- November 11, 2014
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Anatomy of a PR Crisis: Customers Want Answers Faster
October 7th, 2014: the day “Belkin broke the Internet”.
As reported by TechCrunch, ISPs (internet service providers) started getting a flood of calls from angry customers and small business owners who were unable to access the Internet. It soon became apparent that the problem was with certain Belkin routers, not the Internet service provider. But an explanation from Belkin was nowhere to be found.
@PattMerry @BelkinCares thats because belkin has goofed up and not admitting it. Being open and honest will go a long way #belkingate
— Uttiya Basu (@uttiyab) October 7, 2014
Overwhelmed By early morning on the 7th, social networks exploded with flooded angry Tweets and posts on the company’s Facebook page. Belkin’s phone support and even the company’s website were quickly overwhelmed.
@belkincares Major @belkin FAIL. Routers stopped working across the country, website is down and phone support keeps disconnecting. 
— Channing Rollo (@channingrollo) October 7, 2014
Waiting is Hard
While technical difficulties may be beyond the control of marketing and PR professionals, how we respond to those issues can go a long way toward repairing damaged consumer relationships.
Yet despite all best practices for handling a social media crisis, the company that prides itself on “connecting the dots between people and the experiences they love” remained inexplicably silent.
@BelkinCares come on now guys this is ridiculous over an hour w/no word. if i dont get an answer Im going out and buying a @linksys router.
— proFANity (@pro_FAN_ity) October 7, 2014
@BelkinCares So, when is Belkin going to publish something on the website, Facebook page, or through this feed about router failure issues?
— MK Wood (@MKWood1) October 7, 2014
Say Something Sooner!
The problem became apparent around midnight on the 7th, but it wasn’t until well after noon – some 12 hours later – when Belkin finally acknowledged it on social networks, according to DSL Reports. But even then the company still didn’t fully explain the cause. To make matters even worse for Belkin, Reddit users had already posted a workaround! (Ouch!)
Letting a pervasive problem fester in silence for so long, without any statement or apology, clearly hurt the company’s service reputation, not to mention the productivity of its small business customers.
@belkin how could mess up this bad and not acknowledge or fix it for this long? never buying @belkin @BelkinCares equipment again
— Dan Arnett (@depauwdan) October 7, 2014
One irate Belkin customer on Twitter happened to be the CEO of a social media/PR agency:
@chetpipkin @BelkinCares @belkin Seriously. Whatever social media crisis communication plan you have in place needs a MAJOR review.
— Laura Spencer (@LauraSpencerOne) October 7, 2014
@LauraSpencerOne Our apologies for the frustration, Laura. We have a challenge on our telephony after receiving a… http://t.co/kX0bNCw1uk
— BelkinCares (@BelkinCares) October 8, 2014
Mea Culpas Do Matter
The company has since issued an explanation and an apology. Although it may have taken many hours to figure out the cause, the company could have acknowledged the issue much sooner and apologized to users for the inconvenience while it worked to find a solution.
Not sure how to handle unexpected PR and social disasters? Get real-world tips from our previous posts: “Who’s in Charge of Marketing “Right Now” at Your Company?”, “The Silver Lining In Customer Complaints”, and “Three Rules For Handling A Social Media Disaster”.
