Which? Avis 

wouldn't refund mistaken renewal.

I've already been in touch. They refused.

I've contacted them 4 times now to cancel my subscription - twice by email and twice via the live chat. The last time they apologised for the delay and said they'd be in touch within 3 days and it's been 4 days. I've cancelled other services recently with other companies and it's not been this hard work, feel like I need to be vigilant they're not just delaying so they can take an extra month's subscription.

I originally joined last year and clearly told the representative on the phone that I did not want the subscription to auto-renew. Despite this, I recently discovered a £79 charge had been taken from my account — with no prior notice by email or post, and no reminder that the renewal was coming up.
I only became aware of the renewal after checking my bank statement. I contacted Which, I was simply told a letter had been sent — which I never received. That is not a fair or reliable way to notify customers of a charge. Asked for full refund, they don't care.

Ignored 3x membership cancellation emails and have continued to bill me since February.
They acknowledged receipt on the first one to request my address and now have ghosted me.
Ironic to say the least that a consumer protection business has such shocking (and illegal) practises.

Early this year, I took up an offer to join Which with a discounted subscription plus a £20 John Lewis voucher.

The subscription was administered immediately but the £20 JL voucher did not follow.

I have lost count of the number of phone calls and emails to Which on this topic, the most recent from Which stated that had passed the issue to their team for investigations. Since then, I have heard nothing despite a reminder from me over a week ago. It seems that Which do not "Walk the Talk" when it comes to supporting their own consumers, yet they are highly critical of other companies with similar behaviour.

UPDATE-just made up nonsense in their reply. They REFUSE to acknowledge Ireland has a ban and fraud has sky rocketed 600% in past yr which is bank or Ireland statistics so it's factual. This is an agenda driven campaign to directly help other resale sites profit and the FAN/CONSUMER is the last thing they care about. Again I stress read TRUST PILOTS rating of which to grasp the widespread DISTRUST of them as an organisation

A very dangerous organisation who use agendas to HARM the consumer rather than protect them.
Their latest campaign to ban resale of tickets in the uk is so blatantly being driven by outside agencies who stand to gain financially by it and in doing so cost the consumer millions.
Currently secondary ticket sites are 100% protected by the government and anyone scammed is 100% protected against financial loss YET WHICH want to ban this? Not once have they talked about the elephant in the room which is SOCIAL MEDIA where scams are running over 600% higher yr on yr, where both banks and local police have had to issue NUMEROUS WARNINGS? Why do WHICH REMAIN silent on this? Facebook Snapchat etc have ZERO protection for fans and in fact wash their hands off it even refusing to close the accounts guilty of the fraud?
I know I'd rather pay above face value and see the event than pay less YET get scammed and be financially out of pocket.
PLZ IGNORE ANYTHING WHICH are campaigning for because the PROTECTION of the public is BOTTOM of their list

Scammers.
This company should be there to "Help" the costumers not to "Scamm" them.
I call to costumer service to ask how much my renewal is going to cost me, he just refuse to answer saying that I have to wait for the letter on the post, guess what? I don’t receive NOTHING, the just charge me £99 from my credit card.
I call them AGAIN and a polite gentleman sort the situation out (a FULL refund) and he offer me 50% of discount, if I don’t complain i will have paid £99 but like i complain, they offer me half price...
After all this received a email from (someone in charge i think) CALL ME A LIAR because he can't find any records of my first call ( i have the record on my phone) this is no way to deal with COSTUMERS, a company that supposed to be there to defend the costumers, should be ashamed of the work that they are doing.
Ps: I have no idea that they have so many bad reviews, no surprise at all. NEVER AGAIN

Just shocking. A consumer champion. I wonder how quick they would be jumping up and down crying foul if it was as hard to cancel any other contract as it is a Which subscription? OMG.
I'm tech savvy and legally trained. You would think I could cancel it right? Wrong. 6 months later and they have still been taking subs.
Tell me i didn't cancel it before. Kinda funny as I recall pressing the cancel button. Then the 'are you sure button', then declining the ' you can have 50% off' button. I make the mistake of thinking that no meant, well er, no. Apparently not.
And I was cancelling because I found the service to be quite poor these days.

I even used their email service on the website to complain. I got a helpful back saying they don't accept emails [from their own email form.....]. Wow.
Which you to be warts and all on product reviews. Right back to childhood its what I was used to. But now, it's flakey at best. Scant detail, formulaic reviews ,metrics that are often unhelpful. I think the world has left Which behind.
I can learn more by watching 3 or 4 video reviews, good house keeping and user reviews.

For example, water carbonates. Which talks very generically about how they feel about the bubbles a model produces. Other reviewers on video will show the results and measure them empirically and give you the data. And tell you whether it matters.
And all too often Which trumpeted something which everyone else thinks is bad.
No detailed side by side comparisons for specs. You end up elsewhere anyway for that.
And, let's face it. Must folks are smart enough to sift the fake reviews from the real ones and spot the sponsored reviews. The data from the sponsored ones are often super helpful.

As for everything else on which?
Trusted traders is hopeless,
wills- why would you? Use will week instead
Financial - use MSE
Super Complaints - trust MSE more

Perhaps if you still use a standard BT phone line at £30+ a month, this is for you.

For everyone else, save your money.

So I end asking, what's the point of Which anymore?

UPDATE:
Having asked their complaints team to specifically check the analytics data wherein they would see i pressed cancel twice (no means no, right?) I now have evidence the complaints team never accessed it. Utterly disingenuous investigation and response, compounded tbh by the response on here from which.

I applied to join which trusted trader for the purpose of acquiring contract work. I had a scheduled meeting with a consultant working for which trusted trader. I missed the telephone appointment by 20-30 minutes which was a 120 minutes telephone appointment, The day before I turned my phone on silent and forgot to put my phone back on ring, for the following morning. I suggested that I felt we could have gone ahead with the meeting. As I felt if I have been allocated a two hour slot. There would have been ample time to structure most of that meeting, and continue the balance of the meeting another day. I felt let down and Cheated by the which trusted trader members. I paid £140.00 in advance to conduct the meeting. I had already submitted much of the their requirements they requested on time.
The team refuse to reschedule the meeting for the fee I had paid and suggested I would need to pay another £140.00 for another telephone meeting. Then only to further confirm . If one joins their work generated website. They are not a lead generating platform. I feel let down and cheater by Which trusted trader team. Everyone one wishing to join team or have expectation for work. Be aware.

Total clowns. I used their online form to email the company to cancel my late father's account and received an email reply one minute later saying that they no longer respond to emails!!!! Their email then invites me to log on to update the account details, however I don't have my father's account number or logon details.
Whoever designed this system needs to be fired immediately.

Have realised what is wrong with Which?
They put far too much credence on what their subscribers think about a product or service rather than deciding standards themselves.
So if the public are not that discerning. Not that discriminating. Easily pleased. And I would say that can happen plenty of times. That service or produce comes out as marvellous. When it may well not be. They need to have some standards they set themselves. Rather than rely entirely on subscribers notions of what is good. So often I read about a company or product that is really a bit rock bottom and they praise it to the roof. And other companies or services which are good get second class treatment from Which?

They know that they have a charity's money and yet refuse to refund, they blame the bank and the bank says it is Which's fault. Which? has money given to the charity for our rescued animals. They refuse to help. For a well-established business to treat a registered charity in this way is awful

In 2021, the legal team at Which? provided me with incorrect advice regarding a tenancy matter. They refused to accept this – even when Shelter (the housing charity) provided evidence they’d been wrong. This experience demonstrated to me that Which? is no different from the BBC or Post Office and will willingly cover up errors to protect its brand.

I recently came across a Trustpilot review from a former Which? employee (who’d worked for the organisation for a few years), and they confirmed many of the issues I’d experienced – including how Which? isn’t honest with its customers when it makes errors.

It was really brave of this person who’d worked for Which? to become a whistleblower and share their truth but the review has now been taken down by Trustpilot – cause Which? flagged it as containing harmful or illegal content.

The reviewer didn’t name any individuals and I find it hard to believe the review was illegal. Harmful… yes… to the reputation of Which? but surely that’s not grounds for it to be taken down. I sincerely hope Trustpilot doesn't kowtow to Which? and reinstates this review on its platform.

Disgrace! My mother paid for a Will and was told an official hardcopy would arrive in the post. It did not. I chased on a few occasions and Which? said they had posted twice and blamed the postal service. My mum passed away before getting the hard copy (although fortunately had home printed in meantime). I complained and my complaint was upheld but they would not refund anything.

Would give it a zero if I could.

This company is different to what it used to be like years ago. Shortage of staff, terrible customer service, can be impossible to get hold of anyone. I gave up in the end trying to get my money back. Joined Which Legal Service because of a promotion and had an issue with trying to get through to someone. It was impossible!! Even the complaints email wouldn't respond. It took months and by that time I had gone elsewhere to get legal advice. Now I am stuck with a membership I don't want to use as no faith in the company. I've given up with getting my subscriotion back but will keep warning others

I would not recommend at all. I mean just take a look at the reviews they are awful. The reviews are from staff too who have clearly been treated appallingly. Had I seen this page before I took out the subscription I would have stayed away.

By the way, if you are looking at doing a 'Power of Attorney just go to the government website and the links are on there. You can do it yourself easily.

I done a P.O.A. power of attorney and paid £97.30.
They sent me forms through email to fill in they checked them and then sent them back and said do this and that, i had put my wife in charge and a second person as a back up. They then said wife cannot sell house without the other back up persons permission.
i asked to cancel and they said no, if i had known about my wife i would not have do it, now im £97 out of pocket.
Which Magazine i am now finished with you, never ever will i trust you ever again and i have cancelled my subscription.

Seriously, don't bother. I followed a few of their recommendations (garage for MOT, best sofa provider) and all were awful. Would not subscribe or follow their advice again.

My account was cancelled outright after more than 20 years as a member of Which. My debit card was lost (retained by a broken Sainsburys ATM) and cancelled, so when Which tried to take my monthly payment they couldn't. Instead of emailing me to say there was a problem, they simply emailed to tell me my membership was cancelled immediately. When I complained they refused to uphold my complaint. How could this be a model of good customer service?

Took 16 minutes to NOT answer "the members services" phone line today. I gave up in the end.

Which (Consumer Association) are clearly pretending with their campaign against insurers who damage customer health by not honouring completely legitimate claims As a member of Which for decades I am disgusted that our complaint about the dirty tactics of NFU, Crawfords and alike have been ignored by Which
Why allege to campaign against those who damage our health then do nothing? The words 'corrupt' and 'scam' come to mind with these companies.