Consumer Reports

I recently renewed Consumer Reports online to look for central AC brands. There was one page with information about how Air conditioners worked and what efficiency means. The ratings were based on reliability with very little info. I could have found this information from any other website. It is clear that little effort was put in by consume reports.

One year after subscribing they charged me $39 for renewal. Then I cancelled that same day and they told me I only got partial credit because next month was the earliest my cancellation could take effect. Also they email you with tricky/enticing donation requests throughout the year and worst of all navigating their website for product research is quite frustrating/difficult!

I used to subscribe back in the 1980s and was pleased. But the magazine these days is a shadow of its past self. Here are specifics:
First, I subscribed and only received three issues over a year. I called after ten months and was told the back issues would be sent to me, but that was two months ago and I never received them.
Second, the wait times for customer service are very long.
Third, they only review about three products in a category. If you reviews of more products in that category (e.g. Irons, vacuums, etc.) there is an up-charge.
Fourth, their articles are general information one can easily find on the internet -- no need to spend money on a Consumer Reports subscription.
Fifth and finally, Consumer Union has become a political advocacy group to institute ever more rules and regulations.

I have found recommended products are often no longer manufactured, and the latest products are seldom reviewed rapidly enough. And as a particular example, Consumers Reports discusses the advantages of "mild hybrid" cars (cars like Audis, BMWs, Mercedes with both 12V and 48V batteries, but not full hybrids that can electrically drive the wheels). But Consumer Reports fails to point out the significant cost of replacing these two batteries (even the 12V battery). Warranty coverage of the 48V battery is 3-4 years and replacement runs $3K-$4K. A significant cost of ownership.

We requested the Free Books on specific topics + general health concerns. Your promotion clearly stated in several places these were free. I ordered a set of the two paperback books which were supposedly FREE.
We received a bill today for $25 for these books. This was deceitful advertising, and that it occurred at a generally well-known publication such as yours.

I have been a subscriber for several months now. Along with my monthly magazine, I was supposed to receive the Yearly Buying Guide. Still haven't received it. I received the August issue today. The front covers title is "Your Scam Protection Guide". How appropriate... they certainly SCAMMED me! They apparently are having financial difficulties. The monthly magazine is no where near as good as it was many years ago. And SEVERAL times they sent me requests to send them money for automobile raffle tickets. NO THANKS!

This company is a joke. They lied and lied. My family booked a trip through them for st Martin. Delta canceled my flt from tues to Monday. I called a dozen times to ask how I'd get my money back for the night I was not there. They assured me it would not be a problem. Well Shame on me will not give me my money back. So paying it forward do not use cheap tic u will lose your money. The company is a joke

I have looked at many online options to review several products over the years (20 give or take) and in the end, I feel like I am getting more detail that I trust from Consumer Reports. No report, from any reviewing company is perfect and all leave out details but Consumer Reports gives enough to make me feel that I am less likely to get screwed in reading their reviews and using it as a guide to my next purchase. Sometimes I am looking at a specific product and the review is clearly written as if they only had a very small handful of reviews to draw from. Its difficult to cover the large scope of products that they do and have a very detailed report when only a few provide their experiences. But overall, I am pleased with the information I get in order to avoid going in completely blind. Other groups who provide competing reviews are too often lacking any real detail, clearly showing they don't have enough reviews to be of substance. No one is perfect but in the end, I feel like Consumer Reports is the best choice and less likely being paid off to provide a jaded review.

Beware of auto-renewal. Like most sites, once you sign up and give them your credit card or bank info, this company will auto renew your subscription every year and probably not at the introductory rating you signed up with but their normal annual rating. If you do sign up with the company, make sure to turn off your auto renewal. Or better yet, just don't sign up at all.

I have bought this magazine through the years since I retired I decided to take the plunge and get a subscription I sent in a discounted voucher and received a bill for twice the amount they said it was a mistake next I noticed in march's issue the donation section that they have taken very large donations from a hospital and from Ford last time I checked you can't be non biased when you take money from company's last they also give out your personal information from their mailing list rent or share this information shame on you consumers magazine unhappy customer

They have always given me sound advice on purchases. Recommended items are were always reliable. Items with poor reliability were duds.

Never again will I endure an attitudinal employee from CR again to help with member support. They can't even write in fundamental English

I find their review of the tesla interface flawed. Inexplicably, they seem to find an interface method that is widely used on the internet flawed (which uses logical design features), while, at the same time, concluding that a series of buttons on another car is easier to learn. This is regressive thinking on the part of consumer reports.

While I have a lot of complaints with built in consumer reports biases, this is one of the most illogical comments they have made about a product.

Craig

I was looking up treadmill reviews related to safety and when there were less than 5 stars, there was no information given about why the rating was less than 5, only a general description of the category and a list of things that it could contribute to a lower rating for any treadmill. Since there are so many reasons a machine can be unsafe, having no description renders the category meaningless. Out of curiosity, I then looked at SUV ratings and also discovered that they also no longer include detailed safety information about vehicles. If they don't care about vehicle safety, then they likely don't care about safety on the whole, so I cancelled my subscription today.

Addendum: I had also chatted with a rep on their site about the concern of no detailed safety explanation for the treadmills and he said that this was due to my not having a digital membership. I then logged onto my account and it showed I have an All Access membership - this includes digital and print. By this time, the chat had ended, but the chat rep had lied to me. I called Consumer Reports and spoke to another rep live who verified I have full digital access, and who also could not locate any additional safety information for any treadmills that received a rating of less than 5 stars. I then showed him a page that was related to car safety and the absence of detailed info listed. I ultimately told him I wanted to cancel my membership and he said, "Fine," apparently disinterested in my concerns about the absence of detailed safety information. Had I been in his role, I would have offered to pass along this concern to someone higher up.

After all these years of claiming to be neutral Consumer Reports has sold out and is now allowing Subaru Auto to use CR's review in their ads. That, for me, is the last straw. The quality of their magazine and most especially, the ability to locate products, has become a confused mess! I can no longer trust a magazine who allows companies to use their product name while professing to be non biased.

Consumer Reports used to be the goto on product reviews but with free product reviews on the internet they are now a dinosaur struggling to stay alive. Tactics like raffles to win prizes just like Publisher's Clearinghouse used to do cheapens a once great product. Beware subscribing with automatic renewal for there on-line service because you will see a charge on your credit card bill and if you call to cancel they keep a month regardless of whether a month has passed or whether you used the service in that time! It's time for them to go, employees should start looking for new jobs before they get cut to save costs.

I used to trust that Consumer Report (CR) was a source of unbiased testing of products. Now I know better and will not believe anything from them. Case in point, CR stated that the Kia suv was highly dependable in their first year of production. It received an extremely high rating, well over the Toyota Highlander, which has consistently EARNED a high rating. Kia recalled their suv and had numerous quality issues in the first year. Consumer Report was paid off and is not to be trusted. Garbage reporting. Beware.

A rally with the first prize $ 35,000. Moved dates submitted with a total of $ 25.00. Drawing December 30
Never heard anything more. Any winners? I was scammed last year too. No more do you read your reviews?

I've been a member since 1993 and renew the subscription every year. Last year I renewed it again and paid through Aug. 2023. I haven't received a paper copy since last November, attributing it to postal delays. Today I decided to check my account.
It turns out they silently canceled my account and appropriated the remaining balance. I had to call customer service a few times because they hang up after 5 minutes of waiting. They couldn't tell me
Who canceled my account and why, and reluctantly agreed to refund the balance.
They should report this in their magazine on the "Selling It" page.

They gave a number rating and then recommend every product in about the top ten even if the first is 90 and the last recommendation is 70. They then tie to every product and get money if you buy it. Sort of defeats the whole purpose of having it. If you check there rating against thousands who have bought the product then consumer reports are recommending products that are totally substandard. Cost me $4 to see all the above and cancel after one day. They couldn't make a full refund because I had it close to 20 hours that should tell you the rest of what you need to know.

Consumer Reports proports to be the consumer advocate. To subscribe they include you in their continuous service, not an option. Then they absolutely hide the web site link to cancel continuous service. Once canceled, they continue to send past due notices.
The magazine used to be the go to place for product reviews. Now it is a left leaning entity long on causes and extremely short on useful product information. After many years of being a subscriber I couldn't wait for my subscription to expire. And not happy about that!

I've been a subscriber, that they call a member, for about 50 years and I have found them to be a reliable source of information and advice on a wide variety of products and services. The information and advice on negotiating the price of a car worked like a charm.The last time I used it and was leaving, two of the salesmen actually applauded! To assure impartiality, they accept no advertising and as a member you have the opportunity to vote for their board of directors. While one might not agree with their rating you are confident they've done their best.

I was misled and lied to by Verizon wireless, They were advertising a promotional trade your phone in and receive a new phone free, My wife and I each had a phone and were paying 68.00 dollars a month. But wanted new phones so we figured we could trade our old phones in and get new phones free. So we went to a Verizon Wireless store traded our phones in and found out the monthly bill would be 196.00 dollars a month, so as I was talking to the salesman he said we could get 200.00 dollars rebate for each phone as long as we paid our bill on time and did not cancel for at least six months. We after six months my wife and I started looking for a cheaper carrier because we're both retired and on social security and on fixed incomes, So spectrum has been running a promotional program pay for one phone service and get a second one for free for one year. So I wanted to switch services and Verizon wireless tells us, we have to pay 585.00 per phone to release our phone number to spectrum so I did thinking I was done with Verizon and then they changed my bank account 400.00 more hundred dollars which makes the total 1570.00 dollars I having to pay them. Then when I contacted Verizon they said that the 585.00 dollars was a payoff for each phone and the 400.00 dollars was for rebate return that they misled us about. Or lied to us about.