.FLYINGHEAD SIX MONTHS LATER
.TITLE Yet another toaster oven not to buy: Cuisinart TOB-50
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
.SUMMARY What happens with public relations people are either too afraid or too important to speak to the press?
.OTHER
What happens with public relations people are either too afraid or too important to speak to the press? Well, you’re reading it.
For any of you unfamiliar with the epic saga that is our toaster oven adventure, let me refresh you. A few years back, we bought a GE oven. It was poorly designed and I burned my hand (slightly) and got annoyed at it (a lot). I wrote [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200712/00002106001.html|an article]] about it. And then I got [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200810/00002253001.html|letter after letter]] from readers. I still get about a letter a month, even two years later.
Eventually, we bought a new oven. This one was a Cuisinart TOB-50. After about six months, the door stopped shutting all the way. The little latch that was meant to let the oven cool off wouldn’t let the door close, and we had to go through all sorts of weird efforts to get the door to close. Eventually, we just gave up.
Another $99 toaster was, well, crap.
.TEASER Tap here for the rest of the story.
But I had an idea. Perhaps we could get warranty replacement. I called up Cuisinart, and to my pleasant surprise, they agreed to ship me a new one for $10. All I’d have to do was return the old one (and eat the shipping cost).
Okay, fine. Another $10 to get something that should have worked in the first place. Whatever.
Three weeks go by and we finally got the new toaster. My wife and I packed the old one in the shipping box (hard to do because the door wouldn’t close), and it’s been sitting by our front door for two weeks now. Neither of us has had the time to go to the UPS store and ship it out.
But I had another idea. I’d call Cuisinart. Surely, they’d understand. They’d let me off the hook and I wouldn’t have to shlep down to the UPS store. I could just trash the toaster that was, well, trash. After all, their device broke. I’d even offer to send digital pictures or video to prove we weren’t just trying to scam them out of toasters.
So I called. This time, I spoke to Renee. Renee was nice, but firm. We were required to return the old toaster. After all, that’s what a limited warrantee means.
I’m a good persuader and I can be charming as heck, but Renee wasn’t buying any of it. She was firm. Did I not understand the meaning of limited? If I wanted to avoid being charged for a new toaster, back it would have to be shipped.
So, I had another thought. I asked Renee if she could give me the phone number or contact information for their PR department. After all, I’d become marginally famous in the toaster oven arena for the GE toaster thing. Surely Cuisinart’s PR department would side with me and save me the trip to the UPS store (yes, I know, I’m lazy — but I’m also frickin’ busy).
Nope. Cuisinart doesn’t connect customers with their PR people. If I wanted to, I could send them a letter. A letter? Do they have an email address or a phone number? No, said Renee-the-firm. Send them a letter or nothing.
And that’s why you’re reading this article. I promised Renee I’d write it. I could almost hear her disapproving eye roll all the way across the phone connection, but I like to keep my promises. Now, it turns out a search of the Cuisinart Web site does list an email address for Cuisinart’s press contacts (and I’m sending them a copy of this article).
It is good to have firm customer service reps, because you don’t want to get walked all over by your customers. But, sometimes (more often now than not), customers have a way to reach other prospective customers.
After the GE oven article, I’ve somehow become someone people turn to for toaster-oven buying recommendations, a topic for which I am quite unqualified. I am, however, quite qualified at making "don’t buy" recommendations and I’ve got a new one. And so, as a service to all of you, I’m reaching out now and telling you: don’t buy the Cuisinart TOB-50.
There, now. That was easy.
.RATING 1
By the way, Cuisinart now has a [[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=66185294496&ref=ts|Facebook fan page]]. If your toaster oven broke, please go ahead and post your experiences. I’m sure Cuisinart would like to hear from you. Perhaps you can make Renee your friend, too.
[For the record, we contacted both Mary M. Rodgers of Cuisinart/Conair and Rachel Litner of Rachel Litner Associates and gave them a full week to respond to this article prior to publication. There was no response. –Ed.]
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Read [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200712/00002106001.html|Consumer Alert: Do not buy the GE Halogen toaster oven]].
Read [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200810/00002253001.html|Toaster oven redux]].
Visit [[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=66185294496&ref=ts|Cuisinart’s Facebook fan page]].
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
