MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Assuming the staff could all be re-employed elsewhere which business would you kill off? Mine, the Crapphone Whorehouse. I looked at buying a PAYG phone there. Not only do they want you to top up by £10 if you want to buy the phone for the price advertised but if you pay by cash they expect a £20 surcharge! Well they can go and do one!
£10 top up is standard from suppliers AFAIK.
For me...the business that employs me!
Barclays, but they appear to be doing quite well on their own without my negative vibes.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20164795 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20164795[/url]
@ohnohesback - so no surcharge if you pay by debit card I assume ? £20 is a rip off but businesses are generally charged by their bank for handling/depositing cash.
Any bank, but specifically the Natwest. They couldn't give a flying **** about customer service. In fact, they seem to revel in their lack of a service ethic
Oh hang on a minute.... They did go bust, didn't they? Or was that a dream? Yeah, it must have been a dream. They went bust, but then we all got together and threw loads and loads and loads of money at them, without any conditions attached, and they were all ok in the end. Yeah... I definitely must have dreamt that. Phew......
Funnily enough, Woolworths and Comet were at the top of my list. DSG are there too.
Motorway service station companies are next. They only exist because of our stupid service station franchise laws. Bulldoze the buildings and open the sites up to developers. Talk about a captive market - you could invest heavily and still make a killing.
BAE Systems.
But they don't like me either.
Daily Mail
Crapphone Whorehouse
I went to school with their CEO. Nothing against him personally but despite never having chosen to do business with them I seem to have given them an awful lot of money. I seem to have a knack of identifying the next business they'll buy out and signing up to them. 2-3 months into the contract CW buys them up and for the rest of the 12/24 months goes to them. It grates a little, if Everything Everywhere gets swallowed up by them between now and xmas then thats probably entirely my fault.
Bulldoze the buildings and open the sites up to developers
I hope to god you're not including Forton in that rather rash sweeping statement!
Brookbank canoes - they took well over £1000 from us, and took 8 months to NOT order the boat we paid for...and then took three attempts to write the cheque to the right name for a refund...
Santander, woeful customer service. They can't even let me close the account I have with them.
Next. Morrisons'.
Jolly, I've got that coming up...why won't they let you close the account?! Just incompetence on their part?
definitely a few under-capitalised banks should have gone under in the Great Capitalist Catharsis of 2009 that never happened. All we've ended up doing is the UK banking equivalent of [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspan_put ]The Greenspan Put[/url]
Other than that I'd happily see ITV go to the wall 🙂
Next. Morrisons'.
Nope ... both very successfull.
I went to school with their CEO.
He's done pretty well out of his time working for Charles Dunstone....
Not Morrisons - they have the best beer and cider selection of all the supermarkets.
Paying for a PAYG phone cash? You got a re-up you need to organise or something?
I think I could live without News Corp.
W H Smith.
Going by what's written on here....all bikeshops.
I sometimes wonder how any of those seedy adult book/video store places are still in business since the Internet happened. 🙂
Store 21, or any place that sells leopard print chavette wear.
Yodel. Hopefully it's not far away either!
As Binners says-- the Banking system as run by the 'market' did fail- but was bailed out in the interests of capitalism, good ol gordon brown-- he led the way for the fat cats to survive and prosper.
Truth is many businesses have a cornered market, the level playing field spiel is just that-- it doesn't exist in a capitalist system, just pr guff.
The whole system is a fraud, but then you knew that already......
It's a level playing field insofar as the pitch is level and the goals are the same size. However, if you put Chelsea against Hereford Utd, it's still technically level...
It's a level playing field insofar as the pitch is level and the goals are the same size. However, if you put Chelsea against Hereford Utd, it's still technically level...
I'm liking this alot. I'm going to see how many times I can slip it into conversations today.
bailed out in the interests of capitalism
not true. It was bailed out in the interests of political survival and stability.
The interests of "capitalism" would have been better served by allowing failure.
Stoner +1
oxymoron^^
Stoners right. What happened with the banks was the polar opposite of capitalism. But then the bankers, like business leaders and politicians, are only capitalists when it serves their interests.
These same people were telling us, ad bloody nauseum, that there is no place for the state to 'interfere' in the workings of the free market
What we have now is socialism for the banks, capitalism for the rest of us
what oxymoron?
EDIT, if you mean that capitalism requires failure it's not an oxymoron.
capitalism requires the correct pricing of risk and return to invested capital to efficiently allocate that capital. By not allowing failure in the capital market it leads to the over-valuation of assets. Which is why asset owners have accrued so much wealth even during the recession while those who rely on growth in income (essentially the "workers") do not see the same kind of growth in "wealth".
The major energy suppliers hopefully, then they will need to be re-nationalised and run for the greater good of the people rather than the major shareholders.
Yeah, like that'll happen....
Any business that thinks they are 'owed' an income.
Any business that blames poor performance on 'the market'
Stoner - Memberbailed out in the interests of capitalism
not true. It was bailed out in the interests of political survival and stability.
The interests of "capitalism" would have been better served by allowing failure.
Exactly.
Virgin, British Gas, all tobacco firms and the UCI.
Amstrad
Bose
Sky
BT
A useless shower who never fail to disappoint and who thanks to Openzone are basically impossible to avoid.
The Fopster - Member
BT
A useless shower who never fail to disappoint and who thanks to Openzone are basically impossible to avoid.
All day every day this ^^^^
I hate BT with every fibre of my being.
They are the epitome of cluster****.
It is hard to think of any other business that is so dreadful and is still in business!
They suspended the line/broadband to our office having failed to take payment via the direct debit (and admitted it was their error) we set up after they lost the payment before that, even though it is clearly on the bank statement and confirmed by the bank which was after they suspended account due to them billing the wrong company, following their inability to install the super fast and easy simultaneous phone and broadband easy option, taking 4 weeks to resolve the problem and leaving us working from home for a month, for which we were generously compensated the grand sum of £75 in an exemplary demonstration of customer service...
And breathe!
argos, constantly behind the times.
the officers club, 70% off closing down sale for the past 15 years it seems.
greggs the bakers.
the BBC
Am I right in saying that he went to school in Beverley? I seem to remember that this was my school's 'claim to fame', and an example of how great it was.
argos, constantly behind the times.
One of my neighbours works for them. Poor sod! According to him, they're not long for this world. He's just hoping to get a new job sorted before they go belly up
the BBC
And the far superior, dynamic, thrusting, private sector, great value-for-money alternative is.......?
[quote=binners ]
And the far superior, dynamic, thrusting, private sector, great value-for-money alternative is.......?
...paid for by advertising.
Am I right in saying that he went to school in Beverley?
No, (with the caveat that they may have had more than one CEO prior to their current one).
Any bank, but specifically the Natwest. They couldn't give a flying **** about customer service. In fact, they seem to revel in their lack of a service ethic
+1 for NatWest.
Officially the most useless company I've ever had to deal with. And because of their inability to perform normal administrative tasks, I can't close my account and withdraw the tenner I left in there.
druidh - Member
binners »
And the far superior, dynamic, thrusting, private sector, great value-for-money alternative is.......?
...paid for by advertising.
Ha the BBC don't do advertising.
...paid for by advertising.
Brilliant.....
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Snob, thats proper culture.
[quote=binners ]...paid for by advertising.
Brilliant.....
[i]The public gets what the public wants....[/i]
Any energy company. Hiking prices up in winter, forcing 1000s into paying over the odds for a necessity makes me sick, especially given the profits they make. Knobjockeys
There's no way power, water or transport should be privately owned.
The public gets what the public wants....
with headlines like "Towie returns for series 7 with lowest audience ever" who can argue. The difference between ITV, Sky and the BBC is that people actually watch the BBC. At primetime there are instances where one BBC programme can have more viewers than all of the other channels' output combined
You must be joking - they're the jewel of the British High St. Innovative and customer-orientated company - also an ethical one. They righteously saw off the government's pastie tax as a very regressive piece of tax legislation.philconsequence - Membergreggs the bakers.
They righteously saw off the government's pastie tax as a very regressive piece of tax legislation.
and added to the smoke screen that allowed much, much more regressive and frankly horrifying legislation to slip through without [i]any[/i] comment
the smell of a greggs shop makes me gag and nearly throw up. for that reason mainly, but also because the country would have less thunderchunks roaming the streets... it should close down.
greggs the bakers.
Oh dear lord!
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Yodel. Hopefully it's not far away either!
Quite possibly the worst courier company of them all.
Any bank, but specifically the Natwest. They couldn't give a flying **** about customer service. In fact, they seem to revel in their lack of a service ethic
The whole RBS group. Don't want them to fail as it would take down the whole economy but am one push away from telling them to shove their accounts and moving everything to the Co-op/Nationwide.
Andy
Crank Bros
Cooper BMW franchise
Virgin/NTL
Student Loans company
The major energy suppliers hopefully, then they will need to be re-nationalised and run for the greater good of the people rather than the major shareholders
Any energy company. Hiking prices up in winter, forcing 1000s into paying over the odds for a necessity makes me sick
The practical problem with this is that as there's not enough North Sea gas to fulfil the countires demand anymore even if this were re-nationalsed at the same time as the 'Big 6'. This means that a re-nationalised industry would have to trade on the international market as the current private companies do, so prices wouldn't improve.
Basically, it's the Tories fault.
tthew - Member
The practical problem with this is that as there's not enough North Sea gas to fulfil the countires demand anymore even if this were re-nationalsed at the same time as the 'Big 6'. This means that a re-nationalised industry would have to trade on the international market as the current private companies do, so prices wouldn't improve.
Basically, it's the Tories fault.
Hence my 'Like that'd happen' comment.
The Officers' Club? I thought that they'd died a long time ago.
Superdrug. What are they still there for?
And any business that litters the public pavement with stock spilling out on the street or A-boards.
the smell of a greggs shop makes me gag and nearly throw up. for that reason mainly, but also because the country would have less thunderchunks roaming the streets... it should close down.
didn't you used to be a thunderchunk? is this reverse psychology?
I used to think you were alright.
Superdrug. What are they still there for?
Got a really cheap Braun Oral-B leccy toothbrush from them last week, less than 1/2 price. Fancy toothbrush heads to go with it were 75% off as well.
Perhaps that's the first sign?
didn't you used to be a thunderchunk? is this reverse psychology?
I used to think you were alright.
i still am a thunderchunk 😀 but i'm acutely aware i'm stealing space from you weird skinny cycling types and i want to make a difference, going around sucking my belly in isn't enough for the scale of change needed to make britain a sexier place
Blockbuster - I just have no idea how they are still in business
HMV.
Blockbuster - I just have no idea how they are still in business
HMV.
Although they don't seem competitive agains online retailers... not everyone is online
And those infinite number of energy resellers, PPI claims companies, and no-win-no-hope solicitors who keep sending out spam texts... DIE YOU F*CKERS! DIE!
Ryanair
Starbucks
Santander, woeful customer service. They can't even let me close the account I have with them.
and they want let y ou withdraw any of YOUR MONEY , when you close the account,because you dont have the cporrect id and paperwork, thayts because youve closed the account.
Shouting match at 12.30 mid day in a very busy branch helps ive found.
As for new failures,
Post office, who close for lunch every day and close on wednesday and saturday afternoons,
any energy supplier, or water company,
waitrose and m and s, overpriced for the affluent shopper,homebase,sainsburys,
1. Estate Agents. - They don't sell houses, they just put pictures on the internet. Offer nothing to the process other than website exposure, you can get that elsewhere. Standard contracts attempt to tie you to them, even if they fail to actually sell your house.
2. Anything owned by Donald Trump
3. Daily Mail - it should be illegal
4. Nestle
Channel 5. Would anyone notice?
waitrose and m and s, overpriced for the affluent shopper,homebase,sainsburys,
You missed John Lewis and a few others, now off to Lidl with you.
Channel 5. Would anyone notice?
Richard Desmond's whole media empire could vanish and I don't think anyone would notice
John ****ing Lewis are expanding ffs! What does it say about our times that such affluent middle class smugness is on the rise?
Next will be WHSmiths and/or The Bodyshop.
i forgot wonga - shoulg be an illegal business model