KitchenAid , Kitchen Aid Can Opener Defective dangerous can, Do not wash, cleanliness, opening cans, unsafely, manual can opener problems Brian Nelson Consultant; Complaints, Problems.

Angry Customers Use Web to Shame Firms

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 5, 2006; Page D01

Disgruntled customers used to have little recourse against poor service and broken promises.

But as angry clients increasingly turn to the Internet to settle scores, companies, independent retailers and everyday wrongdoers are learning that consumers can have the last word -- and often the last laugh. The Web has turned into a place where shame and humiliation are sometimes the strongest weapons in fighting scams and unfairness.

AOL got burned last week, for example, when an exasperated customer recorded and broadcast online a service representative's emphatic reluctance to cancel his service. Comcast Corp. fired a technician after a videotape surfaced purporting to show him asleep on a customer's couch. The clip became popular on Web sites such as amateur video site YouTube. People are also using the Internet to retaliate against common thieves and discourtesies. A popular blog on Friday posted voice mails from a man demanding that his date pay him back for half the dinner check after the romance fizzled. In June, a New York man posted pictures online of a girl who allegedly refused to return his friend's T-Mobile Sidekick that had been taken from a taxicab. The Web site became popular among other victims of cellphone theft, and it led to the girl's arrest. And there also was the South Korean woman who was humiliated last year when she didn't clean up the mess her dog left in the subway after a fellow train rider posted a photo of the incident on a popular Web site.

"There's no question that publicly shaming someone, whether it is a politician or a company, is the best way not only to get their attention but to change their behavior," said Jeff Chester, executive director for the District-based consumer-advocacy group Center for Digital Democracy. "People are going to be very sensitive to it."

Online disgrace creates so much buzz on blogs and in the media that companies are beginning to realize the devastating public relations effects brought on by these grass-roots expos?s, said Gemma Puglisi, assistant professor of communications at American University.

"This has been a wake-up call for these companies," she said. "The day where you send a little letter to the CEO is over. In the age of technology, you have to be even more careful of how you treat your customers because you don't know where they're going to go. Now everything's out in the open."

The Internet has long been a forum for rants about unsatisfactory service and faulty products. Just about every major retailer has a consumer-created counter-site that lists complaints, and dozens of all-purpose sites allow people to share their opinions on everything from apartment complexes to car dealers.

"I think the inherent nature of the Internet brings out the inner complainer in us," said Joe Ridout, a spokesman for Consumer Action, an advocacy group in San Francisco. "To get back at people who are out to steal or swindle, shaming may be a reasonable response."

There are so many anti-company sites that some customer service representatives are fighting back by starting their own sites to complain about annoying customers.

Such sites are also useful in showing a company's true character, Ridout said.

"Anything that produces more information, anything that penetrates this slickly manicured image, is useful information," he said.

The rise of user-generated commercials gives angry consumers yet another opportunity to get their message on the Internet. In March, Chevrolet added a feature on its Web site that allowed visitors to piece together images and text to create an ad for its Tahoe sport-utility vehicle. But anti-SUV activists used the site to make a negative commercial condemning the vehicle for harming the environment.

Such watchdog-type content has "become invaluable as a way of checking on firms, as well as countering them," Chester said.

But even as these public-shaming campaigns continue to crop up, the well-oiled marketing machines of the targeted companies will overcome the negative publicity in the long run, he said.

"As the Internet becomes more ad-supported, it's questionable if consumers and users will have any real clout," he said. "Will a Fortune 500 company hear the sound of one angry blogger in the digital forest?"

Anyone that knows me at all knows how I feel about convergence. I'm not against it at all, I'd love to have one gadget to carry that meets all my needs, it's the user centered holy grail. The problem is that it's not exactly possible at this time. phone interfaces don't make for a good messaging interface or camera interface etc. It's usability's version of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." In other words, in solving one usability problem (carrying a ton of gadgets with you) you present a host of new problems (none of them work well)- jack of all trades, master of none. That's why I have a soft spot for the simple things. It's the driving point of the iPod- even though they've relented a bit by adding features, in the long run it's been simply a music player. Designed to do its job, and do it well.

So I'm completely confused on this one. I purchased the black KitchenAid can opener because it matched my (kick ass) KitchenAid blender, and well, I'm falling into the "emotional design" mindset by having a shiny, overly priced, matching setup in my kitchen.

Unfortunately, it falls short in the one job it needs to do: open a friggin' can. How is this possible? A can opener that can't open a can? Sounds like a candidate for the land of misfit kitchen appliances. If say.... it had a bottle opener, wine corkscrew, knife and all that, maybe we'd be willing to overlook the can opening (we often allow convergent devices some slack for the sake of convenience). And of course, circumstances (ie- real life) kept me from actually returning it to the store- it's not exactly something that's on your mind all the time. I completely forget about the can opener that doesn't work until I go to open a can.

So I walked passed a cheapo can-opener in the grocery store and thought- ah well, it's worth a dollar and change to take another stab at getting a can opener. Alas no. This one is worse. Before you ask- yeah, I know how to use a can opener. This is not operator error. I just managed to get two defective can openers in a row.

Know your role and do it well. In a bit of irony (and to re-affirm the title of this post) I continue to use my Leatherman (ironic because it's a convergent device.. get it?) to gain access into the aluminum parcels of goodness at my house.

Thanks to ikomi for reminding me about the safety can opener! I've seen these in action before, I'm going to ditch my archaic relics of the past and look to future with this Oxo Good Grips version, although you can find many variants of this basic (smart) design.

Can Opener History

A simple butterfly can opener.

A can opener.

Detail on a can opener.

A can opener (also known as a tin opener) is a device used to open metal cans.

The first tin cans, invented in 1810, were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open, using knives, chisels or even rocks. Not until cans started using thinner metal about 50 years later were any dedicated openers developed.

Many variations exist, ranging from simple small and lightweight openers having no moving parts such as the "butterfly" can opener, or those incorporated in many pocket knives, to dedicated electrically-operated kitchen appliances with featuring degrees of automation. Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. was first, in 1858, to patent a can opener. The cutting wheel can opener was invented by William Lyman in 1870. The Star Can Company of San Francisco, California introduced a modified design with a serrated rotating wheel in 1925. The first electric can opener debuted in 1931, modeled after the cutting-wheel design. The 1950s and 1960s saw the variety of canned goods increase. Wall-mounted can openers were introduced with gear-driven cutting wheels operated by a handle. Most featured a magnet to hold the lid once it had become separated from the body of the can, thereby preventing the lid from falling into the contents of the can, as well as the danger of cutting oneself on the sharp edge while trying to extract the severed lid. They were available in a range of colors to match the increasingly brighter kitchen units of the time. In 1968 Sunbeam produced an electric combination can opener/knife sharpener in avocado green.

Electric openers became available in the 1960s, either as wall-mounted or free-standing appliances. The can is placed against the cutting wheel and held in place by a lever. The motor drives the blade around the can, switching itself off automatically once the can is open. Black & Decker currently produce seven types, some with built-in knife sharpeners and bottle openers.

A new style of can opener has recently emerged (US Patent 5,946,811) -- it cuts the rim neatly in half in the plane of the flat end, leaving half of the rim attached to the can and the other half attached to the flat end. No sharp edges are produced on the lid. The driving teeth are very much finer than those of the classical can opener and reside at the bottom of a V-shaped groove which surrounds the rim on three sides at the point of action.

"The Baby Can Opener"

A similar device was included with British Army 'Operational Ration Pack, General Purpose' 24-hour ration pack and 'Compo' Composite (14 man) Ration pack rations. At one stage they were manufactured by W.P. Warren Engineering Co. Ltd, 79 Alma Street, Birmingham B19 2RL (021-359-2808). The instructions printed on the miniature greaseproof paper bag they were supplied in read:

TO OPEN CAN:
Place opener on the can with rim of can inside the slot. Hold between thumb and forefinger and twist forward to puncture. Repeat motion until can is open.

Their design is similar, but not identical, to the P-38 and P-51 can openers.

Creative uses for can openers.

List of P-38 Uses By Steve Wilson, MSG Proponent NCO, Dept of the Army Office of the Chief of Chaplains, The Pentagon [2]

Can Opener

Seam Ripper

Screwdriver

Clean Fingernails

Cut Fishing Line

Open Paint Cans

Window Scraper

Scrape Around Floor Corners

Digging

Clean Out Groove on Tupperware lids
Reach in and Clean Out Small Cracks

Scrape Around Edge of Boots

Bottle Opener

Gut Fish (in the field)

Scale Fish (in the field)

Test for 'Doneness' When Baking on a Camp Fire

Prying Items

Strip Wire

Scrape Pans in the Field

Lift Key on Flip Top Cans

Chisel

Barter

Marking Tool

Deflating Tires

Clean Sole of Boot/Shoe

Pick Teeth

Measurement

Striking Flint

Stirring Coffee

Puncturing Plastic Coating

Knocking on Doors

Morse Code

Box Cutter

Opening Letters

Write Emergency Messages

Scratch an Itch

Save as a Souvenir

Rip Off Rank for On-the-Spot Promotions

Bee sting removal tool (scrape off w/ blade)

Knife sharpener

1/3	Welcome to the page about Rosemary's new Gift, a Nice Red. KitchenAid hand operated can opener. It makes weapon like jagged circle with danger lines on the edges. See the pictures below the ads. Click: E-mail me	2/3
	To Go To The Main Site Simply Click on: www.MyDud.com Welcome to my compendium website about Defective Products : The important words found on this site include: Contact information for this Website: Brian Nelson Webpage Marketing Consultant 31 Gessner Rd. , Houston, TX 77024 713-467-3025 Fax 713-467-3192 Click: E-mail me You can find this site again by typing in the Google search engine the very unique word " 1nehctiK " which is " Kitchen1 " backwards. Article Word Count MSW

Are you a disgruntled consumer paying good money to buy something and then find out that it doesn't work.

Click: E-mail me your pictures and a story about your consumer product. I will publish it here for you to get the attention of other consumers who may have a similar problem.

Angry Customers Use Web to Shame Firms

Can Opener History

"The Baby Can Opener"

Creative uses for can openers.