We’ve been talking for a while about the first project that we’ve been building, and today we’re pleased to be able to switch on the Product Recalls website.
The issue of product recalls is a tricky one. Some companies publish notices in the national newspapers or display a poster in their shop window. Some of these notices are published on the Trading Standards Institute website; others are published on the European Commission Consumer Affairs site. However, without checking these sources regularly, there is no easy way of discovering if something you have bought has been recalled.
The website aims to solve this problem. It collects UK and European product recall notices from the European Commission and publishes them via RSS and email. You can sign up for weekly or monthly email alerts, search the database of recalls for keywords (such as product or brand name), and subscribe to them through your RSS reader.
We’ve tried to build the site so that recalled products can easily be found in existing search engines – an issue not considered by some of the other solutions.
The site is in its first iteration, so we will be looking at how we can improve the offering over the next few months. In the mean time, take a look at the site and let us know any comments and suggestions you have.
I doubt I’m the first to think it, and probably won’t be the first to suggest it, but this is an excellent example of where Twitter could be used to disseminate information (rather than being a pure conversational tool).
It would be ideal if big shop chains such as Sainsbury’s and PC World could register you for recall information (only) when buying products such as blenders (the first entry on the new website was for a Starbuck’s Grinder) and laptops (with exploding batteries…) Manufacturers often do not issue privacy statements or do not keep you informed about product recalls.
With a product recall, I’ve often wondered if some obscure announcement by the company gives them any legal protection whatsoever, in the event of bad things happening. This site hopefully renders the question irrelevant anyway. Good idea!
[...] can now sign up to receive notifications by email and RSS for product recalls from the EU. Source: CF Labs Blog 1, CF Labs Blog 2 Originally published on 26/Jul/2009 23:07 in Consumer Focus Labs, General, [...]
I doubt I’m the first to think it, and probably won’t be the first to suggest it, but this is an excellent example of where Twitter could be used to disseminate information (rather than being a pure conversational tool).