Product Recall? Plum climbing frames

Ch1mps

The point of the CE mark, or the BS mark, is that it is actually marked on the toy its self. It may be on the packaging, but who keeps the packaging of a huge play set? No one. However, people do keep assembly instructions and owners manuals and there is NO mention of ANY safety standards on those. Argos have knowingly sold unsafe play frames and thats why theres been no national press recall and they are trying to get peoples frames of them pretty damn quick!

BBC Watchdog are in the process of contacting people who have reported this problem.

Argos, the !!!! is rising and there's alot of people standing on your head!

OlliesDad

Why are people still posting on this matter? You have argued all you can with argos and got nowhere. You have 3 options now:

a)Accept the money offered
b)Take civil action against Argos
c)Keep the product in the knowledge that it will break soon

Catherine Bell, if you had been a regular on these boards for a while you would know that Neil is not an Argos member of staff. The reason that he is saying the same as Argos is because Argos are offering the legal minimum (this is all Neil was pointing out). It is also the same response i thought of when i was reading the OP. I am sure everybody agrees that it would be good customer services to offer more, but that is not what these boards are about.

neilmcl

Ch1mps wrote: »

The point of the CE mark, or the BS mark, is that it is actually marked on the toy its self. It may be on the packaging, but who keeps the packaging of a huge play set? As I said there is no legal requirement to have it printed on the item itself, as long it was on the packaging. No one. However, people do keep assembly instructions and owners manuals and there is NO mention of ANY safety standards on those. Argos have knowingly sold unsafe play frames and thats why theres been no national press recall and they are trying to get peoples frames of them pretty damn quick! And I suppose you can prove this wild and potentially libellous allegation then.

BBC Watchdog are in the process of contacting people who have reported this problem.

Argos, the !!!! is rising and there's alot of people standing on your head!

...............

Ch1mps

Oh dear, Neil, you seem to have taken my last post out of context,

My point is (A) Argos did sell me the play set.
and (B) They know it is dangerous because they have recalled it.

Sorry if it implies anything but the facts, and for the sake of fair play I fully retract the statement in question.

keith.brown7

finally got a letter from argos, rang the number and was told i would be contacted within 48hrs, got a call today, was offered £266.53p or the meercat when it became available in may, asked about why argos were handling complaints and not plum products and was told that it was a business decision made by both of them, thing is, both myself and my father in law (who knows just about everything and dotes on his grandchildren so wouldnt want to see them come to any harm) have looked very closely at all the wood on our tacoma and apart from the actual rungs on the ladder and monkey bars, which do look a bit tatty, cannot see any sign of rot, have gone along every inch of plastic coated wood, tapping it, squeezing it, looking for signs of deterioration, but cannot find any faults.

Mike_Canham

It seem's many of us are in the same situation, what's the next step.
Do we really think we can challenge Argos over this poor customer service, I do but not sure in what direction to turn. Maybe Argos should supply a press release to explain their decision and clarify the recall instead of giving us a freephone number which you never get a reply from.

Ch1mps

BBC Watchdog are currently contacting all those that have made contact with them through their website.
Join the facebook group "Plumb product playcentre- Argos ripped me off!" We currently have 48 members but there were around 5000 of these playsets sold in the UK.
The more peolple that contact Watchdog the more this will snowball, and then it may help us all get a better deal from Plum and/or Argos.

jagojon

added my name to the list of watchdog fans, i cant even get Argos to call me back :mad:

trubble

Why are people complaining when argos are trying to sort this out?

The plum playcentre we have is a pile of feature-laden cheap junk - which is why we only paid 399 for it! Surely when you all built it you thought "hmmm, this isn't going to last very long...?". It's rubbish, it's cheap, but it works - if you follow the instructions AND LOOK AFTER IT AND INSPECT IT REGULARLY. Painting it, checking it, looking after it.
Try and claim on a 12 year warranty, claiming a fault with a home-assembled item that's never been professionally inspected, and needs weather proofing every 12 months and see how far you get. Not very far. You might get some replacement parts, that'll involve virtually rebuilding the playset from scratch to fit the new bits.

People posting here seem to think they can get something like the meerkat - made from much much higher quality wood from the pictures I've seen - along with all the bells and whistles the cheapo one has, for the same amount of money. Sorry, but no chance! It'd be the wrong side of £500 for starters.
You can't get something for nothing. Well, not without whinging I s'pose.

And as for a full refund, that won't happen - not in the UK with the law covering wear and tear. Sorry, but there isn't a snowballs chance in hell you'll get your full 399 back, with or without watchdog. You can choose something else out of the catalogue - doesn't just have to be a meerkat playcentre you know! If little jonny is upset he's losing his swings, get him a trampoline or bicycle instead. Then sue when he falls off it.

From what I've worked out, argos have a specific department to deal with this - when you phone them, the general call centre staff email the 'plum' dept and they then phone you back - which is why it takes ages to get in contact with them. Took me over a week, with calls every day, to get anywhere - no good argos - take note!! There should be a dedicated phone number - the rotten swings hotline.

Anyway, I've dismantled our swing set today, and am keeping some of the non-plastic-coated bits as discussed with argos - they won't miss 'em anyway, and have a heap of plastic-coated wood in the front garden now for argos to collect. Our replacement item arrives shortly. I'll then add the swings to a new frame I'll make, and bolt the slide on too. Result! But I suppose I'm slightly odd, in that I didn't immediately see dollar signs in front of my eyes when I read argos's letters.

The logistics of what argos are trying to do don't bear thinking about. So give 'em a break.

And breathe..

Catherine_Bell

trubble wrote: »

Why are people complaining when argos are trying to sort this out?

The plum playcentre we have is a pile of feature-laden cheap junk - which is why we only paid 399 for it! Surely when you all built it you thought "hmmm, this isn't going to last very long...?". It's rubbish, it's cheap, but it works - if you follow the instructions AND LOOK AFTER IT AND INSPECT IT REGULARLY. Painting it, checking it, looking after it.
Try and claim on a 12 year warranty, claiming a fault with a home-assembled item that's never been professionally inspected, and needs weather proofing every 12 months and see how far you get. Not very far. You might get some replacement parts, that'll involve virtually rebuilding the playset from scratch to fit the new bits.

People posting here seem to think they can get something like the meerkat - made from much much higher quality wood from the pictures I've seen - along with all the bells and whistles the cheapo one has, for the same amount of money. Sorry, but no chance! It'd be the wrong side of £500 for starters.
You can't get something for nothing. Well, not without whinging I s'pose.

And as for a full refund, that won't happen - not in the UK with the law covering wear and tear. Sorry, but there isn't a snowballs chance in hell you'll get your full 399 back, with or without watchdog. You can choose something else out of the catalogue - doesn't just have to be a meerkat playcentre you know! If little jonny is upset he's losing his swings, get him a trampoline or bicycle instead. Then sue when he falls off it.

From what I've worked out, argos have a specific department to deal with this - when you phone them, the general call centre staff email the 'plum' dept and they then phone you back - which is why it takes ages to get in contact with them. Took me over a week, with calls every day, to get anywhere - no good argos - take note!! There should be a dedicated phone number - the rotten swings hotline.

Anyway, I've dismantled our swing set today, and am keeping some of the non-plastic-coated bits as discussed with argos - they won't miss 'em anyway, and have a heap of plastic-coated wood in the front garden now for argos to collect. Our replacement item arrives shortly. I'll then add the swings to a new frame I'll make, and bolt the slide on too. Result! But I suppose I'm slightly odd, in that I didn't immediately see dollar signs in front of my eyes when I read argos's letters.

The logistics of what argos are trying to do don't bear thinking about. So give 'em a break.

And breathe..

Strange post. Lack of smilies means we don't know if you are being sarcastic or not. Content doesn't clarify it either. Are you happy with what they have offered? Are you happy to accept that they feel your time for reconstruction is worth nothing?