I am at the end of my rope with the ridiculous situation I am in.

Determined to do it "right" for Thanksgiving, I bought one of these
things at Wal-Mart. There's no serial number or anything like that on
it -- it just says "Pyrex Accessories" and I've thrown the packaging
away.

Does anyone know how to turn it OFF?! There's no switch -- I have to
take the battery out! Is this "normal"?

<rant>

The ridiculous part comes in when trying to find out who made the
stupid thing last Friday. I called Corning/Pyrex and was told Robinson
knife made it. I called Robinson Knife and was told World Kitchen
made it. I called World Kitchen and their customer service department
closes at 2:30 p.m. on Fridays (it was 2:45 and I had been on hold
with the other companies since a little past noon).

So today I get ahold of World Kitchen (30 minutes on hold) and they
insist Robinson Knife makes it. I call Robinson Knife and get an
answering machine!!!!

So I call Wal-Mart to ask them to look at the package to tell me who
really makes this thermometer -- she tells me they don't have any.

I already know I was an idiot for buying this cheap thing at the last
minute at Wal-Mart, but sheesh!

</rant>

The turkey was fabulous, by the way.

TIA,
Tam

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:29:48 -0600, Tamblyne > wrote:

>Does anyone know how to turn it OFF?! There's no switch -- I have to
>take the battery out! Is this "normal"?

Some cooking thermometers have only an automatic shut-off -- I have a digital
candy thermometer like that. Try letting it sit for as long as two hours and see
if it shuts itself off.

-- Larry

pltrgyst wrote:

> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:29:48 -0600, Tamblyne > wrote:
>
>
>>Does anyone know how to turn it OFF?! There's no switch -- I have to
>>take the battery out! Is this "normal"?
>
>
> Some cooking thermometers have only an automatic shut-off -- I have a digital
> candy thermometer like that. Try letting it sit for as long as two hours and see
> if it shuts itself off.

Hi, Larry --

I did leave it sit to see if this might be the case, but no go. I
even forgot about it last time I used it and it was still on the next
morning.

Thanks for trying!

Tam

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:54:56 -0600, Tamblyne > wrote:

>I did leave it sit to see if this might be the case, but no go. I
>even forgot about it last time I used it and it was still on the next
>morning.

If you're talking about a meat thermometer with a plug-in probe on a long
braided steel cable that you leave in the meat while it's in the oven, like the
original Polders, those often stay on permanently. I have a Polder and a
knock-off from someone else. The current drawn by the display is negligible, and
the battery still lasts at least two years.

-- Larry

"Tamblyne" > wrote:
> So I call Wal-Mart to ask them to look at the package to tell me who
> really makes this thermometer -- she tells me they don't have any.

Welcome to the age of globalization. First of all, with most mass market
retailers these days, they will buy a large batch of some item to sell, and
may never, ever carry it again. In fact, it might not even be manufactured
again as that make and model number. Some of these product runs are done on
contract for a specific retailer, and when the contract run is over, so is
the manufacturing of the product.

Second, brand names don't mean anything most of the time. Hence your
runaround with Pyrex, Robinson, World Market, and Walmart themselves. Today
brand names are licensed out with relatively little monitoring by the
original brand name company (if they even still exist!). At least on a lot
of the products if you look at the fine print on the packaging, you will see
a phrase such as "licensed by". Whenever you see that phrase "licenced by",
you can rest assured that the original company holding the brand trademark
will take zero responsibility for the product. Forget about any good
reputations of companies standing behind their product at this point. I've
bought several products in recent years that were "made by" respected,
decades old companies... NOT! The product actually had nothing to do with
the brand name. In fact, it gets worse many times. Often a product that was
"licensed by" the original company holding the brand trademark is only
"distributed by" the company granted the license. They in turn contract out
with a manufacturer (usually in the Far East) so it is "made by" yet a third
company.

All of this reminds me of the commercial that used to run on the radio years
ago where the very important chief executive who ran the megacorporation had
no idea what his company made... sounds like your situation where the
various companies you called really don't know what they make.

The products I've bought using licensed brand names include a water heater
by Maytag, a tube pan by Farberware, and a compact stereo by Memorex. None
of the actual manufacturers had anything to do with the original companies.

--
( #wff_ng_7# at #verizon# period #net# )

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:29:48 -0600, Tamblyne
> wrote:

>I am at the end of my rope with the ridiculous situation I am in.
>
>Determined to do it "right" for Thanksgiving, I bought one of these
>things at Wal-Mart. There's no serial number or anything like that on
>it -- it just says "Pyrex Accessories" and I've thrown the packaging
>away.
>
>Does anyone know how to turn it OFF?! There's no switch -- I have to
>take the battery out! Is this "normal"?
>
><rant>
>
>The ridiculous part comes in when trying to find out who made the
>stupid thing last Friday. I called Corning/Pyrex and was told Robinson
>knife made it. I called Robinson Knife and was told World Kitchen
>made it. I called World Kitchen and their customer service department
>closes at 2:30 p.m. on Fridays (it was 2:45 and I had been on hold
>with the other companies since a little past noon).
>
>So today I get ahold of World Kitchen (30 minutes on hold) and they
>insist Robinson Knife makes it. I call Robinson Knife and get an
>answering machine!!!!
>
>So I call Wal-Mart to ask them to look at the package to tell me who
>really makes this thermometer -- she tells me they don't have any.
>
>I already know I was an idiot for buying this cheap thing at the last
>minute at Wal-Mart, but sheesh!
>
></rant>
>
>The turkey was fabulous, by the way.
>
>TIA,
>Tam

I just bought a Pyrex Deep Fry Candy Thermometer. It has a lifetime
warranty and I actually put the information in the drawer. You may
want to save this information for future use.

"Lifetime warranty
Robinson Knife Company promises to replace any PYREX Professional
items that break during normal household use. If you have a problem
and request a replacement under the terms of the warranty, send the
product to:

Robinson Knife Company
Product Replacement Services
2615 Walden Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14225

Manufactured under license from Corning Incorporated."

--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974

The Cook wrote:

> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:29:48 -0600, Tamblyne
> > wrote:
>
>
>>I am at the end of my rope with the ridiculous situation I am in.

[snip]

> I just bought a Pyrex Deep Fry Candy Thermometer. It has a lifetime
> warranty and I actually put the information in the drawer. You may
> want to save this information for future use.
>
> "Lifetime warranty
> Robinson Knife Company promises to replace any PYREX Professional
> items that break during normal household use. If you have a problem
> and request a replacement under the terms of the warranty, send the
> product to:
>
> Robinson Knife Company
> Product Replacement Services
> 2615 Walden Avenue
> Buffalo, NY 14225
>
> Manufactured under license from Corning Incorporated."

Thanks!

pltrgyst wrote:

> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:54:56 -0600, Tamblyne > wrote:
>
>
>>I did leave it sit to see if this might be the case, but no go. I
>>even forgot about it last time I used it and it was still on the next
>>morning.
>
>
> If you're talking about a meat thermometer with a plug-in probe on a long
> braided steel cable that you leave in the meat while it's in the oven, like the
> original Polders, those often stay on permanently. I have a Polder and a
> knock-off from someone else. The current drawn by the display is negligible, and
> the battery still lasts at least two years.
>
> -- Larry

Hi, Larry --

I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I wanted to see what would
happen. :-)

I've left it "on" for a couple of weeks now and it's working tonight.

I guess I will, though, keep an extra battery or two on hand "just in
case."

Thanks!

Tam