Celebrating the art of good conversation: what’s your all-time favourite convo?

It doesn’t matter whether they’re with friends or strangers, easy chats or difficult discussions, here on Which? Conversation, we thrive on having in-depth discussions. And we welcome different opinions and advice. Well, it would be a bit boring if we all thought the same way.

To celebrate National Conversation Week, and to remind our community of the great work they help us achieve, here’s a round-up of my top five favourite conversations, which continue to get our community talking.

1. 1. Will the government take action on Whirlpool?

While Which? continues to call on the government to end unsafe products, our community has been at the heart of our campaign. You’ve told us about the issues you’ve had with dodgy products and helped other community members who have found themselves in possession of a dangerous product. Our Whirlpool campaign is a perfect example of how great conversations can lead to great results.

Update: will the government take action on Whirlpool?

2. The energy-saving LED bulb that switched off the radio

The weird and wonderful world of LED bulbs continues to confuse consumers, with many reporting theirs are causing radio interference, internet connection problems and hearing aid issues. But how could this be?

Featured Comment

Matt Knight says:

6 November 2015

Hi Wavechange, we have investigated this issue before with hundreds of LED bulbs, both cheap and expensive. When testing the bulbs in isolation we didn't find a single one that emitted a frequency that would interfere with DAB. Also, when we surveyed Which? members fewer than 1% had experienced the issue. However, it is clearly something that is still causing frustration to lots of people out there and we will look into it for our magazine publication on lightbulbs in 2016. As mentioned previously in the comments section the issue is often not with the bulb itself, but the circuit that the bulb is placed into.

See full comment

3. Barry Beavis: why I fought my parking penalty in court

Back in 2015, Barry Beavis told us about his legal battle, following an £85 fine for overstaying by 56 minutes. Parking tickets continue to affect people every day and despite the Conversation being over two years old, we still get regular comments from consumers who have been shocked to receive a parking ticket.

4. Should public phone boxes be removed?

Not only do we try to start and encourage discussions, we also love to give our community a platform to talk about the issues that are concerning them. Here’s community regular, Duncan Lucas, reminding us of how important telephone boxes are.

One commenter on this conversation explained why they objected to the move. SB said:

‘No! Public Payphones are an integral part of our society, don’t get complacent by thinking that mobiles and smartphone have overtaken everything else, that they are all the rage! There are still people that cannot afford mobile phones, there are still people who do not wish to have, operate or own mobile phones. Many elderly people don’t have any inclination to use a mobile phone. Payphones are a must for the sake of the people who need to know that they have a payphone at the end of the street if they have an emergency or they need to contact a relative quickly. Don’t be so selfish, keep the payphone!’

5. Have you been caught out by Currys PC World’s Knowhow set-up service?

Last week, we published an update about Currys’ continuous upselling and misleading offers. This has been an ongoing saga, which we initially investigated three years ago!

Thanks to our community, as well as the community on Reddit, where the initial issue was reported, we’ve been regularly updated by consumers who have been affected by this issue. Having a space where open and honest discussions are welcomed continues to help us to improve consumer experiences.

There are so many examples of the great work that our community helps us to achieve, but what’s your all-time favourite convo?