Highlights from Which? – June 2023

It's safe to say, Which? does a lot every month. In June our product testing team published more than 240 reviews of timely products, including hedge trimmers and barbeques, our policy team stepped up the fight for clearer energy bills and we worked with the regulator to help vulnerable customers.

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.

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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.

Read our report on how Tesco could be breaking the law to see the rules on unit pricing, Tesco's full comments about our findings, and take the food deal quiz to see if you can spot the best deal.

Shoppers need clarity

Tesco's opaque offers couldn't come at a worse time. Prices of everyday groceries, such as pasta and cheese, are soaring.

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.

• The pasta sauce, penne pasta and cheddar cheese you need for a pasta bake cost 27% more on average.
• Frozen fish fingers, frozen chips and baked beans in tomato sauce cost 24% more on average.
• The beef mince, onions, carrots, garlic, tinned tomatoes, olive oil, beef stock and dried spaghetti you need for a classic Bolognese cost 20% more on average.

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.

• Check our supermarket price comparison page to find which one has the cheapest groceries near you.
• Read our 14 tips on how to spend less at the supermarket. 
• Sign up for our money newsletter for tips on how to save.

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. 

See how your supermarket's Pimms did.

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).

Plenty of other Magnum alternatives did well, too. See the full results of our Magnum ice cream taste test.

More taste tests to get your chops round

• Mayonnaise is a much-loved condiment that Hellmann's is known for, especially as barbeque season ramps up, but it's more than twice as expensive as supermarket options. Does the taste justify the cost? Find out in our mayonnaise taste test.
• Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been duking it out for years to be the best, so it's time we put this to bed. People will always defend their favourite, but our panel found Pepsi to be the winner. Only just though, and the supermarket brand in third place nearly beat the big brands and is far cheaper and contains much less sugar. See how all the colas fared in our cola taste test.

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.

Your lawn is a good place to start and we've tested plenty of mowers in June, including two Eco Buys. If you don't fancy getting your hands dirty you could always try a robot mower. They're expensive, but is there anything better than putting your up feet knowing your little motorised assistant is getting on with your chores? They cost £919 on average, but our latest batch featured the £330 Einhall Feelexo 400 BT - can it beat models almost three times its price? 

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. 

• Lawn mower reviews
• Barbecue reviews
• Hedge trimmer reviews
• Robot mower reviews
• Chainsaw reviews
• Sun cream reviews

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.

• We tested our first 2023 TVs, including high-end OLEDs from LG, Samsung and Sony.
• July and August could bring some really hot weather, so check our latest electric fan reviews to see which is best at keeping you cold.
• The heat can make it harder to get a good night's sleep, which is why we test how breathable mattresses are, so you can choose one that won't get damp with sweat. We tested 27 in total throughout June, finding 10 Best Buys and three Great Values mattresses.
• It's not all big ticket items either, we tested 10 washing up liquids from Fairy to Ecover, with only two getting Best Buy badges.

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.

• Nearly 50% of people feel stressed and anxious about their bill, and this is made worse by unclear communication from energy companies. Seven out of 10 consumers reported being stressed by their energy bill when it was difficult to understand, compared to four of out 10 who found their energy bill was easier to understand.
• 74% of people receiving unclear communications told us they didn't trust their energy provider, compared to 30% of those who found their bills clear.
• Direct debit payments and changes can lead to confusion. 48% of people who got the more complex communication understood the charges, compared to 65% of people who got our simpler bill.

Based on the report, we've made numerous recommendations to suppliers, including:

• Using simple language and full sentences to explain energy costs and what they mean.
• Explain why a direct debit change is needed.
• Add a personalised graph to explain things like predicted costs.

To read the full report, or learn more about our findings and recommendations check out the talking energy: Identifying the principles for clear customer communications policy paper.

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.

Read our full response to Ofgem report to learn more.

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.

• Go through our checklist of 10 ways to save on energy bills, and see how much your home appliances cost to run.
• Find out whether it's a good time to switch energy providers.
• Learn how to measure how much electricity you're using and see how to reduce it.

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.

The British Isles probably isn't your first port of call for guaranteed sun, but we found the top 10 sunniest destinations in the UK so you can give yourself the best chance of needing some Best Buy sun cream. They're not all on the south coast either.

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.

Check out all the top destinations we picked for a last-minute July trip.

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. 

Our research has found that you can forego paying extra for a specific seat though. Our recent airline survey found that most people sat together even if they hadn't paid extra to do so. BA tends to sit people together even if they haven't selected a seat, but that's not true of all budget airlines. Find out why choosing an airline seat is a waste of money and see which airlines are more likely to dot you, your friends and family all over the plane.

Disneyland Paris is a destination for the summer holiday, whether your childhood love of the films never left you, or some smaller members of your family can't get enough, but it can be an expensive trip. That's why we used our expertise to help save on a trip to Disneyland Paris.

And finally, a surreal situation. Despite hundreds of thousands of passengers going to court to fight for refunds and compensation for flight delays no airlines operator has been fined for breaching consumer law in the past 20 years. The US, Italy and several others have fined airlines that operate in the UK. Find out why the Civil Aviation Authority hasn't been able to do the same - how can no airline have been fined for breaking consumer law in 20 years?