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Facing the truth and being responsible for your actions, no matter how unpleasant, is the mature thing to do. But that’s easier said than done. Especially when talk turns to business! Many companies and managers have a hard time being honest about what’s going on because they have a vested interest in staying profitable.

The r/AskReddit online community had a field day, calling out various companies that gave thoroughly ridiculous explanations for why something was happening. It’s perfect proof of why corporate communication has to be empathetic, not just robotic attempts to spin the truth. Scroll down to see just how ludicrously some businesses tried to protect their interests.

We wanted to learn about proper business communication, so we reached out to Matt Johnson, Ph.D., a marketing psychology speaker and the host of the human nature blog. He explained why transparency is paramount and shed some light on one of the best campaigns ever, aimed at repairing a company's tattered reputation. You'll find Bored Panda's interview with the expert below.

#1

"We reduce the performance of your older iPhone to keep it from crashing." Sorry, Android doesn't do this and this type of thing hasn't been a problem for over 10 years. It WAS an issue with some of the earliest smartphones, but not since 2012 or so. Apple just does it to try to get you to upgrade or pay for a battery replacement.

Edit: gotta love the Apple sheep down voting me for speaking the truth.

WardenWolf Report

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StarlightPanda!
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've NEVER had an Apple. ALWAYS Android. Most people have iPhone because "Omg! Everyone else does!"

Sonja
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had an iPhone as a work phone and also an iPad for work. I admit, as long as they're new they're faster and have some nice functions. But in day to day life they're just annoying. I swear, to make absolutely clear that you have an Apple product they make sure the handling is different, even to the point of being dysfunctional. It's almost impossible to download anything on an IPad and find it them. It's almost as if they hinde the download folder intentionally. That was fun when I tried to get my COVID pass and download the test results. It's almost impossible to shut ot down completely and it's ridiculously impractical how difficult it is to fully close apps. You can't personalise it to your needs and preferences as much as an Android. Also, you have lots of amazing functions you can't use without paying extra and it's really expensive. The touch pen alone is a fortune. All apps that use them are expensive. You don't get a single apple optimized app for free despite the products being so expensive. My tablet was perfected for doing digital art and had no art program! I was glad when I could exchange it for Android products.

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Ima Manimal
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you want an iPhone get an iPhone, if you want an android, then get an android. It’s a simple as that. And it’s not a competition it’s just personal preference.

Astrophile
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Every time I’ve had an Android, people make fun of me. Every time I get an iPhone, people make fun of me. 🤷‍♀️ everyone just wants to feel like they made the superior choice no matter what. Humans love to feel superior.

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Amalie Jaye
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have an iPhone, but only because I tried lots of android brands, and they all crashed/got viruses. I got the iPhone simply for the “no viruses” part, not because I prefer the brand.

Daft Mosquito
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What depths of crápnet have you been browsing to grab a virus? Twelve years with Android, never even heard about someone catching a virus.

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Luna (all pronouns)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My IPhone is seven years old. I really do believe this. It was it prime condition when I first got it (IPhone 8 Pro) 4-ish years ago and it’s deteriorated so much. The Bluetooth is glitchy and weird, my data doesn’t work half the time, and my microphone has completely stopped working (not an issue with the physical hardware- I’ve checked). Sad.

Monkey
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am an Apple Cult member and I agree with you 100%, I am angry about it but I am addicted.

Panda Bear
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an avid iPhone user, planned obsolescence is very real. And I hate it. But that capitalism for ya.

Powerful Katrinka
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Here's a startling, almost unbelievable fact: No one cares that you are using an Android. Same as no one cares that I use an iPhone. There's no conflict here.

The Best
Community Member
12 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is definitely NOT true. Apple doesn't do this, and if they do, it can seriously help your iPhone to NOT crash. By far, this is the most ridiculous post here. I closely follow Apple, and know that this is not true. Plus, Android does the EXACT same thing. And you can downvote me all you want, but I don't care. Just spreading the truth.  FTW!

Charles McChristy
Community Member
12 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had both and I much prefer the andriod. Apple has it's on head shoved far up its...

Don Adams
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My job issued me an iPhone. My personal phone is an Android. Retiring next summer - no more iPhone. Easier to use, lasts longer. Had a Samsung for several years, battery was starting to drain faster. Got a free new phone from my carrier, should be set for years

Donteatme666
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have dropped my android from a 3rd story building.kicked it thrown it and many other things still working just fine.Meanwhile my apple phone I dropped it lightly once on top of my bed and the screen cracked I loath apple

Annymoose
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"but apple still supports my iPhone 8!!!! What other company does that?!?!?" Apple users being delusional as always

Jaybird3939
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have an Android. It's dependable, Cheap ($15/month for service). It takes lousy pictures, doesn't have great reception in our area (lots of trees, mountains). I have to replace it every few years for about $100 dollars. I'm not attached at the belly button to my phone, so it works great for me!

Mr. Meeseeks
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Steve Jobs and the Apple con machine. Ohhh look at this shiny new phone! This is the iPhone 1, get used to it because the only thing we will meaningfully change is the price. What they did right was pander to sheep and take advantage of herd mentality while using other products to lock them into having to stay with Apple. Cue to years of advertising their "MASSIVE" upgrades that represent mainly fluff with a catchy commercial, or more likely a feature Android has had for years. What a joke

Brett Layton
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ive had both I stick with Android because its simply cheaper for the exact same thing.

Jonny Wilson
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m not one of the apple users that preaches the gospel of apple the only reason I even have one is I’ve had nothing but problems with every android device I’ve had

Shawn NowayJose
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually android pulls this trick too depending on the build (and manufacturer). It's the double edged nature of it being open source, still amazed google left it open source. Tbh, I would never buy an apple product. I like to tinker with my tech and apple doesn't really allow that. This is why linux is king. Android being based on linux has this feature too, if you know what your doing. A rooted android will let you do anything, even if it isn't a good idea. Apple is for people who just want it to work, nerds who like to tinker will likely use android. It's the same argument Jobs and Wozniak once had. In a way they where both right.

Big Chungus
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have an apple, but I've also had androids. I like both, but have had issues with both. I can give or take either.

Donald
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lets be honest, unless you're buying an Apple product to use their editing software its just a fashion statement.

Veronica Devlin
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still have an iPhone 8 and I’ve had zero problems with it. I’ve been using an iPhone 8 for over four years now.

Happy Homemaker
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have had a Samsung Note 5 phone (?) and an iPhone 4 through the 12 Pro. I will say that I like both phones for different reasons. I liked the graphics that Samsung had and the way it operated plus at the time mine came with a pen and I never had a problem with it. It did heat up a lot so when I needed a new phone, I switched to Apple and I stayed. I really like Apple, but… It does very annoying to have to upgrade to a new one because it “updates” and stops working all of a sudden, or some such nonsense. I had my iPhone 7 die right after my two year contract. Gee, what a coincidence. I still love many of the features, but they definitely need to fix the fact that it can break down. I keep iCare on many of my devices and the ones I can’t, I carry insurance.

Anna Drever
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I admit I have an iPhone because I appreciate that it’s dumbed down to my level. It’s an 8 and fairly ancient. I do not update it. It can ask me to all it wants but I will not do it because I learned the hard way with my previous iPhone 4 and original iPad.

Mike Loux
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Have been Android for all the time I have had smartphones (2010 onward). Had an iPhone 8 when I was a people manager some years back and that was the only phone my employer would give me. It was OK, but there were definitely a lot of things that I found excruciatingly annoying about it. The problem with buying into the Apple ecosystem is that you have to follow their vision 100%. Yeah, that's a big no from me.

Giulio Verdekiwi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

airpod pro 2 will have 2x noise cancelling! and... suddenly my old airpod barely cancel anything

Jan Moore
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I got an iPhone because my brothers had one and I could FaceTime them. I got to tell my brother in AU good bye when he was dying.

Aerial Wombat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Sheep"? It's called "Capitalism". People buy what they want. At least we have the right to be how we are with our money. A Judge I had clients before once said (whilst denying our application for Power of Attorney for their dad who was sending (still is) hundreds of thousands US dollars to "Nigerian Princesses"): It's not purely against the law to be stupid".

3 Trash Pandas (She/They)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tbh I only use apple because my family used it before all their scam stuff came to light and it’d be too much of a nuisance to switch over. Bring back the headphone port too!!!

DragonflyGreen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had Apple since the iPhone came out. I've never experienced the issues you are describing. I keep each phone for three-plus years, and only upgrade when I break my screen.

Zaphod
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't like the cult-like nature of Apple products. There were 160 students in my pharmacy school. I was 1 of 3 that did not an Apple laptop. That was a really snobby school.

Sue User
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had htc, samsumg, apple, windows. My last two phones have been motorala. I only upgraded the first one because it no longer ran half my apps. $125 for this one.

Javelina Poppers
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My Apple freak daughter and son-in-law are all about status, if it looks cool, it's the latest model and it's expensive, they gotta have it!..........I don't know these people anymore and both came from modest backgrounds.

Joshua David
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I switched to android after my iPhone 3gs needed the screen replaced 4 times in one month. I do think I left them early enough that I didn't have to deal with all the complaints they've had over the years. Back then, they were the first so it was amazing then, but now I need the phone to work well and function.

Eric C.
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-share-held-by-mobile-operating-systems-since-2009/

ƒιѕн
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Another website that wants your information before you can look around, no thanks.

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Nikki Sevven
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Apple is not the problem. Tim Cook is the problem. He's destroyed literally everything Apple represented: minimalism, lean programming, user customization, form following function.

Danny Phantom
Community Member
1 year ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Android keeps crashing/freezing even without being slowed down… Or at least they did, can’t speak for current phones.

Spudgun
Community Member
1 year ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Android loving weirdo! Get a proper phone than runs on Apple software

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According to marketing psychology speaker Johnson, how a company approaches communication about problems will depend on the business itself, as well as how serious the issue is.

"If it's a safety issue with the product, there are regulatory and liability concerns, and so almost certainly in these cases the company needs to come clean, do a recall, and formally apologize," he explained to Bored Panda via email.

"In less severe cases, when the product is merely faulty and not dangerous, it's still a best practice to take responsibility and apologize. The brand’s reputation is contingent on the quality of their products, and if they are consistently delivering a poor experience, this won’t be sustainable for the brand in the long term," Johnson said.

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#2

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Samsung destroyed my fridge while working on it. They agreed to replace it, and then told me they couldn’t replace my fridge they destroyed, because “they didn’t have any.”

They’re literally the manufacturer.

I filed a claims in small claims court and won and made them pay. It was ridiculously easy.

Nobody275 , Curtis Adams Report

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BlindAres
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be fair, I'd be shocked if anyone from Samsung even showed up to small claims court to defend this. The limit for small claims here is $2,500. A lawyer for samsung could easily cost far more than that to fight the small claim.

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#3

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes McDonald’s and the coffee burn victim, claiming she only did it for the money. She didn’t - she was horribly burned by coffee kept far too hot that McD’s had been warned about repeatedly in the past and they still refused to fix.

Working_Buddy5527 , thiago japyassu Report

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BlindAres
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This lady still gets run through the mud from the uneducated/willful morons on the internet from time to time. Look this up on Google "stella mcdonald's hot coffee lawsuit burn pictures" then if you have an iron stomach, turn off the blurred pictures. It's.... ***AWFUL***

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"It will force the company into a position where it is competing based purely on price and on the advertising effectiveness, which is typically a losing proposition. All in all, the default should be to take ownership, repair the product, and to be transparent to the consumer."

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Luckily for brands, consumers tend to be "surprisingly forgiving" when they're transparent about their failures. "Three things should be in place in order to pull this off," Johnson walked us through the process.

"First, the brand needs to have some degree of existing trust with their consumers. Secondly, the brand needs to be transparent and take ownership of its product’s failings. And lastly, they need to make the product genuinely better. When these three things are in place, consumers can be very forgiving which helps to restore the company’s reputation."

#4

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes “We are experiencing higher than usual call volumes”.

Random-Mutant , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

#5

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Texas' energy grid couldn't keep up with the winter storm a few years back because of wind mills somehow.

Individual_Lies , Magda Ehlers Report

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Lauren Bridger
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one where Ted Cruz went to Cancujn while people in his state died due to the incompetence and greed of TX government and their donors? Yeah that's horrible.

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#6

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes I used to drive for Schneider National Carriers. My husband and I hit from behind by another semi. Schneider deflected it back to us saying that if we wouldn't have stopped for a shower 10 hours previously we would not have been there to get hit in I -40

Heavy_Permission5704 , formulanone Report

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According to the marketing psychology speaker, one of the best examples of this was done by Domino's Pizza, over a decade ago. It's a prime example of how honesty, when mixed with grit and creativity, can yield great results.

"In 2011, Domino’s Pizza did the unthinkable: They came out and said that they’re pizza is terrible. They listened to consumer complaints, ran focus groups, and all the signs pointed to the same conclusions. And Domino’s said: you know what, you’re right," Johnson shared with Bored Panda.

"They ran a campaign admitting that their pizza isn’t what it should be, that they’d be making changes, and that in the future, their pizza would be better. And they did. Fast forward thirteen years later, and Domino’s is a beloved brand, who’s pizza is adored by their customers. They leveraged their trust with their consumers, admitted fault, and made the right changes. And in the end, their business greatly improved."

You can find more of Johnson's insights and posts on his marketing and human nature blogs.

#7

Tucker Carlson being sued as part of Fox News and his lawyers stating that what he says “cannot reasonably be interpreted as facts.”

Maniacboy888 Report

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#8

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Many companies are notorious for calling their customers stupid when they're sued for something. For example, when Subway was sued for undersized sandwiches, Subway argued that "Footlong" was just a trademark and there was no reason for anyone to think that it meant that the sandwich was 12 inches long.

Dynasuarez-Wrecks , Dennis Sylvester Hurd Report

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#9

SpaceX offered to build a submarine to rescue people in a cave. They drew a design and everything. Had a whole plan. A guy said no thanks so Elon Musk called him a child molester.

Gladysfartz Report

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Ansi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As I remember it the submarine wouldn't even had worked or fitted in the space to get those kids. And also it was an emergency situation, a _drawn_ design isn't much help, you need something that can be used immediately. You know, because it's an emergency. Like a diver that called Musk out for the unhelpful idea.

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Reputation is everything in the business world. If your customers know that they can trust you, they’ll stay loyal. Trust, however, is a pretty ephemeral thing. A lot of different factors contribute to it. For instance, you need to think about the quality of your product and services, how your employees treat your customers, as well as how ethically you do business.

To put it bluntly, putting products and services aside for a moment, customers value companies that have clear values, act in a moral way, and are transparent about what they do. Businesses are like people: those who are trustworthy and respectable become true leaders. Meanwhile, shady behavior and avoiding responsibility will get called out. Consumers and employees alike hate it when someone’s trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

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When a company runs into trouble, the first instinct is (quite naturally) to focus on survival. If something unethical happens, many businesses try to avoid the issue and present a counter-narrative. Their goal is to protect their reputation and profits. 

#10

Lululemon's founder, when confronted about the threadbare, see-through quality of his yoga pants claimed that it was women that were "bigger" shouldn't use them because their thighs rub together, damaging the fabrics.

Nope, you just sell crappy, overpriced pants.

Snoo-96407 Report

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Fickle_Pickle
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lululemon is a joke. I've never worn a pair, nor have the inclination to buy. Way pricey for the crappy quality.

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#11

"The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution. The other view says that water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value" - Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, former CEO of Nestle.

cyberdong_2077 Report

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#12

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes "we need everyone back in the office buildings now because the 3 years of working from home didn't actually succeed and everyone has to be back in the office for the work to get done. It has nothing to do with needing all the workers to resume spending their money on all the stuff they didn't have to for 3 years."

forgotten_epilogue , Arina Krasnikova Report

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John Dilligaf
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think it has more to do with companies that have long-term leases on their office buildings. They don't want to be spending money on empty space

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However, this can backfire to a pretty big extent. If someone knows what really happened, they can blow the whistle and spill the beans for the whole world to know. When you get caught lying, it’s even worse. 

In an ideal world, every business, boss, and middle manager would be open, honest, and transparent about any and all issues, both with their employees, as well as their customers. However, in reality, companies are constantly competing for people’s money and attention. So showing any signs of weakness, when your opponents probably won’t do the same, would be ludicrous.

It all comes down to the fundamental values upon which a company is built. Founders and managers who fully embrace transparency and empathy are going to tackle any issues that arise very differently than someone who always puts profit first… at any moral cost. Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with being profitable. But it has to be balanced with ethics, a sense of purpose, and proper motivation for workers.

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#13

Comcast changed its name to xfinity because Comcast was well regarded as the worst customer service on the planet and you couldn’t search their name without it pulling up page after page of customer stories about how bad they were.

They didn’t fix their customer service they just changed the name of the company as if it would reset their reputation and it on some level worked.

Pencilowner Report

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StarlightPanda!
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They illegally charged us for services that we NEVER agreed to! We read the entire contract, and it wasn't listed in there. We should have gone to a small claims court. Jerks.

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#14

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Optus recently blamed a outage that affected the whole of Australia on a 3rd party. This "third" party was their parent company

coolevil98 , Yan Krukau Report

#15

[China’s birth rate crisis is so intense that Nestlé is closing a baby formula plant due to dwindling demand](https://fortune.com/europe/2023/10/20/nestle-baby-formula-plant-ireland-close/)

Nestle: Demand in China is too low so we're closing a factory in Ireland and moving production... to China.

I mean, I get that we all think John Q. Public is too dumb to analyze anything these days, but this is a blatant PR lie and Orwellian doublespeak.

thuper Report

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My!
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One can't expect anything else from Nestle. When the fat girl boycotts her favorite comfort foods for over a year (no slipups, either!) it's a bad company.

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Obviously, employees want to get a fair wage, have plenty of room for growth, and only ever deal with supportive bosses. That won’t always be the case. It becomes necessary to screen businesses for their work culture ahead of time before you’re in too deep. So before you think of applying for a position at some huge conglomerate, do some research. Read up on what their workplace culture is like, see if they’ve ever been embroiled in some deeply troubling scandals.

Forbes suggests checking whether a company’s online presence is “professional and legitimate.” That means looking at their website, how they respond to customer inquiries and criticism on social media, and what (former) employees have to say on job sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn. It’s definitely a red flag if you spot examples of awful customer service.

If a business has tons of negative reviews online, something is probably amiss. However, just like you shouldn’t blindly trust any corpo PR dribble, you should take any reviews with a few grains of salt. Actually, scrap that, pass the whole salt shaker!

#16

April 20, 2010 [the Big Horizon Oil Spill](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill)

An estimated 4.9 MMbbl (210,000,000 US gal; 780,000 m3) of deep water oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s considered the largest marine oil spill in petroleum history.

On May 4, of the same year, they were awarded the [Safety Prize](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Blotter/louisiana-oil-spill-feds-gave-safety-prize-transoceans/story?id=10528236) for their outstanding performance *in 2008*.

So, basically , the feds claimed they deserved the prize because in 2008 they did such a good job and their only accident was the 2010 oil spill. Never mind that it was so huge that in 2019 there was still oil floating around the Mexican Gulf from that very same spill.

FknDesmadreALV Report

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CaptainSlapNTickle
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If there were actual, real world consequences for the people in charge, and who make the decisions, less of this BS would occur. I'm talking old school consequences, none of this hand slapping, tiny fine, c**p. Physical punishments. Televised.

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#17

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes That time the airline beat up the customer and the CEO blamed the customer.

Round_Illustrator65 , Yan Krukau Report

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BlindAres
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Dr was from my area (at the time. I've since moved) He was trying to get home to do legitimate surgery on an elderly patient in dire need. The Dr had a ticket, was seated quietly awaiting take off. The airline tried to bump him so a flight attendant could use his seat as a "jump seat" to the next airport. The Dr said no. The Dr was beaten and drug off the airline by the airport police. All of it was recorded by various passengers. It was *very* violent and unnecessary. The Dr mercifully settled with the airline because he just wanted to get back to his everyday life doing legitimate surgeon work for elderly patients. Edit: flight attendant was off duty and "jumping" from one airport to another. My fault for being imprecise. ✌🏻

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#18

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Lululemon: Our pants that keep ripping at the seam are fine, you're just too fat for them.

slightofhand1 , MART PRODUCTION Report

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BlindAres
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm just lost as to why companies that sell fitness clothes don't want to be the goto clothier for plus size folks. It makes zero sense.

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It’s vital to filter which reviews give an accurate representation of reality and which ones are written by someone who is extremely disgruntled about e.g. being fired (perhaps for poor performance or other issues). A good rule of thumb is that the more emotional a review is, the more biased it is. The truth isn’t black and white, it’s often nuanced. Sure, any company might make some mistakes. But it doesn’t mean that these businesses fail in every single regard.

You won’t ever find a ‘perfect’ company, but you can come across businesses that admit to having made mistakes and then work to correct them. If you ever have any doubts, as a prospective worker or a potential customer, get in touch with the business and ask some questions about their culture and values.

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#19

Thalidomide, which was a popular over the counter drug in the 60s, caused thousands of children to be born with severe birth defects as it was never properly tested before being released and was marked as safe for pregnancy.

They fought for years to not pay out and said every reported case was due to nuclear fallout and botched home abortions.

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Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thalidomide, or Distaval, as it was marketed in the UK, was originally a sedative and flu treatment. It was when it started being prescribed for morning sickness that it caused problems because no testing or research had been carried out on pregnant animals.

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#20

Tesla's Full Self Driving is *always* only waiting on regulators to approve it.

Really it's s**t software that doesn't work.

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Sonja
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be fair, so far not a single self driving software works in regular traffic and it's unlikely it ever will. There are too many variables and they barely were able to write a software to reliably open a common door. So far as of today, they are unable to write software that is able to actually understand facts and act out of true knowledge. AI software only works on exactly what it's programmed to to and to rudimentary extrapolate from data without being able to realize when their extrapolation is wrong. There is a difference between possessing data and understanding the data. Software doesn't truly understand what it has. You can tell it, when x do y. But it can't ever understand why. It you program the explanation why into it, it can repeat it, but still doesn't understand.

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#21

I online ordered my groceries to be delivered. Eighty-eight items, fruit, milk, meat.

The groceries appeared on my doorstep, I went out to get them. Then I said "I expected more than th.... Hey, where is the milk? Where is the meat?"

So I go online, and the official explanation was that 57 out of 88 items were "unavailable".

Nope. I guessed what had happened. The shopper had gotten like a third of the way done, and then stopped for whatever reason. Oh, and "WatTheHell. I'll deliver what I have."

But I called and asked about it anyway.

The response was in a "Idunno" voice. "Well, maybe that many items *were* unavailable."

No way. The day that big store is out of milk, that will be a story on the town's evening news.

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Kylie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have a friend who regularly used the WM delivery service (pick up at curb) who got banned from using it. Why? Too many returns. Returns mind you of expired food and moldy etc produce which shouldn't have even been in the store let alone picked and delivered. But somehow that's HER fault.

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#22

My property manager tried to get me to sign a contract saying I wouldn't sue for anything I'd ever reported in the past, admitting that I was always late on rent (literally never have been), and that I agreed to pay 63$ to sign the contract.

The judge was not impressed with his explanation that the 63$ was for "special" fees because he had to write and print that farce.

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#23

Powerball

"We've listened to what people want, and that's higher jackpots!"

The only way to do that is to increase the price or make it harder to win so the total goes up. Powerball did BOTH! from $1 to $2, a 100% increase, followed by extending the numbers to choose from. Doubling the cost and making it exponentially harder to win.

They duped everyone, and the only people who understand have taken statistics in college. It's the fleecing of the ignorant.

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#24

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Amys Baking Company after going nuts on facebook. They claimed they were hacked and were now working with the FBI to find out who was behind it

KermitTheFraud92 , Solen Feyissa Report

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BlindAres
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's not the first nationalized breakdown she had. Gordon Ramsey went to "save" her bakery. He walked out as she melted down and her husband went batsh*t ballistic.

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#25

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes "We work better when we're all in the office together..."

aeroglava , olia danilevich Report

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Vanayulmaiel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nope! I like the colleague I share an office with, but she constantly tells me about her toxic relationship, horrible MIL etc. At home it is so much more quiet

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#26

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes Cadbury trying out a campaign saying they didn't shrink the size of their product. You just got bigger! :D

The-Funky-Phantom , crazee1ady Report

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My!
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Was anybody stupid enough to believe them? As far as I know, food marked for retail sale has to have the volume/weight in pretty much every country.

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#27

Even though someone posted something entirely anti-Semitic and our CEO said it was "the truth" it is being misreported that he himself is anti-Semitic.

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#28

Not really a "company" per se but there was that time the Australian census site crashed on census night and the government blamed it on a targeted DDOS attack (also known as the entire population of Australia trying to access the same site at the same time).

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Megan Curl
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why is there always one idjit that has to keep making ridiculous comments that others have to cover up with another comment? I don’t know, but here we are.

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#29

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes I quit a job after the entire company was being forced to sign away our rights to ever sue the company. (This was after they were getting sued for not paying their employees accurately).

The topper was that if we elected not to sign, we would be forfeiting ALL BONUSES until we did sign.

I quit within a couple weeks and told my boss directly that a leading factor in why I was leaving.

He left shortly after too.

elmatador12 , EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA Report

#30

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes “You’re holding it wrong!”

- Apple with the iPhone 4.

Waynniack , Michael Weidemann Report

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John Harrison
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember that. They claimed that poor reception was from users holding it in such a way that their hands blocked the antenna.

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#31

I had a flight booked with Delta from New York to Canada. I got an email a week before the flight was scheduled saying it was cancelled. No reason was given. I called the airline and the agent told me it was cancelled due to weather. A week beforehand. So I said to the agent, wow, you guys are really putting a LOT of faith in the meteorologists! Anyway I found out later that they cancelled the route and didn’t bother to tell customers or employees apparently…

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#32

Probably the recent failure of the entire mobile phone network by Optus, the second largest provider in Australia. Many businesses lost money because their payment systems were down. The technicians at Optus were locked out of systems because they were on the Optus networks. The CEO just resigned over it.

The reason given for the failure was an upgrade being made by a "subcontractor."

The "subcontractor" was Singtel in Singapore who owns Optus.

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#33

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes The election was rigged

sibbaldk , Arnaud Jaegers Report

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BlindAres
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I so sick of hearing this. Voter fraud is rare, especially on the level needed to tip state elections.

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#34

I worked doing tech support in South Florida. After 9/11 our company changed the raise policy from quarterly to annually, dropped the top pay from $22 down to 15 and canceled the free laptop program. They claimed the cut backs were necessary due to 9/11 affecting our business.

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michael Chock
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have worked at my company for 6 years, been promoted 4 times and got 5 performance based raises. I make less than when I started. We bought unregulated capitalism and it's been delivered.

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#35

This literally just happened yesterday. Disney released a new trading card game through a company called Ravensburger. A new set went on sale on their website yesterday morning, and the company once again didn't prepare for the amount of traffic, so it crashed their queue system. Ravensburger then blamed it on a ddos attack instead of admitting they weren't ready to handle the amount of traffic.

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Megan Curl
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ravensburger makes some really great quality games and puzzles tho, so I’m not even mad at them. “Rivers, Roads and Rails” is a classic kids game.

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#36

Pier 1 was blaming their employees for not upselling/getting enough credit cards before they went bankrupt.

I could buy the same blanket at home goods cheaper than my discount at Pier 1!

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michael Chock
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Its true though, it's the employees job to have terrible lives so execs have the best lives.

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#37

Venezuelan power company (destroyed by poor management, cronyism and corruption) blamed outages on an iguala getting on the cable 😂

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#38

Worked for a company that 3 divisions. Electrical construction (where I worked), armature, and maintenance.

Every year, the company would set projections, if income was kept in the black, and accidents to a minimum, every employee in each branch got a sizeable Christmas bonus check.

Ten or so years before I came on, one of the c-suites figured if they could keep that bonus... they got to keep the money. Just make up a reason the bonuses didn't go out.

So the armature department got a letter saying "sorry, electrical went waaay over budget. Blame those a******s." While maintenance got a letter blaming armature, and electrical got aimed at maintenance.

The departments were fairly independent, so thinking appeared to be that they'd all turn on each other, and C's would pocket or "reinvest" what should have been bonuses (they knew something was fishy because that same year the CEO bought a nearly 1 million dollar boat, while the CFO could suddenly afford a 300k car)

What they forgot, however, was that construction workers gossip worse than hair stylists with a vendetta. So they all knew something shifty was up.

So next year, there were 20+ reported accidents. But no one knew who/where/how/what. So after about 4 years of being shady, the company just canceled the bonus program all together.

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#39

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes [Air Canada 624 landing in Halifax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_624). For a while their press releases stated that it was a "hard landing". The fact that 24 people were injured, engines separated from the wings, and the plane was written off didn't seem to figure into it.

mks113 , Oleksandr P Report

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Sonja
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, technically every crash is indeed a 'hard landing' but not every hard landing is a crash. A plane that crashed had indeed landed and the impact was hard 🤣

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#40

QANTAS our national airline in Australia. They were booking ghost flights, flights they never intended providing. Taking bookings from people even after the flights had been cancelle total fraud, idea was to provide cheap flights then so people wouldn't book flights with other airlines, then cancel them.

When called out on it Qantas said it's customers understood that they weren't booking a flight at a specific time to go to a specific destination but just booking and paying for a ticket.

Optus a major phone and internet provider here, whole system completely crashed, no phone internet, could not even make emergency calls. No explanation from Optus when service would resume no explanation on cause of failure.

Optus did say they had details on their website which people could access, but Optus customers could not of course as the internet and phone services were down.

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#41

An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as one of the reactors was damaged

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#42

Enron.
No its all just a simple mistake.

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BlindAres
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Feudalism: You have 2 cows. Your lord takes some of the milk. Fascism: You have 2 cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them & sells you the milk. Communism: You have 2 cows. You must take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. Capitalism: You have 2 cows. You sell 1 & buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, & the economy grows. You sell them & retire on the income. Enron Capitalism: You have 2 cows. You sell 3 of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt-equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all 4 cows back, with a tax exemption for 5 cows. The milk rights of the 6 cows are transferred through an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The Enron annual report says the company owns 8 cows, with an option on 1 more

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#43

Claiming I was incompetent and firing me when they had me doing a job with barely Any training and the training I did get was for a job I wasn’t doing.

When they really just over staffed themselves and didn’t want to pay the sign on bonus

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Skye Ragsdale
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My old job loves to pull c**p like that. They would drop a trainee on me with no warning, gives us no where near enough time to go through it, then get mad at me when the new kid messed up 😡

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#44

45 Times Companies Gave The Most Ridiculous Explanations For Their Mistakes When Rockstar decided to remove about 200 vehicles from GTA Online and claimed it was to improve the user experience... that's gotta be somewhere up in the top 100, at least?

otacon7000 , trenchophotography Report

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#45

Pokemon saying they cut the national dex so they could focus on animations and balance, then continued to use the same models and animations while bringing back all of the most overpowered pokemon.

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