"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
Smarty wrote:
"aemeijers" wrote in message


man, learn to trim! :^/

By 'self selected':
1. They only survey subscribers, who are by definition not regular
consumers, but rather people who consider themselves smart shoppers.
2. What reply rate do they get on their surveys? I'd be real surprised if
it is over 20-30 percent. Again, self selected.
3. I'm no expert, but I have written or evaluated a few customer surveys
over the years. I found 2 clusters of typical replies- people who are
****ed, and people who are still trying to justify their purchase (to
themselves, spouse, whatever. I dunno.) People who bought something to do
a job, and find that it works, are seldom motivated to report on their
experience, IMHO. What do you do with the pop-up surveys on vendor web
sites? You made your purchase already, or sent in your trouble ticket, or
whatever. What is the motivation to fill out the survey, unless you still
want to vent?

In this age of disposable products and essentially meaningless warranties,
I don't think there ARE any valid indicators of quality and reliability
for consumer goods, other than the shadow indicator of overall/ongoing
sales figures and repeat business. It isn't like industrial or commercial
equipment, where every service call and warranty claim are logged by
vendor and customer, and problem brands and vendors do not get the repeat
business. When I buy 20-30 K worth of hardware from a vendor, he REALLY
wants me to be happy, so I'll come back. Something doesn't work, I get a
swapout shipped overnight, or they send a tech out. When I buy a 20 dollar
item at Wally World, neither the manufacturer or reseller really care-
they already have my money. Any further contact with me is just an expense
to them.

How do I judge quality of consumer items? School of hard knocks, mainly. I
look real hard at the demo unit in the store, run my hands over it, see if
it feels like flimsy junk, look at the fit, finish, machining and plating
quality, so on and so forth. Once you have been buying things a few years,
junk usually announces itself pretty well, as does quality. (Best example
is hand tools- if it feels wrong in your hand, it is probably crap.) If I
an buying remotely, like on line, I'll go by what brands have served me
well in the past, as well as the informed opinions (however anecdotal) of
people I know and trust who have purchased from that manufacturer before.

--
aem sends, rant depleted....

I may be entirely atypical, but I consistently submit their survey each year
with the good, the bad, and the ugly all reported as honestly as I can. I
don't personally subscribe to the opinion that only self-selected and highly
opinionated replies with disgruntled consumers comprise their results. The
Lexus survey shows their car to be nearly perfect in terms of its aging
characteristics, and the opposite is true for some other brands, with every
type of good and bad in between.

I think there ***ARE*** valid indicators of quality and reliability, and I,
for one, would much rather buy a mattress which has withstood tens of
thousands of testing impacts without collapse rather than buy one which
falls apart in the same testing sequence. Ditto for most other items they
test. If anything, I would argue that a world of crappy products and even
crappier warrantees ***DEMANDS*** that consumers apply whatever selection
methods they can to make an informed decision. I categorically reject the
notion that complex and expensive items should be purchased ad hoc, or by
any "dumbed-down" method which entirely overlooks intrinsic design or build
quality.

For many items, the methods you recommend make a great deal of sense to me,
and I too use all of my own powers of observation to make the right choice.
The look, the feel, the heft, the fit, the finish, etc........ This
inspection approach is very useful, necessary, but not sufficient in many
cases however, since they are often far too superficial. I will entrust
somebody with good instruments to measure my future tires, mattresses, cars,
and many other items where the observations from eyes and hands are not
enough. Anecdotal opinions and past experience are both also very useful,
but again not enough to really answer the question for most purchases. As an
engineer, I will admit that I tend to sweat a lot of details and worry a lot
of nit-picking points, so I don't presume others have the time, inclination,
or technical interest / background to dissect and analyze some of this
stuff. And they are clearly entitled to their choices no more or no less
than I am.

Smarty