Last year, Kryptonite were accused of not listening to their customers or responding in an appropriate way after a story broke about how easy it was to pick one of their locks with a biro. The company have now expanded on what happened from theri side over on Naked Conversations. It drives home again how subjective reporting is, whether on a personal blog, a ‘news’ blog or in main stream media. Very few people can report nothing but the facts without fitering through their own world view.
In this case, Kryptonite were seen as unresponsive, not with it, ignoring the customer. As Donna Tocci explains, what they were doing was making sure they had something worth telling, a full response to resolve the issue, not a piecemeal reaction which may have ended up with themselves in a worse position. In response to some of the comments here’s Donna’s answer
“As you mentioned in your chapter, yes, there were lots of meetings and lots of planning before we announced our full plan. Countless. However, please give this a thought – if we didn’t have all of our ducks in a row, announced the plan and then couldn’t follow through with that plan for whatever reason (manufacturing, shipping, software) what would have been good about that? Don’t you think that would have made the issue even worse? We absolutely did.
So they made sure they had a good, solid plan in place before announcing it – and they have follwed through with it – but this isn’t ‘news’ so the coverage they have got is less.
A point where I’d agree with you in your chapter is that there wasn’t as much detailed coverage about the lock exchange program in the media or on blogs as there was of the ‘crisis’. Why? Again, with your collective experience, you understand that controversy ‘sells’.
As a consequence of the situation they found themselves in, Kyrptonite has changed the way they keep an eye on the world and also their plans for dealing with such things again.
What one person, or a small company, can do it research, before a crisis hits, which is always a time challenge, isn’t it? But now more important than ever! In that research, identify a list of folks to keep informed should a crisis hit – traditional media as well as recognized, credible bloggers. At least that is what we’ve done. Might still not be ‘right’, but we are getting there.
The process of putting the book together has been very open, allowing companies and individuals to comment and correct where needed, shaping the flow of the story and ensuring that, where possible, alternative views nad perceptions are put forward.
Whilst Donna takes time to answer such comments, Kyptonite continues its programme of delighting customers:
We stopped selling all tubular cylinder products immediately, including ones that were not effected. We have replaced hundreds of thousands of locks worldwide, much to the delight of the majority of our customers. Imagine having a 15-20
year old lock, that you have used regularly, being replaced with a brand new one at no cost to you.
