Which? Avis 

Charlatans who should practise what they preach...

Decided to cancel my subscription, WELL before the renewal date, so imagine my surprise that this CANNOT be done from the website, but one must jump through hoops by phoning them or hanging about wasting time on the "live" chat. 15 minutes and no response is enough for me to not bother with that route.

Why no option to cancel on the website where I signed up? They spend enough time banging on about others using such underhand tactics to make cancelling an automatic renewal difficult.

So I emailed with clear instructions to cancel. It took them 4 days to get back to me but the cancellation was confirmed.

Imagine my surprise when checking my card balance yesterday to find £99 scheduled to come off and my subscription having been renewed for another year, despite my clear instructions for you to cancel and your reply confirming this!

Now I find myself having to shell out an extra £99 for nothing on my credit card this statement when I could have been doing with access to those funds.

Maybe time to get off your high horse and set an example by actually practising what you preach!

Again I tried the "live" chat yesterday, another 15 minutes of nothing, not even an acknowledgement.

I can only hope that the chargeback I will have to file with my bank and the extra costs you will incur will clear your minds somewhat.

Avoid these hypocrites is my "advice".

edit: a shocking response that shows they didn't even read my review.

I think the majority of the other reviews here says it all about them really.

edit again: Went on to the chat again before contacting my bank, which I will be doing anyway to report the unathorised, fraudulent transaction seeing as I am expected to be £99 down for "up to 14 working days" before the stolen money hits my account and managed to talk to some guy/bot trying to give me the hard sell to stay, copy and pasting crap asking me why I want to leave (er, I HAVE ALREADY LEFT AND HAD IT CONFIRMED!), and "making me aware" I will lose the access (er again...)

Obviously didn't even bother to read my original message.

Seriously, as I told the chat representative, this behaviour is WORSE than some of the shady businesses you bang on and on about year after year.

No wonder there's a multitude of 1 star reviews on here, what a terrible state of affairs for a once great organisation to fall into.

F'ing Useless.

Here's the level of customer service you can expect:

11/05/2025 09:48 AM GMT
You Hi, I've emailed on Monday and tried to get on the chat as well but nobody responded. I cancelled my membership and received email confirmation but checking my bank I see you have taken the £99 payment without authorisation. I'm looking to have this refunded immediately please.

11/05/2025 09:49 AM GMT
Roderick W I can certainly check that for you. Could you please confirm your full name, postcode and address so that I can retrieve your account information?

(details given)

11/05/2025 09:50 AM GMT
You I emailed to cancel on 20th October and received a confirmation 4 days later, 24th October. Why you cannot just cancel directly from the website I do not understand especially given the nature of the work Which magazine does.

11/05/2025 09:52 AM GMT
Roderick W "?? Thanks for waiting. I can see that you're currently subscribed to our Which? Full Access subscription for £99.99 a year. Is there a particular reason you'd like to cancel?" (lol, he even left the quotes from his copy and paste in there, jeezo)

You oh my goodness, did you even read my original query?

11/05/2025 09:53 AM GMT
You I have ALEADY cancelled and due to some ineptitude you have taken the payment anyway!

Roderick W Just to make you aware,? this gives you access to our test
reviews, copies of our Which? Magazine, magazine
archive, apps, guides and more.

You Forget it, I''ll just get on to my bank to carry out a chargeback for the fraudulent, unathorised transaction you have taken.

11/05/2025 09:55 AM GMT
Roderick W As the payment has already gone out, I offer you a 50% refund and you could keep the subscription for the year?

You no

11/05/2025 09:56 AM GMT
You seriously, this is worse than the businesses the consumer association bang on about year after year! Maybe you should be investigating yourselves for these underhand practises?

Roderick W Ok , I will cancel the subscription effective immediately and refund you.

11/05/2025 09:57 AM GMT
You Finally. I'll be reporting it to my bank anyway, this is bang out of order, I'm just expected to be short £99 for days because of the fraudulent, unathorised transaction

You f****** useless

Roderick W I can confirm that you will be refunded £99 back onto the original payment method for this subscription. This may take up to 14 working days.
You'll receive a receipt confirming this shortly.

I took out a "paper" subscription to "Which?", assuming that I would have access to All their reports.
I now find that some of the tests covered in their Newsletter are only available to "Premium Content" (online?) subscribers.
I'm sure that, if "Which?" was conducting a test of their own Subscription offers, they would come out as a "Poor [if not misleading] Buy"!

Not what they claim they are. It is a rip off and lot of older people who believe in this will be getting ripped off.

In fact, there is a case to say that if a tradesman says they are "Which approved", run a mile and save your money. It almost certainly means you will pay over the roof and might get usual service and tricks and cons.

Basically, the tradesmen they "approve" are not 100%. They charge higher much higher prices for carrying "Which" logo. In my experience, these folks profit immensely. Which has no liability towards the consumer. They will never take consumers side if a tradesmen has created extra work by scaring the customer, or things like that. e.g. Electrical works where fusebox replacement is concerned.

I was amazed to learn of all the areas which? has to offer. I thought they just did reviews but having heard Which? referenced on TV and at the supermarket so much i checked the out online. I was amazed to learn how much they do to advocate for consumer rights and safety for all consumers in the uk. On top of that they self fund with services to remain independent. I used their legal services for a home kitchen installation issue that went wrong. Trader had stopped responding to me. The legal team who were very qualified helped me get my trader back and the worl done. Im just shocked how helpful this company is and so vital in this day and age given everyone seems to be just out to get your money for low quality items or service. Easy to use service and the fact its a charity 10 out of 10. I give a little money to charity each month woth no expectation of a return, just the good feels of doing something good. Having my Which subscription is the same but I get help to make better and safe personal decisions.

You have to py to get info from WHICH which I fail to understand when companies boast they are recommended by them. My experience Nationwide Anglia say they are the best bank according to WHICH when my experience with Nationwide Anglia was they acted totally inappropriately in respect to failing to properly pay direct debits within my agreed terms. Octopus Energy proudly boast they are the only energy company recommended by Which. My experience was that Octopus Energy they approached me in my local shopping center saying they were the best according to WHICH and would save me money only to then quote me a higher price than my supplier with whom I have no problems.
So I ask myself and trust others will do so also, what is the point of paying to get recommendations from WHICH that in all probability will turn out to be bad advice. Me thinks WWHICH might be a bit of an expensive waste of time which given the poor reviews they attract perhaps like me others are finding out not to waste time on WHICH

I’ve subscribed to Which? Legal for a long time but in recent months the service has been diabolical. £9 a month but I’ve been unable to get any response at all to my emails in recent weeks so I’m cancelling my membership before I waste any more money.

Ironic for a company that is supposed to help consumers its tricky to cancel subscriptions.
I was with the magazine, digital and legal, id actual forgotten i was on the legal subscription. You go to cancel but i could only find online how to cancel the digital magazine. I had to contact support and spent 20 mins saying i'd like to cancel , they cancelled one but i had to prompt them about the legal. They also ask each time why i'm cancelling and offer you a 50% reduction.
All i want is, when you take money send me an email not just take it out once a year or month. Also all subscriptions should be easily to cancel in on place on the website, not scattered around.
Its a good source of information, although i found their reviews increasingly biased towards certain brands. And the one time i used Legal it really sounded like the woman couldnt wait to get me off the phone after 10minutes.
Wont go back as cancelling is too time consuming and complicated.

Couldn't even login for ages. Pathetic. the item I wanted to find out about wasn't even costed and it was a total waste of my time.

A really positive business. It’s nice to know that what they say is what they genuinely think and not just because they have been paid to say it

I get very frustrated with WHICH. When you see how many members it has & how much the membership charges are you would think that at least they could afford to keep their recommendations up to date but frequently this does not happen. I'm in the market for a simple smartphone but when I do a bit of digging into their top recommendation (DORO 8200) I found that it will only receive security updates until April next year! How can a phone with only 7 months of usable life (& costs over £200) be a "best buy"? I've had this problem a number of times when looking at "best buy" phones.

I subscribed to which tech support. I read the 'how can the tech support team help me' and thought that it offered a comprehensive service. What the 'headlines' fail to make clear is that you have to make an appointment even in an emergency. I had what appeared to be a scam from microsoft locking my computer with an unbelievably loud alarm sounding and a message to ring microsoft and 'do not turn off your computer'. I was unsure whether to turn the computer off and needed urgent assistance - not an appointment in three days time. Luckily I was still subscribing to Curry's whateverhappens so got the problem dealt with in about 5 minutes with them. One can only discover the limitations to the which service if you search through terms and conditions, and one does not expect to have to do that when dealing with a company such as which. Words such as 'think of us as your own personal IT service ... where all you have to do is phone' gives a clear impresssion that you they would react immediately in an emergency. Thus the advert is misleading. Also, how can one log in to a service if the computer is locked. Some issues such as data and buying advice are not urgent issues and understandably could be scheduled to an appointed time - but my situation was both worrying and urgent and the service was of no assistance.

The services/reviews they offer is unlike any company i know of. There social media offering is also great.

£: 40.00, JUST FOR ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION ! ! ! WHAT A RIP OFF, I CAN NOT TRUST THEM AGAIN, AND I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN . . .

I have found Which? a great help when looking for information on products before I buy giving both pros and cons. Technology changes by the month and keeping up with the techie side can be very confusing, I love to know what I’m buying before I buy and listening to a sales person who job it is to sell, cannot be depended on.

Also Which? has a LAW advice department who has HUGHLY helped me this month when all other avenues failed me. What I can say is I have found my subscription to Which? well worth investing in and highly recommend them. 5*****

They’ve lost their reputation, not really any coming back from that with services that are supposed to support and help consumers and they’re as bad.
Legal protection is an absolute joke.
A shame but one more place that now only cares about £££
They’ve ended now. Once their rep has gone the wonderful thing that was Which! And did care is now gone.

I have always used which to find ‘good quality’ items. They recommend Samsung dishwashers so on this basis I bought one. Nothing but problems. I have had to have the engineer out 6 times in 1.5 years for a brand new dishwasher! I’ve decided to scrap it and go back to the beko brand I had for 10 years with no problems whatsoever. What a waste of £600. My engineer says Samsung are renown for problems and are not good at all. Therefore I conclude these Which reviews must be FAKE!! Or bribery. Whichever I won’t be trusting recommendations from them

I hired a trader named Handy Property Services—endorsed by Which?—to refurbish my kitchen, and it turned out to be an absolute nightmare. He caused extensive damage: chipped units and worktops, installing them incorrectly and damaging my new appliances - dishwasher, oven and microwave all damaged, drilling right through panels, damaging tiles (some of which are now loose), and leaving the kitchen in a poor and unfinished state. The cost to rectify the damage will be significant.

Despite initially agreeing to make good on the issues, the trader has now ceased all contact and is refusing to carry out any further work. I reported the matter to Which?, provided all the requested evidence, and asked them to take action or at least publish my review. However, they've failed to do anything. I’ve called repeatedly for an update—no one is ever available to speak, and despite leaving my details and sending multiple follow-up emails, I’ve had no response.

I’m extremely disappointed. I’ve always held Which? in high regard and trusted their endorsements, but in this case, I feel completely let down.

I am so sad to see the British stalwart of consumer reviews and testing scoring so low. I joined for information and reviews about hearing aids. Essentially there was none outside of generic advice given elsewhere. The reviews of providers like Specsavers or Boots were possibly relevant. But nothing about hardware. So I unsubscribed after a few days.(Don't worry Which. I don't want my 14 day cooling off refund).The thing is, Which's financial advice is pretty good. And it still leads consumer rights campaigns. But some previously included things like legal advice are extra. It's such a shame

I felt quite guilty considering the posting of a negative review on Trustpilot.I was amazed to see only 10% had 5 stars! I suppose it simply shows that I had come to the correct conclusion, that "WHICH" is simply a Data Gathering SCAM. "Which" in my experience NEVER answer emails. My most recent involvement was when they emiled requesting my experience with my energy provider, I wasted time writing a report on my Electricity suppliers who were awful! Multiple statements all disagreeing with one another. multiple phone calls complaining, when I was lied to, promised multiple fixes & promised compensation which never arrived. When I came to send this report the email address provided by "Which" did not work - server error. I have never been able to contact them.Now they want me to rejoin - no chance!

Obviously "Which" considers it it necessary to be seen to respond to negative reviews by posting a few previously prepared remarks.
Paragraph One us NOT an apology, It is themselves they are sorry for having lost a Data Source
Paragraph Two us a summary of how they want the public to view the way they operate their racket.
Paragraph Three essentially says they agree with my record of my experience, EXPRESSES NO APOLOGY, and makes it absolutely clear they intend do to nothing, they don't even know (or care) if I have contacted them! WHICH HAS PROVED TO BE IMPOSSIBLE. They then give their "Can we rescue you as a Data Source" link.
So nothing has changed, I want nothing more to do with them and hopefully they will STOP emailing me.

Used to trust this organisation, referring to them to help me make informed decisions when choosing various products or companies. Recently tho I have found that their reccomendations are for some of the worst products and companies on the planet. Now if Which back a product or company that is all the info I need, I avoid them. I dont trust anything this organisation says anymore.