This post by Joan H. got me thinking about the companies and businesses I refuse to give business.  What is different from Joan H. about my reasons for boycotting these companies is that politics plays no part in my decision to boycott them.  Instead, I boycott them because they have wronged me by providing me with crumby products/service and refused to rectify the wrong to my satisfaction.  Lest you be subjected to crumby products and/or services, I recommend you boycott them, too.

So, here's the list in no particular order:  

Pizza Hut.  Pizza hut rountinely offers sub-par pizza and rude employees.  Once, I ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut, and the order-taker told me the wait would be two hours.  When I said that that wait time was absurd, he hung up on me.  I spent two hours trying to talk to someone in customer service at corporate Pizza Hut, to no avail.  I unable to talk to a real person who could address my grievance.  (I challenge my dear readers to attempt to talk to a real person at Pizza Hut.  It seems that their system is deliberately structured to frustrate) 

Enterprise Car Rental.   Once I needed a rental car at 11 am on a Saturday, and I needed it badly.  Enterprise was open until noon, and because I lived in the boon docks at the time, it took me a little over an hour to get there.  I called Enterprise on way, explained that it was an emergency and that I needed the car, to please wait on me to get there, and the manager told me that if I wasn't there by noon I would be SOL.  Well, I floored it and arrived just before noon, and he hestitantly let me in, only to deny me the rental car because my credit card was also a debit card.  Basically, this guy wanted to hit the links instead of do business with me, help me.  I left Enterprise and went to Budget car rentals, which had no problem taking my debit card.  Enterprise, you lost my busines.

Super 8/Wyndham Hotels/Motels.  Super 8 is a subsidiary of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, and I'd been loyal to that brand for many years because of their rewards program that gives me a free night's say every so often.  I had made a reservation and had to cancel the reservation due to a last minute emergency, and I fully expected the reservation to be cancelled because I was not going to stay there.  Because I was ouside of the 24-hour window in which one may cancel the revservation without being charged, they charged me anyway.  Now, I don't give a shit about the fine print.  I had an emergency, and I didn't use the room, so Wyndham charged me for nothing.  They charged me for a room I didn't even use.  To top it off, when I took this up with customer service, they refused to budge, and they were quite rude about it, taking a nasty tone with me even though I was quite calm and polite.  I explained that I had the cancel because of an emergency, and that I had been a loyal customer for many years.  They didn't care.  And, adding insult to injury, the "customer service" representative hung up on me.  (and again, I was calm and polite).  When a company shows me no loyalty despite my years of business, I am done with them. 

Casio.  This one is straighforward.  I used to have a Casio watch, and the arms fell off of it.  Literally, the arms of the watch were rattling around in the watch case.  I wrote them a letter, expecting the watch to be replaced, and they wrote me back in the negative.  Therefore, I will never buy another Casio product for as long as I live.  As far as I'm concerned, Casio products are inferior.  

Ruby Tuesday.  I wanted a milkshake.  It is as simple as that.  I was having dinner at Ruby Tuesday and I wanted a milkshake, and I asked my waitress to bring me one.  She walked away, came back, and told me the bartender refused to make me one.  Flummoxed, I asked her, do you have ice cream?  Yes, she said.  Do you have milk?  Yes, she said.  How about a blender?  Yes, she said.  Then, I want a milkshake.  She left and returned, said, "The bartender will not make it." 

"That's fine," I said.  "Apparently my business is unwanted here."

I complained to corporate, and I received no response. 

 So, there it is.  I will add to this list as companies screw me over.  I urge my dear readers to avoid the above companies like the plague, unless you are keen to throw your money away on crumby products and services.