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Whenever I get screwed by a business, I boycott them indefinitely until I hear that they fixed their customer service issue. Businesses need to be held accountable for their actions. A business probably won't feel much impact from one person's boycott alone, but I still think that every little bit matters.
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Whenever I get screwed by a business, I boycott them indefinitely until I hear that they fix the issue. Businesses need to be held accountable for their actions. A business probably won't feel much impact from one person's boycott alone, but I still think that every little bit matters.
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My levels of boycott:
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@@ -38,10 +38,10 @@ My levels of boycott:
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- Amazon technically didn't screw me over, but I hear that [Amazon is monopolistic and screws other businesses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3x2t872Pc). I think it's worth soft-avoiding them, preferring instead to support smaller businesses (ideally local).
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- I do hear that some people have gotten screwed by receiving an item that was [fraudulently returned by a different customer](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1nm8ah1/amazon_sent_me_a_brick_instead_of_a_5080/). Luckily, I haven't been screwed in this way yet, but I hope that they can at least provide me good service if it happens. I've historically received excellent service for dead-on-arrival items.
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-**Centre Com** - <DoNotBuy/>
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- On 2025-06-30, I purchased items for the End Of Financial Year sale. Just seven days later, the item dropped in price to $50 lower than I bought it. I rung up to ask for the difference to be refunded, but my request was rejected.
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- On 2025-06-30, I purchased items for the End Of Financial Year sale. Just seven days later, the item dropped in price $50 lower than I bought it. I rung up to ask for the difference to be refunded, but my request was rejected.
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- Despite *Centre Com* officially no longer accepting change of mind returns, I rung up and managed to get the item returned after the package arrived at my house. I made the long trek to return the item in-person. But by the time I got home, the item price went back up.
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- For anyone who isn't familiar with the Australian consumer experience, we have a major sale event every year around the end of June, commonly known as EOFY sales.
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- Although the staff themselves are nice, the store's policies are nightmare as a consumer. I will never purchase from this store ever again.
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- Although the staff themselves are nice, the store's policies are nightmare as a consumer. I will never purchase from this store ever again. I don't have any confidence that they can help me for any situation aside from dead-on-arrival or missing goods.
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-**digiDirect** - <SourTaste/>
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- On 2025-12-26, I purchased items for the Boxing Day sale. digiDirect then started a 5%-off promo on 2025-12-30, which stacks with the ongoing Boxing Day sale. I rung up customer service, but they could only give me store credit. Fair enough, I purchase from digiDirect regularly enough to accept it, but they need to provide a proper partial refund for this situation.
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- I'm convinced that upper management did this on purpose. Many people won't bother doing anything about this once they've made their order, and giving store credit to customers who do ring up guarantees future sales. It's so sleazy.
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ My levels of boycott:
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- After my trip, I contacted customer service. They said they could only refund me in store credit. After an angry and unnecessarily long back-and-forth, it took threatening legal action for them to refund me in cash.
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- This whole situation is entirely unacceptable. **Hostelworld cannot be trusted.**
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-**Ted's Cameras** - <SoftBoycott/>
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- On 2024-04-24, I ordered a **brand new** Sony A7CII. When it arrived, I noticed a lot of wear and tear all over the camera. I rung up Ted's and they confirmed that I was given a display unit used at one of their brick and mortar stores because brand new units are out of stock. I returned and got a full refund immediately.
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- This situation should never have happened. Used items are perfectly fine, and it's common to buy second-hand photography equipment, but I paid for a full-price item and I was never told about the condition of what I received until I asked. **I no longer trust Ted's Cameras.**
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- On 2024-04-24, I ordered a _**brand new**_ Sony A7CII camera body. When it arrived, I noticed a lot of wear and tear all over the camera. I rung up Ted's and they confirmed that I was given a display unit used at one of their brick and mortar stores because brand new units are out of stock. I returned and got a full refund immediately.
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- This situation should never have happened. Used items are perfectly fine, and it's common to buy second-hand photography equipment, but I paid for a full-price item and I was never told about the condition of what I received until I asked. **I no longer trust Ted's Cameras.** It is possible that they intentionally send out display units "as new" with the hopes that the customer won't notice.
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- However, I do commend them for at least having the records, admitting to their mistake, and rectifying it relatively smoothly.
description: "Writing down about my positive experiences with businesses as a consumer."
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keywords: []
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indexTitle: Endorsements
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Given that I'm highly critical of businesses that screw over the customer and I have a list of my criticisms [here](/consumer/boycotts/), I figured that I should balance things out by calling out businesses that I find acceptable, and I'd like to especially call out any businesses that have gone above and beyond.
I accidentally bought a bunch of individual items for a high price, then realized a few days later that I should've bought an item bundle. The bundle is 2/3 the price of the price I paid for the individual items, and comes with extra stuff that I really should've bought as well. I expected that I'd ring up and they'd just say they can't do anything about it, and fair enough, this was my error. When I actually rang up B&H, **within 10 minutes of calling, I was given a refund of the price difference (which quickly showed up in my PayPal notifications), AND they arranged the extra items to be shipped to me.**
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The customer service here is especially notable, given that they are a US-based retailer and I am based in Australia. With no Australian presence, they incur greater cost to service my request, all with _**probably**_ lower pressure to conform to consumer laws when dealing across borders.
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I don't usually shop with overseas retailers if perfectly good local options in Australia exist (such as *[George's Cameras](https://www.georges.com.au/)*). I purchased from B&H because an item I wanted is not available in Australia. But given my experience with them, and given their prices actually seem quite competitive (though you'd need to factor in the customs charges), I will be considering B&H for photography or video-related purchases from now on.
This is a weird one because I'm soft-boycotting Amazon, while at the same time I've only ever had good experiences with them. They are ridiculously fast at delivering my packages, it's been great for little emergencies where I need something ASAP, their prices are often the lowest, and their customer service staff would probably sacrifice a newborn if it means a misfortune such as a dead-on-arrival or missing item is sorted out such that you're actually made better than if you didn't encounter the misfortune.
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I just wish it didn't come at the cost of the workers' wellbeing (most notably the warehouse staff), [the smaller businesses that are exploited by Amazon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3x2t872Pc), and the fact that this is all making some top executives such as Jeff Bezos too comically rich. I suspect that Amazon's *continued existence* is a net negative to the greater economy (though I don't have evidence of that).
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I will continue soft-boycotting Amazon even if they've never done me wrong as a consumer.
Although I've experienced one weird one-off problem with them which I've outlined [here](/consumer/boycotts/#boycotted-stores-and-online-businesses), George's Cameras has otherwise consistently delivered quality, and often at the best price.
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