WARNING coca-cola glasses are dangerous!

RandyRos

My youngest (11) was drinking out of a free glass from Coke Zone (collect codes from coke bottles) last night just before bed. It was the first time the glass had been used and it SHATTERED in her mouth as she tipped it up to drink.

She has been left with 2 small cuts to her cheek and a cut on her bottom lip, which bled profusely. Apart from that, the poor child was terrified and (for now, at least) refuses to drink out of glasses. Thankfully the injuries are minor and she didn't swallow any glass.

This is not the first time. An Olympics coke glass we got from McDonalds also cracked after only a few uses, thankfully no-one was using it at the time.
We have now put all coke glasses out to go to the bottle bank and I am warning everyone I can of the danger.

I phoned Coke Zone UK and was put through to America, where a woman with the voice and compassion of a robot took my complaint, gave me a ticket number and said it'll be 5-7 working days before someone contacts me. !!!!!!???

I'm going to write to Coke Zone uk (who do have an office in the uk) and send the pics I've taken, along with a complaint.

Azari

RandyRos wrote: »

Apart from that, the poor child was terrified and (for now, at least) refuses to drink out of glasses.

It's a pity that for the sake of her health and her teeth it didn't put her off drinking Coke.

RandyRos

she was drinking squash. my kids dont drink much fizzy, not that I need to justify anything to anyone

Azari

RandyRos wrote: »

she was drinking squash. my kids dont drink much fizzy, not that I need to justify anything to anyone

I wasn't having a go or criticising.

I just thought that if someone was going to be put off something it would be better if it was sugar/phosphoric acid laden drinks.

System

The problem with these glasses from coke zone and Mcdonalds are they are basically free cheap glasses. Obviously you don't want them to smash when being used but I would be reluctant to let a child use them as things like this can happen.

As a matter of interest what do you want the outcome of this complaint to be? Are you not tempted just to wait until they phone you back to discuss this?

RandyRos

my reason for posting this is to warn anyone else who has these free glasses, so no-one else gets hurt. After all, I cant be the only one to get one from the coke zone & there must be thousands of Olympic ones about. If I can stop anyone else getting hurt, then I will be happy. I don't want another mother having to witness the horror on her childs face when a glass just disintigrates in their mouth. My daughter was lucky she came away with only 3 small cuts & didnt swallow any glass. It terrified us both.

I dont care if they are free, they should not break unless knocked or damaged, surely thats a basic safety standard on all drinking vessels? If not, it should be.

I am not going to buy any coke products ever again, that's for sure! I'm not demanding that everyone else boycotts coca cola, I dont have the right to tell others what to do with their lives.

I am going to wait for the phone call, whilst sending my complaint to the UK coke office. I HOPE that they recall all coke zone glasses, thats my aim. But I know its unlikely, so thats why I am warning people.

clewleswan

I think the issue here is not whether these glasses are cheap or free. We can't say that there is no complaint to be made because they were cheap or free.

If I was invite my friends round for lunch and then feed them food that had gone off and they all went away poorly, would it be ok because they hadn't paid for it?

Nothing is free. Coca Cola give away these glasses as part of their marketing and brand loyalty work. They do it to ensure their future profits. Not out of the goodness of their hearts.

It is not ok to sell or give away 'drinking glasses' that are not safe for that purpose. As I understand it, this time the child was traumatised but mostly unhurt physically. What if the poor kid had accidentally swallowed a piece of the broken glass? Would that have been ok because the glass was cheap or free?

System

I would argue that these coke glasses will pass standard safety checks. As they are cheap and mass produced you are always going to get the odd one or two that is poorly made and shatters easier.

There is no chance that Coke are going to recall all Coke zone glasses because 1 girl has suffered 2 small cuts. If alot of people had this problem then maybe they would so it is worth bringing to their attention like you have done.

However boycotting every coke product because a free glass shattered seems a ridiculous over reaction!

System

clewleswan wrote: »

I
Nothing is free. Coca Cola give away these glasses as part of their marketing and brand loyalty work.

But they are actually free?

When you get a free coke glass from Mcdonalds that has cost you nothing. Its a free product. The fact that is forms part of Mcdonalds and Coca Cola's advertising campaign costs the consumer nothing and is therefore irrelevant.

pimento

They're not free. You have to drink gallons of Coke to earn enough points for a 'free' glass. Better off using your points for a tshirt (like I did).

clewleswan

goater78 wrote: »

But they are actually free?

When you get a free coke glass from Mcdonalds that has cost you nothing. Its a free product. The fact that is forms part of Mcdonalds and Coca Cola's advertising campaign costs the consumer nothing and is therefore irrelevant.

So if they are free, can I walk into MacDonalds and ask for a couple of hundred of them without buying anything? Probably not, because they are not free.

Everything a corporation does costs the consumer. It has to be that way. They are profit driven, and have to be because they are businesses. We can't knock them for that. Its not wrong to make a living. It is wrong to suggest that they do anything for free. The glass may come with a zero price tag to the end consumer, but somewhere in the accounts and business plan, when setting the price for ALL their products, and estimating demand and sales etc, and therefore profit, there will be a bit to work out how much profit per unit every product has to bring in in order to cover all the costs including that of marketing and promotion. And therefore nothing they 'give away' is really free.

As these glasses are being given away at MacDonalds, it seems likely to me that Coca Cola's incentive is that most MacDonalds customers will have a drink with their meal with most likely is licensed to the Coca Cola Company, thus they do it for their profits. MacDonalds could sign a contract with a competitor to Coca Cola to supply the soft drinks. Coca Cola therefore have to give an incentive to MacDonalds. These 'free' glasses go to MacDonald's customers, thus building brand loyalty to MacDonalds too, which is obviously good for MacDonalds, but is also good for whoever supplies most of the drinks at MacDonalds, ie Coca Cola.

See, not free.

Its all irrelavent anyway. The fact remains, the glasses are clearly dangerous.