[CRISIS COMM] Samsung’s Hot New Phone
In early September, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 was recalled due to a malfunction that caused it to spontaneously catch fire. According to CNN.com, “Samsung said on September 2 that it would stop selling Galaxy Note 7s. The company has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage from fires, the CPSC said.”
This crisis was a very serious concern for Samsung, as the phones became a fire hazard. The Note 7 caused a plane in Louisville National Airport to be delayed as a man’s Samsung cell phone began smoking when he tried to power it down.
Samsung quickly reacted to this crisis and made a statement urging consumers to return their product as soon as possible. In their statement, Samsung told consumers they could either return the product and receive a replacement, or get a full refund. The decision was completely up to the consumer.
However, this came back to bite them when the replacement models they were giving started exploding as well. Samsung attempted to fix the issue quickly to save their sales and reputation, but ultimately made the situation worse by giving consumers defective replacement phones. This caused a very serious PR problem.
Forbes contributor, Melissa Agnes, explains what Samsung did wrong in their response to this crisis. “While it’s true that timely and informative communication is one of the secrets to successful crisis management in this day and age, it’s also equally important for those communications to be factual. Taking too long to communicate in a crisis will result in criticism, lack of control over messaging and can ultimately hurt your organization’s reputation and bottom line. But on the other hand, speaking too quickly can have equally damaging repercussions — a harsh lesson that Samsung is in the process of learning,” said Agnes.
The reports have become so bad that Samsung is being encouraged to just give up on the Note 7 for good. In an article from USA Today, it states, “By all accounts, this has been an unmitigated public relations disaster for the company, made more unfortunate by the fact that the Note 7 received glowing notices upon its arrival, helping Samsung regain its footing in, pardon the pun, the hotly competitive smartphone business.”
In an attempt to save the Note 7 and their reputation, Samsung made matters worse by sending out replacement phones that had the same issue as the exploding models. This caused an even bigger issue for the company and has damaged their reputation. They did not effectively handle the crisis and ultimately failed in solving the main problem. As a result, their phones have become a laughing stock and they have failed their consumers.