Subscribing to this magazine will subject the recipient to unwanted and unsolicited book orders. Cooks Illustrated has a well documented history of pushing unordered books on individuals in its mailing list, then aggressively pursuing payment.
Think carefully before gifting a subscription to friends of family.
Decent magazine, terrible sales tactics
Cook's is an above average cooking magazine, don't get me wrong. Its format gets a bit stale after awhile, but the magazine itself is ok. The sales techniques used are what makes me give this a 1 star.
I had a representative of Cook's call me and ask me if I would like to buy their cookbook. I answered "no thank you". As a typical sales call, they continued their rehearsed sales techniques on how it would be worth it, told me if I didn't like it, I could simply send it back within 30 days. I restated my no thank you. He asked me why I wouldn't just try it and send it back if I didn't like it. I told him that I don't want to be hassled and I don't want to have to remember to return something in 30 days.
The Cook's Illustrated representative then began a personal attack on me, asking me how I manage to pay my bills on time if I'm that unresponsible. I was speechless. I was hoping that this was a one time thing - a rogue employee on a bad day, but after googling the magazine, I'm afraid it is more par for the course.
Above average magazine, TERRIBLE sales techniques.
Great magazine, terrible delivery on first issue
I gave a subscription as a gift to a friend back in April. I was told that the first delivery would be sometime between July 11 and August 8 which I thought was unreasonable, but I let it go. It is now August 12 and I am being told that delivery would be 'by September 8' -- for the July/August issue! From now on I will be going directly to the publisher.
