I’m Not Renewing My Consumer Reports Subscription

 

I’ve been getting Consumer Reports (CR) for maybe 30 years. Over that time I’ve used it to research all kinds of consumer purchases from cars to appliances, TVs, headphones, computers, tires, luggage, tools, electric razors, you name it. A few years ago I began to notice a shift in the type of items CR covered. Instead of concentrating on basic consumer purchases, they started getting more into “issues.” Some examples just from the past year include:

“Whole Wheat, Soba, Legume Noodles: Which Are Healthiest?”

“March Madness E-Scams: How to Spot and Avoid Them”

“How to Eat Less Plastic”

“Which Fast Food Restaurants Are Healthiest?”

I realize there are some people who are interested in issues like these, but I found myself grumbling more and more each month as I read the President’s increasingly mushy monthly message and flipped through the issue. The letters page was becoming insufferable (“When I bought my new Prius I was offended that the safety features I wanted weren’t available on my model.”) Hey, I’m offended that I actually read your letter). Unless it was the annual car issue, or I was really interested in a TV or laptop review, I spent about five minutes flipping through it and then dumped it in a pile in the office. The back page “Selling It” feature with sometimes-hilarious blooper ads that readers send in was often the monthly highlight.

I also became more irritated each year when they started sending out renewal “reminders” staring six months before my subscription expired. Three months later, they’d send one every two weeks, or so it seemed. How many more clothes dryers or food processors might they be able to review by saving the postage costs spent on all these flippin’ reminders?

Then this month the proverbial straw broke the you-know-what’s back. In between computer monitors and power drills, the feature article was “Keep Calm and Come Together,” or as I retitled it, “Let CR pontificate on how should celebrate the Holidays during a Pandemic.” You know, like “Check Covid-19 rates in your area and communities other attendees might be travelling from.” Then on to “Prep Your Home” (hand soap, sanitizer, masks, wipes, tissues everywhere), “Go for Smart Seating” (WTH?), “Have a simple, safe menu” (Thanksgiving sandwiches!), “Choose a Virtual Meeting” (and make sure your Wi-Fi is stable!), and of course “Get Virtually Playful” (online games like Scrabble).

Then I flipped a few pages and came to “How Race Can Change Your Medical Care.”

OK, I’m done. Goodbye, CR. It was a good 30-year run, but that’s it.

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  1. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Peter Gøthgen (View Comment):

    Let’s turn this around a bit:

    What magazines do people enjoy still?

    We enjoy Food & Wine, Eating Well, and my 8-year old son can’t get enough of Reader’s Digest.

    We stopped getting magazines altogether a few years back, both because they have a tendency to pile up unread, and also because they all become woke eventually. I can make my peace with a general liberal tendency in an otherwise quality publication, but it was the relentless and heavy-handed advocacy that made us give up National Geographic, National Geographic History, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Washingtonian, and probably a few others I’m forgetting.

    Isn’t the UK version of The Economist supposed to still be pretty good, unlike the US version?  Or perhaps vice-reversa.

    • #31
  2. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Peter Gøthgen (View Comment):

    Let’s turn this around a bit:

    What magazines do people enjoy still?

    We enjoy Food & Wine, Eating Well, and my 8-year old son can’t get enough of Reader’s Digest.

    We stopped getting magazines altogether a few years back, both because they have a tendency to pile up unread, and also because they all become woke eventually. I can make my peace with a general liberal tendency in an otherwise quality publication, but it was the relentless and heavy-handed advocacy that made us give up National Geographic, National Geographic History, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Washingtonian, and probably a few others I’m forgetting.

    Yep, I dropped Smithsonian too, although it was only the Kindle version.

    • #32
  3. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    I don’t get the physical magazine (because it just adds to the clutter) but I like reading online articles from Garden & Gun. 

    I came for the bourbon articles, and stuck around for food and drink recipes.

     

    • #33
  4. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    I hear you Phil. I’ve grumbled over time too. They have been left wing for as long as I can remember. Are they more overtly now? Perhaps because the environmentalist issues have become prominent. I’m still keeping my subscription though. I know they’re left wing but I do need their consultation on product’s reliability.

    Maybe you could do all of that online? Maybe at the Consumer Reports site, for free? Or on a per-use basis?

    I am not aware of a credible alternative. If anyone knows let me know. 

    • #34
  5. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    Headedwest

    I don’t get the physical magazine (because it just adds to the clutter) but I like reading online articles from Garden & Gun. 

    Garden and Gun is my favorite psychobilly band. Their religious allusions are always well written. 

    • #35
  6. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    I hear you Phil. I’ve grumbled over time too. They have been left wing for as long as I can remember. Are they more overtly now? Perhaps because the environmentalist issues have become prominent. I’m still keeping my subscription though. I know they’re left wing but I do need their consultation on product’s reliability.

    From this month’s president’s message: “Our nation is facing incalculable grief and loss, economic distress, and an overdue reckoning with issues of race and justice . . . “

    That’s terrible. To be frank I don’t read it unless I have to buy something major. But you know, I’ve been using the star ratings on Amazon lately.  Probably not as good but still gives a direction.  I may be able to drop CR next year. 

    • #36
  7. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Stad (View Comment):

    I dumped my subscription long ago when they came out in favor of Obamacare . . .

    Same here.

    • #37
  8. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    Manny (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    I hear you Phil. I’ve grumbled over time too. They have been left wing for as long as I can remember. Are they more overtly now? Perhaps because the environmentalist issues have become prominent. I’m still keeping my subscription though. I know they’re left wing but I do need their consultation on product’s reliability.

    Maybe you could do all of that online? Maybe at the Consumer Reports site, for free? Or on a per-use basis?

    I am not aware of a credible alternative. If anyone knows let me know.

    I would argue that you are not getting credible information from CR, so you are not giving up much by dropping them.

    • #38
  9. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Peter Gøthgen (View Comment):

    Let’s turn this around a bit:

    What magazines do people enjoy still?

    We enjoy Food & Wine, Eating Well, and my 8-year old son can’t get enough of Reader’s Digest.

     

    The only paper magazine that is a must for me is Magnificat. It’s a Catholic monthly that provides daily readings and articles. The few other paper magazines I hardly ever read anymore. Dropping them all as they expire, and yes they all go left over time. 

    • #39
  10. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Manny (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    I hear you Phil. I’ve grumbled over time too. They have been left wing for as long as I can remember. Are they more overtly now? Perhaps because the environmentalist issues have become prominent. I’m still keeping my subscription though. I know they’re left wing but I do need their consultation on product’s reliability.

    Maybe you could do all of that online? Maybe at the Consumer Reports site, for free? Or on a per-use basis?

    I am not aware of a credible alternative. If anyone knows let me know.

    I use Checkbook.org. But they’re services-oriented and active in only larger markets.

    • #40
  11. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Manny (View Comment):
    But you know, I’ve been using the star ratings on Amazon lately. Probably not as good but still gives a direction. I may be able to drop CR next year. 

    Amazon ratings are easily manipulated. I just got an email from a seller on Amazon offering to refund the cost of a product in exchange for a five-star review. The seller included tips on how to evade Amazon’s fraud controls.

    • #41
  12. jeannebodine, Verbose Bon Viva… Member
    jeannebodine, Verbose Bon Viva…
    @jeannebodine

    I dropped it years ago. I used it for household appliances and electronics. I began to notice I could never  find products with the same model numbers of the products they had reviewed. It was frustrating to do the research only to discover you couldn’t buy the item. Model numbers are even worse now – they seem to change them for no discernible reason. 

    • #42
  13. merumsal Member
    merumsal
    @merumsal

    Just an anecdote regarding Consumer Reports: I subscribed to the online version in 2012, when I was buying a car and several large appliances around the same time. I hardly ever logged on to the site after the first month or so. I had an automatically-renewing subscription, but I never could never pull the trigger and cancel the subscription, thinking I may just want to consult CR sometime soon. So I decided to be lazy and let the subscription lapse by itself when my card expired.

    The card expired, and the bank issued me a new one with a new verification code. But the card’s number stayed the same. CR—because it could, I guess—just kept renewing my subscription and charging me. Every other online subscription or business that had my card information, then and ever since, informed me that I had to update my card info; but not CR. I then decided to see just when CR would do the right thing and ask me to update my information. It never did.

    17 years later, when my bank decided on its own to change my card number, as a preventive security measure (thankfully I was not a victim of identity theft), CR finally, frantically, wanted to get in touch with me to get my new financial info, seeing that they couldn’t charge the old card any more. I had gone through at least three card expirations from the time I initially subscribed.

    I think CR was being unethical all those years. I don’t judge them harshly because I was playing along with them. But I’ll add that I never once logged on to the site for over a decade. And I’ll also add that I respect their reviews to a degree; I just think they are less reliable than they once were. As for the PC- and woke-ism: it’s for the birds, it’s annoying and exasperating, and it’s a sign of the times.

    • #43
  14. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    merumsal (View Comment):

    Just an anecdote regarding Consumer Reports: I subscribed to the online version in 2012, when I was buying a car and several large appliances around the same time. I hardly ever logged on to the site after the first month or so. I had an automatically-renewing subscription, but I never could never pull the trigger and cancel the subscription, thinking I may just want to consult CR sometime soon. So I decided to be lazy and let the subscription lapse by itself when my card expired.

    The card expired, and the bank issued me a new one with a new verification code. But the card’s number stayed the same. CR—because it could, I guess—just kept renewing my subscription and charging me. Every other online subscription or business that had my card information, then and ever since, informed me that I had to update my card info; but not CR. I then decided to see just when CR would do the right thing and ask me to update my information. It never did.

    17 years later, when my bank decided on its own to change my card number, as a preventive security measure (thankfully I was not a victim of identity theft), CR finally, frantically, wanted to get in touch with me to get my new financial info, seeing that they couldn’t charge the old card any more. I had gone through at least three card expirations from the time I initially subscribed.

    I think CR was being unethical all those years. I don’t judge them harshly because I was playing along with them. But I’ll add that I never once logged on to the site for over a decade. And I’ll also add that I respect their reviews to a degree; I just think they are less reliable than they once were. As for the PC- and woke-ism: it’s for the birds, it’s annoying and exasperating, and it’s a sign of the times.

    I’d tend to place most of the blame on the card issuer (or the folks that process their payments) for letting the charges go through on a card with an incorrect expiration date and/or an incorrect security code.

    • #44
  15. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Peter Gøthgen (View Comment):

    Let’s turn this around a bit:

    What magazines do people enjoy still?

    We enjoy Food & Wine, Eating Well, and my 8-year old son can’t get enough of Reader’s Digest.

    We stopped getting magazines altogether a few years back, both because they have a tendency to pile up unread, and also because they all become woke eventually. I can make my peace with a general liberal tendency in an otherwise quality publication, but it was the relentless and heavy-handed advocacy that made us give up National Geographic, National Geographic History, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Washingtonian, and probably a few others I’m forgetting.

    We currently get Cooks Illustrated, National Review, Model Railroader, PCGamer, America’s First Freedom, Russian Life, and The Limbaugh Letter.  We used to get the Conservative Chronicle, but those started to pile up as you described.  Maybe we’ll renew . . .

    • #45
  16. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    But you know, I’ve been using the star ratings on Amazon lately. Probably not as good but still gives a direction. I may be able to drop CR next year.

    Amazon ratings are easily manipulated. I just got an email from a seller on Amazon offering to refund the cost of a product in exchange for a five-star review. The seller included tips on how to evade Amazon’s fraud controls.

    I got an SSD from one company, and they sent me a carrying case for a 5 star review.  I went ahead and did the review.  About a month later, the SSD started acting up, so I went back and dropped them to three stars.  I’m thinking on going back and giving them one star because now the thing won’t let me do simple saves or deletes . . .

    • #46
  17. merumsal Member
    merumsal
    @merumsal

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    merumsal (View Comment):

    I’d tend to place most of the blame on the card issuer (or the folks that process their payments) for letting the charges go through on a card with an incorrect expiration date and/or an incorrect security code.

    You’re probably right; I hadn’t thought of that. I said I don’t really judge CR harshly, but went on to say its behavior was unethical. I should walk back the accusation. In any case, it was interesting to see how long the situation could go on. It was like a perpetual motion machine.

    • #47
  18. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Stad (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    But you know, I’ve been using the star ratings on Amazon lately. Probably not as good but still gives a direction. I may be able to drop CR next year.

    Amazon ratings are easily manipulated. I just got an email from a seller on Amazon offering to refund the cost of a product in exchange for a five-star review. The seller included tips on how to evade Amazon’s fraud controls.

    I got an SSD from one company, and they sent me a carrying case for a 5 star review. I went ahead and did the review. About a month later, the SSD started acting up, so I went back and dropped them to three stars. I’m thinking on going back and giving them one star because now the thing won’t let me do simple saves or deletes . . .

    I’ve had a few SSDs, they never seemed to improve performance much, and they never lasted very long.  But I have some 20-year-old hard drives that work just fine.

    • #48
  19. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    merumsal (View Comment):

    Just an anecdote regarding Consumer Reports: I subscribed to the online version in 2012, when I was buying a car and several large appliances around the same time. I hardly ever logged on to the site after the first month or so. I had an automatically-renewing subscription, but I never could never pull the trigger and cancel the subscription, thinking I may just want to consult CR sometime soon. So I decided to be lazy and let the subscription lapse by itself when my card expired.

    The card expired, and the bank issued me a new one with a new verification code. But the card’s number stayed the same. CR—because it could, I guess—just kept renewing my subscription and charging me. Every other online subscription or business that had my card information, then and ever since, informed me that I had to update my card info; but not CR. I then decided to see just when CR would do the right thing and ask me to update my information. It never did.

    17 years later, when my bank decided on its own to change my card number, as a preventive security measure (thankfully I was not a victim of identity theft), CR finally, frantically, wanted to get in touch with me to get my new financial info, seeing that they couldn’t charge the old card any more. I had gone through at least three card expirations from the time I initially subscribed.

    I think CR was being unethical all those years. I don’t judge them harshly because I was playing along with them. But I’ll add that I never once logged on to the site for over a decade. And I’ll also add that I respect their reviews to a degree; I just think they are less reliable than they once were. As for the PC- and woke-ism: it’s for the birds, it’s annoying and exasperating, and it’s a sign of the times.

    They have never asked me to update information either, even though I have new expiration dates on my card. It never occurred to me why. Thanks. 

    • #49
  20. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    It seems like you might have cause to dispute charges with the credit card and at least get some of them refunded.

    • #50
  21. merumsal Member
    merumsal
    @merumsal

    kedavis (View Comment):

    It seems like you might have cause to dispute charges with the credit card and at least get some of them refunded.

    Yes, I could have kicked up a fuss of some sort, but deep down I probably didn’t mind having the subscription. I was initially annoyed at what I thought was sloppy (even unethical) business practice; then again, I was aware of the situation and could have canceled the subscription at any time. It was all a sort of experiment for me, and a lesson in keeping track of my expenses.

    • #51
  22. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    merumsal (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    It seems like you might have cause to dispute charges with the credit card and at least get some of them refunded.

    Yes, I could have kicked up a fuss of some sort, but deep down I probably didn’t mind having the subscription. I was initially annoyed at what I thought was sloppy (even unethical) business practice; then again, I was aware of the situation and could have canceled the subscription at any time. It was all a sort of experiment for me, and a lesson in keeping track of my expenses.

    And I’m sure CR appreciated your financial support…

    • #52
  23. Cliff Hadley Inactive
    Cliff Hadley
    @CliffHadley

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):
    Same with “Sports Illustrated” and “Popular Mechanics.” Awful, both of them.

    Agree. SI became unreadable about seven or eight years ago. Just terrible.

    And how can I forget how much SI gave me warms-and-fuzzies calling me a racist in every issue?

    • #53
  24. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):
    Same with “Sports Illustrated” and “Popular Mechanics.” Awful, both of them.

    Agree. SI became unreadable about seven or eight years ago. Just terrible.

    And how can I forget how much SI gave me warms-and-fuzzies calling me a racist in every issue?

    Let me guess – But SI redeems itself each February by encouraging your sexism? :)

    • #54
  25. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):
    Same with “Sports Illustrated” and “Popular Mechanics.” Awful, both of them.

    Agree. SI became unreadable about seven or eight years ago. Just terrible.

    And how can I forget how much SI gave me warms-and-fuzzies calling me a racist in every issue?

    You really can’t put a price on that level of quality content.

    • #55
  26. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    But you know, I’ve been using the star ratings on Amazon lately. Probably not as good but still gives a direction. I may be able to drop CR next year.

    Amazon ratings are easily manipulated. I just got an email from a seller on Amazon offering to refund the cost of a product in exchange for a five-star review. The seller included tips on how to evade Amazon’s fraud controls.

    I got an SSD from one company, and they sent me a carrying case for a 5 star review. I went ahead and did the review. About a month later, the SSD started acting up, so I went back and dropped them to three stars. I’m thinking on going back and giving them one star because now the thing won’t let me do simple saves or deletes . . .

    I’ve had a few SSDs, they never seemed to improve performance much, and they never lasted very long. But I have some 20-year-old hard drives that work just fine.

    I used to use thumbdrives to back up my stuff, but I’ve moved to external hard drives DVD R/W devices, and SSDs.  Because it’s backup, speed doesn’t matter to me.

    • #56
  27. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):
    Same with “Sports Illustrated” and “Popular Mechanics.” Awful, both of them.

    Agree. SI became unreadable about seven or eight years ago. Just terrible.

    And how can I forget how much SI gave me warms-and-fuzzies calling me a racist in every issue?

    Let me guess – But SI redeems itself each February by encouraging your sexism? :)

    Not anymore! Even the swimsuit issue went woke–there are disabled models, and (I think) a trans model, and plus-size (ie, fat) models now. You will be made to find these people attractive.

    • #57
  28. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):
    Same with “Sports Illustrated” and “Popular Mechanics.” Awful, both of them.

    Agree. SI became unreadable about seven or eight years ago. Just terrible.

    And how can I forget how much SI gave me warms-and-fuzzies calling me a racist in every issue?

    Let me guess – But SI redeems itself each February by encouraging your sexism? :)

    Not anymore! Even the swimsuit issue went woke–there are disabled models, and (I think) a trans model, and plus-size (ie, fat) models now. You will be made to find these people attractive.

    Blea. Glad I never paid a attention. 

    • #58
  29. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    But you know, I’ve been using the star ratings on Amazon lately. Probably not as good but still gives a direction. I may be able to drop CR next year.

    Amazon ratings are easily manipulated. I just got an email from a seller on Amazon offering to refund the cost of a product in exchange for a five-star review. The seller included tips on how to evade Amazon’s fraud controls.

    The trick with Amazon reviews is to just read the negative ones, and decide if whatever they’re complaining about is something you can live with or not.

    • #59
  30. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    jeannebodine, Verbose Bon Viva… (View Comment):

    I dropped it years ago. I used it for household appliances and electronics. I began to notice I could never find products with the same model numbers of the products they had reviewed. It was frustrating to do the research only to discover you couldn’t buy the item. Model numbers are even worse now – they seem to change them for no discernible reason.

    It seems like the big-box stores get near-identical name brand items with slightly different model numbers so you can’t comparison shop.  “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s a different model”.

    • #60
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