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Hatch it Incubators sold us two Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubators which both proved to have a manufacturing fault.

Due to both Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubators being faulty we lost all the contents of both incubators, these incubators are 40 egg capacity.

Hatch it Incubators have stated they were not advised by Brinsea to recall any of the faulty batch.

Brinsea UK Sales Manager informed us that Hatch it Incubators would be and should be contacting purchasers of the faulty batch for a product recall.

So why did no-one contact us? We may have not lost our second batch of eggs.

Please note the eggs were rare breed poultry worth a considerable amount of money.

If Brinsea knowingly had a manufacturing problem with a batch of Octagon 40DX incubators, why is there or indeed was there not - any information regarding this on their web site informing customers?

Salmon Faverolle Cockerel above

Hatch it Incubators sold us two Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubators which both proved to have a manufacturing fault.

Due to both Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubators being faulty we lost all the contents of both incubators, these incubators are 40 egg capacity.

Hatch it Incubators have stated they were not advised by Brinsea to recall any of the faulty batch.

Brinsea UK Sales Manager informed us that Hatch it Incubators would be and should be contacting purchasers of the faulty batch for a product recall.

So why did no-one contact us? We may have not lost our second batch of eggs.

Please note the eggs were rare breed poultry worth a considerable amount of money.

If Brinsea knowingly had a manufacturing problem with a batch of Octagon 40DX incubators, why is there or indeed was there not - any information regarding this on their web site informing customers?

SO you might wonder why we have this page on our site. Well, the story goes:

We purchased two (2) incubators - Brinsea Octagon 40DX - from Hatch it Incubators early July 2005.

We had a problem with one of these incubators after a couple of weeks, in that the incubator went off. Total shut down.

Of course by the time we found the incubator had malfunctioned (the following morning) we had lost all the eggs inside:

1 x 40 egg capacity incubator - gone - just like that.

Well of course you can also imagine our distress - all fertile eggs lost!!

We contacted Brinsea who suggested we go back to Hatch it Incubators (from whom we puchased the incubator). Hatch it Incubators are an agent for Brinsea.

They (Hatch it Incubators) told us to forward the faulty incubator to them and they would 'fix' it.

We at this time thought this was a 'one off' and although extremely upset, put it down to one of those things, as Brinsea did not mention in their reply to us that there had been any other faults reported with their Octagon 40DX machines.

Well the story goes - we received the 'fixed' incubator back from Hatch it Incubators, who told us that the fault had actually been a 'blown electronic circuit board'.

Fine.

Then, lo and behold!! the second incubator we purchased from Hatch it Incubators malfunctioned.

Oh yes, we on checking the incubator (as one does) to see everything is OK, found this second Brinsea Octagon 40DX showing a temperature of -72 degrees. After a couple of minutes, it then showed -25 degrees, then - 45 degrees and so on....... you get the picture.

Another Brinsea Octagon 40DX 40 egg incubator purchased brand new from Hatch it Incubators only a matter of a few weeks earlier malfunctioning.

Needless to say we again contacted Brinsea themselves via e-mail and asked a few questions, as to why we should find such faulty incubators, and to complain that we had lost, not once but twice - fertile eggs.

Within 20 minutes of the e-mail going to Brinsea products, we had a telephone call from Brinsea UK Sales Manager.

Hatch it Incubators had onpassed our telephone number to Brinsea (at Brinsea's request). Which is a breach of the Data Protection Act, and illegal.

Telling us they (BRINSEA) had a problem with a batch of their Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubators. That they did indeed have faulty circuit boards, That they had also immediately stopped their business contract with this particular company who supplied their ' faulty circuit boards'. Also that they were sorry for our losses but would not compensate us for the loss of eggs (Company policy). Offering to replace the faulty Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubator with another.

Well, you can imagine - I was dumbfounded. Here was BRINSEA telling me that they HAD A PROBLEM with a batch of their Octagon 40DX incubators and that they had contacted their agents to 'RE CALL THE FAULTY BATCH OF BRINSEA OCTAGON 40DX INCUBATORS'. We declined the offer of yet another incubator from Brinsea - after all we had already purchased 2 faulty units and lost 2 batches of rare breed poultry eggs, why should we have any faith in their products? What if it happened yet again?

I stated we had not heard from Hatch it Incubators, that there was a problem with a batch of Octagon 40DX incubators, Brinsea UK Sales Manager told me they would be, and they should have done so already.

Story continues:

Visit our on-line shop for great value quality poultry housing, parrot cages and animal jewellery,

In detail to follow:

Hatch it Incubators eventually very reluctantly after much correspondence, agreed to refund the cost of the second incubator plus our postage costs for returning the faulty goods in WRITING via e-mail.

To date: Hatch it incubators have received the faulty Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubator back, and have now informed us they 'will look at it later this week or maybe next' before even considering a refund.

This story will continue in detail the longer Hatch it Incubators and BRINSEA fail to refund our costs for receiving TWO FAULTY (FAULTY BY MANUFACTURE) incubators - BRINSEA OCTAGON 40DX. After our losing TWO LOTS OF FERTILE EGGS.

Did you know that Brinsea accept NO RESPONSIBILITY for loss of eggs? (Check their site). They advise customers to 'TAKE OUT INSURANCE'.

Quote from Brinsea web site:

'Brinsea Products Ltd. and their agents will not be responsible for loss of eggs, birds or other livestock in the event of failure, however caused and the user is advised to arrange their own insurance cover where loss of power, mechanical or electrical failure might result in unacceptable losses'.

Tell me - how can a company manufacturing and selling incubators to incubate eggs, then DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES from the issues when the incubators are manufactured with a fault? Hypothetically, say there was a tragedy - a plane crash. Do you think Boeing could get away with not accepting responsibility if the engine was found to be the cause of crash and defective by manufacture?

Please remember these incubators were not just found to be faulty by co-incidence - they were manufactured faulty - as confirmed by Brinsea even though they at the time of manufacture did not know. But surely this poses the question of quality assurance?

Links and further information available in the next couple of days.

UPDATE

10 November 2005

Received today from Hatch it Incubators

'Now before this issue gets any more out of control I will issue your refund today if this is removed from your website when I get up in the morning'

Mid morning we received a telephone call from Brinsea UK Sales Manager asking us to remove this page from our site.

We will not be threatened as this page is of consumer interest and we are still waiting for confirmation that our money will be refunded with no compromise.

UPDATE

11 November 2005

Received a cheque from Hatch it Incubators for the refund of the cost of the second faulty incubator and postage.

Also received another telephone call from Brinsea UK Sales Manager telling us that our page is incorrect and if we do not remove it, 'there are things they can do'. Is this harrassment?

This page is factual and true as we know it. The information on this page has been provided to us from either Brinsea or Hatch it Incubators.

Comment:

If Brinsea and/or Hatch it Incubators had refunded our money as requested initially - this page would not be here.

It seems the value of a Brinsea Octagon 40DX incubator is worth more to Brinsea/Hatch it Incubators than their good name(s).

Lastly our losses are financially much greater than the amount we have been refunded, as our 70 fertile rare breed poultry eggs seemed of no concern to either party.

Can't say we are yet in the season of 'goodwill'.