For Product Issues, Many Don’t “Recall”
Is it mistrust, apathy, a lack of information, or stupidity that keeps millions of consumers from reacting to product recalls?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission oversaw nearly 500 recalls in 2009, affecting millions of items. Americans only return about 30 percent, the commission told the Washington Post in a story titled “A slew of defective products leaves consumers with recall fatigue."
One recent study found that 12 percent of Americans who knew they had recalled food at home ate it anyway, the Post reported.
Yikes.
In the last month, McDonald's, Kellogg, Proctor & Gamble, Lexus and Toyota have issued recalls. Toyota told the Post that only about half of the more than seven million affected by recalls over the past year have brought their vehicles in for service.
Missteps during a recall are failures at the Moments of Trust and can lead to a falloff in sales and loyalty.
Approximately 25 percent of consumers will go as far as to post negative comments about bad experiences, according to Accenture. Further, Accenture says that the single least satisfying aspect of service is the amount of time consumers have to wait to get a situation resolved.
Costco has succeeded more than most in having its members react to recalls.
According to the Post article, Costco uses the data gathered through cards carried by its 56 million club members and calls them within 24 hours if they have purchased a recalled item. The company follows up with a letter.
"When we get a recall notice, I can tell you everybody who bought that product, exactly where and when they bought that, and I have their phone and address," said Costco's Craig Wilson, assistant vice president for quality assurance and food safety. "I'll make a phone call the day the recall is announced, in a human voice, and the message goes right to them and tells them what's going on, in clear, easy-to-understand language."
The result is that the vast majority — in some cases 90 percent — of Costco customers return recalled products to the store, Wilson said.
Will anything change the overall American consumer mindset? This week, we saw the introduction of a smartphone application for consumers to receive recall information. In the U.S., approximately 1 in 5 mobile subscribers carries a smartphone.
“This technology can prevent untold illness and save lives," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Unless apathy and mistrust continue.
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