Cat Tree Broken After Less than 12 Hours

emily_325

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Grrrrr. I am not a happy camper.

As many of you know trying to stop Anya's dangerous climbing (balancing on tops of doors, etc...) I purchased her a tall cat tree from ebay. Well, it came yesterday.

Brian and I took it out of the box and constructed it as per the included directions. We questioned the stability of the three top platforms, as they were held by only ONE SCREW, but put our faith in the company and let Anya play on it.

Sometime in the middle of the night she was playing on it and the top platform SNAPPED off with her on it!
She could have been hurt! Anyway, I sent this letter to the company (not the ebay seller as it was nto THEIR fault) this morning:

To Whomever It May Concern:

I bought your cat tree, model B8201, for our cat via an ebay auction. The seller was ------, the auction # was --------, and my ebay ID is ---------. I had been told by several people that they had bought from this seller and that Armarkat trees were excellent quality.

My husband and I put the tree together last night after receipt of it exactly as the directions specified. We noticed that the three top platforms were a little wobbley, but they were as tight and secure as possible. Anya (our cat) played on it, and we thought maybe they were supposed to have some give and watched her for a while and then went to bed. We woke up to the sound of her and the top tier falling. Where it was screwed into a poor quality of particle board rather than sturdy solid wood as it should have been (in a better designed tree), it had snapped off.

I'm very disappointed in your product. I feel like my cat could have been injured in such a fall. What is your suggestion on how to approach this situation? Are there extra parts that you could send me to stabilize the unit? Why would you design a product where such an extension is attached with only ONE screw? It's obviously going to be unstable and sway. I trusted your design and that you knew what you were doing and in doing so I compromised the safety of my pet. I'm very unhappy.

Please see my attached image outlining what happened.

Sincerely,

Emily
Maybe parts are harsh, but I was so angry. I also included the drawing in the link below. I'm realizing now that there's a typo/word spelled wrong.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...201cattree.jpg

What do you guys think?
 

trouts mom

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Wow, that is an amazing tree..too bad its made so shoddy.

I think the letter is good..I don't blame you for being upset
 

phenomsmom

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You have every right to be ticketed off. Be catious buying from ebay though. Some of that stuff its rejected things that didn't pass inspection. We bought some JDM aftermarket car parts for me prelude that broke within days of installing them.

Hopefully the company is eager to help. I am so glad Anya didn't get hurt!
 

xocats

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That is a shame.
Have you asked for your money back?
 

twstychik

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I think your letter was calm compared to what I might have said. I hope they do something to remedy this for you and I'm glad that Anya wasn't hurt in the fall. You diagram of problems and suggested solutions is great!
 

white cat lover

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I'm just happy Anya wasn't hurt in the fall!
The product you bought was from the company(or a seller of theirs), so they had better give you your money back!
 

proudkittiemom

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im glad u wrote them that was a good letter and calm compared to what i would have said
i was actually looking at that cat tree or one similar...now im thinking that its a no now u just had one kittie on it and well i have 6 but this one would have been in my room with bella and stormie I am also soooooooo glad that Anya wasnt hurt at all
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
Wow, talk about scary!! I have an Amarkat tree in my home (not that one) and it is a tad wobbly, but placing it in the corner keeps it stable. I'm sorry that you had that experience. I'm interested to see how the company responds.

Btw, I ordered directly from the company. I believe, if it's still true, that they have their own ebay store.
 
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emily_325

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The store on ebay that I bought from advertises themselves as one of two ebay stores that Armarkat authorized to sell their product on ebay. If that makes sense.
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
Originally Posted by emily_325

The store on ebay that I bought from advertises themselves as one of two ebay stores that Armarkat authorized to sell their product on ebay. If that makes sense.
That does.
I bought mine....two-three years ago, so the company might have changed a lot since then.

I'm just sorry that Anya almost got hurt!!!
 

babyharley

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Wow Emily thats horrible, that looks like a nice tree, so I'm sure it wasn't cheap either! I'm happy that Anya didn't get hurt- I hope they recieve your letter and do something about it!
 

koukou

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I think that considering what happened, and that Anya could have been hurt, your letter is very restrained. I hope you get your money back and that these people stop making trees that could possibly injure our cats.

K xx
 

lnbandcats

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Wow! I am on my second Amarkat tree - which I bought on ebay, but directly from them. I love them - the reason I am on my 2nd is that I stupidly bought an off white tree with black cats - big mistake - this past summer I got a navy blue tree - matches my sofa and hides that black hair. They seem to be a very good company and I am sure that they will stand behind their warrenty!
 

renovia

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i also think your letter was EXTREMELY restrained. I really think that you should persue this to the fullest extent possible. I wouldn't even replace that tree. . ..get your money back and get one from elsewhere.
 

lisasha3

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I'm glad to hear Anya is ok and I'm a bit surprised because Armakat (sp?) does have great products normally. I got one a year and a half ago from Ebay as well and it's been great and I've got a 15lb and 18lb cat that use it. Maybe it was defective or maybe (just a thought) - I would check into the Ebay sellar because sometimes in the small print they say refurbished, or used, or something else that would indicate it is not an actual Armakat or new. Ebay sellers are gettin really good at disguising stuff like that these days.
 

tavia'smom

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I am glad Anya was not hurt and I hope you get your money back. Or atleast a brand new tree straight from the company.
 
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emily_325

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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.
 

renovia

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well that is the down side to ebay - I had thought about that when i purchased my cat tree from them. . .either ask for replacement parts - or decide if you can fix it better than they can. . . . .my last resort would be trashing it and getting a new one.
 
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