Consumer Reports

[d-todd]

Techs put a stock in Consumer Reports reviews, but I think you have to treat them with a lot of suspicion. Here are some thoughts about the issue...

1. They will compare two machines made by the same brand that are essentially the same, and then say that one is better than to other.
2. They give high marks to machines that you know are ones you would stay away from. For example, they loved the Calypso until the bitter end. When I read that, I lost my trust in them.
3. They will give a particular model a good rating, while the truth is that that model may be sold for only a short period of time, just like fashion, and then a new model number is produced. In fact, they might state that a particular model number is produced, but it has already been replaced with a new number by the time the issue goes to print.
4. I think that ratings might be reliable if they applied to general platforms rather than specific model numbers.

 

[phillymatt53]

I've already mentioned in another thread about Consumer Reports, and trust me, they arn't all that they claim to be.
They used to be reliable, yes.
Me, being in the electronics service business for decades, have seen with my own eyes the quality of products, and what CR had to say, or brag about them.
Which, I might add, is not reliable information.
And being in the business, I've had the chance to meet district managers of plenty of companies at my shop, and at local group meetings for servicers and sales executives.
So I've heard conversations regarding "how to win the customer". (and how to lie about the truth)

The bottom line here is this...
Reviewers used to be honest, reliable sources for products and services.
But over time, the way marketing has changed, the corruption has spread into a widespread bunch of garbage talk.
I'm not being pessimistic, I'm sharing honest info, in hopes of saving others the trouble and aggrevation that may happen to them.

Part of this is about greed, and staying in business on the part of manufacturers these days. - along with inflation and other things.
Another factor is the outsourcing of products, materials, etc.
So.... this extends to reviewers, who've been bought, through kickbacks from manufacturers, dealers, etc.

Additionally, the public has been conditioned to accept things for Face Value, not questioning anything being advertized as "terrific".
This can be seen in the websites reviews on countless products.
Think:...."your can't believe everything you hear", a sad state of affairs these days.

 

[cfz2882]

I haven't looked at a Consumer reports since about 1987-back in the mid-'80s they just loved any Japanese imports: did not matter if it was cars,desk fans,hand mixers,what ever-Japanese brand they loved it...

 

[Unimatic1140]

Techs put a stock in Consumer Reports reviews, but I think you have to treat them with a lot of suspicion. Here are some thoughts about the issue...

1. They will compare two machines made by the same brand that are essentially the same, and then say that one is better than to other.
2. They give high marks to machines that you know are ones you would stay away from. For example, they loved the Calypso until the bitter end. When I read that, I lost my trust in them.
3. They will give a particular model a good rating, while the truth is that that model may be sold for only a short period of time, just like fashion, and then a new model number is produced. In fact, they might state that a particular model number is produced, but it has already been replaced with a new number by the time the issue goes to print.
4. I think that ratings might be reliable if they applied to general platforms rather than specific model numbers.

I especially agree with your statement #1:

They will compare two machines made by the same brand that are essentially the same, and then say that one is better than to other.

This isn't new and this behavior goes all the way back to the 1950s at least with Washing Machines.

 

[maytag85]

I wouldn’t be too surprised if they compared a Whirlpool to a Kenmore back in the 1950’s, claimed one was better than the other despite them being exactly the same mechanically.

Though, the Whirlpool Surgilator was a bit more aggressive so I’ll give it that.

 

[qsd-dan]

They are great for certain items and laughable for others.

I subscribed to them for 20 years (as gifts, birthday or Christmas, can't remember now) but they kept getting more deranged overtime. I also rarely buy new stuff so canceled the subscription. Their tire ratings/recommendations were always spot on.

 

[phillymatt53]

I haven't looked at a Consumer reports since about 1987-back in the mid-'80s they just loved any Japanese imports: did not matter if it was cars,desk fans,hand mixers,what ever-Japanese brand they loved it...

Actually, Japan made some pretty good products!
I'll say that they excelled in radios, tvs, stereo equipment for a long time, going back into the early 1960s, up until recently, when they started to farm out manufacturing to other countries, like Korea, Malaysia, China, etc.
Then things started having less quality, naturally.

Panasonic, for instance, made top quality, durable products from stereos, radios, vacuum cleaners, home appliances, and more.
Sears even had their vacuums made by Panasonic for a while.
Pioneer, Sansui, and other Japanese brands also were great products. - back then.
But I've always favored Panasonic for it's reasonable price quality, and value.

 

[rp2813]

I stopped believing in Consumer Reports in 1997 when we found a deal at Sears on a Raytheon Amana laundry pair which CR had top-rated that year, so we went for it. The washer ate through belts and rinsing was woefully inadequate. The dryer was tinny and consistently overheated. Even with extended warranty coverage we were told time and again that it was operating normally. After nine years of dealing with the Amanas' shortcomings, we upgraded to a large set of Whirlpool Duets and swore off top loading daily dirvers for good.

 

[ea56]

I used to really love reading Consumer Reports back in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. They were always a wealth of information with lots of pictures of the products that they tested. Then around ‘87 their reviews began to lose credibility and no longer had the detail of prior years..

We bought a new White Westinghouse FL and gas dryer which were excellent machines. But the CR reviews at that time were mediocre at best for the WW FL washer, in fact CR gave poor reviews for all FL’s, but their reviews for TL’s were always better than for FL’s of any brand because TL’s were what the average buyer at that time wanted.

I had a subscription for several years in the 90’s and finally didn’t renew it because the reviews were no longer the detailed in depth reviews of the old days. I got the impression that the reviews were no longer unbiased or based upon actual testing of the products.

Eddie

 

[phillymatt53]

I had a subscription for several years in the 90’s and finally didn’t renew it because the reviews were no longer the detailed in depth reviews of the old days. I got the impression that the reviews were no longer unbiased or based upon actual testing of the products.

Eddie

And you were right to think that!

Back in the early 90's, when I attended appliance/electronic conventions and had visits from company reps, I repeatedly heard the same dialog....
To put it in a nutshell, they didn't give two hoots about the consumer, all they wanted to do is to sell their products.
Making a salary/commission, getting perks and bonuses for "working hard" was all they cared about.

And when asked about consumer's complaints or issues, all I got was a smile and a "You've got to be kidding, right?"

 

[jamiel]

Through archive.org old (back to 1936 V1#1) Consumer Reports are available online for free!

 

[tomturbomatic]

When the capacity rating wars started, they ran a report where they tested machines with 12 pound loads and had the NOIVE to say that the standard tub Maytag handled a 12 pound load without signs of overcrowding while the Kenmore of the time was overloaded. Did they actually bypass the lid switch to see the Maytag agitating or did they just go by the fact that the load was uniformly wet then the cycle was finished? There was a difference in the rating of cleaning ability between a Kenmore and a KItchenAid, both with dual action agitators. John explained that the KA had a 60/40 mixing valve so it gave warmer wash water while the KM used a 50/50 valve so the water was not quite as warm, but the ratings made no mention of that factor.

Through archive.org old (back to 1936 V1#1) Consumer Reports are available online for free!

Thank you.

 

[phillymatt53]

If you think about it....
Review pubications are like any job - they employ people, humans.
The publications have a desire to survive, just like humans.
And human nature has its biases, opinions, and that fundamental thing called Survival. - by being employed.
That old saying: "Take it with a grain of salt" applies to such things.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Humans they might be, but when people depend on your work, like with medical professionals, you are obligated to shelve biases and provide people who are depending on you the best services that you can. Most of us know the strong bias that the testing organizations had for Maytag, earned from the wringer washer ages and the biases they harbored against front-loading washers for generations, but people who do not have our knowledge background are at the mercy of people they believe are steering them straight. The testing organizations were right about many things, but it is sad to see how wrong they were about others.

 

[DADoES]

CR makes mistakes in stating features of appliances. I once brought a couple errors to their attention ... that a washer didn't have ATC when it did, and a dishwasher had soil-sensing when it didn't) ... during a time when I had a subscription (online IIRC, not print). They didn't acknowledge or correct the error.

 

[phillymatt53]

CR makes mistakes in stating features of appliances. I once brought a couple errors to their attention ... that a washer didn't have ATC when it did, and a dishwasher had soil-sensing when it didn't) ... during a time when I had a subscription (online IIRC, not print). They didn't acknowledge or correct the error.

Of course they didn't!
I've done the same thing about news articles and products.
And they ignore their mistakes all the time.

 

[rinso]

I used to really love reading Consumer Reports back in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. They were always a wealth of information with lots of pictures of the products that they tested. Then around ‘87 their reviews began to lose credibility and no longer had the detail of prior years..

We bought a new White Westinghouse FL and gas dryer which were excellent machines. But the CR reviews at that time were mediocre at best for the WW FL washer, in fact CR gave poor reviews for all FL’s, but their reviews for TL’s were always better than for FL’s of any brand because TL’s were what the average buyer at that time wanted.

I had a subscription for several years in the 90’s and finally didn’t renew it because the reviews were no longer the detailed in depth reviews of the old days. I got the impression that the reviews were no longer unbiased or based upon actual testing of the products.

Eddie

Eddie, I have to agree with your take on Consumer Reports. Somewhere in the mid 1980's, they started to lose their objectivity. Their tests used to relay what it would be like to own the machines. Their reports had both objective and, sometimes more importantly, subjective things to say. (One example was they did mention that the WP/KM machines performed very well, but their extraction score was always below average, or they would have been rated higher.)