Reliable Tech Brands Survey 2009 Results

The results of PCWorld.com’s survey of reliable tech brands in 2009 have been released. The survey polled around 45,000 visitors to PCWorld.com about the “mechanical soundness” and the “quality of tech support” of their products – including printers.

The key observations? Canon scored highest among popular brands – rating ‘Better’ for 7/9 surveyed criteria. Hewlett Packard scored lowest – ranking a dismal ‘Worse’ for 6/9 surveyed criteria and 0/9 for ‘Better’.

PCWorld.com’s writer Christopher Null begins his 26 January report with the moot observation that reliability is important to consumers. He appeals to factual data as a more reliable test of a brand’s reliability (natch) than anecdote.

However, it is difficult to see anything factual in PCWorld.com’s survey; the exact method of polling is unstated. Were the 45,000 recipients given nine options from which to choose, or are the released graphs a reconstruction of PCWorld.com’s raw data? If boxes marked ‘n/a’ indicate that PCWorld ‘received too few responses to rate the company on this measure,’ how many was their minimum?

Were respondents polled only once, or could repeat visitors register their opinions again? Might this skew the results? - after all, consumers are most vocal when complaining.

In short, why has PCWorld.com not deigned to report the methodology of their survey? Why are their graphs not bolstered by raw numbers? The value of the survey to PCWorld.com’s marketing department is obvious; perhaps they are reluctant to share their data with their competitors.

Perhaps PCWorld.com believes consumers will trust blindly to something representing itself as factual. Null states that consumers can “obtain some hard data” from the PCWorld.com survey; in fact, the only statistic is that 45,000 visitors were polled.

What is troubling is that PCWorld.com (a commercial entity not a journalistic one) uses the data withheld from consumers as a basis to question printer brands. Rather – PCWorld.com assumes the function of a journalist (to inform readers) while withholding the numbers that legitimise their assuming this function.

The report features the response of Joel Schilling – VP at Hewlett Packard’s American Customer Support Operations – to his company’s “dismal” ranking. What is surprising is not Schilling’s statement, but that he took PCWorld.com seriously.

Probably there is something in PCWorld.com’s survey; and their results have interest (Hewlett Packard ranking last? In 2008 they had 34% global market share!) The 48,000 respondents aside though, whether the survey is more reliable than a friend’s anecdote is another matter.