Other companies mentioned in the consumer champion’s third annual Shoddy Awards include Sports Direct, Tesco, Ali Express, Amazon, Virgin Media and British Airways.
To be nominated for a Shoddy Award, companies had to fall short on criteria such as failing an industry standard, offering poor value for money, making false claims or regularly underperforming in the consumer champion’s research.
Harry Rose, Which?’s magazine editor, said: “Our third annual Shoddy Awards call out the products, services and companies that have fallen short and let consumers down over the last year.
“Consumers rightly expect high-quality products and services for their money. All the companies named and shamed in this year’s Shoddy Awards need to up their game and offer people the value for money they rightly expect.”
The UK’s shoddiest companies
- Kiddylicious
Kiddylicious sells snacks aimed at babies and young children, promoting its products as being allergen-free and convenient and promoting self-feeding. But Which? found that the majority of its snacks are high in sugar and marketed in misleading ways.
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- David Lloyd
David Lloyd was awarded a Shoddy for its poor value for money. In the consumer champion’s most recent gym survey, Which? members rated it just two stars for value for money. The consumer champion found that the average ‘Plus’ membership costs £131.50 per month – and in some locations, platinum memberships can cost £259.
- Ticketmaster
Which? named Ticketmaster as “rip-off merchant of the year”, noting that its pricing practices for ticket sales to the Oasis reunion tour may have breached consumer protection law.
- Sports Direct
Which? slammed Sports Direct for its “dodgy deals”. It believes some of Sports Direct’s uses of recommended retail prices (RRPs) as reference prices may be breaking the law.
Researchers found examples where no other online retailers were selling at the RRP price shown by Sports Direct. Often, their prices were the same as Sports Direct’s selling price, or lower.
- Home insurance companies
Which? collectively awarded all home insurers a Shoddy as this market “leads” on declining claims, according to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) data.
The latest FCA data from 2023 shows that more than a third of buildings insurance claims were declined, while more than a quarter of claims made on combined buildings and contents policies were turned down.
- Tesco
Tesco Clubcard was criticised by Which? for excluding teenage customers. Its age restriction for a Clubcard is 18, compared to other supermarkets, where it can be 16 or even younger. This blocks access for younger shoppers to thousands of discounted prices.
- Online marketplaces
AliExpress, Amazon, Ebay, Temu and TikTok were all named by Which? as sites failing to prevent the sale of unsafe goods from third-party sellers on their sites.
In 2024, Which? listed an unsafe plug-in heater that appeared identical to one recalled as far back as December 2022. The consumer champion said it was disappointed by Amazon, eBay, Etsy and TikTok Shop’s failure to prevent the heater being listed for sale.
- Booking.com
Although Booking.com came out best in Which?’s accommodation booking site survey, the consumer champion accused it of being soft on scams.
Which? received dozens of complaints about scam messages and seen hundreds of online reviews from people who say they have been scammed.
A recent Which? investigation found that Booking.com does not run proper identity checks on accommodation hosts. It also found the reviews system too often shows positive reviews, rather than recent ones that warn a property is a scam. When contacted to say a scam has occurred, Booking.com often ignores correspondence – for example, when notified of a misleading hotel listing.
- British Airways
British Airways was joint bottom of Which?’s long-haul airline survey. It did not fly particularly high in the consumer champion’s short-haul rankings either, landing far nearer the bottom of the table than the top and only scoring two stars for value for money, seat comfort, food and drink, and cabin environment.
- Virgin Media
Poor customer ratings and expensive price rises saw Virgin Media awarded a Shoddy for the third year running. Virgin Media was the worst ranked provider in Which?’s annual broadband survey, with poor ratings for customer service and support.
