After my 'shoddy toys' complaint, an expensive toy from a compay that prides itself on safety has left DS injured and hysterically upset

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

I bought these for DS for Christmas and they fast became his favourite toy.

They are for recommended age 3+, DS is 5 and ASD .They came with no safety instructions or similar so I allowed him to play with them unsupervised, especially as he loved looking at his nightlight 'through them' if he woke up in the night.

This morning DD came dashing into my room saying 'Ds is hurt mummy'. I ran in and found him in bed, it was soaked with different colours of water, and covered in shards of what is supposedly acrylic, but feels and had shattered like glass. It was all over his pillow and duvet and his face is badly scratched, I assume from where he was sleeping on the shards.

I have no idea how but every last one of the blocks was smashed, he must have been banging them together as all his other toys are out of reach at night. It must have happened in the middle of the night as it has soaked right through to the other side of his mattress.

He's also stained in lovely hues of yellow red and blue which have only slightly faded after a bath. He has also refused to go into school as he is devastated .

I am furious about this.

Is it my fault, do I have grounds to complain? How do I complain if so?

logo gah! have lost the ability to spell properly.

Message withdrawn

I don't want to be a spoilsport but I would want to look very long and hard at those light balls before handing them to a test-to-destruction inclined 5yo - the ones I have seen can be 'skinned' relatively easily to reveal batteries...

stealthsquiggle - Oh I will for sure.

These lookes so perfectly safe though - no biits to chip away at, no bits to unscrew, no batteries that are easy to get to (I no longer have remotes in my house, sigh)

Glow sticks may be good - he doesn't like to chew things, he may however bend and twist them to destruction.

Wouldn't he be distraught at the death of every glowstick, though ?

Yes there's that too - he will have the biggest tantrum when a lightbulb blows in the house.

Message withdrawn

Not glowsticks, we bought them when we went to africa in the hopes it would distract DD from not having daddy or her toys.
She managed to snap the bloody thing leaving glow in the dark liquid spilled all over the sheets and her hands.
We didn't say anything and the sheets went off to be washed, just hope they washed them before it got dark

Don't expect an answer from them today (or even tomorrow), as today (Monday) is a bank holiday in America.

Ah thanks for that - I'll wait until Thursday, then try calling.

As someone who works in a related industry where we have to know a bit about safety testing, I would contact Amazon AND Plan Toys. If they have any sense they will need to do a product recall. It may be that these were a faulty batch, or there may be an inherent design fault. Either way, the toys should have passed all the relevant toy safety testing, and it is clear that these are a danger to children whatever their age. The reason they will say not suitable for children under 3 is due to the small parts contained inside as these are a choking hazard. However, that's irrelevant. they toys are not fit for purpose, and are not robust and your son has been injured. Keep all the bits - it is likely they will ask you to send them back so they can test them. Take photos for your own purposes.

If the company was being really churlish (and most aren't where safety is concerned) they may try to say that you shouldn't have left your DS unsupervised, but this is not something that you could have prevented by being there.

FWIW, toys like this usually have riogourous testing, they are stretched, dropped from a great height, frozen, then dropped again so my money is on it being a faulty batch.

Make sure you contact Amazon as well as Plan Toys, as they may want to withdraw them from sale on their site. And you may get your money back. I agree that you should contact trading standards as well.

Also, wanted to add that US safety standards in some areas are more rigourous due to the the litigous market. The toys will have to meet ASTM standards - sorry I can't remember the exact code. You might also like to point out that had your DS been at a stage when he mouthed objects, he could have choked to death.

To let you all know I'm making good progress with this.

Amazon sent a shoddy and frannkly rude response to my complaints which has made me think I will no longer shop with them.

However I have been in contact with plan usa who have been wonderful and are taking it very seriously - also just got a call from the distributor in the UK (Marbel Ltd) and he was very helpful - he is very concerned and they are no longer shipping the blocks out until the investigation is finished.

I'll let you know what happens next.

Good news that you are being taken seriously. I'm dissapointed in Amazon, i would have hoped their customer service would be better than this. A very short sighted approach from them which will lose them customers in the long run.