Consumerreports Reviews

I had used Consumer Reports for years and then abandoned them after two expensive items I bot which they recommended which turned into poor and very poor purchases I have recently again employed them in evaluating various items - but now follow them with much caution They recommended the Honda HRX217K5VKAA Lawnmower at a cost of 630 35 It is an adequate mower except for several major flaws It is very difficult to adjust the cutting height of the rear wheels and it is too heavy One must use a pry-bar to raise or lower the rear wheels Front wheels are easily adjustable as any other lawn mower Also as the mower is used the force required to pull the mower backwards is exhausting requiring 30 to 50 pounds of force and is no way solvable without a major overhaul The mower is heavier than average but powerful and self-propelling It is not suited for the average female because of the forces needed to operate At best it is tiring for the average man to mow a quarter acre unless the lawn is flat and without shrubs and other impediments The second and more costly item Consumer Reports recommended is the LGWT1001CW washing machine Its poor cleaning abilities and overall damage expense that can be caused by the machine s operation resulted in LG withdrawing this model from its LG washing machine line after the first year of introduction on the market with no damage compensation or returns to the consumer It was carelessly evaluated by Consumer Reports as superior but as far as I an electrical engineer with 25 years of clothes washing experience see it there are two major and costly flaws 1 Adding bleach as directed is obviously damaging the washed clothing It stripped the color from expensive shirts pants towels and other costly and old favorite and valued articles The remedy is to dilute the bleach before adding as LG directed 2 In addition in spite of the excess and wrongly applied bleach - the whites came out dingy After many disasters I finally developed the correct procedures and operation of the machine I finally can get an acceptable undamaged wash-load from this poorly engineered device But this LG machine is definitely an expensive lemon - foisted on me and the public which Consumer Reports should have caught if not for their repetitive assembly line evaluating procedures They didn t deliver the service I paid them for but they are the only and best evaluators out there

After purchasing a simple table lamp from the new Sainsbury s store at Southport I returned home plugged it in and it would not switch on When I returned to exchange it I asked for it to be plugged in to confirm it worked However the customer care assistant told me it was against H S regs because it hadnt been pat tested So in effect on those grounds they were selling goods which could be faulty so would need a pat test before use This seems to me like taking H S to the extreme He wouldnt even let me plug it in Consequently I will avoid Sainsburys again for any electrical goods