Clearing up confusion
Aug. 27th, 2008 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkI've edited my previous post about the dog toys, but I thought I'd post again just to make sure it's all clear. (And should make clear that I don't have any personal vendetta, and I'm not saying that dog owners shouldn't be reponsible for their pets, but, well... in my opinion the company here has been kind of scummy, and scummy or not the toys are dangerous, and people should be aware of the potential risk.)
Anyhow, clarification:
The hole in the ball was not chewed by the dog. It was pre drilled, a deliberate feature of the toy. As far as I know the toy was brand new at the time that this whole mess took place. (I can only assume it was to make the ball more "chewy" since it would allow it to be squished flat, where a sealed ball would have internal pressure keeping it round. Either that or the designers were crazed sadists, but that's unlikely.)
The toys have now been recalled. The press release says that the recall is due to a manufacturing defect. Since it's very obvious (especially if you have a look at this vet's account, though the vet himself doesn't seem to understand what happened) that the hole was a design feature, not a defet, this honestly is a HUGE strike against the company, that they would lie and invent an silly story about needing to send the VP to inspect the factory, rather than fess up to having poor design, and makes me more likely to believe the third point, which is...
The first report of a dog injured this way (badly enough that it had to be put down) was in 2005, and at that time the company promised the dog's owner that they would fix the "defect" but in fact did nothing at all.
Also, although the pimple ball has supposedly been recalled, it is still listed as being for sale on that very same Four Paws site. Hopefully this is just an oversight, but it's possible that it's not, and that the press release is really a PR smoke screen and a recall will not actually take place. Unlikely, I admit, but still possible. They've had two days to remove the product from their sales page. While I know that corporate web design can often go slowly, and removing the item and all traces of it without leaving broken links probably will take more time than they've had, simply replacing the sales text with a link to the recall page should be well within their abilities, and ought to be done, rather than leaving the sales page up with no indication that there's been a recall. Honestly how many of us look at a company's press releases? We just look at their products. If they were really as "deeply concerned" as they say they are, why have they missed the very website on which the press release was posted? (And once again I have to ask about this "defect" nonsense. The hole is very clearly a design feature, so wtf people?)
Oh, and several of their other toys, which have NOT been recalled, have this same "defect" ie. a single small hole in the side of a sealed rubber shape. So even if it's not a ball, I'd be wary of anything like that, were I a dog owner.
Hopefully all this clears up a few things.
Anyhow, clarification:
The hole in the ball was not chewed by the dog. It was pre drilled, a deliberate feature of the toy. As far as I know the toy was brand new at the time that this whole mess took place. (I can only assume it was to make the ball more "chewy" since it would allow it to be squished flat, where a sealed ball would have internal pressure keeping it round. Either that or the designers were crazed sadists, but that's unlikely.)
The toys have now been recalled. The press release says that the recall is due to a manufacturing defect. Since it's very obvious (especially if you have a look at this vet's account, though the vet himself doesn't seem to understand what happened) that the hole was a design feature, not a defet, this honestly is a HUGE strike against the company, that they would lie and invent an silly story about needing to send the VP to inspect the factory, rather than fess up to having poor design, and makes me more likely to believe the third point, which is...
The first report of a dog injured this way (badly enough that it had to be put down) was in 2005, and at that time the company promised the dog's owner that they would fix the "defect" but in fact did nothing at all.
Also, although the pimple ball has supposedly been recalled, it is still listed as being for sale on that very same Four Paws site. Hopefully this is just an oversight, but it's possible that it's not, and that the press release is really a PR smoke screen and a recall will not actually take place. Unlikely, I admit, but still possible. They've had two days to remove the product from their sales page. While I know that corporate web design can often go slowly, and removing the item and all traces of it without leaving broken links probably will take more time than they've had, simply replacing the sales text with a link to the recall page should be well within their abilities, and ought to be done, rather than leaving the sales page up with no indication that there's been a recall. Honestly how many of us look at a company's press releases? We just look at their products. If they were really as "deeply concerned" as they say they are, why have they missed the very website on which the press release was posted? (And once again I have to ask about this "defect" nonsense. The hole is very clearly a design feature, so wtf people?)
Oh, and several of their other toys, which have NOT been recalled, have this same "defect" ie. a single small hole in the side of a sealed rubber shape. So even if it's not a ball, I'd be wary of anything like that, were I a dog owner.
Hopefully all this clears up a few things.