I can. They mark up their prices and say things like "Free delivery". Its not free delivery if I'm paying more than the retail price.
Snickers bars…. now Made in China.
And this is not a race thing, this is a 'concerned over the quality control' of food being ingested by me and my loved ones.
It's the same reason I won't buy prawns from Vietnam.
Cheap material foods is one thing, actual FOOD is another entirely.
oh…. and:
Harvey Norman (FU Gerry and your import tax!)
Telstra (because they are ripoffs and their call centres are based on the other side of the moon by people who can't speak English and are using headsets that were made in the 1990's)
Gillette (because if you want to shame the entire male gender just for being male, good luck in selling women's razors)
Youi (because their online quote process involves you handing over your mobile number under the guise of spam prevention, but its really to cold call you to give you the insurance quote price- but only AFTER you redo the entire question process again, and sit through their hard sales tactics)
Citibank (see Telstra reasoning)
Anything Murdoch/News Corp (it's NOT news, its propaganda)
Didn't they shift production of Snickers while they refit out the factory here?
Apparently that was the reason, but how long does it take to refit a factory?
This was from 2018
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/411938
It's permanent now, it's been 3 years!
Every single Snickers, whether its part of the snack size multi packs or the larger standalones… are still now made in China.
Was my favourite confectionery too :(.
@UFO: I too refuse to eat snickers and avoid fish/seafood from vietnam/china.
How bout the tiny ones in the Celebrations pack.
From woolies "Packed in Australia with products made in the Netherlands and Germany"
Tho a part of me highly doubts it is made in those countries.
@mmd: What is wrong with Vietnam? They don't get along with China.
So you forming a triangle of hate?
@netjock: More to do with trust of the food safety standards, and officials look the other way if they're bribed.
@netjock: Yeah no need to insinuate I have a race issue. Local water and air quality directly affect the quality of the food produced at those locations.
Prawns cultivated in Vietnam are known to have higher quantities of heavy metals such as mercury contained in them.
A "triangle of hate"??? I think not. A triangle of lower food quality, yes.
This. Snickers were amazing, the Chinese ones taste awful. Strangely they still make Mars in Australia so hopefully we will see OG Snickers back on shelves soon. Won't hold my breath.
Many Australians boycott the Astrazenica Covid 19 vaccine.
Yep, many Australians are dumb, you're right.
Get vacinated people. AZ is fine, you have more chance of being hurt on your way to the nearest garage sale than by getting a bad reaction to the AZ shot, let alone the risk of death being minutely smaller again…
i dont want better cell service
But we want a trade deal with the UK. I have no idea what the deal is.
Telstra
They credit checked and activated a post paid service in my name from a pre paid service given to a family member 12 years prior.
Ticketek, Harvey Norman, Foxtel/news.com.au/Herald Sun (Anything owned my Murdoch), and also recently added Samsung to my list for unwanted ads on my $1300 TV.
Apple - expensive, non-innovative products, cartel like behaviour
Harvey Norman - Gerry Harvey is a POS
Murdoch Media - bias, lies etc.
Vueling Airlines - had a terrible experience with them in Spain, diversions, late flights, lost luggage, an absolute disaster.
Any brands that have obnoxious ads on tv. Any brands that start getting into political issues.
I would boycott Gillette if they actually sold a product worth buying, but as it is they just don't have anything worthwhile so it doesn't really feel like a boycott.
7/11 - refuse to have anything to do with them. They're owned by a billionaire who basically screwed his franchisees and treated those working for him as slave labour. And when the media exposed them, they got their PR firm to promise change, launched an investigation which they then slowly wound up, and then went right back to what they were doing before. Made an absolute mockery of labour laws and the institutions that were supposed to protect the vulnerable.
Acer.
Nooo why??
well known a lot of their products are subpar and their local support facility call center is worthless
i actually quite like their stuff buy them knowing that support is non existant and any repair will make the device disposable and local staff are worthless
Apple. because it feels like they screw and exploit their customers at every available opportunity. I've never had a positive experience with them. If your wondering just how serious I am about this I considered buying and shipping in a Zune from America just because I didn't want to buy an Ipod. I ended up buying an Ipod touch because somehow removing the phone functionality from an Ipod cuts its price by more than 50%.
I'm no microsoft fanboy. but when it comes to apple products I'll take any alternative.
just off the top of my head here is a list of greivances I had with them before I decided to always avoid them when possible.
forced updates, rendering old apps useless.
transferring music and files is deliberately painful and complicated I remember that around 8 years ago I basically gave up trying to sort my music library. or ever touch apple os.
headphones break or stop working properly within a month or two even though they are super expensive.
text messages are often late it seems like the phone relies on internet connection to deliver text messages instead of the phone network.
I've had to replace old iphones because they have just stopped working. luckily i only ever bought the cheap model or refurbished so wasn't a huge loss.
all their stuff is overpriced even though they pay their workers almost nothing. and its often not even that good in terms of hardware.
I'm sure I could think of more but I couldn't be bothered spending more than a few minutes on this. I can safely say that I've just tried to forget all my problems with them and all I think now is automatically choose any other alternative or you will get burned unless you are a fanboy and don't mind spending a crazy amount of money on them.
This seems a bit of a weird rant. You don’t want to use them yet you bought an iPod and then a few phones from them and you still seem to use them ?
no buying an ipod and a two second hand phones is what lead me to all those problems and why i don't buy them anymore. if i never bought their stuff i never would have had any problems.
honestly i wouldn't have bought the phones because by then id already had the ipod touch and was weary of apple, but they were so cheap and second hand I caved because they already had my music library and apps. it annoys me i ended up being a sucker again. and of course they stopped working. so for me it was 3 strikes and im out.
the next phone I buy will not be apple and I'm just going to have to figure out some way to salvage my music library and accept I won't have the apps. but for now im stuck with the second of those cheap phones and i basically dont use it for anything except a verification device and I just have to deal with text messages not working properly. I don't purchase or use any apps or music on it. im sure at some point an update will roll through and it will just stop working altogether.
do you get it now? I'm not drawing a diagram.
Anything related to Murdoch media enterprises, because he’s making profits by spreading total lies.
Can't agree more. So many are brainwashed or happy to be brainwashed by his empire spreading fake news
The ABC.
…ok go your hardest. One thing this thread has confirmed is what a lefty echo chamber this ‘community’ is!
I know right….play school is just raising left wing crazies right :/
Perhaps this thread can help you with your echo chamber sources :)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/646452
"…ok go your hardest."
So you post a clearly ridiculous post, and to try and ensure anyone that disagrees with you is ridiculed in advance, you insult anyone who has the audacity to call you out on it. Epic fail. Sky News is over there —>
Fast and furious for apologising to West Taiwan
Energy Australia. When my father passed away his account was in credit around $1000, I attempted to get the credit for my mother as she was in need of it. They made it difficult as possible and in the end we gave up. Was a similar situation with a few other companies - most couldn't be more helpful given the situation and they even bent some rules to accommodate.
It's really sad when companies claim money from the dead. My nan was in a similar situation when my grandfather passed away. He had money/credit in accounts of such. When nan tried to claim it they would ask to speak to my grandfather. Despite nan explaining he had passed away, the message didn't appear to get through as they would still state that 'Well I'm sorry but I need his permission and if I can't speak to him I cannot do anything'.
That's absolutely awful :(
When I worked at Vodafone all they wanted was a copy of the death certificate. You'd think that would be enough to organise a refund. How can you make any amendments on the account otherwise
Why would you guys have the account in so much credit? Should get it refunded as bank cheque at least so the money is in your pockets and not theirs
Donut King for using Pauline Hanson in their ads. When confronted, I was told "she was chosen for her celebrity status" but guys, SHE'S A CELEBRITY RACIST.
Hurts you more than it hurts them turbo!
Yeah no.
McCain - they don’t pay the farmers properly in Australia because it’s cheaper to bring vegetables in form overseas
If I had to pick 3 they would be:
You forgot Harvey and Norman
Call it the 3 in 1 store: Go there the first time, the only time and the last time all in one!
I don’t boycott many brands, but I do make a point to support brands particularly if they stand up to the “mob” mentality. I try and support brands that don’t bend the knee to the woke mob on Twitter etc, the ones that have a sense of reality. Sometimes this means I buy products I wouldn’t have previously but to me it’s important to support the brands that stand up for what you believe in. I’m sure the deranged leftists on Twitter do the same for any of the faux woke companies I just do it for the people they boycott
Some incredible rationale being shown in this thread
clown emoji clown emoji clown emoji
You must certainly be expert level 'woke' to be commenting in this thread then!
Your worthy contribution has been noted.
All brands and products made in Turkey and Pakistan. Mostly clothing, nuts, snacks, lentils, rice and nut based products (e.g. Ferrero, Nutella) to name a few. I even go so far to check what the 'Imported' ingredients are and if I see any of those countries, I avoid. I have my reasons.
Hello! Can you explain so I can join you if necessary?
support terrorists
Thank you
Why so much hate for these countries?
I'm surprised at the people complain about price jacking and not mention all the brick and mortar stores that do it.
Kogan
Harvey Norman
Domain
Jbhifi
Just to name a few.
Also not a big fan of companies that have an online store that has most current prices yet the shop indicated a heavily inflated price.
Jbhifi is one that I know of.
sanitarium - fully owned by the 7th day adventist church, pay no taxes as such.
Anything with palm oil, seriously leave the palm trees alone.
Anything labelled 'organic' or GMO Free as it is pandering fear based marketing.
no more Weet-bix i suppose?
Yep pretty much, which sucks, because Vita Brits don't taste a good lol
Because Vita Brits have a lot less sugar than Weet Bix.
Haven't tried Toby's Vita Brits, but had this -
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/333314/woo…
Tastes wheatyy… as expected.
feminism has become anti male so I wouldn't be surprised if its not a stretch.
when I was a kid you wouldn't need to tell me twice to treat the girls equally but then towards the end of high school things started to feel really hostile towards men. these days my gut reaction is to stay as far away as possible from anybody that identifies as a feminist.
Edit - I just youtubed some of the ads, you're right they aren't toxic at all just like you said very preachy and an odd choice telling your customers they need to be better instead of just marketing your product. Imagine how controversial the same ad would be aimed at women though. that would be considered mysoginistic. so i guess it comes of as anti male because of that double standard, but I didn't see anything wrong or anti male in the ad itself.