At the core of it all is our goal to make the UK better for everyone. Whether that's highlighting the best fan to keep you cool, or getting Tesco hot under the collar by highlighting its potentially law-breaking business practices.
And that's just the tip of iceberg, so strap in and see what Which? was up to in June 2023.
Get our expert tips for making smarter consumer choices.Tesco's unclear pricing and the rising cost of food
It's human nature to go for a deal, and trust us, supermarkets work hard to make their 'price drops' and' buy one get one frees' look as tempting as possible. But you can't always take these offers at face value, and the ability easily compare prices and deals across different stores and products is vital.
Tesco isn't making that process easy enough. By removing unit pricing from its Clubcard offers we think it's breaking the law. Look at the small print on a supermarket price label, particularly for multipacks, and you should see the price per unit. Think of a pack of soft drinks that tells you the cost per can or per 100ml, or a pack of toilet roll that shows the cost per 100 sheets.
These specifics are important. Sometimes it pays to not go with a deal at all because the price per unit is higher than another product even though the pack is technically on offer.
Without that information you're essentially taking a retailer's word for it, and if our time reporting on supermarket pricing has taught us anything it's that you shouldn't always take the retailer's word for it.
People can't spot the cheapest price at the best of times, our research found that 72% of people couldn't pick the cheapest fizzy drinks from a line-up due to the array of offers, sizes and brands. This only reinforces how important it is to include unit pricing.
Needless to say we've reported Tesco to the regulator and we put our finding to Tesco, too. A spokesperson from the supermarket told us they asked Trading Standards to review their approach on Clubcard Prices, that they formally endorsed its labelling and it meets the current legal requirements and guidelines.
Shoppers need clarity
We analysed the prices of almost 26,000 food and drink offers across eight major supermarkets and found prices had risen by 16.5% on average.
These sky-rocketing costs are even more stark when looking at ingredients in popular UK meals.
There's a lot of factors in food pricing across the supply chain, but we think the supermarkets could do more to combat them. Firstly by making sure budget ranges are available across smaller convenience stores and, of course, getting unit prices on labels.
It's impossible to entirely avoid these rising prices, but there are things you can do to keep your food bill as low as possible.
Taste tests helping you find cheaper food
Shopping at the right supermarket and choosing own-brands can reduce your food bill, but surely the brands we recognise make the tastiest food, right? Hellmann's for mayo, Pepsi for cola and Pimms for, well, Pimms.
Not always. Sometimes you'll get better flavour and value by choosing a supermarket option instead. In June, our taste test teams sampled some summer favourites to see if you could save on your next trip to the store.
Pimms
Let's start with Pimms. Surely Pimms makes the best Pimms. It even calls the bottle Original Pimms No.1, but it's not the best, no, it only managed third. Tesco's oddly named Summer Cup came second while it was Aldi's Classic Summer Punch that you should be sipping with Wimbledon on the telly.
It scored 75%. That's five percentage points better than original Pimms and it costs half as much.
.Magnum
Magnums, the eternal summer favourite, whether you nibble all the chocolate off first or chomp into it like a wild animal that's never bought a tube of Sensodyne. But do other brands do it better?
We're not eating flashy Magnums here, just the original vanilla.
After much eating and brain freezes, the classic Magnum emerged victorious, but only just. The Lidl Gelatelli option only scored two percentage points less and a pack of six costs £2.45 compared to £5.75 for Magnum. That's only 41p per ice cream (there's that unit pricing again).
More taste tests to get your chops round
Products to help get your garden ready for summer
If all that food doesn't get you thinking about barbecues then you either don't have a garden or your friend who calls themselves 'the grill master' has served you undercooked chicken one too many times.
It takes work to get a neglected mass of brambles and weeds into a something you're not embarrassed to show your friends, and having the right tools for the job will really help.
We tackled the hedges, too, testing a whopping 15 hedge trimmers in June, finding four Best Buys.
For more heavy duty jobs we donned some safety equipment and revved up the chainsaws. After much sawing, three of them earned a Best Buy rosette.
Of course if you're in the garden, you'll be in the sun. We tested 15 sun creams, from the likes of Boots, Nivea and Superdrug, so you know which ones give you the best protection. There were Best Buys among them as well as a Don't Buy.
What else did we test in June?
Gardening was a focus, but that doesn't mean we didn't get to grips with anything else. In total we published reviews on more than 1,000 products across 70 different areas. We'd need another news story to go through them all, so here's some highlights.
Change in the energy market
You probably don't need to put the heating on anymore, but the high cost of electricity means energy is still expensive. Our policy team has been focusing on getting consumers clearer communication from their energy provider and addressing the impact of higher energy bills.
Following research conducted in August 2022, we found that two in five UK adults were confused by their energy bill.
With this in mind we created an experiment where we sent a typical energy communication along with an easier to understand version we created to 2,000 UK adults to see what effect they had.
Based on the report, we've made numerous recommendations to suppliers, including:
Helping vulnerable people
Ofgem, the energy regulator, published a report on consumer standards within the sector. While we broadly agreed with the findings and recommendations, such as vulnerable customers having easy access to customer services and prioritising customers struggling to pay their bills, but we did think the report could've gone further.
Ofgem's can support vulnerable people more by offering referrals to third-party debt advice. We also urged Ofgem to follow the FCA and CMA's lead in trying new initiatives with energy companies rather than relying solely on customer engagement to improve services.
.Both these pieces of work show Which?'s commitment to improving the energy sector for consumers, whether that's demystifying bills or putting the onus on energy companies to improve their service.
If you're struggling with your energy bills check these pages to find practical ways to reduce what you pay each month.
Holidays on the horizon
You may like to holiday closer to home, or prefer jetting off somewhere armed with a phrase book, or maybe you haven't decided yet. That's why our travel team pick out the best spots at home and abroad.
We've also revealed the best holiday destinations in July based on the beaches, scenery, food and drink, peace and quiet, value for money and more. The beautiful Greek Island of Kefalonia looks like your best bet for beaches, while a little closer to home, Portmeirion got five stars for its sea front.
Helpful travel advice
Helping you choose a destination is one thing, but the travel team go further than that.
We've become used to budget airlines charging for as many things as possible. Whether it's baggage, food, priority boarding or the getting to choose your seat, the original price you see for a fare is more of a guide than a final fee once you go through these optional extras.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/highlights-from-which-june-2023-aRIfD5q4ZNAX