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> When asked to recall the manufacturer of the appliance that broke down, Kenmore was named more than any other brand, accounting for 21 per cent — or about one
by computator 7y ago
> When asked to recall the manufacturer of the appliance that broke down, Kenmore was named more than any other brand, accounting for 21 per cent — or about one in five — of all appliance breakdowns in Canada.
The above makes me wonder if they understand probabality and statistics. Kenmore is an extremely popular and long-standing brand in Canada. Of course a popular brand is going to have more breakdowns on an absolute basis than unpopular brands.
If they had said something like, "Kenmore owners named Kenmore appliances as breaking down more often than owners of other brands", then I'd have more confidence that they corrected for the popularity, but they didn't say it that way.
- yellow_lead 7y agoI was thinking the same thing. The fact that they rank the most "broken down" brands is amusing too. Of course these just represent the five most popular.
- kitcar 7y agoKenmore also doesn't manufacture most (any?) of their appliances, making this "study" even more nonsensical.
- Igelau 7y agoIndeed. From the case in the article: > Brun del Re struggled to find a fix for his relatively new Kenmore refrigerator... the compressor, made by LG, had quit.
- joezydeco 7y agoThey never manufactured any of their appliances. There never was a Kenmore factory. Kenmore has been a brand label of Sears since the mail-order catalog days. Almost any and every manufacturer out there has been relabeled as a Kenmore at one time or another, from kitchen appliances (GE, Whirlpool, Amana, LG, Frigidaire, etc) to lawn mowers (Black & Decker, Briggs & Stratton) to air conditioners (GE, Fedders, Carrier, Amana). Similarly, the Die-Hard brand was used for automotive parts and the Craftsman brand was used for tools. Again, all made by other companies (Johnson Controls, Exide, Skil, Black & Decker, Stanley, Chamberlain, etc). What the OP article really points to is the breakdown of Sears in Canada, which for a long time was way stronger and more stable than the American side.
- userbinator 7y agoBriggs & Stratton They never made lawnmowers, but they made a lot of engines for them and other things.
- kevin_nisbet 7y agoI had this same thought when I watched the segment the other day, and I've had the same questions with other Marketplace segments. At least with what they talk about, they give no indications that they follow a proper statistical approach and account for market size, sample selection, etc. That said, marketplace has put pressure on companies and governments for action in other cases, so I suspect they are a net positive for consumer protection in Canada. So even if the stats are bad, if the over dramatic format helps push right to repair or other consumer protection, it's likely still a win. Just would be more compelling if it was a proper analysis or indicated a proper analysis took place. I actually did a bit of work on the receiving side of one of their segments once, about a runaway cell phone bill, although it was primarily tackled by another engineer. Turned out it was a third party app the subscriber had downloaded that didn't handle permanent failures in the email protocol for attachment size, so it would sit in a retry loop to send an email while the phone was on. As can probably be expected, standard support wouldn't be able to figure something like that out, and it would die inside telco support. A little embarrassment from the CBC and the right people took a look, the app gets fixed, bill credited, etc. (This was before phone would really indicate what apps were using data). *My views are my own, and don't represent any position of current or former employers.
- timbit42 7y agoI'd check Consumer Reports. Probably the same quality in both countries.