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Don’t let problems fester
By Lauren | June 25, 2010
Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, I’m a little surprised that I’m about to praise the Tabernacle of Fast Food, McDonald’s. Yes, I know, a lot of the food there is bad for you and the marketing focuses all too effectively on credulous children. Nonetheless, the company’s management did something surprisingly right recently, and they offer a lesson that other businesses would be wise to follow.
Specifically, McDonald’s made a set of “collectors glasses” with characters from the Shrek movies available for purchase. (Since when does any worthless piece of junk become “collectible” just because there are three or four other similar pieces of junk available to make up a set? But I digress …) It soon came out that the glasses contained potentially hazardous levels of cadmium, a carcinogen that can cause kidney damage. McDonald’s swiftly issued a voluntary recall, actually offering to buy the glasses back from customers for a little more than they paid for them in the first place. There was no shilly-shallying, no fingerpointing at the manufacturer, no waiting until a regulator intervened and forced a recall, and no dodgy denials from company brass. It was quick, effective, and brilliant. Even people who hate fast food have to admit that McDonald’s showed a lot of class in handling the recall.
All too often, companies drag their feet when they discover a product defect, but I’ve never understood why. After all, it’s not as though defective products are going to fix themselves, and leaving them out in the market just hoping they won’t hurt anyone is about as ineffective a strategy as a company could have. Acting quickly and decisively to recall defective products before they injure consumers is a great way to build your company’s reputation and strengthen customer trust and loyalty. Oh, and there’s another benefit … every customer that you protect from being injured by a defective product is a customer who won’t take your company to court. Hey Ronald, way to go!
Topics: Business Ethics, Lauren Recommends, Risk Management, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |
July 5th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Impressive and true, but this advice is often ignored by companies that claim to be reputable. We all make mistakes but we need to address them and solve problems in a timely manner, instead of trying to fool customers and others, such as the general public.
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