warning

off topic rant follows:

i am becoming increasingly frustrated with fisher price/mattel. for the third time, i have had to call them about defective products. the first time, i was sure it was just a fluke. the laugh and learn puppy i got the little cherub for christmas just wouldn't finish a song. it stopped at "p" on the abc song, "9" on the 1-10 song. so, i called them. and they sent me a replacement. then, ninny sent the little cherub a peek 'n play eeyore for valentine's day. again, it only plays one song when it's supposed to play, like, 6 or something. so, i called fisher price again. this time they told me to change the batteries. so i did. still nothing. so i called them again. they are sending me a "voucher" this time. i asked them, since this was the second time i'd had to call for a similar problem, is there a problem with their toys? they said, "not that we're aware of." i said, "well, this is the second time i've a problem like this, with the toy not getting out of 'demo' mode." and she implied that it was something i was doing. which brings us to today...i pulled out one of the little cherub's toys that he got for christmas and hadn't ever played with. and what do you know? it doesn't work properly. now, this little sesame street guitar has elmo on one side and cookie monster on the other. elmo works fine, but cookie monster, well, that's another story. so, again, i called fisher price. i told them my problem. again they told me to replace the batteries, BUT! i was one step ahead of them! i'd already replaced the batteries! she walked me through exactly how to operate this little guitar--apparently, it's pretty particular and has to be just so, so to work. but, alas, it still didn't work! so, they are sending me another voucher as they don't have the replacement toy in stock. you can imagine how frustrating this is.