A Christmas gift returned

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Posted by Jim on Jan 4, 2008 175 views

So far I have only had to return one gift this holiday season. And in this case, it was not a return, but a cancellation. I apparently was given a gift subscription to one of the worst organizations for consumers, Consumer Union. I have long had this issue with them and the ill they do on consumers. Basic snippets, incomplete test, quality reviews. Call it what you want, it is mostly a lot of opinions and judgment. And car surveys and quality numbers are self reported by subscribers who bother to fill out the forms. They are only as good as the opinion, skewed by members who had a bad trip or nights sleep who ding their car as a heap and the junker drivers who got a promotion or nice dinner out who rate it high. And subjective.

But the real reason never to deal with consumer reports is how they rip off consumers looking to buy a new car. Year ago you could get a book from $4 with every car price in it, for years now you can get the same information online. CU charges 3x to 5x the price for its members. Talk about keeping your enemies close. And they do it on the giant full page back cover self ad they run touting the benefits of this over priced service.

Let me help you buy a car - go to Edmunds.

Let me help you buy a car - find one you like, and ask the salesperson this phrase “I can go to Edmunds and get the pricing. Go ask the sales manager to send you out here with the wholesale invoice and retail invoice details so we can match it to the window sticker, and how much over invoice he or she wants to sell the car” Write it down, print this out and hand it to them. What ever it takes. That one phrase will help you on the way to saving thousands of dollars on your next car purchase. And arm you fish a fishing pool and instructions on how to use it for free. Or you could go buy a can of tuna from CU for the price of lobster.

Do not subscribe to CU. And do not give it to someone as a gift. I appreciate the sentiment, I really do. It is just not an organization worth of continuing to exist as long as they continue to blindly try to screw people over. Even worse when they call them their members.