Wednesday, December 01, 2004

If you're down, show a little class

Proctor & Gamble had to do a product recall last week on a battery operated vacuum cleaner that they sold in the US market. The product could overheat in certain circumstances and they had received 14 complaints. I was impressed by the recall notice on the front of the website, it showed real class. Rather than hiding behind legalese, they put personality to it and even had it signed by 'Kris from the Swiffer team'. This conduct is likely to help them protect their Swiffer brand and reduce panic amongst consumers whilst still ensuring an orderly recall of the product.

I have pasted the copy below because I have no idea how long P&G will keep it on their website.

Swiffer Sweep+Vac

Important product news

As you know, we are very sorry to announce that Swiffer will be voluntarily recalling our new product, Sweep+Vac. The Sweep+Vac is our new battery-operated vacuum cleaner brought to you in September 2004.

We are pleased to reassure you that this product recall does not involve any of our other great Swiffer products.

We have identified an isolated Sweep+Vac product quality issue. Click here for complete details.

If you have this product at home, we are asking that you stop using the Sweep+Vac immediately and disconnect the Sweep+Vac by removing the top section of the handle. Click here for instructions on how to disassemble your Sweep+Vac.

Even though this issue has been observed in just a few Sweep+Vac units, we have taken this voluntary measure to ensure the highest standards of quality, safety, and satisfaction by recalling Sweep+Vac as quickly as possible. If you have purchased a Sweep+Vac, we would like to provide you with a refund. Click here for refund instructions.

We'd like to thank the initial consumers who alerted us to this problem. We are very committed to delivering the highest standard of product quality and take these types of issues very seriously.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued support of Swiffer,

Kris from the Swiffer team