Defective Products Archive

Court of Public Opinion: Dunkin Donuts Coffee Lawsuit is B.S.

June 6th, 2011. By AbiK

Have you ever gotten food at a QSR and not gotten exactly what you ordered? QSR, for those who don’t give much thought to restaurant classifications, stands for “Quick Serve Restaurant” and includes such fine establishments as McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Starbucks and…Dunkin Donuts, which we’ll get to in a minute.

My guess is that you have. It’s the type of industry that makes process improvement experts giddy with glee—so much opportunity to play hero. After all, the ‘defects per million opportunities’ (DPMO) are seemingly countless.

The reason I bring this up is that, given that tidbit of knowledge or supposition, you go into a QSR—or drive thru one—expecting a less than 100% delivery on your expectations. Not that you can’t be satisfied with what you’ve ordered—it just may not be exactly what you ordered. Lettuce is limp. Ketchup’s missing. You said “French” dressing and got “Ranch”. So it’s like the saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed”.

You do things like checking your takeout bag before leaving the place. Count the number of straws. Repeat the order back to the order taker. Say that it’s the orange-colored dressing, not the white one. You’re on guard. And that’s for you or me—the average Joe without any medical condition that might otherwise have us on super high alert when ordering fast food.

Now, back to Dunkin Donuts. So Danielle Jordan—who by now everyone knows is 47 and lives Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Coffee lawsuit, Crescentville, Danielle Jordan, Diabetes, Diabetic Shock, Dunkin Donuts, Dunkin Donuts lawsuit, Sweet Coffee
Posted in Defective Products, Food Illness, lawsuits | 7964No Comments »2011-06-06+17%3A39%3A48AbiK

Want a Flat Stomach? Check out my Ab Circle Pro Review…

May 19th, 2011. By AbiK

I’m gearing up—with mere weeks to go—for baring what I can this summer in a bathing suit. After 3 kids and a grand exodus out of my 20′s (alright, 30′s too), hopes for a bikini bod may be right up there with my hope to have been creator of LinkedIn (#IPO!!). Delusional I may be, but hope rings eternal and—dammit—I’m going to get into a 2-piece this summer. Won’t be a D&G string bikini—my fantasies don’t extend to role-playing Eve donning a leaf or two for coverage and my wallet, well, just doesn’t extend period—but lose the Speedo I shall. So I’m shopping for fitness equipment, and I happen upon the Ab Circle Pro. Come check it out with me…

First stop, the Ab Circle Pro website. First question? Who the hell is Audrina Patridge? Ditto Jennifer Nicole Lee. And as for Amanda Beard, well, her “before” photo has her looking a bit pregnant and my guess on how she lost that 45 lbs is it was more a result of delivering her baby vs. the Ab Circle Pro. A bit dubious. But no, I am not jaded.

So the Ab Circle Pro website is beckoning me to “take the ride of your life”. The “ride” is a get-on-all-fours on what’s basically one of those disc sled saucers—knees resting on moveable pads that can rotate around the rim of the saucer. I wanted a better view, so I hopped over to Consumer Reports Ab Circle Pro video (above)—always good for some unbiased input. And what do you know? They pretty much slam the contraption as not worth it. Hmm.

Next, my interest piqued, I decided to search for Ab Circle Pro reviews—which landed me at the mother of all marketplaces, Amazon. Here’s a little depiction of what I found there (as of 5/19/11):

Ab Circle Amazon Ratings Want a Flat Stomach? Check out my Ab Circle Pro Review...

Seems the Ab Circle Pro only got a 1-star rating by close to 50% of those who bought and tried it. And there are two interesting trends in all those reviewers comments:

1. The Ab Circle Pro is described with words like “falls apart”, “cheap construction”, “paint peeling”, “wheels come off”, “quality sucks”. Described consistently I might add. Hmm.

2. The Ab Circle Pro seems as connected to the words “injury” and “damage” as downing a daily Klondike bar is connected to keeping the pounds on. No kidding—here are some comments:

Ab Circle Pro Knee Injury: “This is an excellent piece of crap. From the time it comes to your home it keeps on injuring you…when you are using it screws your knees“

Ab Circle Pro Knee Injury: “All buyers need to be careful of this machine. It is unsafe. Depending on the level of your workouts, you can throw yourself out of the knee holders. I did this and ended up having surgery on my shoulder for a torn rotator cuff! I found out, when I called and explained the situation to the customer service rep, that I could have gel knee pads to put in the cups for an extra fee! I told them that I was injured by this machine due to not having the gel inserts and required surgery! I got them for free, and I can see why, the gel inserts are garbage! I do not use this machine anymore. It scares me! The surgery I had was the worst in pain and now my ROM is restricted. If you buy this, please be cautious as to how you use it and if you are smart, you will avoid it all together.”

Not to mention several stories from people who resorted to either Vaseline® or Pam cooking spray to lubricate the Ab Circle Pro’s parts.

I Googled Ab Circle Pro a bit more—only to find my search revealed new keyword associations like “Ab Circle Pro Back Pain Damage to Lower Spine” as the headline of a user’s comment over at Complaints Board. Which also led me to two individuals who found themselves with fractured Humerus bones, apparently compliments of that “ride” of their lives on Ab Circle Pro.

Crowning touch? The handful of folks who’ve gone as far as to suggest an Ab Circle Pro lawsuit or an Ab Circle Pro class action. Hey, wait a minute! That just might make for a story over at LawyersandSettlements.com (wink-wink)…

This is not boding well for my get-a-bikini-bod plan. Or maybe it is—keep the Speedo, get in shape the tried and true old-fashioned way with some exercise and a few less Lindt truffles—and skip risking an Ab Circle Pro injury and the aggravation of a piece of junk that falls apart. Maybe for some folks the Ab Circle Pro is the way to go, but for my pre-buy review, I think it’ll be buyer beware…

Tags: Ab Circle Pro, Ab exerciser, Amanda Beard, Amazon, Audrina Patridge, Bikini Body, Consumer Reports, Diet, Flat Stomach, Flat Tummy, Get in Shape, Jennifer Nicole Lee, Lose Weight
Posted in Complaints/Comments, Defective Products, Emerging Issues | 78291 Comment »2011-05-19+16%3A46%3A41AbiK

Food Safety Alert: The Problem With Meat Glue

April 21st, 2011. By Hunter West

Oh, you haven’t heard of meat glue? The food industry loves the stuff—and for good reason. Anything that would allow the morphing of a bucket of meat bits, like stewing beef for example, into what looks like a Grade A steak and commands a Grade A price at the counter, is akin to manna from heaven.

To the untrained eye (meaning, you and me), it’s impossible to tell the difference. It looks like a steak. It grills like a steak. It tastes like a steak. But it’s not a steak, but rather chunks of meat that in a previous era would have been sold as stewing beef for a lot less than the kind of price a steak commands. But mix in some meat glue, roll it up and after six hours in the refrigerator, out comes a gelled roll that can be sliced into a series of lovely-looking, boneless steaks.

The potential for fraud is obvious. Beyond the deception, however, why did the European Union ban meat glue last year?

First, the back-story of what meat glue is. In fact, meat glue is actually an enzyme derived from thrombin and fibrogen, which is obtained from the blood plasma of swine and cattle. This is the stuff that causes blood to clot—and it also does a spiffy job, it turns out, of knitting small bits of meat together to appear like more expensive-looking steaks.

Is meat glue harmful? Well, the European Food Safety Authority gave meat glue a positive safety opinion in 2005, only to ban it five years later. And a butcher participating in a story Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: EU, fibrogen, Food Poisoning, meat additive, meat glue, thrombin
Posted in Defective Products, Drugs/Medical, Food Illness | 75402 Comments »2011-04-21+11%3A20%3A54Hunter+West

Incandescent vs. Fluorescent: Just Where is all that Mercury Going?

April 13th, 2011. By Hunter West

Okay, we all know that those fluorescent bulbs are more efficient than incandescent bulbs. They last longer, and reduce greenhouse gasses.

And everyone is on the bandwagon. Canada starts phasing out incandescent bulbs starting next year. In the US, it’s 2014. Australia led the way in 2007, and the European Union came soon after.

Here’s the thing. Incandescent light bulbs, as inefficient as they are, don’t contain mercury.

But fluorescents do.

Okay fine, the mercury is in the bulb and as long as they don’t break…

Indeed.

Yes, mercury is a naturally occurring element, just as the inert gas used in the incandescent bulb is also naturally occurring. The difference with mercury is that it’s a neurotoxin that can damage the brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver through chronic exposure.

Health Canada says, “Mercury can impair the ability to feel, see, move and taste and can cause numbness and tunnel vision. Long-term exposure can lead to progressively worse symptoms and ultimately personality changes, stupor and in extreme cases, coma or death,” according to Health Canada.

The regulator goes on to say that recent research suggests even at low levels, mercury can have adverse health impacts on the cardiovascular and immune system.

Here’s the question. What happens to all these bulbs when they are spent? And what happens if they break en route to a disposal facility?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that three per cent of the total mercury in Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: environment, Evironmental Protection Agency, fluorescent bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs, green house gasses, Health Canada, incandescent bulb
Posted in Defective Products, Emerging Issues, Environment | 7247No Comments »2011-04-13+11%3A15%3A58Hunter+West

Chevy HHR Key Stuck in Ignition Fix – Is this a Joke?

March 17th, 2011. By AbiK

I’ve heard one too many complaints now about the Chevy HHR ignition problem—the one where you can’t get the key out of the ignition, and in some instances the key won’t come out and the HHR is still running! In these parts, we’d call that a design defect. But seems like GM doesn’t quite feel the same way.

So while I had done some checking into this a while back when I had first posted about the Chevy HHR problem (and while we’re at it, let’s throw in the Chevy Cobalt problem, too) I had focused on official complaints being filed over at the NHTSA—not so much the solution because, heck, shouldn’t GM or Chevy be taking care of this gratis for folks who’ve been stuck in an HHR that won’t shut off? Is it just me? Or, shouldn’t there be some sort of Chevy HHR recall or at least a “come in and get your part replaced” notice?

Well, there’s been none that I’ve seen, and apparently none of you HHR owners out there have seen one either.

So I came across this guy’s video on how to fix the HHR problem. Kudos to him for taking the time to film 10 minutes of repair work, explaining everything step by step. But is this a joke?!? Don’t get me wrong—the video is great—but like I’m going to dislodge my car’s gear shift and put everything back together again. Right. And I love his comment at about minute 6:15: “pretty maddening to put in” followed by minute 6:36: “it sounds easier than it is” —I’ll bet! Bottom line, there’s a car mechanic somewhere (or HHR dealer) who’ll be making a few quid off HHR owners from this problem.

Is this how GM Customer Service works?

C’mon Chevy, step up to the plate.

Tags: Chevy Cobalt, Chevy HHR, chevy-hhr-ignition-problems-2009-steering-2, Gear Shift, GM, Ignition Problem, Key Stuck
Posted in Automotive, Defective Products, Emerging Issues | 723554 Comments »2011-03-17+13%3A56%3A29AbiK