Advice Needed - Baby Einstein Don't Care

[ProudDad67]

Hi all,

New to MumsNet, so take it easy with me...

I sent this email to Baby Einstein on 14th Feb, which will explain the issue:

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Good Morning,

We bought two of your products last year, as we'd heard great things about your company and how it stimulates and promotes baby learning.

However, it seems we've encountered the same problem on two products; they are:

Rainforest Discovery Centre 

Rainforest Play Gym (Penguin Teether)

The stickers on the teethers have started to come off and we were alarmed as we cannot find all of the pieces of the stickers, so our little one might have ingested not only the sticker but the adhesive you use to apply it - very, very worrying, as you can imagine.

Obviously, we are furious (and disappointed) with your company and products and have since ceased using them with our 6 month old. I would appreciate a response to this matter, as I'm that angry about it that I want to take it to a higher body but wanted to hear your reply first.

I await your response.

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I had their stock reply email saying that they would be in contact within 48 hours and then, a day later, got this:

Dear Charles,

Thank you so much for your e-mail. We sincerely appreciate the time you took to contact us and your interest in our products. At the Baby Einstein Company, resolving your issue is important to us.

Since our Disney Guest Services department handles safety concerns regarding our products, I would like to have them contact you directly. Would you please send me your daytime phone number and your address and I will have them contact you to assist with this matter?

If you have any other questions or comments feel free to contact me by email or phone at 1-800-793-1454 option 5.

Thank you!

Mary
The Baby Einstein Company

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However, from such a quick response, we heard nothing for 5 days, as I sent our contact details and explained we were in the UK, on the 15th

I have written back, on the 20th with the following:

Hi,

With such a serious issue as this, I would have expected someone ring back fairly quickly.

As you have not called the number below, sent to you over a week ago, I take it you're not bothered about me highlighting this defect or working to find a solution.

Therefore, unless I hear from you tomorrow, I will take this to Mumsnet (the largest and most vocal parenting group in the UK) and Trading Standards (to warn of the defect).

I await your reply,

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Nothing...

So, my questions are: has anyone else had a problem with this? How do I get any answer at all from an American Company that I cannot afford to ring and how do I go about taking this to Trading Standards?

Some advice would be gratefully appreciated. Being a new Dad, I find myself being a lot more concerned about these things than I thought I'd be...:)

Loving it all, though!
Thanks (in advance),

Sorry but is it just that stickers are coming off? Slightly OTT reaction IMO

In all honesty, if all your LO ever ingests that is not ment for human consumption is some stickers (with or without adhesive), I'd be amazed .

I would put it down to experience, not buy any further Baby Einstein products and move on.

Yes, they should have got back to you.

But you are overreacting over a sticker.

Thanks for your replies.

Sometimes, you just feel like checking to make sure..:)

However, the reason I asked is I would hate one of the stickers to come off and then block a baby's windpipe (or they have a reaction to the adhesive) and I could've alerted someone to it. Why would any company, making toys for babies, put a sticker with adhesive on a teether?

But your overwhelming opinion is just to let it lie, so thanks again for your input..

Did you not think to take the stickers off before you gave them to your baby?

Your threat of invoking the wrath of MN makes you sound a bit unhinged, TBH. I was with you till that point!

Purepurple - the stickers come stuck on quite tight, so taking them off isn't easy (they don't just peel off like normal stickers). However, over time, as the little one sucks and bites on the teether, it breaks down the adhesive and they start peeling.

It looks like a design flaw and wanted Baby Einstein to acknowledge that there may be a potential issue.

Now we know about the problem, we've taken the teethers off both products. Would a parent that doesn't know about this do the same? Just wanted to highlight the issue...

Domestics Lantern - how else am I going to get the attention of a faceless American company who cannot be bothered to reply when they say they would?

Mumsnet have done a lot of good work and always appear on News Programmes when there are issues that affect children, hence why I used their name as they are an influential pressure group; maybe that was a poor decision.

And I'd rather be classed as 'unhinged' rather than 'apathetic'. With these replies, maybe I should go back and fit the social norm of 'let the mother deal with it'.

It's a sticker, not the end of the world.

I'd be pretty annoyed if my baby swallowed a sticker from a teething product. It's quite clearly a design flaw, and you are right to complain

Can I ask why you didn't just take it back to the shop where you bought it?

Jareth, I thought it was best to approach the manufacturer directly.

Allnew..thank you for being the sole voice, so far, that understands where I'm coming from - appreciated.

Update is that Baby Einstein have phoned today and are concerned about the issue and are currently dealing with the matter.

That's all I wanted from the start..