This is so true! While planning a trip abroad last year we were unsure about whether $thing is legal in $country. Google proclaimed in bold letters that, yes, $thing is legal in $country, but this line was taken from a site with the title "common misconceptions about traveling in $country" an in fact $thing was not legal.
Such a basic mistake, I haven't trusted the instant results ever since.
I remember there was another story here about Google returning bad results for what to do for a particular medical emergency. The page had a list of "Do"s and "Don't"s, but Google had grabbed the list of the "Don't"s and displayed it as the immediate results.
I have used Kagi for several months now, and I find that the ability to decide which searches I want quick answers for to be useful. There are certain searches where I feel comfortable with accepting a quick answer, and others where I don't think it would be useful. Being able to avoid the clutter unless I want it is nice.
I don't really web search for those things but I can see why that would be useful. There is a feedback site that they are very responsive on; you should post there if it hasn't been posted yet.
Re: bangs ruining suggestions: you can put the bang at the end of the query instead of at the beginning.
They try to show what you want to see, but it often means something else.