Which? Avis 

I would not RECOMMEND OCTOPUS ENERGY !
I get the impression that Which? do a good job on the whole, but following their recommendation caused me a lot of grief and money for a long time.

I find that their recommendations are a great help. I have never had a problem with them. I have often cancelled subscription if I am broke and no problem, rejoined when I needed advice. Believe me, they are brilliant at examining the workings and failings of items. They are more likely to give truthful reviews because they don't have sponsers.

Absolutely abysmal service from the purported consumer champions. Sent me an incentive to join with a £100 voucher promised, which soon turned into a "in 90 days" affair. Four and a half months later, despite numerous messages, false promises etc I emailed their CEO. Within a couple of days it was sorted. Frankly Which? I expect better from you and will not be renewing my subscription. Awarded one star, because leaving a zero stars rating not an option.

I have been a Which Legal member for many years and can count on one hand the number of times I've called in for support. Prior to today I would have said good, but today I have been unable to go through the initial screening process, getting lost in some idiosyncrasy about whether I qualify to get an appointment with an expert. Very poor considering it is a paid for subscription service, and it is Which. I don't expect to be treated like someone who's buying a second hand washing machine and told none of the parts are covered, I liken it to talking to the receptionist at the doctors surgery where they have to assess whether you're sick enough to see the doctor because you're not capable of working it out for yourself! The guidance for all has to be check very carefully what is, and what is not covered, it seems Which processes are overtaking their bread and butter of good consumer advice and they can't cope with the demand anymore. Wish I'd have looked at Trust Pilot before subscribing. And PS, a message for which, I don't want the standard response of 'call the member services team', whilst I am sure they are only doing as they're told they are the cause of the issue. I look forward to a response to my official complaint. Good luck to Which subscribers everywhere.

Having found Which magazine enormously useful some years ago re both a range of home, car insurance policies and products re a property refurbishment, the organisation seems sadly unable to provide that same level of accurate and helpful advice. I've given Which the benefit of the doubt twice in recent times since a poor experience with them a year or so ago. It appears that a significant amount of their recommended listings for various services are produced from analysing third party customer review sites. Unfortunately in the era in which we now live, many many reviews are driven by financial incentives and therefore cannot be trusted. So, if that data is part of Which's recommending process, it is not surprising that their advice is questionable. A recent experience on 13th July 2024 with one of their highly recommended home insurance providers proved to be an absolute comedy of errors from start to finish, and I cancelled the policy within 24 hours of having taken it out (Halifax). I wrote a pretty detailed account of my experiences with Which in the same email used to cancel my subscription with them. The cancellation process involved receiving three return emails from their organisation, of which two were probably auto generated. The third one read as if bespoke. Which had absolutely no interest in responding to my comments or experiences with them not actually acknowledging anything at all in those emails, and of course this reflects very badly re their customer service.

I have been a Which? member for many years and find their reviews very useful. Last week I was reading a Which? broadband company review. The review was dated 4 July 2024 and stated a special offer of a £100.00 voucher if the Which? comparison tool was used. My current provider had increased the monthly charge by 69%. I called them and was offered a new contract but had to accept it immediately. As I had not been happy with their service and speed I thought it would be better to go with the Which? voucher offer as it was with their recommended provider. This provider is more expensive than others however the voucher made it more affordable. I contacted Which? on 5 July to clarify how to apply for the voucher and was advised the offer had expired 11 weeks ago! The website was still showing the offer at 1157 on 8 July yet Which? have point blank refused to honour what is clearly their error. This is false advertising and not the service you expect from a consumer company such as Which?

I contacted Which technical help team on 3 July 2024 for help with a computer issue. It turned out I would be better getting some legal advice about getting a replacement or refund for the device.
The agent suggested I join their legal advice service which I did paying out £38. I arranged an appointment with a legal advisor for the following day.
In the meantime I actually solved the technical issue myself so that day I cancelled the appointment and my membership online, so I received no legal advice whatsoever.
Today when no refund had appeared I called to chase it up. After a tense conversation with an agent who initially said I hadn’t cancelled despite me having an email saying I had then deciding maybe I had he refunded me.
I received the refund notification but only £9 had been refunded. On contacting them again I discovered that a £29 joining fee was not refundable and this had been clearly explained when I joined (it wasn’t)
Paying £29 for a 6 hour membership, during which time no services were used I think is far from value for money and maybe Which should consider refunding the joining fee if you cancel within the 14 cooling off period and use none of their services.
Which have since made contact and it turns out I should have had my joining fee refunded, thank you Which

Having used Craig at Mulder Gas and Heating, I throughly recommend this company, he has fitted a new boiler, radiators, stopped a leak in my shower, services my boiler annually. I have found him, honest, trustworthy, reliable and helpful.
A first class service, thank you.

How can they be trusted with their recommendations when their own reviews are poor. I was on their site and they are asking a monthly subscription of £10.99 to view the information. How's that value you for money. If Which? could review themselves, they wouldn't give themselves a Which? recommendation

Make up company policy as they go along. Have been a valid trusted trader with which? for 4 years. Got some snotty assistant telling me my A Class directors need a DBS when for 3 years Which? did not even hold a valid DBS for a 25% owner of our business, and never asked me for A class directors to submit DBS on a previous occassion. Then terminated my membership because I didn't adhere to her ludicrous time frame.

The A Class directors have nothing to do with the domestic arm of the business and go nowhere near domestic customer properties. 😑 They work strictly on commercial operations, yet Which? Think its appropriate to ask a business to carry out an exercise that costs the company money for no apparent reason.

Watch out guys Which? seem to be con men like everyone else out there. And their staff are akin to mini Hitlers, I bet they've never completed an installation or interacted with a customer face to face in their lives.

Traders save your valuable money! This accreditation won't win you any work either and you'll just have to jump through hoops for nothing.

I subscribed for a short time, then cancelled my membership. I never knowingly consented to receiving marketing emails. I have been receiving unwanted marketing emails. I have "unsubscribed" several times, the emails keep coming.

It is interesting to see that most people give this organisation very bad reviews. My feedback is as follows:
Their reviews do not cover all the models currently available. e.g. electrical appliances. They need to use Argos, John Lewis and Currys as a bare minimum to ensure every latest model is covered.
Too many reviews just list definitions without giving the answer Which to buy. eg. Toothpaste.
I recently sent them some queries on their reviews. Instead of getting the answers, they just said they would forward the feedback to their Research department for the future. Obviously this just goes into a black hole. Disgraceful and lazy customer service from an organisation that should review themselves!

THIEVING SCUM !!!!!! , had about 3 magazines through the year then notice a £49.50 subscription come out , I ring and they say it's automatic with a 50% reduction, absolute winkers.

Avoid Which… complete waste of time and money. Very disappointed and not a sincere company at all. Hidden review before subscribing is just not as described so don’t be tempted. Subscription definitely not worth the money and reviews are not good enough to warrant any subscription fee in the first place. Disappointing considering its status. Will not use again. Looks like they will keep my money as did not cancel within 14 days. Don’t fall into the same trap and don’t waste your money!!!

The IT systems unsubscribe you, but does not terminate your account for billing.

Then you discover you cannot login.
But you still have an account debit.
So you discuss with their email team, and they stonewall and tell you that you're liable.

Finally you ask for proof of access that you were able to successfully and their team will do anything to avoid giving you the necessary evidence.

Why are you playing games with people and why are you so downright deceptive?
I am prepared to take this to a broader legal action with other people from this website.

Been a subscriber for a couple of years and mostly, have found the reviews to be helpful but when I receive emails with interesting looking reviews and I try to read them, I find they are hidden behind a paywall (warning of this is given in some cases but not all). I already pay a subscription, why should I pay even more? Judging by the many negative reviews on this site and the exact copy and paste replies to each, I don't expect a useful answer.
As can be seen from the answer below, I did receive the usual copy and paste answer with an extra caveat that I am subscribed to the magazine only. This is true but why then do they keep sending me emails with some items readable and some hidden behind a paywall? What's the point of sending me teaser articles I can't read?

We subscribed to Which? for a few months and bought white goods on recommendation. All of the products have been atrocious despite being "best buys". Replacing the washing machine drum (Zanussi Lindo 300) for second time in 3 years. The machine doesn't have a lint filter on the front either so a call out is necessary each time. Zanussi oven and grill is a joke too.

I will never use Which? again.

Probably the most corrupt consumer magazine!!

I have complained so many times about Octopus energy who gives false lip service and then gives customers hell behind closed doors. Yet Which Magazine is constantly praising Octopus by awarding it the best energy business.

So many time I have notified Which Magazine in the way Octopus continues to treat but they have not take any notice due to probably corruption and being looked after by Octopus other wise why would Which not be impartial??

I trusted a Which review for Emma Mattresses wish I hadn't. Won't trust either again.