Green toys are all the rage these days among young parents, and one company that has capitalized on this trend is Plan Toys, a Thailand-based maker of wooden toys for preschoolers. Its website claims the wooden sets are made from "non-toxic, natural materials such as organic rubberwood" which "enable children to play, learn and become closer to nature."
I'll say. The Plan Toys garage set we received as a gift was packed with wood-boring beetles, who had eaten through several pieces of the toy (see video below). The box that the set came in had bits of wood and dead bugs inside.
The set was clearly defective, so I called Plan Toys USA's office in California to ask for a refund. No dice. The company will replace a bug-eaten set with another set, but flat out refused to issue a refund.
Caveat emptor.
A little follow-up: Many months ago, when I first attempted to contact PlanToys about this problem, I used their website's contact form, describing my complaint and leaving my contact information. They never responded, until today (July 16, 2010).
ReplyDeleteThe response? They signed me up for their e-newsletter -- never mind the original complaint or the lack of a request to get on their email list. Why am I not surprised?