This is a column about dirty floors and a dirty little secret about the federal agency that's in charge of regulating and overseeing recalls of dangerous products: The Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC.
It all started in March 2009 when Electrolux issued a recall for one of its cordless vacuums and told owners not to use their vacuum until a replacement part could be shipped to them. As the clock ticked and spring turned into summer, people with dirt collecting on their floors waited at their mailbox. When the parcel with the part still didn't show, consumers, who ironically now had dust collecting on their vacuums, logged on and complained to me. After posting a follow up article about the complaints, the company wrote me directly to say it was working on the problems and the number of complaints was small.
Is this true? We may never know. On July 22, 2009, in a Freedom of Information Act request, I asked The Consumer Product Safety Commission how many complaints it received from consumers upset about this recall and the wait for replacement parts.
I immediately got an email back from the CPSC saying it would process my request. Then nothing. I continued to ask the CPSC what's up with my request. A couple of my emails went unanswered. Then on August 28, 2009, I got this response:
Good afternoon Mary,
Sorry about the delay in responding to your email. The Clearinghouse just informed me that they have not completed the search for records but they will do so in the next week or so. As soon as they provide the information to our office, we will process under FOIA for you. By the way, your FOIA request number is 09-F-00916 (for future reference).
Alberta
More time passed. More radio silence from CPSC.
On October 14, 2009, I sent this email:
Alberta,
It's been many months now... What is the latest on this FOIA now please?
Thanks!
Mary
More radio silence. On October 23, 2009, I try again:
Hey Alberta,
Wow ! This is taking a long time. What's the latest with this?
Thanks!
Mary
On November 10, 2009, I received an email from CPSC asking for my mailing address. I responded right away, figuring the agency was mailing me the complaints. Today, I received the ultimate waste of our taxpayer dollars. The CPSC spent $1.05 in postage to mail me, in a large brown envelope, two pieces of paper. Two pieces of regular, business sized paper, which it could have emailed me. Two pieces of paper that would have fit into a regular sized envelope requiring less postage. Two pieces of paper and a brown envelope that some part of some tree got ground and pulped to tell me nothing:
The highlights: The CPSC says before it can release any information to me about customer service related complaints it has to "release a copy of my letter to the firm." Electrolux then has 15 days to respond. The CPSC adds in its letter to me, "If the company claims that the information is inaccurate or confidentiality for proprietary information, we must evaluate these comments and renotify firms if we overrule any claims." So if the company says, "Oh, no, no those complaints can't be true..." the CPSC then decides if it's going to release the info to me.
The kicker: The CPSC says it will take more than 15 days for this to happen, but I should be "assured that we are handling your request as quickly as possible."
The process the CPSC uses to handle public record requests is completely contrary to the spirit of why the Freedom of Information Act exists. I asked about complaints regarding customer service and wait times getting replacement parts, this is nothing proprietary. This is simple. It's non-sensitive information reported to a government agency. The company can respond when I ask it about the information the CPSC gives me. That's what journalists do, they ask for a comment from the company. We report both sides of the story.
What is most chilling to my inner watchdog is to think what if I made a different request? Let's say: "How many kids were injured by X, Y or Z product?" Or: "How many complaints has the CPSC gotten about another device harming people?" The company gets a chance to say to the Feds, "Oh please don't give out information about our razor blades, even though they've been cutting off people's fingers, how they work is proprietary--it will reveal our slicing and dicing secrets..."
Even if the CPSC mails me another expensive letter saying it got ZERO complaints from people about the vacuum recall, this situation is a terrible wake up call as to how the CPSC is handling Freedom of Information Act requests. The public has a right to know what's going on and what's being reported to the government. This is agency is supposed to be about SAFETY, not corporate censorship.
Will we learn the truth? Stay tuned.
And in case you're wondering what the original recall was about, here's a copy of the actual recall notice:
Cordless Stick Vacuums Recalled by Electrolux Home Care Products Due to Bursting Batteries
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of product: Ergorapido, Pronto and Precision Vacuums
Units: About 320,000
Distributor: Electrolux Home Care Products Inc., of Bloomington, Ill.
Hazard: The vacuum’s battery can expand and burst, posing a risk of injury to the user and bystanders.
Incidents/Injuries: Electrolux has received 34 reports of incidents in the U.S. involving damage to the vacuum and surrounding property. There have been two reports of minor injuries, including swollen hands and irritation to the eyes from contact with battery powder.
Description: This recall involves 2-in-1 cordless stick vacuums with a detachable hand vacuum and free-standing charger. Units involved in the recall have 9.6-volts printed on a serial plate on the underside of the handheld unit, and the following serial numbers: 074000001 through 085100001 and 74000001 through 85100001.
EL1000A - Pronto
EL1000B - Pronto
EL1000BX - Pronto
EL1000BZ - Pronto
PE1000B - Precision
EL1005A - Ergorapido
EL1006A - Ergorapido
Sold at: Major and independent retailers nationwide from November 2007 through March 2009 for about $100.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately unplug and stop using the recalled vacuums and contact Electrolux for a free replacement of the handheld portion which contains the batteries.
Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Electrolux Home Care Products at (800) 932-1778 between 8 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday and Sunday. Consumers can also visit the firm’s Web site at stickvacrecall.com
Send the link for this page to a friend! The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or visit CPSC's web site at cpsc.gov/talk.html. To join a CPSC email subscription list, please go to cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's Web site at cpsc.gov
Comments
This story highlights what’s wrong with the current system. Section 6B of the Consumer Product Safety Act gives manufacturers a lot of control over what information the CPSC can disclose about their products. It allows a company to squash the release of any information it deems "inaccurate" and allows manufacturers to sue to keep it confidential. When companies can withhold negative information from consumers, their incentive to fix problems is diminished. That is about to change. Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the CPSC must create a publicly accessible database of consumer complaints. Manufacturers, who have been the gatekeepers of information, are fighting to preserve the status quo. We strongly suggest that you contact the CPSC about your experience now while the agency is still formulating the complaint database. Readers can voice their support for this database by sending a message to the agency on its website.
Oh, I could add so many stories to your complaint about the FOIA system at CPSC -- the only safety agency with a gag rule on FOIA as Sean mentions above. We work for years to get information on cribs and other products injuring and killing children and rarely get the information we request. Meanwhile, combine this with secrecy agreements in lawsuits; and many dangerous products remain in homes and in use while CPSC and the company keep the information secret. Visit kidsindanger.org for just some of the stories. As Sean says, the new CPSIA requirement for a public database may open up more information and the new Chairman of the CPSC says she wants a more open CPSC, so we can only hope things get better fast! Thanks for writing about this little known dirty little secret.
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