Product safety website can pose danger to companies

Manufacturers, retailer should deal with reports, says consultant

Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, July 15, 2011

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — There's a new federally sponsored website aimed at making consumer products safer, but it also can pose a danger for manufacturers and retailers, a consultant told American Home Furnishings Alliance members meeting here recently.

As part of a group exercise at the AHFA marketing meeting, Richard Tomkins of Cresent Fine Furniture explains how he and some fellow AHFA members would respond to a product complaint on SaferProduct.gov.

SaferProducts.gov, which went online in March, is the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's online forum where consumers can file reports on products they've been injured by, or ones they just consider dangerous, according to Meghan Gross of Boston-based MSL Boston.

It's one more way dissatisfied customers can complain online about products and potentially harm a brand's reputation and equity, Gross said. She spoke at the AHFA's annual marketing meeting, held here in late June.

Fortunately, the new website also offers a way for companies to respond to any reports of harm or risk. A good response can help limit the damage from a complaint, and can address a problem even before it gets posted on the site, she said.

Created by Congress in 2008, SaferProducts.gov is like a federal yelp.com or other consumer complaint sites - with a couple important differences, Gross said. For one, consumers have to disclose their email addresses to the CPSC in order to make a report, so there's no anonymous posting.

Manufacturers and retailers should register on the site, she said.

After the CPSC receives a report on a product, it has five days to notify the manufacturer of the complaint, according to Alex Filip, a CPSC public affairs spokesman. After that period, a company has 10 days to submit a response to the report. After that 15-day period, the report and response are posted online.

Companies can post a response at any time, even after the report is posted, Filip said.

If the CPSC determines a report is flawed - if it's about quality rather than a safety issue, for instance - it will not be posted, he added.

Gross suggested that companies act quickly after they learn of a product safety report. Aside from posting a report to the CPSC site, consumers can spread criticism on social media sites and "once your news is out there, good or bad, it gets magnified."

What's good about social media is that it's possible for a company to reply to a complaint quickly, starting a dialog that could lead to a resolution or at least an investigation of a complaint, Gross said. Companies also can work directly with a consumer, or work with the consumer through a retailer, to resolve a complaint.

To enable a quick response, it's important to develop a crisis plan before anything happens, she added - "When you're in a tense situation, you don't want your PR and legal teams butting heads."

It's also important for companies to monitor what's said about their brands in social media, and to participle actively in social media in order to respond to comments quickly, Gross said. Also, have regular media briefings with key trade and business reporters in your markets.

Manufacturers and importers also should keep safety track records and testing results for their products handy for quick reference in case anything is recalled or questioned. These should include products no longer on the market, since they can be a source of complaints as well, said Gross.

Dozens of reports and some responses on home furnishings products are already on SaferProducts.gov. To view them on the site, do an "advanced search" on the term furniture and check "reports," not recalls.