As you know, I received an email on Friday regarding my post about my experience with Kitchen Resources and the L'Equip RPM Blender.
Please note that the following is my opinion and the basis of my opinion. (For increased clarity, my opinion is written in blue.)
1. Mr. Callom said : "We trust that these actions have resolved your concerns."
In my initial letter (August 2, 2008) to Kitchen Resources owner and president Gary Leavett, I said: "This is a serious and dangerous issue. As one business owner to another, I strongly encourage you to recall all of these blenders before someone dies. At the very least, you need to discontinue carrying these items."
The reasoning behind my expressed request and opinion: I was deeply concerned that someone, particularly a child, would gravely injure themselves on these blender blades.
Please note that I have not asked for damages, a refund or any other financial renumeration. I have only asked for something, that in my opinion, is more expensive - integrity.
2. The basis behind my opinion that Kitchen Resources "knew these blades were defective and sold them anyway (from August 15, 2008 email)."
a. I was told by the customer service person that she/he and a number of employees has attempted to speak to the owner about the blade problem with this particular blender. In fact, she/he gave me Gary Leavett's email saying that Mr. Leavett would have to listen to me as I was the customer. I hesitate to mention this as I don't want to cost this person her/his job.
b. I informed the company in early July when the blades broke the first time. At that time, I was informed that I would receive a new "stronger" blade. It's the second set of that shattered into these shards when blending a frozen banana and frozen berries.
c. It's my opinion that it takes about six months to have a product remanufactured in Asia. Remember, I purchased this blender on June 14, 2008 and received it on June 18, 2008. The blades broke in early July. We are talking about a month and a half since purchase and less than two weeks since replacement with the same blades.
From Mr. Callom's August 5, 2008: "Just last week we received a quantity of new blade assemblies from our supplier in Asia and I want to be sure that you got the new one."
Further he states: "We had not been happy with the previous blade, even though I?ve not seen the catastrophic failure that you experienced. This new blade assembly has performed better than the previous ones in the tests that we have done here."
These two statements lead me to the opinion that Kitchen Resources was not "happy" with the blades on or before June 14, 2008 when I purchased the blender. Moreover, they were not "happy" with the blades when they replaced my original broken blades with the same faulty blades in mid-July.
d. Mr. Callom's assertion in his August 15, 2008 email: "There is nothing in my email or any fact of this situation that supports any accusation that we knowingly sell defective products."
This is our differing opinion.
To my knowledge, Kitchen Resources has not recalled this product nor provided what they believe is stronger blades for people who have purchased this blender thus far. In fact, I have no way of knowing if they have replaced the blender blades with each of their distributors. Thus it is my opinion that this product and these blades remain on the market even after my notification to the company in mid-July, at the end of July and in my email to Gary Leavett on August 2, 2008.
Should I learn that this untrue, I will be greatly relieved and happily remove any untruth.
3. Mr Callom: "We respectfully ask that you consider removing from your Internet blog the inflammatory attacks you have made against us and our products. What you experienced is extremely unusual and is not representative of our overall product quality."
In my opinion, the facts are inflammatory. The very fact that these blender blades shattered - twice - in the normal use of this blender (again frozen berries, frozen banana, and soymilk) is inflammatory.
In addition, when I suggested that my experience was unusual, the Kitchen Resources customer service representative indicated that my experience was not abnormal for this product.
In my opinion, there is no attack here. My experience with Kitchen Resources, Mr. Callom and Mr. Leavett speaks for itself
4.? "This blender will kill someone." I hold this opinion because:
a. There is no way to know the blender blades are broken.? I missed it the first time.? I only realized the blade was broken when I heard it clink against the plastic bottle.
b.? I tend to be really lucky in these type of matters.
c.? I know that infants and toddlers drink a lot of smoothies.? While I pray it's not true, I don't trust a harried, overwhelmed mother to notice the blender blade is broken.
d.? Again, there is no, none, nada, nunka way to know there's a metal shard inside a thick, dark colored, opaque smoothie.
e. I was using the blender in an approved, in fact suggested, manner.? (There is a smoothie recipe inside the L'Equip brochure that came with the package.)
I am not a contentious person. I dislike conflict at every level. I did not expect conflict in this case. In fact, I assumed that a business owner, such as Gary Leavett, would be grateful to know of his risk.
Bloggers are under attack everywhere with nuisance lawsuits designed to shut down blogging. With every media outlet owned by corporate conservatives, bloggers are the last little guy capable of speaking to the world.
Personally, I wish Kitchen Resources would put it's money into replacing the blender blades rather than threaten me. My opinion is that the threatened suit would cost a lot more than simply having the integrity to make certain that every single person who purchased the L'Equip RPM Blender had safe blades. Imagine the public relations coop!
I'll keep you posted. I assure you that if I receive evidence that my opinion is faulty, I will remove any and all posts as well as apologize for my mistake.
That's my word, my integrity and my promise to you.
As always, thank you for reading.
Claudia
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