Why Samsung’s reputation won’t go up in flames

What do mobile phone maker Samsung have in common with British car manufacturer Vauxhall and the kitchen appliance company Whirlpool?

You might say that some of their products are so hot – they could literally burst into flames. They have issued a statement that leaves consumers in no doubt where they stand with their potentially faulty products.

Samsung have asked owners of the apparently combustible Samsung Galaxy 7 Note to turn off their devices without delay and announced that they will be stopping production of the device immediately.

Note: It’s a smart move. Could you image the damage a burning phone could do in a confined space like a car, a train carriage or a plane? That would be truly catastrophic (in real terms and not just PR).

In doing so, Samsung will no doubt be taking a huge financial hit (reportedly about $19 billion) and will undoubtedly suffer an embarrassing loss of reputation in the short term.

However, in the long term they are taking responsibility for their own failings and being seen to put the welfare of their customers before their desire to make money.

While consumers may poke fun at Samsung in the short term, they will also remember that after a little toing and froing the company made the right decision to protect their customers and their brand before anyone was seriously injured or worse.

I have little doubt that Samsung will bounce back from this crisis. Consumers are after all a fickle bunch and as nobody has died, this is a story that will blow over as soon as the company releases their next model. I mean, it’s not as if Samsung have done something really stupid like removing the headphone jack from their mobile devices (yet).