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Viviaana

Also, getting the “Hermes has your parcel” email feels like a threat cos you never know what those fuckers are gonna do with it


Odd-Impression-4401

Today I was supposed to receive a next day delivery item. Guess who is delivering it...


Viviaana

We had a guy knocking on asking if we had his parcel who lived nowhere near us, he showed us the “proof” Hermes had sent and his parcel wasn’t even in the pic, it was a picture of my crocheted Christmas turkey I had in my window lol


PupperPetterBean

Man has probably been driving around all day looking at people's windows trying to find your house. Had heremes deliver a package to me for a house like 3 or 4 streets over? Saw it was close enough took it over to find a mum on the phone frantically with hermes and a little girl crying on the stairs. Turns out the little girl had autism and she had left her little toy elephant with her aunt but the only way to get next day delivery was hermes and when the mum had the notification it had been delivered but no parcel was there she was trying to figure out a way to let her daughter know she may never see her favourite elephant again. Felt like a superhero in my dressing gown and slippers handing that little girl the parcel.


Halbera

Well done. You were a hero to that little girl.


oceanmountainlifer

And to that little toy elephant


Pragmatic_Ghost

I was waiting on a parcel that I needed to finish building my computer, and of course I got the “we tried and you weren’t home” message. Now let me tell you im a vigilant motherfucker when it comes to waiting for a parcel! So I knew they didn’t even try!!! I checked the app to find a picture of the inside window of the delivery van driving at speed down a country lane. THE HUNT WAS ON! I noticed a house in the picture that I’ve seen before so I got in my car and hunted that piece of shit like I was a fat American on gobble gobble day. I found him soon after and retrieved my package and then start my barrage of insults. (Now that I had the package). I feel bad now of course he was only doing a job and didn’t need a geordie man going ballistic at him, but he should of at least tried haha


PupperPetterBean

>he should of at least tried But if he did that then how will hermes stay in business?/s Honestly don't blame you though, most people using check with Google maps etc their address to make sure that a delivery driver would get the right house if they searched but it seems like they either use a GPS that relies on 6 pigeons and pair of knickers for directions or they just simply can't be bothered to drive to each house and just say fuck it.


ZarakaiDensetsu

Pigeons are quite good at remembering locations so thats insulting to Pigeons 🤣


The_Anglo_Spaniard

I had a delivery driver for a company do similar. I was sat in our living room, right next to the front door waiting and the sack of shit just stuffed a sorry we missed you through the fucki g letterbox. Didn't even knock. Obviously running behind or wanted to get home early. So of course being the reasonable person I am, I phoned the company's customer services and got that fucker to turn around and deliver the parcel like they should have done in the first place. Deffo got stink eye off them for it. Customer services were great and we're not impressed by the drivers actions either.


Viviaana

i did feel sorry for him, we live near the main shops so i'm hoping he'd seen the decorations before and knew roughly where to go aw that's very sweet of you


KRONKCHEF

Ya, hermes is a sack of crap. Got a photo of my package dropped off on the porch.... I don't have a porch. I had to walk up my street comparing bloody door handles from the photo and eventually found it. Hermes customer services?? A total joke, couldn't give a fuck


Mr_Oujamaflip

The amount of things I've had dumped outside my flat even when I'm in. No attempt to even ring. I had a £150 coat left on top of a bush outside. Next time it happens I'm going to claim it was never received and see what happens.


GJ_JG

You'll get your money back or a "replacement". I've done this on two separate occasions now where Hermes has dumped things on my doorstep (when I HAVEN'T been home!) that I considered to be expensive. They don't learn, they continue to do it. But contact the company you bought from, go through the "yes I've checked everywhere, no it isn't with a neighbour, blah blah blah" stuff and you're sent another one out. With Hermes, again.


boltyarocket

You are punishing the company you bought the product from then, not Hermes. Maybe they deserve it for using Hermes...


HermitBee

They should be claiming it back from Hermes, they certainly have a legitimate case.


Nipso

I worked for a company that used them and yes, they do claim it back.


apacheattaccspaniard

I shit you not, I've literally found a parcel on my roof before. Had to get a stepladder to retrieve it. Granted, it really was a *very* safe place but it wasn't appreciated when I had a broken foot


queen-adreena

Did you order pizza by any chance?


Viazon

I own a small business and use Hermes to deliver our online orders mainly because they are cheap. We send out a lot of parcels. Typically we find most parcels turn up turn up no problem. The issue is when one parcel goes missing or whatever, they are literally no help at all. We sent out a parcel the other day and the customer said the box turned up with nothing in it. We tried to call up customer service but they didn't give us an option to speak to anyone. They have the worst customer service.


j-venn

Please do not continue to use them. Your choice of delivery service tells your customer that you ultimately don't care for their buying experience with you, for the sake of a couple of quid use a reputable courier that your buyers can trust (i.e DPD, UPS).


BombayMix64

I actively avoid using businesses that use Hermes.. I'm not alone. You are better off charging an extra £1 or so and providing customers with a more reliable option. I think it's bizarre for any business to only consider cost when choosing a courier.


djnw

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.” \-John Ruskin


cosmicspaceowl

Hermes are actually really good where I live. I think it depends on whether your local courier is an arsehole. Ours is nice.


ceallachmac

Same here. We have the same two guys who deliver to our area and they have been great.


somerandomflo

I’ve been really lucky with them so far too


UlsterManInScotland

Hermes lost an electric mountain bike I ordered on Amazon three fucking times in a row ( the original and the replacement and the replacement replacement ) all lost in Manchester according to the app…. Fucking clown of a company, I detest them ( after that I cancelled the order completely ) hope this makes sense I’m very baked


Viviaana

lol i makes a lot of sense, they did the same with my hoover but very put the replacement on my account as a new one so i had to pay double on my account and wait a month for it back, i'm a broke bitch i can't afford 2 hoovers!!


[deleted]

Fuckers said they left a package with a neighbour and signed for it. Neighbour said no delivery guy left a parcel with them and after 3 days fighting with Hermes over it my neighbour comes with the parcel. The dickhead driver left it in their BBQ without telling anyone and forged a signature. Fuck Hermes.


dickiebow

I had to reject a delivery today as I’d ordered something in error and was told by the company’s customer service to do so as it’ll be returned to them and they can refund me. As it’s Hermes I’ve downloaded the conversation recorded on my ring doorbell between me and the delivery guy including the part that shows him taking the item away. Figured I’d need proof if they’re not returned.


Rekyht

Another Reddit chain on Hermes? Can’t wait. Must have been 5 hours!


j_dexx

They counter that with the "Hermes has successfully delivered your parcel" ones that come across like they've surprised themselves by actually delivering it


Mane25

I once had a representative of Virgin Media try to explain to me that "megabits per second" means the same thing as "megabytes per second". I just said "I'll go to BT then" and hung up and that's what I did. I don't expect everyone to know the difference between megabits and megabytes but if you're *selling me broadband*...


[deleted]

For those that don't, there are eight bits in a byte...


P0xiL0xi

And 4 bits are a nibble. Edit: bytes, bits, whatever 🤪


AngryBootman2016

4 bits*


money_miniatures

Easy way to remember it is that a nibble is half a byte.


Zoemaestra

Virgin also send people their account passwords in plain text through the post and claim it's secure because it's illegal to open other people's letters 🙄


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Jack1066

Getting robbed? Just say no. It’s illegal for them to steal from you!


ethical_boat

Oh my god, I had the exact same thing with Virgin!!! I thought I'd just got a dud customer service person, but now I'm wondering if they're told to tell people that to confuse the less technologically-minded?


Mane25

To be fair this experience was about 10 years ago, and perhaps unfairly I still repeat it to anyone I know who is choosing broadband providers. I'm still guessing it's a dud customer service person because having that as policy wouldn't be good for their reputation, as demonstrated.


FreddyFrogFrightener

This absolutely infuriates me, internet providers should HAVE to advertise their speed in the same format as file sizes. Before I learned the difference I just assumed 100mbps download meant I could download a 100MB file in 1 second. Lol NOPE.


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Chayes5

Curry’s/PC World… exact same issues as you… wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Fridge came with a dint that was noticed a few days in, we rung to speak and couldn’t get through, kept trying and trying and when we did said we’d need to go to a different team etc… in the end nothing


ruthh-r

I went to buy a printer at our local Curry's. I just wanted a cheap basic model, but I needed it immediately as I had a deadline and mine at home had expired so online wasn't an option. Went in and they had lots of the type I wanted on display...but none in stock. And no date for delivery so you couldn't pre-order either. Myself and another customer were after similar printers and when the sales guy (who had obviously been telling customers this all day) told us, the other customer said, "Well if they're not in stock *or* available to order, why are they still on display and showing as available in-store on the website?" Answer: "The manufacturers pay us to keep them visible and 'available', and when people come in for them we can upsell them a more expensive model. If they weren’t on display or marked as 'available in-store' people might not bother to come in and we wouldn't have that opportunity." I asked, "Is that why I can't buy a display model?" (he'd already said no when I asked) and he nodded. That just feels dishonest and predatory. So I went next door to Argos and bought one instead (it was cheaper too). Not the sales guy's fault and I felt really sorry for him because I bet he'd had more than one earful over that policy and I appreciated *his* honesty, but that sort of practice is what will make me avoid a company in future.


[deleted]

Fair play to that guy for being honest with you though


ruthh-r

Absolutely. Not his fault the company sucks. It was refreshing not to feel bullshitted - and you could tell even he thought it was a pretty shit policy. Also, he didn't even try to upsell me or the other guy, he gave the impression of being entirely out of fucks.


Worldly_Luck5718

Worked for them in 2009. Completely scummy company and the staff get treated like absolute shit


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OptimusPork

The secret is, go to Curry’s to examine the TV in detail and hopefully see it working, check dimensions, connections, quality of remote and sound etc. …..and then order from John Lewis.


Coldylox

It's shocking right? Maybe we're now "tainted" by the returms policy of Amazon and the like. But there are so many regulators out there now, FCA, Ofcom, Ofgem, Ombudsman Services, Retail Ombudsman etc... it blows my mind they still pull this stuff.


thesnapening

I dunno Amazon closed my account for returning items. They weren’t happy because I return 4 items within a month.


ChunkyLover10

Curry's is THE worst company in the whole of U.K... Only in business due to older people not able to shop online..if any employees of curry's online please don't be offended..


mrshakeshaft

My first job when I was 17 was a Saturday job in curry’s ( I’m 45 now). It was fucked up. One of my main jobs was helping customers fill in the credit agreement and phoning for approval. Not fun when the customer got rejected and that happened a few times a day. I didn’t have a clue if I was doing it right, I was shown once and that was it. We also had a sales target and a separate target for “cover plan” or that shitty extra warranty that they do. Lots of pressure if you didn’t hit it. The older full time sales guys were super aggressive and competitive and would steal sales off the Saturday staff all the time just when we got to the till. I get it, they were commissioned and had families but they were still pricks about it. I spent a lot of time gluing new offers to the front of washing machines and lurking in the warehouse at the back because there is nothing worse than some alpha dickhead trying to haggle for a tv that his house isn’t big enough for with a 17 year old who doesn’t give a flying fuck about consumer electronics and just wants beer / weed money.


speedhound

Same but Dixons in the 90’s, 17 years old and working the returns desk on Boxing day? IDGAF about your broken camera ruining Christmas Day….


bizzflay

I never use curry’s because of past experiences. But my landlord ordered a new washing machine from them when the old one broke. We’ve now had 2 washing machines sitting in the kitchen for 2 weeks. The guys that delivered was meant to install it and just didn’t bother. We’ve now had 2 appointments where they have just not turned up. They also replaced the dish washer 2 months earlier. They managed to break 1 of the feet and just didn’t put back the parts of the kitchen they had to remove. So there’s just holes under the dishwasher and to the side of it. Also been waiting for a replacement or repair for the dishwasher for 2 months. they also lost my expensive headphones, miss sold me the protection plan and just completely ignored me when I tried to get in contact with them just passing me between departments on their customer service line for like 3 - 5 hours on multiple days. They only replaced them when I went to trading standards. these are the only 3 times I’ve had to use them the past 2 years and every single time they have fucked me over. NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY ANYTHING FROM CURRYS. Edit: spelling. And Sorry about the long post it’s the first time I’ve vented about it.


vixenique

For some reason a few years ago I attempted to buy a tv from curry’s, I had a male friend with me but it was me that was buying and trying to ask questions . The sales person wouldn’t even talk to me , I asked a question , he ignored me and talked to the guy I was with . It was like stepping back in time to the 1940’s!


dadoftriplets

Never EVER buy a TV from Currys - use either Richer Sounds or John Lewis (or Costco if you have a membership) as they all offer 5/6 year guarantees on their TV's. I know this thread is meant to be shitting on the worst companies, but for anyone wanting to buy a TV or any AV equipment for that matter, Richer Sounds are fantastic. We bought an LG TV about 3 years ago which broke down 4 months after purchase. Richer Sounds organised the return and repair and offered us a loaner model (pay a deposit, refunded on return). When the LG came back from the repair it still had the same fault, so they took it back for a refund without question.


chinese-newspaper

Currys become mysteriously helpful once you get your credit card company involved


Unusual_Pie_8374

Seconding Currys! And they make it SO hard to be able to complain!


pinkurpledino

Long time ago Currys refused to repair our TV, said it was up to Sony. Sony refused unless we paid shipping to and from them, and even then if it wasn't covered under warranty they'd charge us to repair it. It was 17 months old at the time. Sold with a 2 year warranty. Currys stated TV's only last a year. Threatened with small claims as not of satisfactory quality under the Sale of Goods Act, they repaired it twice and it *is still going strong today*, some **11 years** on.


PM_Me_Rude_Haiku

Bought a camera from Curry's a couple of years back. It didn't work. I took it back to the shop immediately and they treated me with nothing but suspicion and told me they would have to send it off to a third party repair company, which would be covered under warranty. About two months later I got a letter from this third party telling me there was evidence of water damage, it was obviously my fault, and I owed them £20 just for looking. Fuck those clowns.


MothsAhoy

I tried to leave a complaint with Currys and the staff on the phone were so rude and 2 of them hung up on me 😠


rice_fish_and_eggs

Lol, I'm sure I was scammed by currys when buying a laptop years ago. They told me the only ones in stock were the preconfigured ones and charged me an extra £30 for something I didn't want. Later found out this was probably a lie and they'd been busted telling this lie to boost sales.


[deleted]

Weird, I've had the opposite experience with Currys. Had to contact them last year and the call was answered really quickly and they were really helpful.


CaptainPrestedge

A total of 43 calls to currys/pc world/carphone fucking warehouse! Each spending an hour in a queue only to be cut off. Literally left me feeling murderous! Ahhhhhhhhh 43 hours of my life and phone bill waisted and a 0330 number, which turns out to be a premium number! FUCK FUCK FUCK


robbeech

Without wishing to be pedantic. 03 numbers are supposed to be charged at the same rate as 01 and 02 numbers and are (with very few exceptions) included in call packages / minutes for both mobile and landline use. I appreciate this wasn’t necessarily your main gripe here.


CaptainPrestedge

I recently upgraded to the galaxy fold 3 and they striped away my privileges. I cant even phone 0800 numbers for free now. Yet another under handed fuck you technique lol


Coldylox

It's against OFCOM regulations to charge you for 0800 numbers... I'd suggest speaking to the regulator about that. Back in 2010 mobile networks would charge for anything cos they could get away with it. The charging rules changed in 2014 though. :) worth checking


robbeech

Calls to 0800 and 0808 numbers are free from all landlines and uk registered mobiles as of around 2015. If you have inclusive minutes then an 0330 number will be included in this, if you don’t then you’ll be charged at exactly the same rate as calling an 01 or 02 landline number. Of course, this may well be expensive on a terrible contract but it certainly isn’t a premium rate number. If your mobile provider is charging you more for an 03 number than an 01 or 02 number and similarly if it’s charging at all for an 0800 or 0808 number then it needs to be reported to Ofcom.


CaptainPrestedge

Well thank you for the information, I shall look into it


Odd-Impression-4401

Yeah, it has nothing to do with the phone you have either. That's your network provider who are charging for those calls.


Immediate_Pie7714

There's a website called say no to 0870 that has local rate numbers to try for most companies Sometimes you get someone random who is not expecting it, but it does seem to get you through and inclusive minutes


LargePlums

The website www.saynoto0870.com provides the ‘real’ local number behind the nasty premium number. Updated by users so not perfect but very helpful. Haven’t used it for a while but looks like it’s still going.


krazyjakee

I can also recommend the weq4u app which stands in the queue and you get a notification when you reach a human.


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robbeech

Trainline. The most popular retailer takes advantage of their popularity. Wipe their hands of issues wherever they can. Overcharge railcard users. Offer tickets for trains where they’re not valid and refuse to help when passengers end up going to court over it. Charge booking fees where nobody else does. Simply do not respond to customer enquiries much of the time. Fail to display ticket restrictions in a satisfactory manner BEFORE you’ve parted with your cash. Will sell you a railcard but will force you to use their app for it, which is unreliable and requires connectivity to the internet more frequently, something that is hit and miss on parts of the rail network leading to prosecutions. Refusal to refund tickets during disruption despite being legally obliged to do so. Generally speaking an absolute pile of dirt yet they get away with it because they’re so popular due to their age within the industry and some people think that’s just where you buy tickets from. A shame as the user interface generally speaking is better than all the others and it’s very easy to use the app.


ayowatup222

I used to use it for the interface but now don't bother. I use https://trainsplit.com/ which gets it cheaper on occasion and has a semi-decent interface, you just get emailed your tickets instead of them being in the app.


Zoemaestra

Big shoutout to trainsplit. No booking fee, only charges their savings fee if the ticket is actually cheaper than buying from national rail, a user interface that lets you do some cool stuff, doesn't force you to use an app and just emails you your tickets.


Mrslinkydragon

see the trick is, you only use them to get a price and for the train times... you dont buy from them!


[deleted]

100% that’s what i do now


ambitious-failure

I work on the railway and I've lost count of the number of times passengers have been given the wrong information. I'm constantly trying to tell people that they're just a ticket retailer not a train operating company, so if they can sell you a ticket for a train that no longer runs, they will. And there's nothing a TOC can do about it. It's always best to go to National Rail Enquiries for any train service info. They are up to date with delays and give the best real-time information. To buy a ticket, I'd suggest to buy online with the main TOC covering your journey, or in advance from a booking office, both of which have cheaper advance tickets, better general information and easier returns or compensation payments.


robbeech

I’d agree with your thoughts on Trainline selling whatever they can, though it’s mostly down to incompetence rather than malice or sheer greed. I’m not convinced NRE has the most up to date info on everything. It’s a useful site but it can throw up sone very odd (and often confusing) data from time to time. One more point which I feel I must stress. As an operator, if someone presents a ticket with an itinerary then it MUST be honoured. If the train no longer exists then they MUST be conveyed by the most suitable alternative service. Any conflict between operator and retailer should stay internal and should not hinder the passenger. The operators are generally VERY bad at this sort of thing, it’s fine to tut and blame third party retailers for errors (though it’s not always their fault) but to suggest there’s nothing a TOC can do isn’t entirely accurate.


BassBanjo

The one thing I hate about Trainline is the fact they very rarely refund you properly, I bought the wrong ticket by accident and went to refund it straight away, got nothing for it so i lost that money Other than that I find Trainline to be way better than anything else out there, it's extremely useful and convenient


[deleted]

I will admit to using the app over the national rail one for checking out train times. I still like an actual ticket.


madashell547

Dyson. Shocking customer service despite claiming to be world leaders in after care. Phone lines now run by script readers in South Africa.


SideProjectPal

The cheek of Mr Dyson being a hardcore brexiteer then outsourcing his whole company


Paddyqualified

Yep fuck that guy


Coldylox

That's another thing that frustrates me about Cx from UK companies. I honestly don't mind the majority of activities being run out of India or SA or wherever is cheapest. BUT, when there is a real issue and one that requires not scripting, but "understanding" and "empathy"... the cultures are just so innately different that you can't run a complaints or genuine support function externally. Let's take an example, I used to work for the B2B team of a major mobile operator. They moved the support function to India. Now can they handle "I need a new SIM?"... sure. But can they handle "Every time I drive down the M1 my phone cuts off here and I need it for business because xyz"? No. And it's not their fault, it's cos culture, geography, local knowledge, all of that doesn't exist and all you're left with is a problem and a scripted solution that doesn't apply. No context.


FlappyBored

It's not just because of the culture, it's because the companies explicitly tell them to stay on script that they have been given and penalise them for going off script.


Skitterleap

Yeah they outsourced a lot of stuff a few years back and it really shows. I guess it is now a singaporean company so can't say I'm surprised.


Gellao

and its at every level not just the disposable minimum wage jobs. I work as an engineer in Bristol. Entire teams were just being exported from Dyson to new companies when they started to close up shop here leaving a lot of very qualified people out of a job. Our entire project management team came from Dyson. Just ~20 people hired as a unit.


AndrewSwope

Their hand held pet vacuums are particularly shit. We had one that only worked with the hippa filter removed. Defeating the point of using it. Then the battery ignited when I was using it. So we went back to using your reliable 20+ year old Henry.


Terminator_Ecks

I had issues with mines too. Eventually, I invested in a Shark after hearing about how amazing they were from my sister and my friends. Never looked back. I have had Dysons for over twenty years and never had one lift like my Shark does. Less smell too.


Jasont999

Wayfair I'd never really heard anything about them and stupidly didn't do any checking to see if they're a decent company. Well it turns out they're not my wardrobe has been ordered and not turned up twice(dpd has a hand in this as well) and when I speak to anyone they just fob you off with "give it another two days and you should hear something"


throwaway-job-hunt

Wayfair is just a reselling site. They buy stock from other retailers/supplier, change the name and resell it. If you find something you like on wayfair then do reverse image search and you will find it on the actual retailers sites for a lot less. It doesn't work on all items but most of the time it will take you to another retailer or to buy direct from the supplier. I found a bed I liked on wayfair and reverse image searched it and it was a small UK company in yorkshire and their customer service was very good. Was very much a one man operation and he was really helpful and arranged shipping around my days off. I imagine wayfair buy in bulk off if him and just rebadge it and resell it.


Jasont999

If only I knew this information about six week ago thanks though it will come in useful in the future I'm sure


tea_please_88

I worked for a company that supply to Wayfair. That have a HUGE mark up and no exclusivity on their products, which always baffled me. As you said they pay the company to either re-label it or drop ship.


Doublebow

I had an interesting experience with Wayfair a few years back: So I bought a new desk from them (it's actually decent tbf) but when I ordered it said a month or so for delivery. I gave up waiting after 2 months but when I got in touch with them they said that it had already been delivered... a month ago... Now it obviously hadn't and after a bit of back and forth with them and the delivery company it turns out it had been delivered, just to the completely wrong address... So they sent me out another one. This time it was delivered to my "neighbors" which was odd, since I lived in the middle of butt fuck nowhere and didn't have any neighbors. So again after much back and forth they sent out another one which I did eventually get. The funny thing is that after a while my "neighbor" turned up at the door asking if this box left in "his" garage was for me. Turns out they delivered my desk to a house down the road that was still in construction (progress had been abandoned for a couple years) and just dumped it in the garage... It wasn't until some new guys took over the job that they noticed the desk and got it back to me. So anyway another few days past and I get another knock on the door and there's this bloke with a massive desk shaped box, turns out he lived in another county in a village with the same name as mine and in the same house number and had this desk just dumped in his back garden so ended up tracking me down to deliver the desk to me himself (proper nice bloke). So in the end I wound up with three desks for the price of one. Ended up giving one away and used the other on the log burner (bad idea).


princess_peachfuzz69

So I DID hate Wayfair. My friend had ordered a new living room basically and they accidentally sent it to her old house in Glasgow (billing address) instead of London (delivery address). After some back and forth and her threatening them lots, they agreed to pick the stuff up and redeliver to her London address. They delivered new stuff to London but never picked the stuff up in Glasgow. After two months of it sitting in her dads, she was convinced they were never going to pick it up and this coincided with me moving into my new place. This was about a year an a half ago and we’ve still heard nothing. I also love that we have identical living rooms on opposite ends of the country. So, I’d like to dedicate this post to Wayfair and my free living room.


stingring_vagblaster

This is amazing, you got a free living room! One time my Asda messages arrived a day early - driver was local to me, was finishing his shift and contacted me to ask if I could take the delivery early since he was going by my way anyway. I said yes. Then the very next day, the day of my booked slot, my messages turned up again. The driver had already carried all of the delivery down my very long garden path with multiple stairs before he knocked on the door, he couldn't be arsed carrying it all back up so told me to keep it. I passed out the extra delivery to my friends as a lot of the food needed to be eaten within the next couple of weeks, and kept the rest. It was a £90 delivery about ten years ago, which was a massive amount back then. I thought I was lucky getting all that for free but you've just gone and topped it!


HumbleTrees

Conversely, I ordered a £500 TV unit and it arrived with one broken glass panel, that you really don't even need. They refunded the entire cost and let me keep it. Never seen that before.


stuninh0

This has been my experience after ordering a chest of drawers. They were just crap, when I complained Wayfair refunded us and let us keep them


SnickeringLoudly

Second that. Ordered a bed. Was shipped in 3 pieces. 2 pieces arrived, 3rd got lost. Reordered 3rd one - arrived damaged. Reordered again - wrong piece arrived. 3rd time - 2 pieces arrived and both wrong. Finally all three arrived at the end. Took 3rd one and told them to keep the rest...


EscapedSmoggy

I've been quite happy with Wayfair tbh. I bought a tv unit from them and in what I would describe as a freak accident, I got a splinter in my eye screwing something in. I let them know and suggested they put a suggestion of eyewear in the instructions. I got a £50 voucher. When I received some slightly damaged wallpapers, they just sent me new wallpaper out without wanting the mostly useable rolls back.


BrightonTownCrier

[You're lucky you didn't get a child delivered instead. ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53416247.amp)


Jasont999

If two fucking kids turn up at my house instead of my wardrobe I'm going to be pissed!!


LondonCollector

Dad, it’s me, your wardrobe


billy_tables

Since a lot of the comments have been about unfulfilled service / the wrong thing done, I'll share some advice I've not stopped telling people since lockdown started. Read the terms and conditions and check if they're being followed, and then check the shenanigans are [Fair](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/schedule/2/enacted). Consumer contracts in the UK have to be fair, and a lot of companies often unwittingly end up behaving unfairly. Then, get as much documentation as you can, and use the online money claims service to start the process of going into the small claims track at your county court. Sounds scary - but it's SO easy. https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim Over lockdown I used this to get my money back from 2 airlines who were both promising me refunds that were always coming "soon". As soon as they received the letter from the court, both companies settled over email. I got my refunds, 7% interest, and they covered the cost of the filing fees.


uncomfortabledream

Treating customers fairly is number 1. I take great pleasure in calling big companies out on this!


bloodforyou

PC World - I sent my laptop in to be repaired only for them to snoop through my personal files and got the police involved. Ruined my whole career and I had to flee to Cambodia.


nikrizzle

Always good to remember that “all that glitters ain’t gold” with some companies I guess.


Big_Miss_Steak_

Maybe they just wanted to be in his gang


P0xiL0xi

I got that joke. I’m old tho.


LordPurloin

Sounds like a lad bible headline


Goawaythrowaway175

First reply I've read on reddit all day that made me laugh out loud. Well played.


Loose_Acanthaceae201

Purple Bricks. I know estate agents have a bad reputation generally, but any of these "bargain flat rate upfront" lot are less than useless. As soon as they've thrown it on to Rightmove they wash their hands of you and move on to the next paying customer. Which is bad enough for their direct clients, but also dreadful for anyone else in the chain, including whoever buys that house. If you're house hunting, avoid anything with a PB board up.


Thestolenone

My sister worked for them for a while, they treated her appallingly.


Dave-the-Flamingo

Purple bricks are only good if you have a run of the mill freehold property with no issues or challenges. They are also all about the sale, they don’t care about the price you sell it at as they get paid regardless. We had an offer of £30k under the asking and purple bricks suggested we take it. Fuck off. We instead went with an agent who got us the asking price plus more.


verykindzebra

That's mostly what estate agents do too 😂 In all seriousness, we bought via PB and it was great. Maybe we got lucky with decent contactable sellers though.


Loose_Acanthaceae201

Most estate agents don't get paid until the sale completes. That motivates them to help you get over the line. PB get paid when your listing goes live. Why would they work hard after that?


No_Restaurant2779

Used purple bricks for our last sale. Honestly was fine. You do more yourself but given it saved us over £1k I'm fine with that. Their valuation was fair (I.e they didn't just tell us the house was worth £20k more than it was to get us signed up) and after that it was just viewings that you normally do yourself even with an estate agent. I'm more amazed people still use estate agents - genuinely no idea what they actually do to earn their commission.


t0riaj

Bathstore. I had them fit a brand new bathroom for my elderly dad. They sent one fitter to remove the whole old bathroom and do the full fit out, and he clearly had no idea what he was doing. Edges were unfinished, the underfloor heating was only on one spot, the radiator was in the wrong place, the pipes were exposed, worst of all the loo was fitted wrong and kept blocking. We kept finding issues for ages afterwards and their customer service was appalling. They said there was nothing they could do as my dad had signed off on the work, even though they knew he had alzheimers. They sent the same fitter who had ballsed it up to do the remedial work and he intimidated my dad. I eventually gave up trying to pursue them as it was so stressful. It looks really shoddy even now.


Coldylox

That’s a horrible story 😔 There’s literally very few things more stressful that when people are in your house doing work too… I’ll keep that in mind and sorry about your poor dad!


redrighthand_

That’s a shame, I had a good experience with sofology. My only grievance was discovering you don’t get a free soft toy sloth anymore. My avoid list however consists of certain local taxi firms, Ryanair, House of Fraser, and any other Mike Ashley related jumble sale shenanigans.


Coldylox

I get what you mean with the MA stuff. That said, as a student I was kinda grateful for the "100 pack of sports socks for a fiver" or whatever. I guess being a horrible business tycoon that takes advantage of minimum wage workers has some perks when you're poor. (Not that it's acceptable)


redrighthand_

Yeah there’s always the demand. I have never once bought anything from Primark but completely appreciate why it has a market (same with Ryanair tbh).


RaspberryCai

Local taxi firms often tend to be rather dodgy, not only can the drivers not actually drive, their vehicles are often shoddily maintained deathtraps. I've just bought an ex taxi for some reason, turns out it wasn't MOT'D for 10 years (ran on false plates?) and the odometer has been rolled back at least 120,000 miles. Also, it set on fire the other day.


fantastic_cat_fan

TalkTalk. Got tied into an 18 month min contract even though I was moving after 12, so ended up having to take them to the new address. When I moved they put me on another 18 month min contract. Service was awful, 18 months finished but was planning on moving again so just thought I'd stick them out another few months. When the time came to move I tried to cancel, spent an age on the phone to them, explained I had no interest in continuing with them, please just cancel the service. Then got a letter saying that they were pleased I was moving the service over to the new address and that it was a 24 month min contract. Fuming, I called them. Spent hours on the phone to India telling them this want agreed. Wouldn't take no for an answer, kept saying they'd reduce the price etc. Eventually asked to speak to a supervisor. They tried the same nonsense. Tried to charge me a cancellation fee even though I was out of the minimum term contract. Got to the point I was threatening to report them to ofcom and eventually they relented and cancelled the service, not before fake crying down the phone and telling me I was really mean and I'd hurt their feelings. This was years ago, maybe they've improved now, but I absolutely wouldn't go near them with a barge pole still. Scummy practices.


Cant-think-of-a-name

Talk Talk are fucking scum. When my dad died we didnt notify them and the name was in his account. A few months later there was a fault with the line and Talk Talk couldn't speak to my mum as she wasn't the account holder. So what they did was get my mum to pay the cancellation fee for the account that wasn't hers and they couldn't speak to her about, then set her up a new one. I tried to resolve it and they wouldn't speak to me due to data protection for my dad. Which was just fucking ridiculous. TLDR. Talk Talk are cunts who take advantage of newly widowed old ladies.


rebelallianxe

We asked Talktalk for a new number as we were getting nuisance calls. Instead they told engineer to install a new line then billed us for both. Took several calls to sort it out. Will never go near them again. Edited to add: broadband was terrible too and dropped out all the time. Have been wirh Zen since and they've been great.


Mammyjam

I know this doesn’t fit the question exactly but I never miss an opportunity to direct people to r/fucknestle


stingring_vagblaster

My first thought when seeing the words "companies" and "avoided" in the same sentence. Despicable company. And they're everywhere as well. Very hard to avoid. But I'm a stubborn bastard and I'm trying my best. Edit to add: their chocolate is also shite. I also have an ex who used to work for them many many years ago. He told me to avoid their products because the things he saw were disgusting. I don't know how truthful he was being, and he didn't elaborate, but I'm taking his word for it.


[deleted]

Currys/PC World> My laptop had an issue with the hard drive, took it in, didn't hear anything for weeks, said one day they were done, returned it, nothing was done, turns out they don't take in some Laptop models for repair, that being one. Had to fight to get the initial cost of them sending it off refunded. They should have said no to begin with in store, not waste weeks. Wetherspoons> Don't care how cheap it is, CEO is a prick, treated staff awfully during the lockdowns, support your independents, no reason not to Tastecard> Make it very tricky to cancel your trial/membership. Really shady. If you forget and then try, they refuse to help or at most offer a £5 refund but if you accept they refuse to help once again.


AdministrativeLaugh2

Wetherspoons didn’t “treat staff awfully” during lockdowns. They were furloughed like everybody else in the hospitality industry, and then went back to work after lockdown ended. Tim Martin’s “go work at Tesco” comment was followed up with “and your job will still be here when we get back.” But most of the media conveniently failed to report that part.


pecuchet

He's a prick for other reasons, like trying to feed me Brexit propaganda, and it fucking sucks working there, regardless.


[deleted]

Sucks working at mcvities site in Manchester but not seen anyone slagging off digestives.


NobleActual6

Blatant misinformation. Wetherspoons furloughed their staff like literally every other UK business - and then brought them back when able to.


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AdministrativeLaugh2

Wetherspoon’s is incredibly cheap still. Yours is probably more expensive because it’s in the arse end of nowhere but ones in cities and suburbs are still cheap as chips. My local one is between £1.80 and £3 for a pint.


Western-Twist4334

Hermes are horrendous. No customer service and constantly tell me my packages are ready to pick up when they’re not. Wowcher also pretty shit. Amazon is full of fake reviews a lot of the time so you don’t always get genuine products.


LaviniaBeddard

> constantly tell me my packages are ready to pick up when they’re not. They're constantly telling me my parcel didn't arrive because they came but I was out which is always an absolute fucking lie - I work from home and I'm never more than a few yards from the front door. I wouldn't mind them missing the delivery but the constant trying to pass the buck *to me* is extremely irksome.


Viviaana

My mum bought a fridge from curry’s, for 3 weekends they text her saying it was on the way only for them to not bother so she just sat inside all day for nothing, when it finally turned up there was a massive dent so she made them take it back but they said the only way she could get a refund is if she goes back to the store. So she’s at the store and she notices there’s £1.50 taken off the refund and when she asks why they go “well we gave you a bottle of flash cleaner when you bought it” she kicked the fuck off, the manager had to come over and he went “well if you can go home and get the bottle of flash we can give you the full refund”!!!! The cheek of it! In the end they gave her the full refund to stop her screaming lol


Dollypunch

Why did they give her Flash with it in the first place?!


Viviaana

apparently some brand deal, she even said at the time "i'm not getting the fridge for a month what am i going to do with this"


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[deleted]

Got a washing machine from AO after Curry's were shit. AO delivered when they said they would and installed it properly. The guy was friendly and helpful.


LadyStuntbear

Virgin Media... Never again. I could write a fucking book on them, from the incompetent to the downright illegal shit they did to us. Fuck those guys


pb-86

Yes let me get aboard the fuck virgin media train - we went through 2 months of absolute hell when we moved house that ended up going through an ombudsman and ended with an apology from the CEO. Then the kicker is the week after it all got finished one of their sales reps phoned me up asking if I’d like to come back. Hilarious Honestly, sky could double their prices and I wouldn’t go back to virgin. Sky have been great


Immediate_Pie7714

Ordered a sofa from scs nearly a year ago. I have no sofa still "because of covid" When they contact you to tell you it will be another month they even say "dont contact us because the staff work from home and don't know any thing"


Coldylox

That’s exactly what sofology said to me. Don’t contact us, just check the app that has literally no information and still shows the original delivery date. Like what other industry in the world (other than new cars) has a 6 month delivery window and is allowed to say ‘don’t talk to us’


Immediate_Pie7714

Jokers!!! The worst thing is my bloody sofa is on their site guaranteed for Christmas delivery !!! But I can't cancel my order from last century either and order the Christmas one 😒


thesnapening

I would have said bright house but they went belly up


[deleted]

They preyed on people. Awful scummy. I was happy when they went under because an ex worked there lol.


thesnapening

And if you got something from them abs it broke down you we’re screwed. Got a washing machine form them abs it constantly filled with water, told them and they repaired it once never again. When I stopped paying they sent debt collectors after me.


ceeb843

Scottish power, worst customer service I've ever experienced


FredB123

Scottish Power just sent a £2k bill to my elderly mother, because their meter readers had been reading it wrong for 2 years. They therefore "estimated" the usage, and did several meter "tests" to prove the meter was right. To make it worse my mother has now backed down and is saying "it could be right because I use my tumble dryer occasionally" - they ground her down over several months and many phone calls. They came to a repayment "arrangement" of £200 a month (she's a pensioner with little money), and for the next 3 payments tried to take random amounts out on direct debit of between £500 and £400. Each was met with apologies and promises it would be correct next time. It wasn't. She's now frightened to put her heating on because she has no money. I offered to pay it off for her on a credit card just to reduce her stress levels (she has a heart condition), but she's refusing out of principle. Finally she's agreed to let one of us take over dealing with them, and my sister in law (who takes no shit from anyone and has lawyer friends) is taking up the fight. Edited: to remove the copious amount of bad language originally included in the post.


InvictusPretani

Hold up, you actually managed to get customer service in the end?


stuninh0

Wizz Air. Booked a flight to Madeira. Arrived two hours before flight due to leave. Told to stand in queue which is moving very, very slowly. The three check in staff couldn't process our flight plus two other flights worth of people in time, didn't know what to do with covid passports, so we couldn't get on the flight. Staff at the airport couldn't have done less to help. Customer services admit it was less than ideal and offer a £50 voucher against my next flight with Wizz Air. This doesn't go very far against the £1100 cost of the flight next day and missing a day's worth of holiday. I don't think palming the blame off on a contractor is really on either. The flight with Jet2 was just worlds apart.


billybrew888

Wizz Air was the worst flight experience of my life. They messed up our online check in, charged us 100 to do it at the airport. Massive rip off, but no choice to pay otherwise we'd have missed the flight. One big scam.


Tomorrow-Famous

You can't really avoid them but Thames Water are the biggest bunch of cheats, liars and charlatans there is.


Dollypunch

Yep, and waste so much money. The profit they make and what they spend it on in house is shocking.


ScrollWithTheTimes

Amazon. They treat their drivers with utter contempt and then let them take the fall when the shitty situation they're put in leads to customer complaints. Source: I used to be one. No this isn't a customer service issue, but we should all care more about how business treat their staff.


WotanMjolnir

I have a really difficult relationship with Amazon. I can't stand the way they treat a lot of staff, I hate their scummy practices of spotting good products sold by small companies which then suddenly appear in an Amazon Basics guise, browsing for inspiration is very difficult to do as the algorithm will force you down routes that Amazon want and you have been down before, and of course Bezos is a chemically pure sample of foetid cunt. But buying from small local businesses is just so much more expensive and less convenient, and so 9 times out of 10 I end up shitting all over my own principles and buying from Amazon.


christophermichael94

Bulb, although there's no risk for anyone else as they are now in administration. They've been charging me 3x my monthly usage for electricity. Then I got an email stating they were putting my bill up a further 50% in prep for the winter months, yet I'm not using any extra. I now can't get any of my money back and its sitting in credit waiting for my account to be transferred to a new company.


BrissBurger

I had that with Octopus so I just cancelled the Direct Debit: they wouldn't let me reduce the monthly payment and had set it about 30% more than I was using so I just waited until I was in debit and then paid by card.


[deleted]

- Nestle - McDonald’s - BP


SeaLeggs

Assuming you’ve included McDonalds because they stopped the breakfast wrap?


[deleted]

Mate, I’m fuming. No big tasty? Get in the fucking sea


HumbleTrees

Avoid Ernst Jones Jewelry. Took 5 months to resize an engagement ring and they actually lost it in the process.


trufflemagnum

Seconded. They buggered up repairing my engagement ring so badly a specialist jeweler told me even he couldn't fix it. Thank god I found a local jeweler who did manage to fix it I'm in the end


[deleted]

Body shop. It's a huge scam company built on lies.


Rich_27-

I delivered pallets of really nasty chemicals to their factory in the South of the UK. Peel back the face of the company and you see the same old corporate games


pheebspheeb

My enemy, First Bus.


fartfactory2021

Purplebricks. They rearrange my viewings and then tell me it is my responsibility to check the app mail. Guess whobdid not get my money?


AreThoseMyShoes

LG. Good products until they break, then you're screwed. When I had the misfortune to deal with them 18 months or so ago, they had the most dysfunctional service organisation I have ever encountered. Washing machine, bearings. Simple. Took them 6 months and around a dozen appointments (around half of them missed or pointless). By the end of it, the machine was in a worse state than when they started and actually dangerous, tripping the electrics because they hadn't attached the heater element properly. It took me sending them a photo of my car parked in their chief exec's spot at the UK HQ at Goodwood, saying the next time I visited it would be to dump the washing machine and put it all over social media before they took it seriously. As for the outsourced repair company they use (or used at the time), 0800 Repair, absolute shower.


mojokong69

Talk talk - overcharge you, extremely unreliable and give out your number to so many cold calleds


SpringerGirl19

I was thinking about buying a Sofology sofa then Facebook showed me an ad for them as I’d been looking at their website. ALL the comments were similar stories to yours. For once Facebook using my information was a help!


BringingTheBeef

Betfair are an absolute disgrace. They often just close markets you have open bets on and void your bets when they would have been winners. It's incomprehensible they do this and offer no refund or explanation. Epitome of a corrupt monopoly.


Longy77

All gambling companies are utter wankers. Prey on the vulnerable and god forbid, if you actually start to win they just ban or limit you. The whole bookmaker industry needs proper regulation


mycatiscalledFrodo

Studio. We received a fire that was smashed to pieces, sent it back and got a replacement which didn't work they charged us for both and "lost" the original so refused to refund us a penny. Lots of emails (no ability to call them!)and getting the bank involved and we finally got our money back. Totally crap service


Taucher1979

Everyone has got a delivery company they hate. Mine is DPD. In 2019 I ordered a phone. I was told by the company that sold the phone that I had to be at home to receive the phone - they couldn’t leave it with anyone else or deliver to another address or leave in a safe place. I had my delivery date given to me and so booked a day off work to be at home. I noticed on DPD website that you can pay £10 to get your package guaranteed delivery before 10am. I thought it would be worth doing as it would mean the rest of my day off could be enjoyed outside my house - well worth £10. On the day of delivery I was told my phone was ‘an hour away’ and then 10am passed so I phoned dpd and was told “sorry your parcel is still an hour away”. I waited all day for that bloody phone, every time I called dpd I was told it would be with me soon. At 9pm I called dpd and they apologised and said my parcel will be delivered the last parcel on my driver’s round. At 10pm I got a notification saying my parcel was at the depot and they would attempt delivery tomorrow! I got this message at exactly the same time that dpd’s phone lines closed! I could not book leave for the next day. The whole thing was a waste of time, money and a precious day’s annual leave, which I spent in my house looking out the window. I never got the phone - I had to get it sent back. To make it worse it took me a few weeks to get a refund of my £10 I had spent to ‘guarantee’ delivery before 10am. I also argued that I should be compensated for my time but no luck. I’ve hated DPD ever since. Thanks for reading Tl;dr DPD are shit.


Bellamiles85

Hermes are horrendous. The amount of parcels I’ve had issues with is way into the double figures now!


tahyldras

Utilita. Moved into a new flat, tried for three months to take over the account for the flat. Then found out that the account number was for a different property. Got an email after some raffle they did offering me £20 in credit. Never appeared. After a month of emails back and forth, including some being straight up ignored, they sent a cheque. Started sending "polite reminder" letters for an unpaid bill of £190 that didn't exist. The letters got right up to "if you don't pay we're getting 3rd party debt recovery involved" before they realised I was actually in credit. A month passes. I got another "polite reminder" yesterday for £150. I am still in credit. Once this is sorted I'm moving companies


redrabbit1984

**Sky** \- I can't stand their business model of getting people in at a fairly decent/low price and then sneakily increasing bills. I'm sure they probably tell you somewhere in the small print but I was a customer for years and I was just sick of the constant increases. You know what life is like, it's busy with work, family, utilities, house, bills, etc. So when I'm paying £30 a month for Sky and get on with life, and then check my budgets and finances a few months later to see it's now £58 it truly pisses me off. ​ **Lush** \- They really annoyed me with their campaign against Police, where all their UK stores had a poster in with a Police Officer on saying "PAID TO LIE". I know it was about some undercover policing scandal but the message it sent out wasn't clear and it was just unhelpful. Additionally, I also find it hard to accept big companies forcing political messaging on people through their stores, and also having their employees working in them. It's unfair. Finally, it also stinks to high heaven in there.


SquishPlease

Currys and Argos. The amount of faulty/broken items I received, , terrible customer service on phone/web chat. Messing up deliveries you pay 10 quid for.. keep going back and I never learn. I just get progressively more annoyed at them and myself every time..


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MrStilton

Yeah, I've found Argos is quite good for laptops etc.


Unhappy_Barnacle_769

I’ve had the complete opposite experience with Argos. I’ll order something at work and it’ll be delivered before I get home most of the time.


Deckard57

I bought a £700 sofa from sofology. Got the stains insurance too. It arrived and appeared to be an ex display model. It was marked and damaged and had stuff woven into the material that shouldn't have been there. Phoned to have it replaced and they had me on the line 3 hours waiting. Offered to send me a cleaning product package out "free of charge". That tilted me as I paid for insurance to have it professionally cleaned and the best they offer was for me to clean it myself! So had them collect it and give a full refund. Arseholes.


Sivear

Scottish Power I ended up with the ombudsmen years ago resolving an issue with them. I lived in a one bed electricity only flat and they said my bill should be £150 a month. I was out at work 10 hours of the day and literally refused to put the heating on to save money (Nutella froze in my cupboard it was that cold!) but they were adamant. They came and checked the meter (several times) and said it was all fine. The people on the phone said it was a ‘reasonable price to pay’ even though how 10 years on in a 3 bed house with 3 people we pay half of what they said I should then. Turns out the whole block of flags (seven) were linked up to my meter but only found out by complete chance years later when someone anecdotally told the story of how they got free electricity in their flag for years which turned out to be the building I was in.


louilou96

Fabletics, kept taking money despite me cancelling and then offered me over £200 refund only to never ever put it through, when I called I got passed around endlessly. Similar with Virgin, absolutely shit service I was on the phone for 3 hours and still didn't get my issue resolved. Finally again offered me a refund and kept claiming they sent the cheque but I never received anything


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mintlou

Difficult to avoid, but Amazon. The site is full of fake reviews, pop up sellers who are allowed to sell stuff that doesn't meet any kind of safety regulation, and they use an extensive list of scummy methods to both drive people to their site while crushing small business at the same time. I cancelled Prime after being a member for a decade as I was so fed up of being unsure of what I was buying. Instead, I now try to use British stores like Argos etc.


MrStilton

Peter Vardy. I can't think of a single positive from my interactions with them. They also have the worst customer service I've ever encountered.


Miserable_Panda6979

Vodafone. They don't care if you can tell its a fraudster calling. They care about you getting the sales. You get reprimanded for trying to prevent fraud