I think that's a bit of hyperbole there... I had Haynes manuals for half a dozen vehicles since I started driving in 1997... they were basic, yes, but it had everything I needed to make any repair that I was able to do or willing to try. If a certain procedure or spec was not in that book, my local library had Chilton's manuals going back 40 years.
Haynes is a great manual for the DIY of low to moderate skill level. Anyone with higher skill can figure out the disassembly and repairs themselves and likely doesn't need one.
Perhaps it was the vehicles for which I owned the manuals, or maybe newer publications are different, but I never found mine to be missing steps or wrong, just sometimes no picture and the steps were too abbreviated to understand.
For cars like the old Cherokee, civic, Aerostar, f150-350, fifth ave, bronco, they were pretty decent, basic but decent. Last Haynes I bought was for my f150, it was just about useless, I end up printing out the instructions from the internet instead of using that book. I don't think they even develop books for the newer cars, like the Commander, never could find a book so I bought the factory manual, which while voluminous had gaps in its instructions too. Try pulling the engine following step by step, it goes to remove intake then attach adapter plat for the lift never mentioning to get the intake off the engine has to be supported while the bolts for the engine mounts are removed then lower the engine to remove the intake. Not mentioned In the 4 volume jeep manual.
I'm not against Haynes they have been useful in the past, I do remember being frustrated by gaps in their instructions however they can be very useful. Funny to look though my old Haynes books now, the grease stained pages usually mark whatever repair I was attempting at the time.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro