Which? online - any good?

Not done the online thing, but I have seen the other side of some of their articles (print wise) - when I worked in the TV trade, we would quite often get their 'recommendations' thrust in our direction by customers citing them as a reason to disbelieve our advice; trouble was, their reviews seemed to be based on little more than the cosmetics of a product and how much the manufacturer wined and dined them and gave them free samples.

One that springs to mind was a Ferguson VCR that came out shortly after Thomson Technology of France bought the Ferguson brand - we did as we always did, buy a handful and see how they behave before taking on a load of stock; if I recall correctly, we bought five and put them all out with rental customers, and every single one of them bounced again and again within a matter of weeks. We didn't buy in any more stock, and ended up taking the five others back and all but wrote them off (we used them as short term 'loaners');

However, Which! gave this particular machine one hell of a good write up, mainly because it was one of the first (if not the first) to have VideoPlus+ built in, and it was quite aesthetically pleasing. We actually lost quite a number of sales simply because we refused to sell the things - even some of our loyal customers chose to ignore the advice and headed off to Scottish Power and bought from them.

It was a different story when they were back on our doorstep looking for a replacement in a year or less.

 

FatBoy - I am a while out of the trade, but still have some contacts and keep reasonably abreast with some of the goings on; if I can help with info on specific items/appliances, I am only a PM away.

Off the cuff, if we are talking kitchen appliances - the ones to look at are Bosch, Siemens, Miele, Neff and the higher ranges from Zanussi/Electrolux

AVOID - Hotpoint/Indesit (same company, and utter rubbish); Hoover/Candy (same overall company, and now pretty rotten); BEKO (Turkish for cheap tat);

Golden rule - if it looks like a really cheap bargain, don't touch it; you really do get what you pay for with domestic appliances (even the cheaper end of Bosch's range leaves a lot to be desired); spend a bit more, and you will not only get a product that is more energy efficient, but also one that will last longer.

Oh, and don't bother with any extended warranties - if you must, put that money in a savings account and let it earn interest whilst waiting for a breakdown that probably won't happen for years.

 

I've inspected some of the research work done by Which? (shown round a workshop use by them) and they give it a thorough workout.

There's a difference between the reports they do on products - which are usually tested almost to destruction - and things like Which? car where they do a very comprehensive survey of their members. Although those surveys are very well thought out the results are the subjective view of those people surveyed. Whereas the tested products are objective tests. If they are completely new products they tend to tell you not to try them yet.

You need to remember that just because a products gets a good score the reason you want the product for may not be what got a good score. In other words, you need to read the report thoroughly.

I'm not sure that I can agree with fc about the wining and dining and free products bit. I've not had any evidence brought to me about that when I was in consumer advice and it seems a tad defamatory, without evidence.

 

I don't have any evidence to offer shiney, and I my comments in that regard should not be construed as fact, but rather an opinion or a perception. I am going back to the early/mid nineties, so things may well be considerably different now - equally, the impression that I got was not specific to Which, but virtually ALL of the consumer magazines of the time (What Hi-Fi was one that we often spoke about in the shop and workshop - quite often you would read an overly positive review of a product, and sure as eggs were eggs, you would see a full page ad further through the magazine from that very manufacturer).

Don't get me wrong - quite often these consumer magazines would get it absolutely bang on the money, and give rave reviews to products that truly deserved it; however, in my experience there were quite a number of good reviews given to products that were little more than average at best.

The other thing that should be borne in mind, in fairness to Which etc, is that they would test one or maybe two of each product, whereas I was seeing them in larger quantities and over a longer time span - some products I got to see when they were new, and in some cases a bit later on when they failed. And if I am being ultimately fair, I would admit that seeing/repairing a number of the same make/model may well have coloured my view of them somewhat.

The one thing I can state as absolute fact is that you get what you pay for when it comes to domestic appliances, and there are some products that I certainly wouldn't give house room.

One of the easiest things that anyone can do to check out a product is to go to Google, and type in "brand name model number problems" or even just "brand name problems" so for example Indesit Problems

One note of caution - bear in mind that people will generally only be talking about a product online if they are not happy, and very few will go online to state how pleased they are with a product - so use your common sense when reading the results.

 

fc, I understand what you are saying.

Which?, of course, don't take advertisements or any payments from businesses so are not influenced by external things. I've founmd that some of the products that they give the highest ratings to are ones I wouldn't buy because some of the reasons they give for the high score are totally unimportant to me.

I agree that personal online reviews need to be taken with a pinch of salt and a modicum of scepticism. Similar to reading a 'trip adviser' page on a restaurant. You can get a dozen reviews and each one sounds like a different restaurant! Having said that, I found a superb place to eat in Keswick by looking on trip adviser.