pet porte catflap

loulou1971_3

You do indeed have rights - the same as buying from a shop but with additions.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/online_shopping/your-rights/

James is, as far as I'm aware, a registered company as he has his own website.

I bought my (original) flap from James at microchipcatflaps.co.uk and had some difficulties at the time - the flap took nearly 2 months to come and his responses were few and far between with refusal to refund ("there's no point as it'll be back in stock in a week" etc) and excuses about awaiting stock and parts. I was pretty annoyed as his website had stated that it was in stock and I specifically ordered allowing plenty of time for it to arrive, be installed and have a week of checking it worked before going on holiday for a week. Instead we had to go away leaving our (stray) cat (who had arrived and decided to stay!) with a flap open to other cats.....

It did eventually come and was fine (old version which was current at the time) including normal 3 pin plug. He is obviously now getting rid of old stock including european versions.

Firstly you have the right to return the goods within a period of receipt even if you simply change your mind. Secondly if the fact that it came with a 2 pin plug was not clearly stated the item is not as described/not fit for purpose and also eligible for return.

Are you covered by Paypal? Did you use a credit card? These also give you options for complaint.

The only other thing I can suggest is to telephone Petporte (now Petsafe). I have always found them to be incredibly helpful - perhaps they can offer advice as the manufacturer. They may be interested to hear about the customer service being offered by one of their distributors.....

Good luck!

katini

Has anyone got any advice on how to stop the locks jamming open on the new style Pet Porte? I installed mine on Thursday and so far today have had to open it up 4 times and re-engage the green lock. The green plastic lever with the ball on the end which the lock rests on keeps slipping out causing the locking piece to drop. It's brand new so I will phone up Pet Porte on Monday but if anyone has any ideas what to do in the meantime I would be very grateful.

Oh and if you notice any odd additional letters in this post it's because it has been written with the help of a very inquisitive kitten wandering across the keyboard!! Unfortunately I can't blame him for my poor description of the locking parts!

morg_monster

I know exactly what you mean and no I haven't been able to fix it. We never see any other cats in our garden though so haven't done anything about fixing it. I'm sure pet porte will put you right.

cheapopete

Thanks mostly to reading this thread, I installed my new Pet Porte 'Smart Flap' catflap just over a week ago. I bought it from Petplanet for £85! :money: A very nice product. The only thing that I think would improve it is a weather seal or gasket against the outside of the house door or wall.
As I was reading the instructions, I realize that the simplest way to program your cats into it, is to pop the battery in, set it to register a chip, and then wave it over the cat while he's eating his dinner! It worked perfectly! Two cats scanned in in less than 20 seconds. :cool:
My only problem then was waiting for them to get confident enough to start coming back into the house. Another moggy thas been coming in and pinching the leftover food and scent marking. Doh! My guess is that that cat had a magnet just like my two.
Haha! The dogy weather has persuaded both boys to finally use the Smart Flap. It works a treat! :j
Shame to hear of other folks having one or two probs. But from what I have read, a quick contact with the manufacturers will see a solution in quick order. Which is nice.
Oh yes, I had to widen the hole in my backdoor by about 8mm (5/16"), but I'm quite handy with the old electric jigsaw, so it was relatively easy. The only other thing, (which I must remember to sort out) is that the magnetic 'Staywell' flap used a very tall cutout in the door, so I now have a bit of a space above the tunnel, but it is covered by the Smart Flap. I will try and talk to a local double glazier or supplier of doors to see if they have offcuts from door panels, so I can get a piece to fill in the space.
I hope my post gives confidence to others, as cat worries and wasted money on extra food are a pain.

Cheapo by name, cheapo by nature. But not where my cats are concerned!

MrsE_2

cheapopete wrote: »

Cheapo by name, cheapo by nature. But not where my cats are concerned!

Having had both models I think the mk2 is a far better piece of kit than the mk1 - which does feel quite cheap.
The mk2 is far superior in feel & draft proofing.

cheapopete

That's very intuitive of you MrsE. I just call them Eddie and Pasha. Never realized they were a mk1 and a mk2.
:rotfl:

morg_monster

Argh our petporte has ANOTHER problem! Wish I had just bit the bullet and got a new one and not bought from ebay! Apart from the green locking mechanism falling down all the time; and it not always recognising our cats' microchip, now it is just unsetting itself almost every night!

It is always left on night mode; the only reason we bought the flap was to keep the cats in at night whether we are there to lock the catflap or not. We go to bed, red and green lights both on, meaning the flap is in nightg mode and the cats can't get out. Fine.

But the last few nights, when we come down in the morning, there are NO lights on, the flap is not in night mode any more, so the red lock is unlocked and the cats have been going outside as they please since whatever time it happened. I'm pretty certain it's not a power cut, as the oven clocks etc don't all reset to 00:00. I wonder if its some connection thing. All we have to do is press the red button and night mode comes back on. But in the meantime our cats have had access outside while it's dark, which is the only reason we really got the damn thing!

ARGHHHHH well I will ring Petporte once I've retrieved the box from the loft and found the serial number. I think however that I might hit a brick wall due to buying it secondhand but we'll see!

I do have a tiny, tiny suspicion that one of our cats might have figured out how to press the button... is that even possible?! I'm not sure a paw could press the button in the right way. Anyway I just happened to have ordered a webcam for my laptop this week so once that comes, I'll leave it to video the flap overnight and see what is actually happening and what time it's resetting itself...

loulou1971_3

Morg Monster - definitely ring Petporte - I bought mine from microchipcatflaps website (James Winsoar, not Petporte direct) and always had brilliant customer support by ringing them direct. The first time when the scanning coil started playing up they sent me a new coil, board and power supply to fix the problem. A few months later I had another problem and telephoned - by that time a new company had bought Petporte and the customer service assistant was equally helpful. She stated that since they've bought the company the warranty has been extended to 2 years so I was still within cover. She then said unfortunately they no longer have parts for the original Petporte so couldn't send any replacement parts and as such she sent me a brand new Smartflap, free of charge. All I had to do was forward my purchase details (I still had the email receipt saved via google checkout) to provide proof it was still within the 2 years warranty.

Incredible customer service! Despite getting it from Ebay it's worth a try maybe.....

morg_monster

Just wanted to add... I am 95% sure it's actually my cat Lila resetting the petporte, rather than a problem with the flap!

I set up the webcam last night, and although the flap didn't reset, I did see some interesting behaviour as I was setting it up. She was really keen to go out and was pawing the catflap and looking intently through.

Then she stood on her back legs and put her paws on the top of the flap (where the buttons are), and "kneaded" a bit. Then she kept one paw on the top, and used the other to try the flap. Didn't open, so both paws back on the top, and tried again. She didn't manage to press the button and eventually just went back to staring through.

She's obviously done this once and found it sometimes opens the flap, as it is only one button press to turn off night mode. Clever girl!!! Of course if she was really intelligent, she would turn night mode back on after she's come back in again so we never know!

Anyway I'm going to have to find some hard flat bit of plastic or something to fix over the buttons... I am going to keep videoing them until I get definitive proof though...

gypsygwendoline

HELP! The local bruiser has been headbutting my Pet Porte cat flap and not only has he cracked the perspex but also managed to break the green locking mechanism so now the cat flap won't lock properly :mad:

My poor moggy is getting increasingly distraught as am I!

I have tried to contact Pet Porte but whenever I search for them on the web all I can find is Staywell, who I believe have since bought them out. I have emailed and telephoned Staywell but to no avail, all they could suggest was sticking a piece of mirrored plastic on the outside to scare the intruder off, with no mention of how to fix the problem or any offer of a replacement.

Does anyone have the original contact details for Pet Porte - if they are still trading?

Thanks so much for any help offered - we are desperate to get some peace!