posted 01-28-2002 11:36 AM ET (US)         

Since last Fall GW has been using this result in most all their ads for months now.

JD Powers doesn't state how they obtained the list of owners which received the survey forums. Forums sent/given out were voluntarily filled out and return by the consumer.

You can purchase the entire survey results which include the number of responses for each boat brand, if you want to spend some decent bucks for it.

posted 01-28-2002 02:46 PM ET (US)         

http://www.boating-industry.com/news.asp?mode=4&N_ID=29090

posted 01-29-2002 12:21 PM ET (US)            

Seriously, though, it is precisely the marine industry's attitude which causes a failure in consumer confidence. Imagine a car manufacturer that "tested" products on consumers... they'd go out of business (or face class actions). Here is a novel placement for a fuel tank: oops they tend to cause explosions in accidents ... familiar?

Instead, here is a novel fuel system: hey! These motors grenade on transoms! Or, let's inject fuel directly into the cylinders: what? This doesn't work? Repair it under warranty, when you get around to it. Meanwhile, [fill in the blank with the name of your favorite boating magazine] will print reports telling everyone how great these motors are. Great! Ring the cash register, 'cause the marine consumer has no rights! Single clamp those through hulls, use plastic, forget bonding, screw the deck to the hull, don't waste time glassing in that plywood, floatation is for sissies, use cheap fittings that rust.

Sorry, I start to rant a smidgeon. One of the reasons we buy Whalers (and Grady's, I suppose) is that through their reputation we try and avoid the lemon problem. Where (or if) Whaler starts hiding behind the lack of consumer protection laws, ultimately they will cause the demise of the brand.

Brunswick (listen up): don't start making SeaRays with foam and calling them Whalers. And don't hang junk on the transom just because you happen to build the junk in a different division. Stand behind the product of your own free will (and make your dealers do likewise) then farces like Grady as #1 will be things of the past.

posted 01-29-2002 11:09 PM ET (US)            

BUT, If the astute reader looks to the paragraph above the opinion of farce in my previous post, they will see a grudging admission that people buy Whalers and Gradys for pretty much the same reasons and same appreciation of quality. This is an implicit agreement with the sentiment that is leveled against the posting....

So what about the farce: that Brunswick can so have lost track of the ball that people are in the position of rating Gradys more highly than Whalers. The rant is mainly directed to Brunswick. Would you have expected that result 15 years ago? Have Grady merely caught up to a finite level of achievable quality? Or has Brunswick simply failed to move the ball out of Grady (and Pursuit)'s reach. My guess is more probably the later.

I also suspect that there is also a problem with the way that these surveys are conducted -- apart from the statistical process, there is a failure to take into account the type of person who would be a respondent -- a psychodynamic failure, if you will. I wonder if someone could break down the nature of the Grady buyer versus the Whaler or any other buyer to determine their experience level and other demographics: that is, do they know what the heck they are talking about when they consider their newly purchased boat? How many boats have they owned before buying a NEW Grady? Do they know the difference? Have they been out in a Regulator before saying that their Grady handles well -- what is their reference of comparison? Have they seen how an Intrepid's systems are laid out before commenting on the fit and finish of the Grady? And so on. In my books most of these surveys and magazine reviews are highly suspect (so I should probably not get so worked up about them).

Just to make myself clear (as mud): I rather admire Gradys as a good looking and competently built boat (though I bought a Whaler) they seem like nice boats. I just can't conceive of where I would actually buy one ... given different sets of mission needs, I come up with different boats every time. None being Gradys, especially with price factored in. But #1, irrespective of what the surveys must represent, is an affront to Whaler lovers. Though I said it before already; don't go out and build SeaRays with foam and call them Whalers.

posted 01-30-2002 01:00 AM ET (US)            

I don't know if J. D. Power results actually measure quality, they just measure the buyer's perception of quality. So if Grady buyers perceived more quality and were more satisfied than Whaler buyers, that's what it was, a perception.

I also think the J. D. Power guys know how to get the tail wagging the dog, or the dog chasing its tail. They tantilize the public and the companies with announcements of the results. The winner buys into it immediately to use as a marketing endorsement. Next thing you know every ad for the winner's boat has some insert with a blurb about "No. 1 in J. D. Power survey."

That forces everyone else into the game, trying to oust the winner so they can stake a claim to being No. 1 in the survey and use it in their advertising.

In all of this does the quality go up? Hard to say.

Whaler probably has to buy the (very expensive) whole survey resuls to find out what element they scored lower. After writing a big check to J. D. Power they find out that it was some stupid thing like the color of their carpet that cost them.

Next year all the boats get new carpet, maybe even pre-tested by another J. D. Power survey to see what scores best.

There was a great article in the WSJ last week about how car companies, particularly luxury car brands like Mercedes, are now testing for how things sound. They get a panel of people and let them listen to different sounds of accessories like electric window motors. When the survey panel indicates a certain motor has the best sound, that is the sound they try to get in their car window motors. Same for other elements in the car, especially the engine sounds. It has to have the right note or it sounds cheap or junky. Again, these are all preceptions of quality. It might be that the best window motor does not sound good, so they use another one!