All things equal, brand names are your assurance of quality. Of course that doesn't imply that the product or service will be perfect. But a company that's been around for years or even decades certainly cares a lot more about its reputation than one that's here to day, and gone tomorrow.

That said, it don't mean you can't good quality without it (I own many generic product like batteries, bike helmet, camera equipment, etc.), but you have to do a lot more homework to make sure you're getting what you pay for, and that the company will stand behind it, should something go wrong.