Cat Tree Broken After Less than 12 Hours

I bought a smaller one - 5 levels - on eBay, same maker, and it is REALLY wobbly, has been since I purchased it. The screws strip their threads too easily, so we can never tighten the posts, they just go round and round and round, so the levels are always spinning position.

Of course, this can be fun when spinning a cat around and around just to mess with their cute little heads.

To anchor it enough to keep it from slamming sideways into the wall and/or falling over when a cat leaps onto/off of it (and my cats are both less than 10 pounds each) I had to put a really large and heavy granite rock on the center of the base.

I later bought a couple of more expensive but MUCH better built trees from PetsMart, and am extremely happy with their durability. I will never buy the cheaper Amarkat trees again.

Gingers Mom, I wish I would have talked to you before I bought this.

Brian and I are handy people though, if nothing else I think we can make a Home Depot trip and make a nice cat tree by adding to what we have as a base with this tree. What a pain in the tookus!!!

If you decide to cheap it my hubby is a hobby woodworker and I can ask him suggestions on how to shore it up (I'm thinking some wooden brackets. I would need a close up of how the wobby bits fit together too.

There's just one screw/bolt holding every sisal rope covered pole on. No nuts provided to secure the other side or anything. Just a big screw/bolt.

And the particle board it super flimsy and flaky. So of COURSE it just snaps off when a 10 lb kitty leaps at it playing her little heart out.

Originally Posted by emily_325

Gingers Mom, I wish I would have talked to you before I bought this.

Brian and I are handy people though, if nothing else I think we can make a Home Depot trip and make a nice cat tree by adding to what we have as a base with this tree. What a pain in the tookus!!!

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Good luck - at least you'll know you can trust it.

What a scary experience for all of you - I'm so sorry.

Kudos on the letter, btw - very well written.

Plywood would be better!! The particle board must be really thin-but its alot less exensive than say 1/2" plywood.

I am so sorry you have had this problem with their product!!! I have 3 of their cat trees and absolutely love them!

That being said... I bought a new one at Christmas the exact same one you have and we felt the same way about the top perch. So DH made a platform on that top part of the house and made it sturdy enough to hold the top perch on strongly. I have extremely large cats and a very gymnastic kitten so we felt it needed a better support. This company has always been great and I hope they deal fairly with you!

YIKES! How scary! I'm glad you wrote to them though I'd be worried that other cat owners would get the same shoddy workmanship on their trees.
I have one of their products also and it has only one screw on both tiers and that bothers me since I have a 22 pound cat that likes to climb high once in awhile and it's not safe for him to do on that. I've asked DH to put more screws in it but he tends to procrastinate once in awhile and it hasn't gotten done yet.
Now I will be pushing him and getting rather witchy about it so that it DOES get done because I don't want my cats having the same thing happen to them because they might just get hurt in the fall and I'd be livid!

Originally Posted by emily_325

I just read the fine print. Everything is under manufacturer warranty for 6 months.

If they refund the money, I have to ship it back to them and pay for it myself.

It's HUGE. They only refund the bid amount (I paid $31) but not the shipping (I paid $100). If they don't send me parts to fix it, I'll just keep it and try to fix it myself or chalk it up as a loss and look into buying another one.

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For that amount, I'd just fix it myself instead of being out shipping both ways. It would be cheaper to fix it than ship it back. Plus, if you ship it back, you still would be needing a tree...

Good on you - they need to know about these incidents!!!

I nearly bought an Armakat cat tree, but went for someone local instead - I'm glad I did!!!

Originally Posted by Whisky'sDad

For that amount, I'd just fix it myself instead of being out shipping both ways. It would be cheaper to fix it than ship it back. Plus, if you ship it back, you still would be needing a tree...

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Yeah - definitely!!!!! It's disgusting that she needs to do that though They think just because they can make it a bit "cheaper" they can do a shoddy job!

I'm sorry about the cat tree, but I'm happy that Anya wasn't hurt, that's really the important thing.

Your letter is clear and concise.

In future correspondence I would ask for my money back if all of their trees are of such poor quality. Such a shame. That looks like a very nice tree from the picture.

Just so you know, I badgered Brad into putting more screws into the top perch on our cat tree and it seems fairly stable. You might want to try it if they won't give you a refund. I can't guarantee anything but I wobbled it and it seemed better then the first time. I guess we'll see.

Originally Posted by jugen

Just so you know, I badgered Brad into putting more screws into the top perch on our cat tree and it seems fairly stable. You might want to try it if they won't give you a refund. I can't guarantee anything but I wobbled it and it seemed better then the first time. I guess we'll see.

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That's good. The only issue is since ours has already broken off it will probably take additional posts wrapped in sisal to stabilize it. I think that's that I'm going to do. Trip to Home Depot later this week!

Wow they look really cool, but I could see how they would be very unsturdy. Hopefully the company will give you your money back. It's not right to sell a product that could have harmed your pet

I just realized that your tree design is actually almost identical to mine. I couldn't see the picture earlier when I was posting so I didn't know how similar they are. Knock on wood I haven't had a problem with mine yet, but now seeing that they are very similar - I'm nervous.

Originally Posted by lisasha3

I just realized that your tree design is actually almost identical to mine. I couldn't see the picture earlier when I was posting so I didn't know how similar they are. Knock on wood I haven't had a problem with mine yet, but now seeing that they are very similar - I'm nervous.

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Well, Anya is a very...how do I put this... rambunctious kitten. (READ rambunctious as: "ANYA! You CANNOT hang from the ceiling fan! And doors are not put there for the purposes of your kitty tight rope act!")

Maybe a normal kitten wouldn't break it? I doubt it though, the construction was pretty shotty on the top three platforms....

Rocket is rambunctious too and is 11 pounds. Twig is 22 pounds. I really hope that what Brad did keeps it strudy.

I have been really wanting a cat tree, but it looks like I won't be getting one as I can't afford an expensive one & now I don't want to buy one from e-bay.