Consumer's Association and Which? - or What??

Ed_Jogg

Some months ago (can't remember how many) I am sure there was an article, thread or whatever on this site about the Consumer's Association, noting concerns about the impartiality of their tests and features. I vaguely remember there also being a template letter for Money Savers to send when discontinuing their membership, to voice these concerns. Yet there is no sign of either now.

Am I imagining things or have the concerns raised then since been resolved?

What is the current view of the Consumer's Association, and should I discontinue my membership (to save money!!) now that I have found MoneySavingExpert.com??

dunstonh

What is the current view of the Consumer's Association, and should I discontinue my membership (to save money!!) now that I have found MoneySavingExpert.com??

I'm not a fan of them at all. They make out that they are a consumer champion giving the impression that they are always right and companies are the big bad. Yet when they get it wrong, they re-write history to pretend they were right.

In the case of financial services, Which? used to recommend endowments. Anyone following their advice and buying the "best buy" would not be entitled to any redress as they dont have the same regulation and consumer protection as financial advisers. For those in financial services, the thing that is disliked the most is the totally anti financial services comments they make, such as highlighting endowments as a bad thing yet they themselves were recommending them.

If they turn out to be right on something, they make a big thing of it. If they were wrong, they quickly change their mind and sweep it under the carpet.

hollydays

You can go into most libraries and read them for free.