Consumer Reports

Hi!

This is such a great question.  I don't know how it affects store sales, although I am sure there are some posters who could let us know.  I am curious, too.  I know that I always look at the Consumer Reports website to check on the ratings before I make a big purchase-such as an appliance or computer.

When I see a customer come in with a Consumer Reports, be it a print-out or a magazine, I know this is a customer who is either thorough in their research or seeking direction. Most seem to be the latter, and are using CR as an indicator but not as the ultimate authority.

I can say definitively that CR reviews, especially for product like vacuum cleaners, carry a lot of weight. However, CR ratings can be deceptive. For instance, LG washing machines have tended to score higher than Whirlpool and Kenmore models in the same tier. What some people overlook, though, is that in the most important metric, cleaning, LG falls below Kenmore and Whirlpool, but LG's cycle times are shorter, which earns it additional points. Of course, if you have to wash twice in an LG what you'd wash once in a Whirlpool or Kenmore...

So, all in all, CR reviews can be helpful, but equally, if not more, helpful is someone who can help the customer interpret the data if need be.

Consumer reports have been amazing for our sales in tools and especially Lawn & Garden.  The Craftsman name and reputation for quality, especially with tractors, has made the Consumer Reports something we look forward too every year.

Basically it just confirms what people already know, that we have the best value for the price, Sometimes people will strictly buy the model rated, or they will use it as a guide of sorts and find the tractor close to the model rated but better suiting their needs.

good  comments. Isnt it interesting that CR has no competition, they are, as far as I know, the only independent testing consumer agency in USA. Although they claim no bias toward the products they test , but they have a monopoly of such.

They clain they buy all the products they test " off the shelf" from stores.

Has anyone heard or actually dealt with CR when they purchase direct from stores, such as Sears? Their test lab is on East coast, Yonkers NY.

One item CR continually stresses is not purchasing protection beyond  the mfg warranty (limited). They feel it is not needed, but alas they dont live with the product day in-day out. I wonder when a device breaks down, does the consumer call CR and complain to them that your testing said " not to buy a protection agreement", it doesnt breakdown.  If the consumer relies most heavily on CR for ratings- they  also can be swayed not to protect themselves after the sale.

Who are the folks they solicit on repair frequency of a product?

Anyone out there ever been contacted by CR?

Consumer Reports contacts thousands of members through email to take part in their annual online survey.

This encompasses their vehicles (if their past the year 2000), appliances, lawn equipment, etc.  It asks where they bought it, what brand, have they had any major repairs, did they buy the extended coverage, etc.  These submissions are very helpful in Consumer Reports extrapolating their numbers that they publish online and in their magazine.

thanks for the info

do they have any competition?

oh ok... only "l paid subscription members" get to participate in the survey. survery can be somewhat slanted as you have to be a member to be surveyed so that is their database and not the "general public" who are not members.

I'd rely on Consumer Reports for a big-ticket purchase but that said, I'd also read the fine print that specifies the methodology of their research ranking. I believe most retailers including Sears would have more rigorous quality control metrics than Consumer Reports - and this would be an internal quality control issue.

The Rock agrees with BlueCrewGuyinMA that a consumer who walks in with such a report in-hand is an informed consumer indeed and in this economy, more and more value conscious consumers are realizing the value of unbiased and objective information such as that provided by Consumer Reports.

More power to CR - it works for me!

gridlock48 said…

good  comments. Isnt it interesting that CR has no competition, they are, as far as I know, the only independent testing consumer agency in USA. Although they claim no bias toward the products they test , but they have a monopoly of such.

They clain they buy all the products they test " off the shelf" from stores.

Has anyone heard or actually dealt with CR when they purchase direct from stores, such as Sears? Their test lab is on East coast, Yonkers NY.

Consumer Reports does not buy direct as Consumer Reports; they buy as random consumers, so as to avoid manufacturers or retailers selling them anything other than the random merchandise that any other customer would end up getting. As far as being a monopoly, what difference does it make if they're a monopoly? They're not driving others out of business; they're just doing their job really well. Until someone else can do the job as well, they will have a monopoly due to chance rather than due to force.

Consumer Reports is good, but I tend to also combine it with other sources of reviews (such as Amazon, or even Sears itself). During recent shopping for a dishwasher, I actually visited the Sears site and sorted dishwashers by customer rating (within my price range) and printed it out while shopping.

I DO take a look at what CR says, but take it with a grain of salt. A comment in a review of 'I should have just sucked it up and bought a Bosch' probably had more influence on me than what CR had said.

One other thing: the original question asked about second chances. 

Consumer Reports actually purchases several of each item, to rule out duds. They want to determine a pattern of behavior, and if they only purchased one and it was a dud, that would drastically skew the statistics. However, if they purchased three and all three were garbage, that would demonstrate that that particular model is probably garbage. Likewise, if they purchased three and one was a dud but the other two were fine, then they can assume that it was just a dud and disregard its performance (though they do note if any were defective and the kind of defects there were).

thanks for the comments,

FYI  CR just overall rated Sears.com online shopping #15 out of 25 in their latest 2009 Electronics Buying Guide Issue

Not a huge fan of Consumer Reports when it comes to electronics. Like most electronic review sites, it takes them a really long time (a lot of times a year later) when reviews of tvs come out, so I always get customers coming in with their CR mags looking for tvs that we no longer have because they have been discontinued and they are not aware of that fact.

I agree with GenJones32, I don't really rely on Consumer Reports when it comes to purchasing or selling electronics (I do both).

I've been with SHC for about a year and a half now, selling Appliances and eventually switched to Electronics. Whenever a customer comes in with a CR magazine, I tend to lean towards what BlueMan said, that they need help deciding. CR can be a great tool for customers because of its info, but it can also be a great hinderance in the sales process as CR does tend to mislead customers due to the way they rate the products.

They rate on a few aspects that they think the product stands out, and seem to forget about the rest. That can lead to problems down the road where let's say the product has a high heat give-off (Plasma TVs) that may potentially cause damage to the product, or increase Burn-In (image retention).

I try to keep a neutral ground. I don't bash CR to my customers, but I also avoid mentioning it, as I've noticed in the past that anytime you try to quote something that you're unsure of, it comes back to bite you in the rear.

Plus, CR groups all "Extended Warrantys" in the same group, and people don't realize that we sell Service Contracts, not extend the manufacturer's warranty, which is of****crap to start off with. (Defects only, send/drop off at a service station, etc) The MPA is basically like putting life insurance on your product, minus acts of god. CR doesn't seem to grasp this concept.

As a call center rep, I dislike consumer reports because it seems they are behind the times on current models. We get calls frequently for items we do not even carry because they are last years models etc and then the callers get ticked off because " i saw it in consumer reports and they say sears sells it"..sigh....

Consumer Reports do not rate electronics on real categories that matter to electronics, especially tv's.

The only thing about CR that is a positive is that a person who comes in with the mag is actually serious about buying a movie.

That was based on the old website. However, the "new" website is 99% the old website, so it probably carries over.

Speaking on reliability.....I need some sound advice on which refrigerator to buy. I have an LG 2 yrs old. Needs replacing. Can anyone advise me on a reliable top end unit?

What style of refrigerator do you want? Side-by-side, bottom freezer? Counter-depth?

Side by side, and not LG.

The Bosch Linea series is quite nice, as are the Kenmore Elite, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, and Samsung models. With so many different models available, I suggest you search sears.com for side-by-side refrigerators, and choose those brands, the size, and the color you want. It will narrow the choices down for you so you can find something you really like.