Cook's Illustrated
reviews and complaints

Several years ago I ordered a copy of the ci annual that was on sale. I never asked for other issues or to keep sending them every year. Since then every year I receive the latest edition. I have had to return 3 so far. The last one I simply refused. Every year I then get countless demands for payment which I have to reply to in fear of my credit getting damaged. Even after last year returning it and going through the same old song and dance I just received this years edition. This is a major scam and one that should be reported to the federal authorities. I can I imagine that hundreds of people are not inclined to go through what I have and just cave and send money. I will once again have to dance the dance but this year I am reporting them to the my State Attorney. Meanwhile the electronic edition of the bimonthly magazine has been removed from the CI app and I now have lost 10 years of the magazine I paid for!
I am done with these crooks!

Last year I went online and subscribe to ONE year of the magazine. No where did I see a automatic renewal. All done by credit card. Suddenly I get a third notice all in red stating I was jeopardizing my credit for a 37 dollar bill. Since ordering the magazine my husband has died and I have no interest even in cooking. I don't want your magazine and find this tactic of extortion beyond belief.
Cindy Brauckmann
2 Caitlin Ct
Johnson City, TN. 37604
[protected] account number

[protected]@gmail.com

Several months back I received a letter from Cooks Illustrated inviting me to enroll in their magazine stating I could cancel anytime. I have been taking Birds and Blooms for years and they have never renewed my subscription without my approval. I also take Better Homes and Gardens they don't renew my subscription without approval. This company is a rip off and I will pay zip for a renewal subscription I did not authorize. They also have a lousy rating.
Gail Jernigan

Cook's Illustrated has been sending me a bill for the last 6 months for the cook book Best of ATK 2021 that I never received! They seem to have me on a mailing list that I never asked to be on that sends me cook books every year. I tried getting off this auto mailing list a couple years back to no avail! I tried sending the books back via calling them and getting a return label and of course I never received a label. So then I tried just taking the package back to the USPS and had them Return to Sender, well that didn't work well either. Now I am receiving a bill for a damn book I never received and wouldn't want even if I did receive it! They make it very difficult to stop things that are unwanted. I am not paying for a book I don't have, much less want. They need to stop sending me the damn books! It is sad how they trap you into this web of deception when you make the mistake of signing up or making one purchase from them. Total SCAM!

I never ordered Cooks Illustrated. They now have a nerve to send me a Bill headlined "Second Subscription Invoice."

I ordered and paid for "Best of ATK 2019". In September 2020 I received the book, "Best of ATK 2021" which I did not order. I sent it back as directed. I received an invoice for the book a few days later. I sent the invoice back with a note concerning the fact that it was not ordered and was sent back. I have now received 4 notices and am quite exasperated. I am ready to go to the Better Business Bureau and if necessary my lawyer. I will not cave in to this scam.
Barbara Martin
account #[protected]
146 Hoot Owl Lane
Eatonton, GA 31024

I really like my Cooks Illustrated Magazine, but when the January/February Number 168 issue arrived today, it was missing pages 9, 10, 11 12, 21, 22, 23, 24. Is there any chance I could be mailed those missing pages? I think this is my subscription number:
*CIDO121448609/3* N/D22

James Yates
4205 NE 23rd Place
Cape Coral, Florida [protected]

Thank you for any help you can give me.

J. Yates

I have received the Coook's Illustrated, 2018 book, etc. I have reviewed it and want to return it but have been unable to connect with the company. I need information on how to return this. Date to return is 5/30/19, however I have had a death in the family and did not get to follow through with this before this time.

PLEASE contact me as soon as possible as to method of return. The person I initially dealt with indicated if I did not want it could be returned with no problem.
the Aero Order #: TK0001408620. I attempted to print a return label but was unsuccessful.

Joan Dennison, 77 Dennison Road, Hannibal, NY 13074
Phone number: [protected]. I look forward to hearing from you with a resolution in this matter.

There is no email to reach them. I called, they said a supervisor would call because they could not find my original purchase. April 2017 I purchased a cuisinart food processor, it has stopped working. Cuisinart says that they are not one of the vendors and can't help me. Normally I would contact them again but with no email, next I go to the Better Business Bureau. I need it replaced or repaired, there is a 3 year warranty. I did register the product on [protected]

Gae Linfoot [protected]
[protected]@gmail.com

About 18 months ago, I received a copy of the magazine for free, with an offer for a one year subscription at $9.95. I then received, at different intervals, copies of the same magazines, two or three issues several times. On April 20, 2018, my bank account was charged $29.95 for a one year renewal. I then learned that this does not include access to this company's other properties, like ATK. Bummer. So I want to cancel my membership, but I have thrown out the mailing covers which have my member number on them, and their website doesn't recognize my name and address. What's up with that?

I can't find anything but FAQs on any of their websites--no contact email or phone number, so I'm not able to solve this issue on my own.

I will have to ask my bank to reject any charges from this family of rip-off companies, and I will ask my Congressman's office to apply a bit of pressure on PBS for giving these cheats a trusted public forum.

I had cancelled my magazine subscription on April 20, 2018 (and have email confirmation) before it expired in August 2018. But I was still charged $58.73 for another year's subscription on June 30, 2018. My account number is: [protected]. I would like to cancel my subscription and get a refund for $58.73 as I haven't gotten any of the new magazines yet. Let me know if you need any other information.

Thank you,
Angela Lengerich

I have tried to opt-out of Cook's Illustrated Automatic Renewal program. On the FAQ page on their website, it says the following:

How do I change my magazine automatic renewal options?
To update your magazine subscription automatic renewal option, visit your Cook's Illustrated or Cook's Country account page and sign in with your account number or mailing address.
Once you have logged in, click on "Change Your Automatic Renewal Status." On the next page, select "Stop My Auto Renewal" and then click "Save My Preference."

The problem is, this is not a "Change Your Automatic Renewal Status" on your Account Page! Seems quite deceptive, especially for a magazine with the good reputation that it has.

Date: 9/18/17

Resolution:

None desired. I don't want to hear from or speak to them. I will resolve myself. I will be calling my credit card company to permanently stop payment, I will be plastering this identical review on Yelp, BBB, Google Reviews, Facebook, and anywhere else I can find, and I will throw my back issues of Cook's Illustrated into the recycle bin today.

Review:

I signed up for web membership about a year ago. The material led me to believe that I would be able to access their online library of recipes. Guess what? They show me recipes from every service they offer, making it look like I can go to any of them, but when I try to click on one that is (apparently) not in the scope of my subscription, I get a crappy rude screen that tells me (1) I'm not authorized to view that recipe, and (2) I should subscribe to another piece of their service for another fee. Misleading click bait. -10 points for hostile UI design.

I shrugged my shoulders and tolerated that for a year. Then I got an auto renewal email, which was actually a nice courtesy. +5 points.

When I read the mail, I discovered that I can cancel a magazine sub online, even though I subscribed on paper, with a postcard. And I have to cancel my Web subscription offline, by calling a phone number. What?!? -10 points for irrationality.

So I called the number, and a voice told me "Congratulations! You've been chosen to take a three question survey!" No option given to skip the survey. -10 points for invasive, rude voice mail interactions.

Survey voice started asking me personal questions, and thankfully they did add an option to skip a question by pressing #. So I skipped three times, and to my surprise, what happened? They asked me a fourth question, meaning they flat out lied to me. -20 points for dishonesty.

I skipped and skipped and skipped - finally when they reached 14 questions (I am not exaggerating!) I hung up. I tried again three times. Same result. -50 points for their contempt for customers, and their blatantly transparent and unethical attempts to discourage customers from unsubscribing.

To top it all off, while some of their recipes were excellent, most were pretty much of average quality. My wife can cook better versions of the latter.

Total score: A well deserved -99 points on a scale of -100 to 100. Mini-kudos of 1 point for at least sending a warning mail before auto-renewing me.

I subscribed and was forced to sign up for automatic renewal. I got a letter in August saying it would be automatically renewed after my upcoming and last issue. The information on the front of my magainze says clearly my sibs ription expireds Dec? 2017. So. Uhc to my surprise today, August 23 when I called to, get a confirmation for the online cancellation of automatic renewal that I did online today my subscription was already automatically renewed three months before the expiration date on my mailing address. The lame excuse I got was the last issue is SEPT/OCT. and they did not want To have a lapse and miss an issue. So why does the mailing label say the expiration date is December 2017. Why send me a letter implying I can stop automatic renewal if you have already charged my card. This is scandalous. Clearly trying to trick people with misleading information,

I just received a “Special Thanks For Preferred Subscribers” email from Cooks Illustrated regarding my magazine subscription. (My current subscription began in February (yes, THIS IS February) of this year and expires in December of this year. The offer they emailed me is for an early subscription renewal. It certainly is early, though the email does not disclose just how early.

But it gets better. The offer addresses me as a Loyal Subscriber, and says that, as a Preferred Subscriber, if I renew now (basically a year early) I’ll (as a Preferred Subscriber) receive “this exclusive opportunity to lock in tremendous savings”. The rate they offered me was $28.95 for one year. Wow! If I go to their website I see that the rate for a new subscription is $24.95. So it looks like they’re offering me, as a preferred subscriber, the opportunity to pay $4 more than their website rate! And I’d better hurry, as this offer is only good for 5 days! Great!

5/24/2016
I received a "3rd Invoice - Past Due" letter in the mail. The main portion of the letter highlighted, "Mail Payment Today To Clear your OVERDUE ACCOUNT STATUS".
I never ordered this subscription. I went to the website listed on the letter; cooksillustrated.com/account, and found this telephone number [protected]).
When I spoke to the rep. I told her, 1) I never ordered the subscription, and 2) I never received a prior invoice.
The rep. asked me if I received a "complimentary" magazine in February, which I told her I did. She said the "3rd Invoice" letter was just a marketing attempt to get me to sign up. I told her the wording on the letter was BS, attempting to get me to pay for something I didn't order. She said they were trying to get the wording changed on the letter. Rep. said this issue is now resolved. Let's hope so!

Hope this helps anyone with similar problems.

Terrible or non-existent customer service. When notified of impending subscription renewal, there is no way to contact to company to request cancellation other than by phone during specific hours. SO inconvenient and not exactly 21st century friendly! Had to wait 12 minuted on hold to reach anyone and just a complete pain. Never again and will let friends know how awful the service is to deal with.

A few weeks ago I ordered and paid for a subscription to the print version of Cook's Illustrated to my son in law. I received a confirmation with his address but no confirmation or reference number. Neither of us received a confirmation email. My payment was immediately processed on my Visa acct. two weeks ago. Today both he and I called their 1-800 number but after hours on the phone they found no record of our names, contact emails, or delivery address. They requested I fax my visa statement with proof of payment. From my perspective this is their problem and so far I am not impressed with their customer service or their online subscription process. I await a satisfactory resolution of this complaint.

Cook's Illustrated sent me a magazine today May 18th with an invoice for $24.95. I didn't order the magazine nor did I ever request for the magazine. I went onto their website, searching for e-mail to contact them. There is no way of contacting the company. I've decided to place a complaint through BBB incase they try to make a claim that I refused to pay them.

I was a former Cooks Illustrated subscriber for one year and then cancelled my subscription about a year ago. The this May our Post Office carrier left a package on our porch as it was too big to put in the mail-box. I went out and there was 3 books from them and an invoice. No one in our household of two ordered any books from them. I e-mailed them twice at customer service with no response of why they just up and sent these to us. Then 2 more bills came and I wrote on both I did not order these with copies of my e-mails. Now, I have received another bill (third notice). I am sure they will turn us over to a collection agency for something we never ordered. I assume that they do this on a regular basis to see how many people will just pay the amount to get them off their backs, but I am not giving in to that kind of scam! I just wonder how Christopher Kimble would like it if he knew what kind of scam his marketing team was pulling. I intend to find our my legal rights, as I don't want those people to ruin our good credit!