The 12 duds of Christmas 2007
Posted
Dec 28 2007, 11:47 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.
Some items under the tree bring joy and satisfaction. Others produce a heartfelt "bah, humbug!"
In the latter category you'll find "the 12 duds of Christmas," our annual roundup of the year's worst consumer products. Some are good products poorly produced. Some were simply ill-conceived to begin with. And for some reason, China seemed to play a recurring role in this year's list.
Oh, by the way, we consider only U.S.-based consumer products and services for the duds dishonor. And, no, government agencies and elected officials are not eligible. Good thing, too.
Here, then, are our picks for "the 12 duds" for 2007.
Tainted pet food
. In March, pet owners alarmed by the deaths or sickness of their animals were shocked to learn that their pet food might be responsible. Menu Foods, a Canadian pet food producer, recalled many of its brands of dog and cat food after it was revealed that wheat gluten in the food appeared to be tainted with a toxic substance, initially identified as rat poison. In the weeks and months that followed, more brands of pet food were recalled. The finger of blame was quickly pointed at China, where most of the tainted ingredients originated.
By the end of the year, veterinarians trying to solve the mystery of the deaths blamed the combination of two chemicals the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found in the more than 60 million containers of recalled pet food: melamine and cyanuric acid.
Melamine is used to make plastic. Cyanuric acid is used to chlorinate pools. Neither is approved for use in pet food.
Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter
. ConAgra recalled all its Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter in February after the two brands were linked to a widespread salmonella outbreak. The outbreak was eventually traced to ConAgra’s Georgia manufacturing plant.
Though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention never linked the outbreak to any fatalities, families of five elderly consumers insist their loved ones were killed by the tainted products.
"My mother, age 60, ate about half a jar of tainted peanut butter for a week, she suffered flu-like symptoms, and, upon going to the emergency room, was taken into surgery and had her gall bladder, appendicitis and part of her intestine removed due to an infection. She died 4-25-07," Steve of Winter Springs, Fla., told us.
By CDC estimates, more than 625 consumers in 47 states became ill after eating peanut butter produced at ConAgra’s Georgia manufacturing plant. However, complaints received by ConsumerAffairs.com indicate many more illnesses likely occurred. ConAgra resumed selling the brands in August, saying it had thoroughly disinfected its plants.
Simplicity cribs
. In September, Simplicity Inc. recalled nearly 1 million cribs, including some that may have been recalled previously, after reports of at least three infant deaths. It turns out the cribs' drop-side can detach from the crib, which can create a dangerous gap and lead to the entrapment and suffocation of infants.
Aqua Dots. The words "toy" and "date rape drug" hardly belong in the same sentence. Unfortunately, they ended up there in November when more than 4 million Aqua Dots toys, made in China, were recalled in the U.S. because some parts contained the same ingredients that are in a powerful date rape drug.
Scientists analyzing the toy found that it is made with a chemical that, once ingested, converts into the drug GHB, a highly toxic compound known to cause feelings of euphoria, dizziness and unconsciousness.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said some children got sick -- a few passed out --after putting the toys in their mouths.
Ford trucks
. Food Motor Co. had a rough year financially, but it was nothing compared with what many Ford truck owners endured. In March, Ford recalled 155,000 pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles to fix a faulty cruise- control switch. The defect was suspected of causing fires in older- model Ford trucks.
Ford expanded the recall in August to include 3.6 million vehicles built between 1992 and 2004. But flaming Fords remained a hot topic all through the year. In September, ConsumerAffairs.com reported on a new Ford truck that seemed to simply burst into flames. Julie from Willits, Calif., tells the story of how her brother-in-law's 2007 Ford F150 caught fire in his driveway.
"He just brought his brand-new baby girl home three hours before," Julie wrote. "We were all sleeping in the house, when my sister woke to some sort of lights outside. She went to the window (and) she saw the Ford engulfed in 100-foot flames," Julie told ConsumerAffairs.com.
Subprime mortgages. The excesses of the runaway real estate market came into full view in 2007 with a wave of foreclosures. The culprit, most experts seemed to agree, was the subprime mortgage market that loosened lending standards to the point that people who could not really afford homes were able to buy them anyway, financing 100 percent of the purchase price and paying below-market "teaser" interest rates for two years before their mortgage payments would skyrocket -- sometimes by several hundred dollars a month.
Mortgage brokers made huge fees on these loans, before packaging and selling them to Wall Street. So, what did they care if the borrower eventually defaulted? As 2007 comes to a close, the extent of the damage caused by this particular product -- to consumers, the real estate market, global banking institutions and the U.S. economy -- are still being added up.
Whirlpool Flame Lock water heaters. The Whirlpool Flame Lock gas water heater continued to be one of the most frustrating appliances of 2007. The heater, which is sold only at Lowe's, requires frequent maintenance and, according to more than 100 ConsumerAffairs.com reader complaints, breaks down frequently.
The culprit appears to be the device's thermocouple, a standard part in water heaters that helps regulate water temperature and usually lasts for 10 years or more. Many ConsumerAffairs.com readers said their Whirlpool Flame Lock water heater worked less than six months before the thermocouple broke, followed by repeated malfunctions even after the part was replaced.
Compass, Westlake and YKS tires. Lots of things imported from China cost less, but as we've seen elsewhere in this list, paying less for something often can wind up costing a lot more. Such was the case with tires manufactured by China’s Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company Ltd. and imported to the U.S. by Foreign Tire Sales of New Jersey.
Foreign Tire Sales filed a "defect and non-compliance report" with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on July 2, saying the tires may not meet the minimum specifications provided to the tire manufacturer.
Affected tires lacked gum strips, an important part of a tire related to the prevention of tread separation. Tire treads could separate, consumers were warned, creating a potential safety hazard on the road. At least one serious accident was caused by such an occurrence with these tires.
There was just one problem. With nearly a half-million of the suspect tires on the road, the company said it lacked the resources to mount a recall. The befuddled feds shrugged, telling Congress that federal safety regulations are not adequate to deal with motor vehicle equipment importers refusing to recall defective products. In August, without waiting to see what the federal government would do, 24 states issued recalls for the tires.
Fisher-Price, et al. Parents who never gave much thought to where their children's toys originated were suddenly all too aware that most of those colorful playthings came from China, and therefore ran the risk of containing excessive amounts of lead paint.
Mattel recalled 38,000 Fisher-Price Go Diego Go toys because they -- like millions of other previously recalled toys -- contain too much lead paint. Go Diego Go was further singled out by the Boston consumer group World Against Toys Causing Harm, or WATCH, which placed it at the top of its "10 Worst Toys Of 2007" list.
Toy recalls ranged from cheap costume jewelry sold in dollar stores and vending machines to expensive Thomas and Friends train sets. Check the complete list of this year's toys and children's items recalls to be sure your home is safe.
Comcast. There were complaints galore in 2007 about cable TV and Internet giant Comcast. In October The Associated Press reported that Comcast actively interferes with subscribers who use peer-to-peer file-sharing programs such as BitTorrent.
AP reporter Peter Svensson said he found that using P2P services like BitTorrent to upload large files triggered a message that appeared to be from one of the users asking to block the communication -- but was actually from Comcast itself.
Two months earlier Comcast had warned subscribers to limit their downloading or risk a 12-month suspension of service. The problem, according to customer complaints, is that the telecom giant refuses to reveal how much downloading is too much.
Martha Stewart patio tables
. A true smash from the past, Martha Stewart's shatter-prone patio tables, one of our 2006 Duds, are back again. Just as in 2006, our 2007 in-box was filled with hundreds of complaints about the glass tops of these tables spontaneously shattering, launching shards as far as 12 feet from the table.
Almost all of these spontaneous explosions of glass took place in late spring or in summer, often when the table was removed from a cool storage location and placed in direct sunlight. Adding insult to injury, the tables' manufacturer, JRA Furniture, filed for bankruptcy, making the warranty all but worthless. The filing came as the company faced a class-action lawsuit in connection with the exploding tables.
LitterMaid cat litter box
. This one might sound trivial, but for cat owners, worried all year about contaminated pet food and dangerous pet toys, this was the last straw.
The LitterMaid is supposed to be a pet owner's dream -- a self-cleaning cat box. When the devices didn't work as advertised, many consumers were not very happy.
"The company did not adhere to warranty agreement based on the information I provided them," Louis, of San Marcos, Calif., told ConsumerAffairs.com. "Product failed in less than a year's time and was still under warranty."
Who are the good guys?
Can't anyone do anything right?
It just so happens there are a few companies that are complaint-free, or close to it. Out of nearly 300,000 complaints, we have exactly none about Lands' End, only four for Nordstrom and just a handful for Trader Joe's.
We have tried, through our Good Guys section, to ferret out trouble-free products and retailers. But between businesses trying to game the system and consumers complaining loudly about what they consider undeserved praise, we've never quite found the right formula.
It's true, of course, that many, if not most, transactions come off trouble-free each day. We try to highlight the ones most likely to go askew, so that at least consumers can have a little warning of how bad things can get just when you least expect it.
Not everyone likes what we do, but we think it's helpful and we hope you do too. Thanks to everyone who wrote to us this year. By sharing your experience, you have helped spread the word about troublesome companies and products.
Other articles of interest at ConsumerAffairs.com:
"Complicated return policies mean more unhappy returns"
"Gift cards should be used quickly"
"As credit delinquency rises, so does credit relief scrutiny"
