Product recalls increasing, but are they publicised enough?
A record 229 products were recalled from sale in the UK last year – an increase of 12%. But do we always hear about them – or could companies do more to publicise these recalls to customers?
Maybe I need to read the papers more carefully, but I can’t remember seeing more than a couple of articles about product recalls in 2010. So how come last year saw the highest number of recalls ever recorded, with 229 products taken off shelves?
Admittedly, not every recall is going to make exciting headlines – the exploding Candy washing machines that left German consumers diving for cover being the exception rather than the rule.
And if they can’t get a story in the paper, the other ways companies can publicise a recall aren’t likely to reach everyone. These include notices on their websites and in stores, adverts, and in the case of electronic goods, emails to customers who’ve registered the product online.
But it’s still important that they do everything possible to let the public know about recalls, especially as some faults aren’t immediately apparent.
Most parents wouldn’t have been aware of any potential problems with Maclaren pushchairs until the company recalled 1 million of its pushchairs in the US in November 2009, for example. The fallout from that story led to more than 40 British families banding together to sue Maclaren and subsequently receiving compensation from the company.
So tell us: have you bought a product that’s later been recalled? Do you think companies could do more to publicise recalls – if so, how should they let consumers know when there’s a fault with a product?
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dieseltaylor
Where can I see a list of all 229 products?
BTW this was interesting from the linked article:
“Highest number of recalls ever recorded during the past year
Toy recalls represent 43% of all Chinese-made product recalls in UK
62% of consumer recalls of products from China”
though the article could have been clearer as I take it that 43% of the Chinese products recalled are in fact toys. Therefore excluding toys the % of consumer recalls relating to consumer products is actually nearly 30%. A significant amount for those of us who do not have children to conjure with..
Matt Clear
Unfortunately, I’ve contacted the law firm which carried out the research and the full list isn’t publicly available. Sorry about that!
30% does seem like a significant amount. To judge exactly how significant, I guess you’d need to know how many of the goods sold in the UK are made in China, but that information doesn’t seem to be easily available.