To complain to Sainsbury’s about their Valentine’s balloons?

[BalloonTrauma]

I was blowing one up when it popped right in my face - forehead and cheeks now extremely painful, red and swollen. I wear glasses, so I don’t know if that had a protective impact, but I could have sustained a corneal abrasion or some eye injury... very scary to think about.

And it was still relatively small when it popped - hardly overinflated. I’ve never had this happen before either.

AIBU to complain about these bastard objects?

[quote BalloonTrauma]Genuinely struck by the research I’m reading and can’t switch off..but apparently MN knows best.

We have previously shown that heart-shaped balloons have a different explosion mechanism than spherical balloons in which the former splits into two rubber parts still attached to the balloon base with a backward whiplash motion. This backward whiplash motion may cause significant blunt ocular trauma if the balloon is inflated by mouth. In this article, the energy of the blunt ocular trauma is estimated by the high speed camera photos analysis of the balloon burst. Furthermore, we describe the followup of eight patients with ocular trauma following inflation of heart-shaped balloons.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25112115/[/quote]
I’ve definitely had some ocular trauma following some inflations near me in the past.

People should be taking this more seriously OP.

My Grandfather lost his leg blowing up a Sainsbury’s balloon.

Or was it during the war?

Can’t remember.

Can't wait to see this story in the Daily Mail.

The ludicrousness of this thread is giving me ocular trauma. I cannot now unsee it.

Bang goes your Valentine’s celebration, eh OP?

@Lalliella

The ludicrousness of this thread is giving me ocular trauma. I cannot now unsee it.

Bang goes your Valentine’s celebration, eh OP?

It’s some bizarre Valentines Day/Birthday crossover due to Sainsbury’s being too complicated. 🤷‍♀️

@Zevia

Be careful pursuing this. Could blow up in your face.

Genius

I think hope you may be more drunk than I.

We're all so down about lockdown, I feel the balloon market could really take off.

This is a pleasant change from the usual boring troll threads, I'll say that much. Points for originality!

Bursting into hysteria sounds painful.

You over-inflated a balloon like millions have done before. Do complain, Sainsbury staff need a good laugh.

What did we learn today @BalloonTrauma? (please don't change your username ever) - use a balloon pump and your eyes will be forever safe.

OP you are blowing this all out of proportion

However best log it with 101 just in case

@miraloma

Oh man, remember the poster who wanted to sue a water park for ripping her swimming cossie? The replies were epic

Yes I remember that one kil

The depressing realisation that I won't be getting a balloon for valentines....not because of the danger aspect but because no one loves me!

Is this a reverse? Ref, swollen face... are you the balloon OP?

I have a phobia of balloons 🎈

You sound all pumped up. Are you sure it was a balloon and not a making whoopee cushion?

Either way, you need to let it go

Bet that wasn't the bang you were expecting on valentine's day

They contained confetti.

Then I think you can rest east as confetti is unlikely to cause dangerous eye trauma unlike a solid, battery containing light fitting as was the case in the other incident 10 while years ago! I don't imagine dd will be traumatised for life from one bursting balloon unless she is particularly sensitive- although that can be learned behaviour so it's possible!

I don't think you deserve the mockery you have been getting but that is quite typical for a thread started late-night on a Friday evening when a lot of posters are either a bit tipsy, or feeling grumpy and antagonistic during to the amout of wippwer they are exerting through not getting tipsy.

However I don't think you can complain to Sainsbury's because having googled the product in question I can see that the labelling already says "It is advisable to use a balloon pump when inflating balloons" so they have already taken reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of the event you experienced. It isn't reasonable to expect any individual retailer to do more than this - if you want minimum quality standards to prevent retailers from selling balloons without a minimum level of structural integrity then that would be a matter to raise with your MP for universal legislation to be implemented. A retailer which adopted higher standards without such legislation would just be unable to match the prices of their competitors and it's not a viable business decision to do that.

Tipsy or grumpy? 😂

I have just completed some research into balloon accidents and the kind of incident OP refers to is not mentioned. It could be helpful to other balloonists if it was reported via Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)

asrs.arc.nasa.gov/publications/directline/dl9_balloon.htm

Crikey op, hope you're ok. I didn't know that about heart shaped balloons. Does it say you should use a pump to blow it up? If not then it's certainly worth a complaint if nothing else.