Sunday Morning always does a nice job
Consumer Reports spot on CBS Sunday Morning
- Thread starter kb0nes
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I canceled dad's CR print subscription this afternoon.
1) They apparently aren't as much enthused on supporting print customers vs. digital subscribers, account log-in is a separate portal and access to it is somewhat obscure.
2) Digital access for timely and more detailed info is additional cost, not included with print subscriptions.
3) Their reviews have become lacking in detail compared to the 1970s and 80s.
4) They make mistakes on product details and don't correct the online data when brought to attention.
5) I had a digital subscription years ago and I wanted to remove my ccard info to avoid auto-renew. No way to do that. I canceled the subscription as the only alternative, with two months remaining, and they immediately revoked access, no refund.
6) Dad's subscription has one month remaining (Nov 2023). Account status said it had already "auto-renewed, we're awaiting your payment." Oct 2023 issue is received, I'm awaiting to see if the Nov issue arrives ...
Sacramento Public Library
Our Library offers free online access to Consumer Reports. They also offer free access to New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Try your local library on line. I still get the print edition and do enjoy it. It has changed over the years. But I enjoy getting several other magazines in the mail such as Time, Car and Driver, AARP, Better Homes and Gardens, Readers Digest, Scientific American.
Our Library offers free online access to Consumer Reports. They also offer free access to New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Try your local library on line. I still get the print edition and do enjoy it. It has changed over the years. But I enjoy getting several other magazines in the mail such as Time, Car and Driver, AARP, Better Homes and Gardens, Readers Digest, Scientific American.
What Glen said, only I cancelled long ago after following their ratings in 1997 and buying a top-rated, belt-eating/clothes-cooking Raytheon Amana W/D set.
I also agree with everything that Glenn said. I used to subscribe to CR for years. I cancelled my subscription about 18 years ago when I’d noticed for at least the last 5 years before that how their reviews had become sketchy. In the olden days when CR was the penultimate source of unbiased reviews the subscriber could read detailed reports about the testing procedures. I used to have faith in CR recommendations. Now I believe that they are in collusion with manufactures.
I now will do my own research online, reading the reviews of owners that aren’t participating in an “incentive program”. I read all the 1 star reviews first to see if there is a trend in what reviewers really dislike about a product. If the negatives that are noted are things that I particularly want to avoid then I may stop right there considering that particular product. If there aren’t too many one star reviews I then advance to reading all the 5 star reviews to see what owners really like about a product, taking note of the things that are especially important to me.
Then I filter for specific concerns about a product that I may be especially concerned about. Yes, this is time consuming, but 9 times out of 10 once I make a choice on which product to purchase I’m not disappointed. And this research costs nothing.
CR still sends me letters with the statement “We want you back” printed on the outside of the envelope. Sorry CR, it ain’t gonna happen.
Eddie
I now will do my own research online, reading the reviews of owners that aren’t participating in an “incentive program”. I read all the 1 star reviews first to see if there is a trend in what reviewers really dislike about a product. If the negatives that are noted are things that I particularly want to avoid then I may stop right there considering that particular product. If there aren’t too many one star reviews I then advance to reading all the 5 star reviews to see what owners really like about a product, taking note of the things that are especially important to me.
Then I filter for specific concerns about a product that I may be especially concerned about. Yes, this is time consuming, but 9 times out of 10 once I make a choice on which product to purchase I’m not disappointed. And this research costs nothing.
CR still sends me letters with the statement “We want you back” printed on the outside of the envelope. Sorry CR, it ain’t gonna happen.
Eddie
I was curious as to how much negative response this would bring, AW seems to have a high grievance ratio. I really posted this just because I feel that CBS Sunday Morning does a wonderful job with just about every segment they do. Also there was some legacy footage of vintage laundry machines machines.
I was raised by a consumer advocate of a father that believed heavily in Cooperatives and the mission of Consumers Union. While I have many times taken issue with their reviews of things I am passionate about, I doubt that there is any other testing organization that on the whole is more complete and unbiased.
I think the phrase is "The perfect is the enemy of the good", especially in a world where perfect will never exist...
I was raised by a consumer advocate of a father that believed heavily in Cooperatives and the mission of Consumers Union. While I have many times taken issue with their reviews of things I am passionate about, I doubt that there is any other testing organization that on the whole is more complete and unbiased.
I think the phrase is "The perfect is the enemy of the good", especially in a world where perfect will never exist...
I think AW.org has a high grievance ratio because we know enough about appliances to see the flaws in their testing and reporting. Of course, I see lots of flaws in the testing reports from CNN and the New York Times also. Reporting used to be thorough and pictures were included to help identify machines. Of course, you can find pictures and data online now but that does not justify the high price and incomplete data from CU and the last time I looked, the online info did not coordinate with the print. I grew up with CU back in the 50s and early 60s. It was my appliance porn. I could read it for free at the library, but it was not worth the effort. Back issues are good for research on old things, however, but you have to find a large library for that kind of gold.
Grievance Ratio
I won't disagree about that, and guilty as charged in this case, but I do very much agree about the stories on CBS Sunday Morning. At least from before I cut the cord and bailed on local and network broadcasting entirely.
I won't disagree about that, and guilty as charged in this case, but I do very much agree about the stories on CBS Sunday Morning. At least from before I cut the cord and bailed on local and network broadcasting entirely.
Consumer reports
This was a good piece done by CBS on the most important consumer magazine in the United States.
Even though I do have disagreements with what they rate and what they rate best, it is still by far the most important consumer publication going.
They are completely unbiased. They buy their samples just like you and I do there has never been any proof were they were biased, took bribes, etc.
It would be impossible to calculate the amount of good they’ve done for the United States in terms of tens of thousands of lives they have saved by pushing safety, advances in automobiles consumer products, foods, cigarettes etc.
Or the amount of energy they have helped save consumers, and the good it is done for mother earth.
Every month when a new issue arrives I spend time reading it. It’s amazing what you can learn from this magazine still even though it’s not as detailed as it once was on the beloved, appliances that are my life.
John
This was a good piece done by CBS on the most important consumer magazine in the United States.
Even though I do have disagreements with what they rate and what they rate best, it is still by far the most important consumer publication going.
They are completely unbiased. They buy their samples just like you and I do there has never been any proof were they were biased, took bribes, etc.
It would be impossible to calculate the amount of good they’ve done for the United States in terms of tens of thousands of lives they have saved by pushing safety, advances in automobiles consumer products, foods, cigarettes etc.
Or the amount of energy they have helped save consumers, and the good it is done for mother earth.
Every month when a new issue arrives I spend time reading it. It’s amazing what you can learn from this magazine still even though it’s not as detailed as it once was on the beloved, appliances that are my life.
John
rinso
Well-known member
"3) Their reviews have become lacking in detail compared to the 1970s and 80s."
I couldn't agree more with this assessment. Back then, CR would elaborate more clearly, what a user's experience with a product would be. Now, they only go into that kind of detail for vehicles. Home appliances and other items only get the hard to read matrix, with little detail.
I couldn't agree more with this assessment. Back then, CR would elaborate more clearly, what a user's experience with a product would be. Now, they only go into that kind of detail for vehicles. Home appliances and other items only get the hard to read matrix, with little detail.
panasonicvac
Well-known member
Consumer Reports to me is nothing but BS. Their testing, experience, and conclusive results have always been questionable for my taste. I know they nearly lost a couple of lawsuits when they got sued before for inaccurate reports. I don't trust them. This is a great example of one, the first video shows that they favor Kenmore vacuums (they have been for years). The second video shows an independent vacuum dealer store favoring something else over Kenmore.
I cancelled my subscription years ago.
Although I won’t disagree that CR has SOME value, their reports seem radically lacking in detail as compared to years before. Nowadays, they seem to blandly opine on quality with meager testing reports rather reporting technical testing data to justify their results (and educate the reader). I read the magazines for free at the checkout on occasion and remain unimpressed.
Another reason why I cancelled is this:
I was considering cancelling but purchased an issue that discussed CD players, a topic I had strong inside-knowledge of. At that time, there was a CD player brand that was notorious for failure. I would bet half of their cartridge CD players failed due to well-known design flaw. Their carousel cd players were unaffected.
CR judged their cd players as very reliable. I wrote them a letter asking why. After all, half of their CD player line was dropping like flies.
They did respond stating that the good-reliability rating was based solely upon the carousel players.
REALLY? Let’s just forget that the popular cartridge players under the same brand are rolling through repair shops like crazy, sometimes multiple times? Any shop owner could advise there was a big problem.
Nah. I judged their work as weak and cancelled.
Although I won’t disagree that CR has SOME value, their reports seem radically lacking in detail as compared to years before. Nowadays, they seem to blandly opine on quality with meager testing reports rather reporting technical testing data to justify their results (and educate the reader). I read the magazines for free at the checkout on occasion and remain unimpressed.
Another reason why I cancelled is this:
I was considering cancelling but purchased an issue that discussed CD players, a topic I had strong inside-knowledge of. At that time, there was a CD player brand that was notorious for failure. I would bet half of their cartridge CD players failed due to well-known design flaw. Their carousel cd players were unaffected.
CR judged their cd players as very reliable. I wrote them a letter asking why. After all, half of their CD player line was dropping like flies.
They did respond stating that the good-reliability rating was based solely upon the carousel players.
REALLY? Let’s just forget that the popular cartridge players under the same brand are rolling through repair shops like crazy, sometimes multiple times? Any shop owner could advise there was a big problem.
Nah. I judged their work as weak and cancelled.
