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Our tables rating individual firms will be more valuable to you if you know how the data were gathered and how they should be interpreted.
We regularly survey area CHECKBOOK and Consumer Reports subscribers for their feedback on services they have used. For our survey on video equipment repair shops, we asked consumers to rate their experiences with firms they had most recently used "inferior," "adequate," or "superior" on several aspects of service, including "doing work properly on the first try," "starting and completing work promptly," "letting you know cost early," "advice on service options and costs," and "overall performance." The ratings tables show the percent of each firm's surveyed customers who rated it "superior" (as opposed to "inferior" or "adequate") on each question. The ratings tables also show the percent of each firm's surveyed customers who rated it "adequate" or "superior" (as opposed to "inferior") for "overall performance."
We have included on our ratings tables all of the firms for which we received at least 10 ratings on our customer survey. If a firm is not listed on our ratings tables, it simply means we did not receive at least 10 ratings for it; that fact has no negative or positive implications.
Since many firms were rated by rather small numbers of raters, small differences between two firms in the percentage of raters who gave a particular rating (say, "superior") should be ignored. The table below gives a rough guide to minimum differences you should look for in deciding on one firm over another.
When using these survey data, remember that the questions are to some degree subjective and that the differences among firms might be explained by differences in the personalities, backgrounds, critical standards, and other characteristics of the raters or by biases these raters might have.
For firms evaluated in our last full, published report, our ratings tables show the number of complaints on file with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington (BBB) for a recent three-year period, and the number of complaints on file with local government consumer protection offices for a recent two-year period.
You can check current BBB complaint information on any firm by searching the website of the BBB where the firm is located. To view a current report for firms listed in our ratings tables, click on the firm's name and, in the details under the firm's listing, click the link under "Complaints" to go directly to the BBB's most up-to-date report on any complaints about the firm.
When using the complaint information, keep in mind that complaints are not always justified; sometimes the customer is unreasonable. And remember that we didn't have a measure of business volume-everything else being equal, large firms are more likely than smaller firms to incur complaints simply because they serve more customers.
We always recommend that you look for substantial differences in complaint counts and rates. We also advise giving little weight to complaint counts if the total count against a firm is less than three or four.
Information reported on our ratings tables regarding types of equipment repaired and estimate fees came directly from the firms' representatives. We each firm and completed a survey over the phone, then followed up with a mailed verification form.
All of the data must be interpreted in view of timeliness. Our customer survey data are from surveys conducted from September 2002 to April 2011. Survey respondents were asked to report on experiences in the preceding year. Our data on complaints for the government offices of consumer affairs are for a two-year period dating back from October 31, 2007. For the BBB, the data are for a three-year period dating back from a date between January 7 and March 28, 2008. The data from our survey of firms were collected from November to December 2007.
Our ratings tables include firms for which we collected 10 or more ratings on our customer survey during the customer survey period mentioned above, but we do not report data for periods prior to firms' changes of name and ownership. As a result, some large firms are not listed at all. If only name or ownership changed, we do report the data. Changes subsequent to the dates listed above may not be taken into account.
We give checkmarks to firms that score highest on a scoring system that we devise for each service field. Our scoring systems weight the various data in our tables and text based on our subjective judgment of their importance. Since the scores are based entirely on information presented, you can apply your own subjective judgments, and decide whether you prefer firms we have not given checkmarks. Where we do not have important data on a firm, we cannot give our checkmark.
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