Got a free Uncle Ben's rice bowl when purchasing 4 Uncle Ben's products in Super Value Blackrock a couple of weeks back. On Friday last I was putting some spaghetti into the bowl when it exploded in to about 50 pieces. The shards were like daggers and they ended up all over my kitchen. Just imagine if this was put in front of a small child or anyone for that matter. I have complained to Masterfoods who appear to have fobbed me off to the manufacturer of the bowl as I got a phone call from their agent today wishing to examine the pieces. Be careful if you have one of these.
Cost and purchase price are two separate things. Some poor bastard out in China probably susbsumed cost of manufacturing the bowl so that we could get it "free"? Be that as it may, the manufacturer should not be putting people at risk with possibly dangerous or faulty goods so there is a legitimate complaint here (assuming it didn't say not microwave proof or something like that one it). Maybe the rice bowl was not compatible with spaghetti?
I contacted Masterfoods about the exploding bowl on Monday. They said they would get back to me that day.
They didn't.
Instead I got a phone call from Arc International who manufacture the bowl. As the manufacturers they were concerned that one of their products might be dangerous. They asked if they could collect the pieces. I wasn't sure about this.
I contacted the Department of Consumer Affairs. I was advised to divide the pieces of the broken bowl in to 5 lots. Give one lot to SuperValue. One lot to Masterfoods. One lot to Arc International. One lot to the Department of Consumer affairs. I was to keep one lot.
Still no word from Masterfoods so I rang them again. I really wanted to deal with them and not a glass manufacturer. I thought that they as owners of the product might like to take the responsibility. They said they were a sales office and weren't interested in the pieces of glass. They said they couldn't see the point in returning some pieces to SuperValue. I was asked if I was looking for compensation. If it was money I was looking for I would have to sue the manufacturer of the bowl. They could only give me a hamper of "goodies".
I explained to them that the bowl had shattered into shards. If it had been put in front of a child it might have blinded the child. It was a dangerous bowl. I was told that all of the bowls were tested beforehand and that they had no other complaints.
I couldn't understand and became upset at the tone of this conversation and asked to speak with someone else. I was told that I couldn't and that I had to deal with her.
Later that evening I received a phone call from someone senior in Masterfoods and she apologised for the way I was being treated. She said that she would gladly collect the pieces.
I have now given Masterfoods their pieces, I have given Arc International their pieces and I have given the Department of Consumer affairs their pieces.
The department of Consumer Affairs have said that it will take up to 5 weeks before they can deal with the matter.
In the interest of safety I have done my bit. However I am concerned at the lack of urgency that others are showing. Then again, I wonder should I even bother if no one else cares.
Just wondering if it would be worth trying to repeat the experiment. There is a chance that you were just unlucky with the bowl you got. If you could repeat it, you may well have a stronger case.
If you are truly concerned for this happening with someone else, there'd be no harm getting on to Joe Duffy. Maybe then the responsible parties would listen up and do something about it.
we have one too and it appears to be ok. but try this
two years ago while draining - yes,none other than spagetti, into the kitchen sink it cracked, and a split appeared. the sink was about 5 years old and to be fair to the insurance company (allianz) they refunded on the new sink. we now usually run a cold tap while draining spagetti.
assume you had already drained the spagetti.
It was the first time using the bowl. The bowl was at room temperature. We transferred the spaghetti from the pot into the bowl using one of those kitchens tools for lifting spaghetti. It exploded a few seconds later. Masterfoods have been back on to me stating that they are sending the pieces back to the manufacturer Arc International. A big outfit apparently. They say they test all their bowls by raising the temperature on each of them and then cooling them quickly. It was the fact that the bowl exploded into sharp shards that bothered me. Normally I would expect something designed for hot food to break in to two or three pieces. And the pieces to have rounded edges. I have been told that if it has been used a few times without incident then it is highly unlikely to explode. So if you have these and have been using them then they should be o.k. I was told that this is the second reported incident.
Two months since reporting this incident to the Dept. of Consumer affairs and two months since I dropped in the broken pieces of the bowl. Not a response, letter, phone call from them. Why did I bother?
Pass the problem on to someone else...don't give your name..
On the Marian Finnucane show yesterday a person stated that she made a complaint to the Department of Consumer Affairs concerning the practice of travel agents of charging a fee for booking holidays via credit card. Apparently the advice the Department of Consumer Affairs gave to the complainant was TO RING HER BANK????? Wow!
Got a nice hamper of goodies from Masterfoods and a €150 cheque for a meal out for the upset.
Interestingly enough, to date not even as much as a phone call from the Department of Consumer affairs. These are the people who asked me to separate the broken pieces in to 5 separate lots. I delivered one lot to them as they wanted to check it out. They said that they would be back to me within 5 weeks.!!!!
..... concerning the practice of travel agents of charging a fee for booking holidays via credit card. Apparently the advice the Department of Consumer Affairs gave to the complainant was TO RING HER BANK?
This is the correct procedure AFTER asking for a seperate receipt for the charge for booking by CC. The bank will issue a refund to your card. Note that the travel agent can charge for a CC transaction if over the phone but cannot charge (as above) if you are in the shop personally.
It's now six months since I contacted the Dept.Of Consumer affairs about my exploding Uncle Ben's rice bowl. These people in the product safety division said that they would get back to me after 5 weeks. To date no one has contacted me, so last week I decided to give them a call.
I was told by the person answering the phone that "this case was closed". I asked to speak to someone in the product safety division to be told that "everyone there was on a course". I left a message and asked for someone to ring me when they returned from the course.
Nobody bothered.
I rang again a week later to be told by a gentleman that he hadn't returned my call because he had a long list of people to contact. He said that I should have received an acknowledgement last November when I first brought the exploding bowl to their attention. He said that I should have received a report after their investigations were completed. He couldn't understand why this had not happened and would have to search the building for the file and get back to me. To date he hasn't.
I asked a for a supervisor/manager to ring me so that I could make a complaint. To date he hasn't.
These are the people who are supposed to be looking after our interests. My advice if you have a problem.
Don't bother......
