Aibu to be upset at barbie?

[thatcrookedsmile]

My daughter has just come in crying from yet another broken barbie.

This is because companies purposely make their products inferior to their older designs in order to ensure their product breaks or doesn't last. It's called planned obsolescence and its a bloody joke! when I was a child (90s-2000s) we used to be able to pop a barbie head back on. Now we can't because they've purposely changed the design to stop that, so you have to buy a replacement.

Well they've lost themselves a customer, after After years of buying barbie for my children and for other children as they are a good, sturdy toy, I'll have to stop. Despite her dirty face this barbie is only a couple of weeks old and the 5th since the last birthday (1.5 years ago) to snap, only to be binned.

I'm really annoyed, I've sent my first angry email.

Sorry to hear you are struggling, I am on a low wage so know what it's like. You do hear on here about parents routinely spending a couple of hundred per child at Christmas.

😂

I'd do this, or just buy other sturdier brands.

I don't get the people questioning why your daughter is snapping the heads off, I doubt its on purpose! Also the product shouldn't be so weak that a 5 year old can even do that.

Its normal for a 5 year old to drag their toys through all sorts, drop them, throw them around, be rough when dressing them etc. Any toy made for children this age should be able to withstand it

This has literally just happened to me actually. Phone just stopped working.

Hmmm I wonder if they’re all a bit random on the head front. Have just done a twist test with a couple of disney princess ones and one feels incredibly solid and the other one felt like it was a snap risk. You could start a mumset research project.

How long does your mobile phone last? Around about the same time it takes you to pay off the contract? Funny that.

Forgot to add quote.

My daughter has many many barbies and their heads have never come off. I think it must be your daughter 🙈

Mr. Frosty's arms always came off.
And he didn't make slush.
Mr. Frosty was awful.

@thatcrookedsmile ok serious time...
If that is the email you sent it's (no offense meant) quite poorly written. You've just ranted at them.
You needed to be clear with the facts, when and where you bought it (they may be able to trace which batch it came from) and when it broke.
You should provide clear photos and offer to send the doll to them if they want to check for any manufacturing issues or errors.
Make sure you are emailing the correct department (customer services I assume).
Big toy companies are generally good at handling complaints - providing the complaint is sent via the correct methods.

There are often Barbies on the local Freegle/Freecycle pages if that helps

Maybe it's your kid that's the problem and not the manufacturer?

They do feel flimsier than they used to be but we've never had a head come off one either.
Charity shops are usually full of them if you want older ones.

That pic of the decapitated Barbie gladdened my heart - best thing that could happen to it! I wouldn’t have one in the house when my DDs were kids. Fortunately they never asked for one, and are now grown up feminists.

The toy companies should be forced by law to make toys that are repairable with individual parts available to order.

Heads on the new ones do snap and many are of inferior cheap plastic quality. May be the OP's child is more imaginative than others' kids or plays in a wider variety of ways or plays more rather than constantly being sedated with screens. Nothing wrong with good imagination and fun.

Barbie legs & arms were always shiny and non bendy when I was a kid. Partly why I preferred Sindy - she had the posable limbs. She definitely also had a pop off head, but I don’t recall Barbie’s decapitation coping ability. Neither of them had hair you could ‘trim’.

The Barbies I had in the 90s had heads you could kind of squish back on. She looked a bit weird afterwards but maybe after major surgery like that it's to be expected and I shouldn't body-shame poor Barbie 😔

I'm sorry your little one is upset. I'm sure you could use some superglue and it'll be ok. It seems like the kind of thing where she's probably learned now that her Barbies can break easily and will know how to avoid it happening next time.

This. My, then, 8 month old broke a toy (designed for 9 months to 2 years!) by standing on it. I emailed and received a voucher from the manufacturer. You have to do it properly.

May be a few too many and she didn't play much with any one of them? I don't know why you are questioning the OP and supporting the business that makes inferior quality toys. Heads do snap on them quite a lot.
The email looks good.

I suspect to keep the cost down they changed the materials and sent the manufacturing to China.

you can buy a Barbie for £13.99, fish and chips for two costs more, so it’s hardly surprising they are shit. They look plastic now, whereas before I’m sure the head and neck was rubber at least.

I like the idea of buying vintage off eBay, although I suspect some of them may cost more than the new plastic ones.

Not really, she's providing general feedback for their marketing, why should she be doing their work and helping them trace batches, etc.
Emails to customer service generally stay with customer service teams and do not reach decision-makers or have any impact.
If she wanted a refund, she should have contacted CS, but not to give general consumer feedback. The email looks good.

My daughter has loads of Barbies and not one head has ever broken off. What on earth is your daughter doing to them?

5 dolls? Surely you've got to realise the issue is with your child. My daughters have tons of barbies and not once has this happened.

We only ever had one barbie beheading at our house. She think your DD might be too rough if she's gone through five in a year.

Definitely don't buy new, tbh I'd fee very very guilty buying a brand new barbie. So plastic-y

Superglue should work for this.