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>>Consumer _anything_ is going to be hit or miss. I kind of agree with that philosophy. I have friends who had bad customer experience with Bell for their cel

>>Consumer _anything_ is going to be hit or miss. I kind of agree with that philosophy. I have friends who had bad customer experience with Bell for their cell, have switched to Rogers, and for the rest of their lives will yell that Bell is horrible and Rogers is awesome. But I also have friends who did exactly the opposite thing from Rogers to Bell. I have friends who have had bad personal experience with TD Canada bank teller / customer service, and switched to CIBC, and will spend the rest of their lives telling everybody how TD is awful and CIBC is awesome. And I also have friends with exact opposite experience. One of my friendships completely deteriorated when they warned me to NEVER EVER shop at Canadian Tire. Why? In 1978 her dad had a bad experience with a Canadian Tire car shop in Regina. I made a mistake of engaging and discussing there are over 500 stores with tens of thousands of employees and millions of different experiences, EVERY company will have statistical error rate, and "This one time at a bandcamp something bad happened" might not form the pinnacle of my decision making process (not that bluntly of course:), I got a look like I'm an alien being and what KIND of friend doesn't immediately take another person's word to not shop somehwere, no follow-up questions asked???!?!!!11 Anyway :). Every company will have some percentage of bad customer experiences. Stories, even reviews, are a poor and maybe even deceptive way for a person to decide how to weigh their risks. I don't know of a perfect way because we don't have perfect information - what is Dell error rate compared to Lenovo compared to HP? I do agree that every company will have an error rate especially in their consumer stuff where we are explicitly not willing to pay for quality, and only pay, at best, for superficial specs or attributes. Nothing on that website has shown me any statistics or argument that Dell is special. Like others, I've had good experience with Dell business models, just like with Lenovo business models and HP business models. And I've tended to have bad experience with plasticky crap of consumer models.

julianlam 4y ago
For what it's worth, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that suggests Canadian Tire is not a chain that prides itself on quality — from LED bulbs that last a month, to their auto department that makes it a priority to overcharge and over diagnose ignorant drivers. Their markups are also a little nuts. If you can regularly discount items 90%, then you've been regularly overcharging. They have the moniker "crappy tire" for a reason.
- NikolaNovak 4y ago
  >>Their markups are also a little nuts. A store manager explained to me as a difference between "Every day low price" model and "High-Low Pricing" model, and it turns out different people have different preferences (and neither model alone guarantees high profitability - execution matters in either approach :). Apparently numerous retailers in USA tried to switch from High-Low pricing to Everyday low pricing model... and consumers HATED it and abandoned it in droves (look for JC Penney as the case study). Basically, we talk the good talk, but we want our juicy sales. >>their auto department that makes it a priority to overcharge and over diagnose ignorant drivers Agree, BUT, I have not yet found a chain that doesn't. Honestly. 20 years ago I became interested in Rallying as a motosport, learned a bit about cars, and have not had trust or faith in a car shop since. I've been to massive national chains, local franchises, mom and pop shops, and everything in between. They all talked the good talk, and they've all done horrible things in the background. I have STORIES :D . And if you tell me that you have found an honest guy... chances are, you just don't know you've been fooled yet. Business model demands it. As above - we talk the good talk, but we'll actually go to the scammy guy that quotes us 3 days and $1000, not the honest guy who quotes us 7 days and $2000. We'll complain when scammy guy then actually takes 9 days and $2500... and then immediately switch to another guy who quotes us low time and low prices. So it again comes down to - there's a lot of anecdotes and perceptions, but it's hard to get hard statistics that can guide a rational decision.

julianlam 4y ago

For what it's worth, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that suggests Canadian Tire is not a chain that prides itself on quality — from LED bulbs that last a month, to their auto department that makes it a priority to overcharge and over diagnose ignorant drivers. Their markups are also a little nuts. If you can regularly discount items 90%, then you've been regularly overcharging. They have the moniker "crappy tire" for a reason.

NikolaNovak 4y ago
>>Their markups are also a little nuts. A store manager explained to me as a difference between "Every day low price" model and "High-Low Pricing" model, and it turns out different people have different preferences (and neither model alone guarantees high profitability - execution matters in either approach :). Apparently numerous retailers in USA tried to switch from High-Low pricing to Everyday low pricing model... and consumers HATED it and abandoned it in droves (look for JC Penney as the case study). Basically, we talk the good talk, but we want our juicy sales. >>their auto department that makes it a priority to overcharge and over diagnose ignorant drivers Agree, BUT, I have not yet found a chain that doesn't. Honestly. 20 years ago I became interested in Rallying as a motosport, learned a bit about cars, and have not had trust or faith in a car shop since. I've been to massive national chains, local franchises, mom and pop shops, and everything in between. They all talked the good talk, and they've all done horrible things in the background. I have STORIES :D . And if you tell me that you have found an honest guy... chances are, you just don't know you've been fooled yet. Business model demands it. As above - we talk the good talk, but we'll actually go to the scammy guy that quotes us 3 days and $1000, not the honest guy who quotes us 7 days and $2000. We'll complain when scammy guy then actually takes 9 days and $2500... and then immediately switch to another guy who quotes us low time and low prices. So it again comes down to - there's a lot of anecdotes and perceptions, but it's hard to get hard statistics that can guide a rational decision.