Should we trust the J.D. Power Rankings anymore ?

[mithun]

In 2006 J.D. Power Rankings, I've noted some curious findings....

In Customer Satisfaction Index, Ford & Mahindra is at 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. How is that possible based upon T-BHPians perspective ?

In Tire Customer Satisfaction Index, MRF & JK Tyre is at the top positions respectively. How is that possible taking into consideration the traction, ride & handling of MRF & JK Tyre ? The favourites among the T-BHPians, Goodyear & Bridgestone are at the tail end.

The only digestible fact is that Tata is at the rock bottom in all the indexes !!!

So the ultimate question remains.......Do we need to trust the J.D. Power Rankings anymore ?

[theMAG]

Mithun,

While us TBhpians are a passionate lot abt things automotive,our passion is for fun and spreading the mirth informally.

Institutions like JD Power in the meantime have formal benchmark indices for everything they survey - since that's their job. Its upon these points against each defined category that a car/manufacturer is ranked.

Passion and market reality are typically divergent, more often the rule than the exception.

Having said that, JD Power may not be always spot-on.

[GTO]

One limitation of JD Surveys is that they focus only on whether the expectations are matched or not. It does not necessarily dictate which product is better. For e.g. I could have been happier with my Onida television (because my expectations were lower) than with my Sony LCD (because the premium price and brand raised my expectations). But which TV is better is anyones guess...

[w 12]

Conversely , you can also ask , whether you can trust Team - BHP opinions / likes / dislikes anymore !!

If Team _ BHP was driving the market opinion , Fialt Palio 1.6 would be the volume leader and OHC V tec would still be in production...Scorpio , Maruti 800 / omni , Esteem would be dead long back...

This is a forum for enthusiasts , who are in a minority..... JD Power is based on the principle of managing expectations.. Obviously your expectations are much higher in a car for which you paid 30 lacs than for one for which you paid 3 lacs..

Good for Ford & Mahindra...if they are tied at No. 2.. obviously they are faster on their feet than the competition.

[ravibhat]

Right said GTO, thats what I felt technically J.D. Power Rankings won't make any sense, bit its result of the survey they make.

Still in India car buyer is not doing much research when he shops for car, he (more than 80% of car buyers) picks blindly based on price, name tag, resale value, looks.

If we take technical and practical aspects into consideration we can't pick any beautifull cars from small ( M800 ..) to medium (NHC... upto 10 lacs budget..) segments of auto industry because all beautifully looking cars have one or other bugs and cars which are techincally great products are either affected bad service, bad name tag or costlier compared to competition.

Regards,

Ravi.

[devarshi84]

we at Team-bhp have a certain trend. We represent usually an urban crowd with a passion for automobiles albeit with some variation. But J.D. power takes into account the overall crowd. hence that also makes the difference.

[mithun]

If the sole aim of J.D. Power Rankings is to conduct market research to find out whether the consumer expectations are fulfilled, then how can someone trust it in any form as a reliable source ?

If we take the case of tyres, there is a little difference between the prices of JK Tyre & Bridgestone and if the Bridgestone fares better than the other in all aspects except in the cost factor, then how the better rating of JK tyre can be justified ???

I think these kind of rankings are useful only for the companies for their own marketing purposes !!!

[goldsun]

Certainly these rankings play a vital role in the marketing side. As well said by GTO, it is a ranking based on customer satisfaction. A customer is satisfied when his expectations are met. It also focuses on the customer and about the products that he has bought and is using. For instance, If I have bought Maruti SWIFT, the JD Power Survey focusses on how satisfied I am with SWIFT and in turn with Maruti and its dealer. Unless I have any negative feedback, it will be counted as positive. It all depends on the customer service capability of these companies. Who ever do better in satisfying their customers will be the toppers in this ranking.

The survey does not focus on the customer giving opinion on competitors' products which he or she is not using.

I had been once surveyed by JD Power when I was owning ALTO VX 1.1. They are very professional and they record the entire survey.

[esteem_lover]

i dont think that a customer is satisfied with Onida TV too. he is satisfied because he has not seen Sony or Panasonic. He has seen & bought Onida based on the salesman's & advt.'s advices & he feels he has made a good buy, even if he thinks otherwise, he does not want to say it. MRF & JK are OE fitments for almost all new vehicles. No wonder everyone is satisfied with their new cars

[hrag]

A good (old) read for you, mithun
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-we-think.html (Does it matter what “we” think?)