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Which?

About


Which? is the biggest independent consumer organisation in the UK.  We exist to make individuals as powerful as the organisations they deal with in their daily lives. We seek to achieve this in a number of ways: our advice helps them make informed decisions; our campaigns make people's lives fairer, simpler and safer; and our services and products put consumers' needs first to bring them better value.

As a not for profit charitable organisation, all the money made from our commercial operations is used to support the activities of Which? We are completely self-funded. We do not have shareholders, advertisers and we do not take funding from the UK government.

 

Success Stories
  • 2014 – The UK Government confirms it will cap pension charges at 0.75% following our campaign to get pension fees under control;
  • 2014 – Ofcom brings in new rules following our Fixed Means Fixed campaign so that consumers taking out new fixed term landline, mobile and broadband contracts can leave without an exit penalty charge if the operator increases the tariff;
  • 2013 – The UK government adopts a voluntary front of pack colour coded nutrition labelling scheme backed by all the major UK food retailers and some manufacturers – this backs our campaign launched in 2004;
  • 2012 – The Big Switch – Which? launches the UK’s first nation-wide collective switch on energy helping 38,000 consumers secure an average annual energy bill saving of €259;
  • 2011 - UK’s Office of Fair Trading upholds our super complaint on unfair credit and debit card surcharges.  This results in the UK government bringing in an early adoption of EU wide rules to clamp down on excessive surcharges;
  • 2009 – Over 34,000 complaints have been issued to providers via our free online tool to help consumers claim back money from mis-sold payment protection insurance.
  • 2008 – Apple agrees to uniform pricing across the EU for its i-tunes online store.  This followed our complaint to the UK Office of Fair Trading and then to the European Commission;
  • 2003 – Which?’s Rip-Off Britain campaign ensured that British consumers got a fairer deal when buying a car and no longer paid higher prices that then rest of Europe;
  • 2002 – We launched our award winning 'Endowment action' campaign helping consumers who may have been mis-sold endowment mortgages – to date over one million people have visited our site;
  • 1997 – The British Government agrees to our demand for an independent Food Standards Agency;
  • 1980 – Our campaigning on competition policy leads to the introduction of the UK Competition Act.
 
Facts
  • Founded in 1957
  • BEUC member since 1972
  • 661 staff
  • 1,480,000 million subscriptions to Which? magazines and services (2013-14 business year) – Which? is the UK’s bestselling monthly magazine.
  • Which? Money Helpline has helped Which? members win back more than £2.1 million in redress and compensation (approximately €2.8 million) since its launch in 2009.
  • Launched a free to use consumer rights website in March 2013 to give expert advice to people faced with everyday consumer problems: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights.

www.which.co.uk