Quality Cage

[Stackie]

I guess I'll call them tomorrow and get the details. I don't want to send it and then never get a wheel back. The two boys that use it love their wheel and use it religiously.

 

[Linda]

I'm sorry. I thought you would want to send yours. Mine is just gathering dust on the floor, so I can send it if you're concerned.

They won't do anything about the problem unless we follow through. Personally, I prefer the construction of the Ed's spins and will be using those for our educational displays and for most of my cages. Because chin spins are pushed so hard on this site, though, I'd like to see owners get a wheel that lasts like it should. This is the only way to help do that. A 90 day warranty is just not very long.

Let me know if you prefer that I send mine. About a quarter of the wheel looks like yours, so they can still see the issue.
Linda

 

[daisymae10]

Powder Coating Issues

Our normal warranty is 90-days from the date of purchase (you can view our complete product warranty under "shipping & Returns" on the website), however due to the issue that has arisen involving the powder coating of certain items (i.e. CS-15's, trays, etc) we will honor the warranty for up to one year from the date of purchase.

For items that are over one year old, but less than two years (and purchased directly from Quality Cage), we will offer a 25% discount on the purchase of a replacement product with a photo of the item that is to be replaced. This does not apply to normal wear and tear, or chewing that may have occurred by the regular usage of an animal.

All shipping would be the responsibility of the customer.

You can contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Quality Cage Company

 

[Ash]

I'm sorry. I thought you would want to send yours. Mine is just gathering dust on the floor, so I can send it if you're concerned.

They won't do anything about the problem unless we follow through. Personally, I prefer the construction of the Ed's spins and will be using those for our educational displays and for most of my cages. Because chin spins are pushed so hard on this site, though, I'd like to see owners get a wheel that lasts like it should. This is the only way to help do that. A 90 day warranty is just not very long.

Let me know if you prefer that I send mine. About a quarter of the wheel looks like yours, so they can still see the issue.
Linda

Can I ask why you have such a vendetta against QC? You seem to be out to get them, and while, yes, there has been an issue with the CS wheels, they are still one of the best wheels out there and are still worth the money spent.

 

[tunes]

Ash - I don't see this as a vendetta. I see it as a product that isn't living up to it's reputation. I think Linda and anyone else with an issue with this wheel has the right to expect a quality product for the amount of money they are paying for this wheel. The chinspin, the flying saucer, the Ed wheel - these suckers are not cheap. If they are going to wear out without even getting good use out of them, I would be complaining too.

 

[menagerie]

I have a Chin Spin that is a little over 2 years old. It was given to me when some foster chins were returned. It is in as bad or worse shape than Stackie's. The group of chins is still using the wheel. Since I didn't actually buy the wheel, I wasn't too concerned. But I can see it would be an issue for anyone that saved to get a wheel.

 

[Stackie]

Our normal warranty is 90-days from the date of purchase (you can view our complete product warranty under "shipping & Returns" on the website), however due to the issue that has arisen involving the powder coating of certain items (i.e. CS-15's, trays, etc) we will honor the warranty for up to one year from the date of purchase.

For items that are over one year old, but less than two years (and purchased directly from Quality Cage), we will offer a 25% discount on the purchase of a replacement product with a photo of the item that is to be replaced. This does not apply to normal wear and tear, or chewing that may have occurred by the regular usage of an animal.

Per these terms I guess I am out of luck, my wheel just hit 3 years old I believe...so I'm not even going to bother sending mine in. Sorry.

 

[3CsMommy]

And I'm SoL on the (not quite) 4 year old pan in my cage, which afaik was the first powder coating issue to be brought up on these forums.

 

[Linda]

Can I ask why you have such a vendetta against QC? You seem to be out to get them, and while, yes, there has been an issue with the CS wheels, they are still one of the best wheels out there and are still worth the money spent.

I do not have a vendetta against them. I don't really know them to any extent at all. My concern is that ever since I've been browsing this list, I've seen a very strong encouragement for everyone to buy a chin spin. I know others have seen and felt it. Nan (Snickers) even discusses buying a dozen at a higher price than the Ed's spins she can get locally because she thought she was missing something due to everyone's promotion of the wheel.

I posted a month or two ago about the powder coating peeling, and the initial responses were that mine must be the only such case. Then people started coming out of the woodwork to say they've had problems with both chin spins and pans.

I called Quality Cages to see if they were aware of the problem because I thought they must be aware of the problem and be doing something about it. I got mixed responses of yes, they knew about it, but no they weren't doing anything. I was actually advised during my first call to go to local powder coaters to see if they would re-coat my wheel (at my cost of course). Through doing as they asked, I learned from powder coaters that these wheels are coated improperly and that it's unrealistic to re-coat a wheel like this. Others learned the same when they talked to powder coaters.

So we've got a company selling a product whose processing is defective. I called Quality Cages back, and to me, that's the responsible thing to do. I told them my results from their first recommendation, and this thread is what followed.

So I believe I have been entirely ethical in seeing if others on the forum have problems, calling the company to make them aware of the problem, doing as they suggest to fix the problem, letting them know when their recommendation wasn't feasible, and following through by calling this week when they agreed that there was a problem and that they needed to discuss this with their powder coater.

My call yesterday to the two Lindas led them to ask for one of us to send in a wheel. They said they would confer with Pam today (and I don't know who Pam is and have never talked to her), and apparently Pam has decided to drop the issue and not pursue this any further.

At this point, I have no problem if every new person on this list buys a Chin Spin. My only concern (and you will probably see me post again) is that people *know* that there have been problems with the powder coating before they purchase. It's that simple. As long as people are educated to the problem and still choose to buy, they have made an informed decision. And I think the reason I have put effort into this is that I would have wanted to know about the peeling and flaking had I asked on this forum which wheel/flying saucer to buy. I'm trying to do the same for others.

Time and time again on this list we have seen people with no wheel or with a cheap plastic wheel save up for a chin-safe wheel. They are expensive -- as much as many of the cheap pet store cages people buy for chins. It's an investment. I have not used my chin spin with the peeling, so to me this problem results in an unusable wheel (or an expensive piece of scrap metal). That's my personal decision, and others have chosen otherwise. But if you look at the first couple of pages of this thread, you will see a lot of unhappy people posting to this thread hoping Quality Cages will pay attention. In the end they have chosen not to pay attention, but again that's their choice as a company.

In the future, if people know there is a reasonable chance their wheel will flake and peel (and I have no idea what the percentage of peeling wheels and pans is) and still buy, they won't be upset if theirs flakes and peels. They went into this knowing the risks. If they don't want to buy, there are other options. There are obviously flying saucers. People have been down on the Ed's spins, but I've had nothing but good luck with them. They're just another option. And of course someone on here has made some fabulous wheels, and people are showing strong interest in potentially buying from him. There are also the narrower pan wheels (don't remember the name) that some people have.

So people just need to know the pros and cons of the various options, and to me a con of the Chin Spin is the peeling and flaking. Some people will believe there are enough pros to override the cons and still purchase. You appear to be one of those that thinks a chin spin is money well spent. Others, like me, will go with another option. To me, a flaking/peeling wheel is unusable and a waste of money. Different strokes for different folks.

Linda

 

[RDZCRanch]

I don't see it as a vendetta either. It might get annoying for those of us that KNOW about the problem to see it repeated over and over, when some of us don't think it's a big deal. On the other hand...people are paying $60 for a wheel with powder coating that flakes off. That can be a big deal to people that want their chin's cage to look nice, and we all know pet people love to see their chin cage looking like something they would want to live in.

Posting something over and over again is the most effective way to spread information. I see nothing wrong with Linda informing people of the powder coating problem. I just skip the posts because I have seen them already, but I have also seen numerous new members thank her for bringing it to their attention.

 

[Snickers]

Pam is a owner or co-owner at least that is what I was told. I only know this when I purchased 12 wheels from them and some of them were not round. I hope I do not have problems with my wheels since they still have not been used. I only purchased chinspins because people were making a big deal of them so I wanted to see what the big deal was.

I also preferred the Ed spins and never had problems with them. With the Ed spins I usually keep them for 2 - 4 years. There are nothing wrong with them and I usually donate them.

 

[Linda]

I talked to Pam yesterday. She had called a week ago Friday. I returned the call a couple of times last week, but she couldn't talk. She called again yesterday.

She wanted to convey that they haven't yet gotten to the root cause of the problem, but they also haven't given up. She explained that they didn't want to provide the powder coaters with Stacie's wheel because they didn't feel it had enough powder coating left to adequately analyze. They provided a different wheel.

The current powder coater still doesn't believe it is their fault. They've had the metal tested, and the metal surface is apparently not the problem. They have asked for a couple of bids from others on powder coating. At least one bid that has come back is triple the current cost. They have already had a recent cost increase due to increasing sheet metal costs and don't want to add another increase for powder coating especially when they're not sure it's the root cause.

Pam said they have not had reports of any wheels peeling in under a year. I agreed that they appear to start peeling in the 1.5 or 2 year time frame. We discussed that this would make it hard to verify they've found the root cause. They'll have to wait a couple of years before being sure any change solves the problem.

If anyone has experience with how long powder coating usually lasts and specifically how long other powder coaters warranty their work, Pam would like to know. I will contact a couple of local powder coaters I previously talked to in order to find out what their warranties are.
Linda

 

[ticklechin]

If this was my business I would stop powder coating and reduce the price of the wheel, JMO.

 

[fanofdmb84]

Does anyone have pictures of a CS without powder coating? Had I known about this issue before I ordered mine, I might not have...because now I'm worried about it. But I do want to get some more wheels in the future and I'm curious to see what these look like without the powder coating.

 

[ticklechin]

They most likely would look like the Ed, silver metal color.