Blow Dryer Update

[YES, I am still alive. I know I haven't posted in over a month ... I have a number of items and pictures waiting to be posted but I just haven't had two seconds to do it yet. Because this post a) just happened, b) doesn't require any pictures to be uploaded and resized and c) makes me laugh, it seems a bit more manageable!]

After the blow dryer incident, I tried emailing pictures and a description of what had happened to Conair. The email was kicked back undeliverable. I tried another address, and the same thing happened. So the next morning I called them, and asked the woman what email address I could send something to, and she asked what I was trying to send. I explained to her what had happened and she was freaking out. Then she proceeded to write up a faulty device report to give to her supervisor. She told me said not to throw my old one away until I hear anything from their Corporate headquarters in the next few days.

Well about a week went by and I hadn't heard anything, until I received a letter in the mail, informing me that they were sorry to hear about my recent incident, and requested me filling out a questionnaire explaining what had happened. I proceeded to complete the questions, and sent it, along with my old blow dryer, using the postage-paid sticker they provided me with, back to them. I also included pictures and the following letter:

Pam Keegan
Conair Corporation
1 Cummings Point Road
Stamford, CT 06902

October 5, 2007

Dear Pam,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the incident I had with my hair dryer. Please find below a description of the incident, as well as the consequences of it all.

On Monday, September 24, 2007 while I was blow drying my hair (no different than any other day of my life for the last 25+ years), all of a sudden, I heard a loud pop, then smelled smoke (or something burning), and felt the back of my head all of a sudden getting very hot and quite possibly burning. I turned off my blow dryer, and started rubbing my head to figure out what was going on. I pulled my hand out of my hair … along with a chunk of my hair! My head was still burning, so I felt back there again and discovered, when I pulled my hand out again, that there was a little spring, one of the hot coils from my blow dryer stuck to my head. The coil had snapped and singed itself to my head, burning my hair and scalp. The smell wasn't just burning blow dryer - it was my burned hair! Gross. It stung all day. Quite a chunk of hair came out in my fingers. I didn’t look until later that night (after going to work and feeling the stinging all day) to see what damage had been done. I moved the other hair out of the way and discovered a red burn on the back of my scalp. No wonder it hurt – I had been seriously burned by my blow dryer.

This was about a week and a half ago now, and the damage is still clearly there. I have showed it to a number of people, who have all been shocked at the size and severity of the burn. The burn has since scabbed over, and the scab consequently came off when I had my hair done (cut and colored) last week and the girl who washed it combed through it afterward, and her comb snagged on the back of my head and caught on the scab, pulling it loose. My hairstylist said the damage looks like a cigarette burn. Luckily, the hair is starting to grow back on that part of my head, so it didn’t damage the follicles, but it will be an interesting battle to keep that portion of my now miniscule in length hair from sticking out underneath the rest of my hair. She said I’ll probably have to buy small bobby pins to pin it down when it does grow long enough to maneuver.

Who knew that a blow dryer could cause such a hazard??

Included are the following pictures:

My blow dryer, after the incident (notice the missing springs on the right side of the dryer).
Hair that came out (notice the black burned dots on the ends that were once attached to my scalp), and remnants of the broken springs.
Day 1 of the burn.
Day 3 after the burn.
Day 6 after the burn.
Day 9 after the burn – showing the scab that had been snagged loose.
Day 9 after the burn – showing the burn after the scab came off.

I will continue to document the damage sustained on my head, through the various stages of regrowth. I would be happy to send you these picures, if desired.

Please contact me as soon as possible after reviewing my incident so we can come to a settlement conclusion. Thank you very much for your time.

As you can see from the date on the letter, this was over a month ago. I hadn't heard anything back from them and just yesterday thought that I should either call or write to them again. I came home for lunch today and found the following letter from Conair in the mailbox ...

November 5, 2007

Dear Miss Lillywhite:

Conair Corporation is willing to compensate you $450.00 for the injury you are claiming. Enclosed is our Release of All Claims form for your signature. When we are in receipt of the signed and witnessed form, we will issue our check to you.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

CONAIR CORPORATION

Interesting. Very interesting. So now everyone is telling me what they think I should do ... take it and be done, ask for more money, threaten to sue, actually sue, etc. etc. etc. What do you think? I'm not a malicious person thinking that I'm going to have the next "I'm suing McDonald's because my coffee was too hot" case, but I do think its a bit odd that they're willing to just pay me off to keep my mouth shut. Personally, I find the whole situation very amusing ... and definitely, most definitely blog-worthy ;)