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Companies you don't like to buy from, and why

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nlogax

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Asda - Their locations often mean they attract the ‘lower-end’ of the town they are in, making an unpleasant shopping experience. In addition, their products are not as good as other supermarkets and are pricier.

Hmm. Not sure where to begin with that, other than to say your perception doesn't match with that of many folks' reality, mine included.
 
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lyndhurst25

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Sky. I have a couple of their NowTV streaming boxes - the white ones that are just Roku boxes with custom firmware. I've not subscribed to anything on NowTV for some time but continued to use them streaming YouTube and iPlayer onto old TVs that don't have an HDMI input. Now they have decided to end support for the old boxes, but instead of stopping updates or disabling the NowTV app, they have just remotely bricked the boxes making them e-waste. Apparently you may be able to negotiate a discount on a replacement box if you currently subscribe to NowTV, but I don't and how long before they decide to brick that one on a whim? They're not getting any more of my money.
 

hst43102

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Slightly OT but the recent ASDA adverts make me never want to step into one again! Not that I would anyway, Sainsburys and Morrisons are much better IMHO.
 

Techniquest

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Slightly OT but the recent ASDA adverts make me never want to step into one again! Not that I would anyway, Sainsburys and Morrisons are much better IMHO.

I do have to say the recent Asda adverts make me cringe. I saw the Ant & Dec Santander ad the other day, which made me so very happy that I don't use them. If it wasn't for watching a boxset of a TV programme I watched in my teens, and all 151 episodes being on All4, I would be avoiding TV full stop. The ads, ooh they annoy me.

That being said, YouTube has gone awful for ads. I really, really, want Wish to get rid of that ad with the dad that's been a cheapskate and bought his 3 kids smartwatches. It's been repeated so much it drives me crazy, and you do have to feel sorry for the poor soul who buys inferior products on Wish...

I think what annoys me the most about that ad, apart from the kids who I can barely understand and make such stupid noises, is that one of my most favourite pre-cycling tunes (also a big favourite for getting pumped up and ready to go for a 3am start at work) has recently had an advert placed a little over halfway through it. That's fine, understandable, but nearly every time it's that same Wish advert. Having to wait to skip the ad, which should of course only be 5 seconds but the skip button seems to lag sometimes, meaning you have to suffer the ad you've seen/heard 306 times for at least 7 seconds sometimes, can really completely destroy the mood and I will be so very happy if I never see the ad again. I would be happy to throw a parade to see Wish go bankrupt and become a regrettable part of history!

The same applied very much to TikTok in the early part of the lockdown. Oh my good grief I was so happy to see that ad with the women doing their hair go away, with the music I couldn't understand, and that phrase 'what are you feeling? That's what TikTok's for!' will possibly stay in my memory forever. Hearing that 30 times an hour, if not more, was infuriating! Same as with Wish, I would be very happy to see TikTok die a death and become a moment in history we can all put behind us.

And don't start me on Instagram promoting ad nauseum their stories function...I haven't heard the Facebook adverts as much lately which is good, Will Smith's going on endlessly about bucket list madness is all I think of when I see anything he's in now. I will never be able to watch Men In Black the same way, and the third Bad Boys film when I eventually see it will be similar. I just won't be able to see his role in the same way!

Phew, sorry about the long post, as you can tell that lot's been on my chest for a while!
 

NoMorePacers

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I do have to say the recent Asda adverts make me cringe. I saw the Ant & Dec Santander ad the other day, which made me so very happy that I don't use them. If it wasn't for watching a boxset of a TV programme I watched in my teens, and all 151 episodes being on All4, I would be avoiding TV full stop. The ads, ooh they annoy me.

That being said, YouTube has gone awful for ads. I really, really, want Wish to get rid of that ad with the dad that's been a cheapskate and bought his 3 kids smartwatches. It's been repeated so much it drives me crazy, and you do have to feel sorry for the poor soul who buys inferior products on Wish...

I think what annoys me the most about that ad, apart from the kids who I can barely understand and make such stupid noises, is that one of my most favourite pre-cycling tunes (also a big favourite for getting pumped up and ready to go for a 3am start at work) has recently had an advert placed a little over halfway through it. That's fine, understandable, but nearly every time it's that same Wish advert. Having to wait to skip the ad, which should of course only be 5 seconds but the skip button seems to lag sometimes, meaning you have to suffer the ad you've seen/heard 306 times for at least 7 seconds sometimes, can really completely destroy the mood and I will be so very happy if I never see the ad again. I would be happy to throw a parade to see Wish go bankrupt and become a regrettable part of history!

The same applied very much to TikTok in the early part of the lockdown. Oh my good grief I was so happy to see that ad with the women doing their hair go away, with the music I couldn't understand, and that phrase 'what are you feeling? That's what TikTok's for!' will possibly stay in my memory forever. Hearing that 30 times an hour, if not more, was infuriating! Same as with Wish, I would be very happy to see TikTok die a death and become a moment in history we can all put behind us.

And don't start me on Instagram promoting ad nauseum their stories function...I haven't heard the Facebook adverts as much lately which is good, Will Smith's going on endlessly about bucket list madness is all I think of when I see anything he's in now. I will never be able to watch Men In Black the same way, and the third Bad Boys film when I eventually see it will be similar. I just won't be able to see his role in the same way!

Phew, sorry about the long post, as you can tell that lot's been on my chest for a while!
When using my computer, the adblockers I have installed have been very helpful for websites such as YouTube where they spam a hundred adverts per video or those banner advertisements offering things that are probably too explicit to be mentioned and will almost certainly fill my computer with all manner of dodgy programs designed to extract my financial information. They're probably one of the best things I've ever installed. I'm especially fond of the ones with element pickers so on the occasion where a website has gotten smart and put a pop-up in stopping me from accessing the site with an adblocker enabled, a few clicks will allow to access said site unfettered. :D

Unfortunately they don't work on phones so whenever I go on apps such as YouTube or Spotify then I get bombarded with the same annoying adverts on repeat (if I hear an advert for houses in Newcastle one more time I might pop off in rather an extreme fashion).

On that note, both YouTube and Spotify have definitely gotten worse for spamming with adverts as time has progressed.
 

ABB125

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When using my computer, the adblockers I have installed have been very helpful for websites such as YouTube where they spam a hundred adverts per video or those banner advertisements offering things that are probably too explicit to be mentioned and will almost certainly fill my computer with all manner of dodgy programs designed to extract my financial information. They're probably one of the best things I've ever installed. I'm especially fond of the ones with element pickers so on the occasion where a website has gotten smart and put a pop-up in stopping me from accessing the site with an adblocker enabled, a few clicks will allow to access said site unfettered. :D

Unfortunately they don't work on phones so whenever I go on apps such as YouTube or Spotify then I get bombarded with the same annoying adverts on repeat (if I hear an advert for houses in Newcastle one more time I might pop off in rather an extreme fashion).

On that note, both YouTube and Spotify have definitely gotten worse for spamming with adverts as time has progressed.
Ah yes, Spotify: I've only recently started using it, and have one or two complaints:
  • On the mobile version, instead of just playing songs from the playlist you've selected, it will randomly play other "similar" songs from random playlists/artists. Grrrrrr...
  • If you skip any of these random songs, you quickly "discover a Premium feature" (because on the free mobile version you only get six skips per hour). I wonder why they play these random songs...
  • I mainly use the PC version, as it will actually play what I want, when I want. However, the adverts are sooooooo repetitive: advert 1: how can Chromebook this that and the other your life? Blah blah blah; advert 2: how can Chromebook do something else in your life? Blah blah blah; advert 3: how can Chromebook do yet another thing to improve your life? Blah blah blah. I think I've had a few advert breaks when all the adverts were Chromebook ones. And if it isn't Chromebook, it's Intel.
Having said that, Spotify is useful. It's just so infuriating sometimes!
 

Bletchleyite

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But unfortunately I'm not willing to pay any money for it!

Then it's paid for by adverts.

I have never understood why people are bothered about ads when using a free service. If you want it without ads pay for it. Both Spotify and YouTube offer that option.

It's Sky TV, where you both pay for it *and* have ads, that I'd be bothered about! :)
 

C J Snarzell

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Then it's paid for by adverts.

I have never understood why people are bothered about ads when using a free service. If you want it without ads pay for it. Both Spotify and YouTube offer that option.

It's Sky TV, where you both pay for it *and* have ads, that I'd be bothered about! :)

There was a time thirty years ago, when television adverts on ITV and Channel 4 did have more of an impact on our lives, simply because we couldn't just skip through them and Sky TV was novelty, certainly in the 1990s.

As a child, many adverts did become a part of my youth in odd way. Every kid in my school got slapped around the chops in 1992 when an orange man was promoting the Tango drink.

CJ
 

ABB125

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Then it's paid for by adverts.

I have never understood why people are bothered about ads when using a free service. If you want it without ads pay for it. Both Spotify and YouTube offer that option.

It's Sky TV, where you both pay for it *and* have ads, that I'd be bothered about! :)
It's not so much the fact that there are adverts, but that it's the same three or four adverts being played every time! I really don't need or want two or three Chromebook adverts in each break; surely whoever's paying for the adverts would prefer not to have all their adverts played one after the other, thus boring the potential customer?
 

Peter Sarf

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It's not so much the fact that there are adverts, but that it's the same three or four adverts being played every time! I really don't need or want two or three Chromebook adverts in each break; surely whoever's paying for the adverts would prefer not to have all their adverts played one after the other, thus boring the potential customer?

I use freeview TV. I seldom watch the Yesterday channel now. It has so many adverts that I have given up watching a program I am interested in half way through. Seems to be up to 20 minutes of adverts in every hour.
 

ABB125

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I use freeview TV. I seldom watch the Yesterday channel now. It has so many adverts that I have given up watching a program I am interested in half way through. Seems to be up to 20 minutes of adverts in every hour.
Yesterday? Don't you mean the Nazi history channel? :D
I occasionally watch programs on Yesterday, and they're often interesting (but usually have a very obvious bias (eg: all Nazis were evil) and repeat it throughout, which does get a bit irritating; do they really think that the ordinary viewer doesn't already agree that "all Nazis were evil"?). I must say I haven't noticed the adverts being longer than normal, but I generally just blank through them anyway!
 

Peter Sarf

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Yesterday? Don't you mean the Nazi history channel? :D
I occasionally watch programs on Yesterday, and they're often interesting (but usually have a very obvious bias (eg: all Nazis were evil) and repeat it throughout, which does get a bit irritating; do they really think that the ordinary viewer doesn't already agree that "all Nazis were evil"?). I must say I haven't noticed the adverts being longer than normal, but I generally just blank through them anyway!
Well they do seem to cover all the WW2 documentaries. And because the Nazis lost then any anti Nazi theme prevails. Not that I find it really noticeable, no more than what was said about Japan I feel. Not a bad thing to be reminded of how bad things can get.
 

hst43102

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Yesterday? Don't you mean the Nazi history channel? :D
I occasionally watch programs on Yesterday, and they're often interesting (but usually have a very obvious bias (eg: all Nazis were evil) and repeat it throughout, which does get a bit irritating; do they really think that the ordinary viewer doesn't already agree that "all Nazis were evil"?). I must say I haven't noticed the adverts being longer than normal, but I generally just blank through them anyway!
Not to go too OT, but I don't think there are many WW2 documentaries that don't say that the Nazis were evil!
 

route101

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The thing about adverts now is they are not innovative or funny now. Or not memorable. The stadia adverts on YouTube were very annoying with that music.
 

hst43102

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The thing about adverts now is they are not innovative or funny now. Or not memorable. The stadia adverts on YouTube were very annoying with that music.
Boom...boom....STADIA!!!

The worst adverts for me are the Youtube ads for Grammarly and Honey. I get bombarded with endless adverts for the same product, and I'm certainly not interested any more!
 

david1212

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Currys / PC World
Many years ago I had VCR with long drawn out warranty issue when essentially their ' engineers ' while trying to resolve one fault created another. I recall ' repaired ' three times but I had to returned it again. In the end eventually after letters to head office the purchase price and extended warranty were totally refunded in vouchers. With a special offer running at the time I did end up with a top end VCR and new 5 year warranty.
Generally I don't bother with extended warranties but for a heavily used VCR at the final price offered it was worthwhile.

Now with Comet, Scottish Power, Tempo and others all gone the only retail options for many are Currys / PC World and shops linked into the Euronics group. There are others with a much smaller number of stores e.g. Hughes.

All my recent purchases have been online e.g. Marks Electrical based in Leicester.


Princes Food

While generally lower priced than Heinz, John West, Shiphams etc equally well above the supermarket own brands yet from the ingredient list the content is no better or worse than the latter e.g.
Beef paste Beef (36%), Chicken (33%) while Tesco has Beef (41%), Checken (28%) but is 45p vs 70p and Shiphams 71% Beef is 85p
Corned Beef has per 100g 13.5g fat and 1.9g salt while Sainsburys has 11.4g fat and 1.63g salt and £1.70 vs £2.00

Highland Game

Venison products padded out with pork.
 

SteveM70

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On that theme, if I sent parcels I would never use Yodel, owned by the Telegraph propaganda rag owning, Brexit supporting, tax dodging Barclay brothers.

Yodel tick a lot of boxes. Pro-Brexit owners, tax dodgers, appalling performance, even worse customer service, and expensive if you’re the sender
 
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