I think the point was that it costs the site/company money to pay an employee time and travel to do the review, so the common business model was to have the manufacturer pay a review fee and/or sponsor the review with at least in-kind considerations, and setup/delivery of the bike with a representative (or via an authorized retailer).You can test ride a bike for free. When I test rode two bikes, they didn't care how long I was gone. They even suggested I call ahead of time to make sure they had a full battery ready for me. It isn't hard to get hands on a bike to test ride.
That model only works at scale. Consumer reports is a gigantic subscription-model magazine and website, with additional revenue from grants/contracts and other funding streams. They almost certainly didn't start out that way either, and had to build themselves up over years to a point where they could start charging for their product. This is a small, free, 'startup' website, and I don't want to pay subscription fees. EBR Makes it's money off of me and you by hosting ads on the site/social media platforms, and Court's YouTube videos, etc. That is a pittance of revenue until this site starts pushing many millions of views a month. They have to get there somehow...Consumer reports has been very successful and has earned their trust by not being beholden to the very people making the thing to provide them with the thing to review.
Part of the challenge is, those who make money off of reviewing things want to keep getting free things so they don't say things that would prevent that.
What I'm saying is, your argument doesn't hold water and there are great examples of that
I contacted them on the day I purchased, before I purchased, specifically about my concerns about the Enviolo APP for the bike and they said they were developing an APP of their own and although lacking specific details, it was in development and would be available "soon". They forgot to mention that the APP in development would only work with a new model also in development.Yeah, i wish it did too or they would offer a significant discount for us early adopters. Its their business, and they will make choices for them. I look at it as, it wasn't something that was on the feature list when I made the purchase, so I can't really hold them accountable. Totally hear you on late 2021 purchase (same). On the flip, I wouldn't have made the plunge for the second purchase without the $1,000.