Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. That’s true for most situations in life, but in thebusiness world, the stakes are even higher. There, your mistakes don’t just affect your reputation and opportunities—they can eat into your profit margins and put your employees’ careers at risk. In short, the ethical and smart thing to do is to focus onbrand loyalty, product and service quality, and returning customers.Recently, a group of disappointed customersventedtheir frustrations about companies, stores, and restaurants in a viral online discussion on AskReddit. They opened up about what brands they’ve learned to avoid and why. Scroll down for their stories and warnings. Do these posts sound relatable? If so, don’t forget to upvote them as you read on.We wanted to learn more about brand loyalty, so we got in touch with Matt Johnson, PhD, a marketing psychology expert who specializes in topics such asconsumer psychologyandserendipity. You’ll find the insights he shared withBored Pandabelow, including why some companies might have different priorities, as well as what drives consumers away from brands.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. That’s true for most situations in life, but in thebusiness world, the stakes are even higher. There, your mistakes don’t just affect your reputation and opportunities—they can eat into your profit margins and put your employees’ careers at risk. In short, the ethical and smart thing to do is to focus onbrand loyalty, product and service quality, and returning customers.
Recently, a group of disappointed customersventedtheir frustrations about companies, stores, and restaurants in a viral online discussion on AskReddit. They opened up about what brands they’ve learned to avoid and why. Scroll down for their stories and warnings. Do these posts sound relatable? If so, don’t forget to upvote them as you read on.
We wanted to learn more about brand loyalty, so we got in touch with Matt Johnson, PhD, a marketing psychology expert who specializes in topics such asconsumer psychologyandserendipity. You’ll find the insights he shared withBored Pandabelow, including why some companies might have different priorities, as well as what drives consumers away from brands.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
F**k Nestle.I can’t always avoid their products 100% of the time, but I certainly will never intentionally support them ever. Trying to privatize water is one of the most evil things, short of privatizing air.
Meanwhile, Investopedia also notes that 83% of customers would switch brands due to bad customer service while 74% of people (say that they) stay loyal to a brand due to the quality of their products.
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Starbucks.Low quality drinks at premium prices.So many BETTER mom-and-pop coffeehouses out there instead.
Tesla. It’s a pity, too, because I really like my model 3. But I can no longer justify financially contributing to Elon Musk.
We askedJohnsonwhy, given the positive impact brand loyalty has on profit, some companies choose to ignore it. “This is a classic trade-off for brands between the short-term (performance marketing) and the long-term (growth marketing). Building brand loyalty is a long-term project, and as a result, some businesses don’t prioritize it because they’re focused on short-term goals, like immediate sales or rapid growth, which often seem more tangible and measurable,” he explained to Bored Panda.“Building loyalty takes time and requires consistent investment in creating meaningful customer experiences, which might not show quick returns. Additionally, some industries—like commodities or fast-moving consumer goods—might see loyalty as less relevant, relying instead on convenience or price competition. However, this is often a missed opportunity. Loyalty doesn’t just drive repeat purchases; it creates advocates who amplify the brand, providing long-term value that far outweighs short-term gains. It’s an investment worth making,” Johnson said via email.
We askedJohnsonwhy, given the positive impact brand loyalty has on profit, some companies choose to ignore it. “This is a classic trade-off for brands between the short-term (performance marketing) and the long-term (growth marketing). Building brand loyalty is a long-term project, and as a result, some businesses don’t prioritize it because they’re focused on short-term goals, like immediate sales or rapid growth, which often seem more tangible and measurable,” he explained to Bored Panda.
“Building loyalty takes time and requires consistent investment in creating meaningful customer experiences, which might not show quick returns. Additionally, some industries—like commodities or fast-moving consumer goods—might see loyalty as less relevant, relying instead on convenience or price competition. However, this is often a missed opportunity. Loyalty doesn’t just drive repeat purchases; it creates advocates who amplify the brand, providing long-term value that far outweighs short-term gains. It’s an investment worth making,” Johnson said via email.
Ticketmaster.Separate_Shift_3453:i have almost stopped going to see music because of how our ticketing systems are now set up.
AppleI had an epic iTunes library and one day they said my songs weren’t mine anymore. Probably 10k just f***g gone. There was zero ways to contact them.Fk you, Apple!
Twitter.In 2020, I didn’t realize exactly how much it was manipulating people until I created a second account and followed 2 republican senators. My entire feed was transformed into pseudoscience, how the virus was fake, how Biden was a criminal mastermind, yet fumbling fool at the same time, etc.I deleted both accounts and never looked back. It’s no wonder people spread misinformation and say “well everyone’s talking about it.”It literally warps your worldview.
Bored Panda was also interested in what factors drive consumers away from brands. “Brands matter when, and only when, they matter to their consumers. The consumer’s perspective, then, is absolutely crucial. Here, the main things that drive them away from a brand are a lack of trust, relevance, and emotional connection,” themarketing psychology expertsaid.“Trust can falter due to poor product quality, inconsistent messaging, or unethical practices. Relevance is equally vital—if a brand doesn’t align with their evolving values or needs, it risks being seen as outdated or tone-deaf. Poor customer experiences, such as unresponsive service or overcomplicated processes, can quickly sourrelationships.“He continued: “Additionally, a lack of authenticity or transparency often leaves consumers feeling disconnected. In a competitive landscape, brands must stay attuned to their audience’s expectations to maintain loyalty and engagement.”
Bored Panda was also interested in what factors drive consumers away from brands. “Brands matter when, and only when, they matter to their consumers. The consumer’s perspective, then, is absolutely crucial. Here, the main things that drive them away from a brand are a lack of trust, relevance, and emotional connection,” themarketing psychology expertsaid.
“Trust can falter due to poor product quality, inconsistent messaging, or unethical practices. Relevance is equally vital—if a brand doesn’t align with their evolving values or needs, it risks being seen as outdated or tone-deaf. Poor customer experiences, such as unresponsive service or overcomplicated processes, can quickly sourrelationships.”
He continued: “Additionally, a lack of authenticity or transparency often leaves consumers feeling disconnected. In a competitive landscape, brands must stay attuned to their audience’s expectations to maintain loyalty and engagement.”
AirBnB. Have been stung too many times. Some places are good but when they’re terrible there is no recourse.
Anything with food delivery services DoorDash, Uber. Those f*****g fees are crazy.
A company’s values are genuinely important. For instance, a quarter of millennial and Generation Z consumers are prepared to spend more on a brand’s products if the company takes a strong stand on corporate social responsibility issues. The latter shows a company’s efforts to enhance society rather than degrade it, and includes environmental impacts, ethical responsibility, philanthropic endeavors, and financial responsibilities.
According to Forbes, one of themain waysto gain and keep trust as a business is to always follow through on your promises. It’s a fundamental piece of advice, but it’s hard to apply consistently in real life, no matter if you’re at the helm of a company or talking about relationships withotherpeople on an individual level.
Shein. I’m trying to go to consignment/second hand exclusively rather than fast fashion. Shein is the first one off the list. Tacky, cheap, horrible c**p and I’ll never buy anything from them again.
I still haven’t bought gas from BP since the oil spill.
Transparency is also key. Forbes, reporting on a survey from NielsenIQ, notes that 72% of consumers see transparency as an important or extremely important trait of a business.Broadly speaking, brands should be willing to engage with their customers and share information that they need to know or that is relevant.That being said, total transparency is practically impossible in a corporateenvironment: there will always be parts of how the company functions that need to be kept covert, out of necessity.
Transparency is also key. Forbes, reporting on a survey from NielsenIQ, notes that 72% of consumers see transparency as an important or extremely important trait of a business.
Broadly speaking, brands should be willing to engage with their customers and share information that they need to know or that is relevant.
That being said, total transparency is practically impossible in a corporateenvironment: there will always be parts of how the company functions that need to be kept covert, out of necessity.
Etsy. Seller issued us a full refund on some faulty chairs ($1,200!!!!), and Etsy held it and still refuses to send it to us. It’s been over a year. Typing this is making me mad again.
Victoria’s secret ruined my self esteem as a young girl. In high school I got fitted there and they said I was a 38C. Everything was uncomfortable, my clothes looked awful, but they were the experts so I believed this was the pain of being a woman; that my body was the problem.In my mid 20s I found /r/abrathatfits and learned that I was actually closer to a 32G - a size that VS doesn’t carry. Suddenly the back rolls were smoothed out, shirts fit better, and I was more comfortable. They convinced me my body was the problem, but it was their limited sizing.If they’d just told me that I’d be better off at Nordstrom, I’d probably still buy other things there. But anytime I’ve been in since, I start to feel like that insecure girl again.
What are some companies and brands that you genuinelydon’t trustanymore, Pandas?What happenedto make you feel this way?
AIG insurance. 40 years ago they wouldn’t sell me insurance since I was divorced and no husband.crayonsocialism:Geico wouldn’t sell my parents insurance 45 years ago because they were cohabiting but not married. My parents are still boycotting, and so am I.
Walmart.I was a vendor so I had to work inside them. They treat employees and vendors like c**p. I live next to one I drive across town to target.
Chik fil la.The most boring chicken sandwiches I have EVER eaten in almost 60 years.Whyyyyyy do people go crazy over this c**p?
Vrbo.Their policies don’t protect their customers from something like this happening: Some friends and I booked a house in San Diego (for Comic Con) and drove in from out-of-state, pulled into the driveway, and discovered other people had already checked in. (A door had been left unlocked, so we entered and scoped it out but then decided to go back outside and get some answers.) 20 minutes after our check-in time, as we were sitting in the driveway of the home we booked, Vrbo sent us a cancellation notice.The service had double-booked the property.So here we were stranded in San Diego, having paid a massive amount of money to attend the convention, with no available rooms anywhere (except for some exorbitantly priced options), and Vrbo wouldn’t help us.Many hours later, we were finally able to find something, but it was pretty run-down, and still cost much more than the place we’d booked through Vrbo.
I might be downvoted for this, but…. Chevy. I finally couldn’t take the endless repairs, the s****y dealerships who wouldn’t repair stuff even when it was in warranty 50k miles ago, never knowing when the car was going to conk out. Now I’m driving a camry. Hopefully for the next 200k miles. 🤞🤞.
Applebees. Went once and they took so long for everything despite it being empty and our server acted like us being there was an inconvenience. Had been there and hour and my wife was so hungry that when they messed up everybody’s orders she got up, walked across the plaza to Publix, and got a sub. I cancelled her plate and my plate and they rushed the kids meals so they could eat and comped the meal. We never went back to one after that.
H f****n P. They made the Compaq laptop I bought in college for nearly a thousand dollars. That thing st the bed almost immediately. I sent it off to be repaired multiple times but eventually demanded a refund because it was a lemon. Their customer service was non-existent and the service manager was a prick. He laughed when I told him that I’d never buy another HP product again. It’s going on 20 years, but I kept my word. Fk HP. Never again.
LA fitness. Their cancellation policy made me so mad. Only can do it in person and you have to do it with a manager who’s there m-f 9-5.No issue signing me up outside those hours though. F**k LA fitness.TheDefiantGoose:I used to work at a bank and people wouldalwayscome in complaining about canceling LA Fitness. They would cancel and the gym would continue to charge them and then they would have to dispute it. I saw the struggle over and over again.So more recently, for a similar type gym, I was preparing for battle when cancelling our membership. I did it online and it worked the first time easy. I was like…oh. Cool.
American Airlines.Absolutely horrible from front line employees to online customer support.
Dodge. Every Dodge i ever owned and every person i ever met who had a Dodge had trouble after 50k miles.
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Red Roof Inn. (Which yes, it’s a budget hotel so my expectations were low).Checked in. Wasn’t the room type we booked, called front desk, they assured us all was fine. Went out the next day. Came back to find our key didn’t work. Turns out they put us in the wrong room, and took everything out of our room while we were gone (did not call us to tell us) and put it in their housekeeping office. By the time we got back to the hotel they tried to tell us the housekeeping office was locked for the night and we couldn’t get our stuff till the morning. I never ever yell at customer service people, hell at the time I worked front desk at a hotel so I am generally nice. I raised hell. Demanded management, and then demanded higher management. Finally got our stuff back late that night…they had thrown it in bags randomly and some was rather destroyed (most memorably a toothbrush in with shoes?). The manager tried to blame the whole thing on us.
Cheesecake factory: most money i’ve paid for the most mid meal i’ve ever eaten. i legitimately don’t understand why its so popular.
Panera. Half a sandwich and a tiny soup is crazy expensive. Like wtf. It’s basically prison food.nagol3:Panera, worst food poisoning of my life.
Frontier Airlines.Ok-Bit8368:Frontier Airlines is only good if you really want to be stranded in Denver.popeyoni:Frontier has the rudest, most inconsiderate and outright dishonest ground crew of any airline.
Petsmart, they lost my dog like 1 minute after I dropped them off for grooming. Thankfully I found them eventually but they were lost for 3 days. Also boycotted for all the obvious reasons.ETA they didn’t tell me 1 minute after I dropped them off, maybe like half an hour. I guess they wanted to find him and pretend it didn’t happen, which was even worse.SourSensuousness:Their groomers killed my cat. Never got an apology, a sympathy card, an explanation. I did get PTSD, though. I will never go there again, ever, for any reason.
Shell. Back in the 70’s they denied my business owning grandmother a gas card because she wasn’t married at the time. I’m holding that grudge on her behalf now that she’s passed.Wal-Mart for obvious reasons, haven’t set foot in one since 2003.
Doc Martens. Used to love them, now they’re expensive and don’t hold up.
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Samsung. Two cr*ppy refrigerators in a row. I will never trust their products again.
Dollar General. The self check out is always broken. Pallets and boxes all over the floors in aisles. At least 1 manager and or employee sitting in the office behind the check out counters when 5-6 people are all in line waiting to check out, but stuck behind someone requiring a 10 minute check out with 43 items, wanting cigarettes, a propane exchange and the price of every single electronic item on the shelf behind the 17 year old checking them out that started 3 days ago.
Dyson. Spent a fortune on a battery-powered stick vacuum, and a couple of years on the battery is dead. They want $140 for a replacement battery, and will only offer a 1 year warranty on their batteries.
Ashley Furniture. Couch broke not even two years in, I removed the fabric underneath. Staples and scrap wood. Not a single nail or screw was used in the construction.
Geico, after a s****y insurance guy added me without my consent to my bf’s insurance after he filed a claim–we lived in same building but not together and his car was broken into and I witnessed it and called 911. My bf gave the insurance guy my info thinking he needed it for the claim and then a few weeks later noticed his premium had gone way up. Insurance guy was like well she has access to your car and I can’t change anything now. Had to demand a higher up and rip into them before they removed me and only after I threatened to get the state involved. Still makes my blood f*****g boil.
Golden CorralAbsolutely disgusting food.
Levi’s jeans. They use poor quality denim these days.
Comcast. My local ISP ran fiber into my neighborhood. 10Gb symmetrical fiber for $49/mo, and it’s as stable as a rock.
Jiffy Lube. I smelled burning oil shortly after driving away. I had to pull over on the side of the highway. They left the oil cap off. Luckily it was still in the engine compartment. I have changed my own oil since.
Pringles. Used to be a guilty favorite. Just bought some today and they enshittified them. Same can, but chips look about 20% smaller.
I personally have not shopped at ‘Best Buy’ for over 25 years. They used to pull some really shady s**t with their so called “deals”. After being screwed over a few times I decided never again.
AT&T. I had a bill pay go wrong, called them and told them I would pay the bill if they would waive the late fee, and the agent I was speaking to refused. I asked if he could do it as a one time courtesy. Again, he refused. I asked to speak with his supervisor. The supervisor refused to waive the fee. In anger, I told him to cancel my line and…Poof. the line went silent and my phone wouldn’t make a call. Called customer service back and said I had to pay the bill, late fee and reactivation fee. F**k that. I walked into a Sprint store and never looked back.
Five Guys. Over hyped, over priced, over rated and awful tasting food all round.
CRUMBL cookies. Expensive, too sweet, and underbaked 🤮.
American Express credit cards. They say “no pre-ser spending limit” as if it’s a good thing. What it means is they arbitrarily decide when they’ll cut you off.When I was 21 I got a corporate Amex and used it for the first time to book a business trip. I needed clothes during the trip (less than $100 worth) and was declined at checkout because that small amount was apparently too much after the much larger plane fare and hotel charge. If they had a preset limit I would’ve know where I stood before making a purchase.
LG. My dishwasher didn’t even last 6 years. My fridge lasted 4 and the compressor died twice. I’ll never buy another LG appliance ever. F**k LG, their products are trash.
IHOP. It was $80 for pancakes and hot chocolate for 4 people. Never again.
Still haven’t been back to Qdoba since I got e.coli 7* years ago. When I called the store I went to after getting out of a week-long hospital stay, they asked if I was the girl who called earlier that day to report this… I was not.
#JEEP.Stranded me once in rural Wyoming on a cross country drive.Stranded me again at a ski resort. At night.Stranded me a third time on a forest service road. With no cell signal. With my infant.Don’t EVER buy a Jeep.
BROOKLINEN. look, their bedding may be expensive, but don’t worry it also f*****g sucks! “cooling” comforters that are hot as hell, sheets that tear easily. another IG ad disaster purchase.
TGIFridays. Worked there as a teen, never ate there again and recommended NOT going there to friends and family. Glad when I found out they went bankrupt.
Quicken Loans. Took advantage of me as a first one home buyer and cost me $600. Anytime I find a lender is a subsidiary of Quicken (like Rocket Mortgage), I tell them exactly why I could never use them.
Harry and David. Straight upDidn’t deliver a sympathy basket and I was notified the day it was supposed to be delivered that the order was cancelled. No reschedule just cancel.
Old Spaghetti Factory. Went once. My lasagna was frozen in the middle. That told me everything I’ll ever need to know about Old Spaghetti Factory.
GM. Three straight vehicles that failed at 100k.
Red Robin- food poisoning. I’ve never been so ill in my life.
Raising Cane’s is awful. Bland, flavorless chicken. Their selling point is their sauce, which is also pretty mid.
Olive garden. I don’t understand why so many people love it.As soon as you walk in, you are met with a garlic and hot oil smell.The food looks and tastes like it all came frozen with zero pride put into it.Sbarros tastes better than this s**t.Service was great, though.
Kia. I got screwed so bad and they did it with a smile on their face. I was young and they took advantage.
I decided I would try long John Silvers with a friend of mine. We ordered all kinds of s**t because we had never been there before.It was so, astonishingly bad. Everything tasted the same, all just “fried”. No actual difference between hush puppies, shrimp, fish, or fries. Slight variation in texture and shape, but even that was only slight. Just a mountain of tan colored batter shapes that taste of nothing.That was the one and only time I have ever been. That was in around 1999 or so.
Quiznos. Are they still around?They offered our building a 10% discount, so fine whatever. I bought a sandwich and said I work here and they gave me grief because i only ordered a sandwich, not a meal. I Said, whatever it was your idea.The next time I go in I order the special meal deal, and said I work here and they said “no discount since it is already a deal.” I didn’t want their chips and fountain drink anyway, so I just left.
John Deere. I had fun on the tractor and it ran great. When parts wore out and I had to go to the dealership to buy new ones it was like they were doing me a favor to condescend to order the overpriced original John Deere parts. Once asked for a part and the parts desk told me to buy it at Tractor Supply. Tractor Supply didn’t have them. Next time it will be a different brand.
Sugar Factory. The worst restaurant I’ve ever been to.
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