Quick "Review" of American Plastic Toys Homestyle Kitchen
Pop Culture Mom rating: 0 out of 5. FAIL!
This is going to be very quick, as there's not much to review.
I knew it was time for Pop Culture Toddler to have her first play kitchen set, so I added the American Plastic Toys Homestyle Kitchen to my daughter's Amazon.com wish list. My mother in law purchased it and had it delivered to her home, so Pop Culture Dad and I could put it together on Christmas Eve.
I knew the assembly would be a long and difficult process. I had read all the reviews on Amazon. I had expected this and was prepared for it. What Pop Culture Dad and I were not prepared for was discovering - after spending 30 minutes unhooking barely even one-third of the pieces to assemble - that NONE of the 64 screws required for assembly were included in the packaging. They were supposed to be included, but they were not there. What. The. Eff??
I'm so disappointed. We're all disappointed.
After Googling "American Plastic Toys Homestyle Kitchen screws" I discovered that the Pop Culture family isn't the only one to be screwed out of screws. Apparently, this is a recurring problem. Yes, I realize that the company (CSN Stores) will send the screws after we call them and tell them; but it's 9 p.m. On Christmas Eve, tomorrow is Christmas, and then it's Sunday. There will be almost three days before we could even speak to a live person, and even then, from what I've read, it'll be a few days to weeks before they get the screws to us. Unacceptable.
And it still begs the question: Tomorrow is Christmas. What, praytell, are we supposed to do, since Nana and Papa's gift cannot be given??? [And, no, we will not still give her the box and entice her with a picture of a kitchen she cannot have].
It's not fair that this stupid company couldn't fix their known production problem, particularly toys that they know are shipping out for Christmas. They've stolen my in-laws' gift from them and denied my daughter what was perhaps going to be her best present this year. For that, there is nothing customer service can or would do to cure the problem.
Can you tell I'm majorly pissed??
Hmm... That was a bit longer than I thought it would be...
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and Happy Weekend to those who don't! Hope you're all having a better night than me. :)
24 December, 2010 22:29
Boo! Here's hoping that PCT still enjoys Christmas and has a fantabulous morning.
25 December, 2010 21:50
Hey guess what? I have all your screws here at my house! My SIL gave my daughter the same kitchen set (that took a ridiculous amount of time to assemble and was completely confusing I might add and you know I rarely feel that way about building stuff)and by the time we put it all together we found we had at least 50 extra screw. What a mess =/ I hope PCT still had an excellent Christmas in spite of everything!
26 December, 2010 09:57
Kat, that's ridiculous! This company clearly has quality control problems! Our box will be going back as soon as Amazon will take it.
03 January, 2011 18:55
Did you have any hassels with sending it back?
04 January, 2011 14:56
No problems sending it back. Apparently they won't let you return it to Amazon, so you have to e-mail to basically get permission to send it back. I received a UPS label via e-mail the day after I e-mailed them. Not sure yet if my MIL was properly credited for the return, but that reminds me to check with her.