Chinese-made toys will teach your kids nothing

**Honey** · May 5th, 2009, 06:54 PM

They seemed the perfect toys to teach inquisitive young minds the basics of the ABC.
Unfortunately, even a child could spot something was seriously wrong with the set of alphabet building blocks.
The block for 'U' was marked with the word 'umberlla' under a colourful brolly, while the side for 'Y' had a boat sailing over the word 'yatch'.
A third face had some creative punctuation, with 'X' standing for X'mas tree.

Gaffe: The building blocks stocked by Morrisons were made in China. The company has now decided to remove the toy from its 382 stores

Suzanne Toulson, 60, noticed the howlers after the £3.22 set of blocks was bought for her nine-month-old grand-daughter, Millie, from Morrisons in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester.
She complained to the store but was initially told only that no more of the Chinese-made toys would be ordered.
Yesterday, however, Morrisons backed down, and the misspelled blocks are being taken off the shelves of its 382 stores.
'There are only 26 words on these blocks,' said Mrs Toulson, a tax manager. 'You'd think they'd be able to get them all right.'
Her son Kieran, 29, bought the set of blocks but Mrs Toulson quickly realised they were riddled with errors while Millie was playing with them.
'I took the bricks back to Morrisons,' she said. 'They are presented as educational toys and I told the manager that they simply didn't do their job if the spelling on them was wrong.
'When I contacted their customer services, they told me that new stocks were on their way but they were not going to withdraw the ones with mistakes. They were going to let them "fizzle out" instead.
'I couldn't believe their attitude.'

Suzanne Toulson bought the bricks from Morrisons for her granddaughter Millie, but was shocked to find they contained spelling mistakes

The packaging claims the blocks are 'designed to stimulate, educate and make learning fun'.
But Mrs Toulson said: 'It's not much fun if you find out that the toy you've been using to learn to spell is full of mistakes.
'The attitude of Morrisons made me angry - they're obviously more interested in making money than in educating children.'
Yesterday, however, a full-scale climbdown was announced.
A spokesman for Morrisons said: 'The children's soft blocks have been withdrawn from sale in all stores. Customers can return the products to the store for a full refund.
'Morrisons apologises for any inconvenience caused and the issue is being investigated with the suppliers.'

Bottom of class for Morrisons as it stocks spelling blocks that say 'U is for Umberlla' | Mail Online