Is your Critter nation like this?!?

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lilangel

lilangel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
Messages
2,758
Location
Hull,Quebec(not far from Ottawa)
All where it connects there is no powder coating!

I contacted Midwest also. But for a $300+ cage i am pissed! I am sorry but for thee price they need to know double and triple check the stuff come on! I have a cheap $30 and its better then that.(i had problems with my ferret nations too) Probably why im so pissed off.

I noticed it when i was doing a super cleaning you know with tooth brush and all and i started to smell the rust!

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They are all poorly made. Some worse then others.
Horrible powder coating, and often when people buy them, the parts are bent and do not even fit together without hammering them with something.

It seems that the CN cages start rusting out within one or two years ....
A good design but badly made product.

I can only assume that Midwest does not care about animals, the consumer who buys their product or their reputation.
At the very least they should have good quality controls in place and enough packing material to protect the product/

I ordered 2 CNs that arrived in very poor condition, with a lot of sections missing powder coating.
I emailed Midwest pictures of the unused cage sections and cooresponded with them for months without any sucess.

I think the only reason the CN is recommended by pet owners is that unfortunately it is the best choice we seem to have :(
I am looking forward to someone else making a similar, but better constructed product available in Canada.
 
I hadn't noticed that before so I had to go check and sure enough mine is that way too. Not nearly as bad but still missing a fair bit. I'll join you in the letter writing after I get some pictures. Some bent but fixable pieces I can tolerate but bent pieces and now this? Not ok, I hope after getting these complaints that this will change.
 
some bars on mine are also bent up that is not too bad but the rust that pisses me off. When we had FN they sent us new parts to the cage from very bent up parts. So they better do something with this its only a month old who knows in a year my gosh.
 
SQ said:
Just the fact alone that the insides of the support columns are not powder coated demonstarte how badly made this product is.
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Exactly that is what i am afraid of that will rust first and then break in a matter of a few months and then the cage will be crap for sure. Everyone know you need to clean there and its hard to get all the water away once your done so there will always be a bit of water and now rust :(
The reason i saw it so fast was i brought a computer light right in the cage with me lol to see better what im cleaning and saw all that :gaah:
 
I have rust on mine as well but I'm not upset over it. Same with anything metal, you will get wear and tear. My brand new bike that cost more than the CN has rust spots. Our lawn furniture is rusting badly after only a few months. Gone are the days of home made items using top quality stuff and paying top dollar for it.
 
If you have all the pieces sandblasted to remove all powder coating and then have it powdeer coated.
And if you live anywhere near where something like that could be done.

No idea what it would cost.

Gone are the days of home made items using top quality stuff and paying top dollar for it.
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:sad3:
But most of us still expect that when we pay what seems to be top dollar, we will get quality.
 
There's also a chance of painting it yourself. I have a badly rusted CN in my basement that I plan on sandpapering, painting with rustoleum, and donating to MRR.

If only Marshall cages came in 1/2" bar spacing, they seem like pretty nice cages. I wonder if they'd consider it. There really isn't much as far as decent cage options for rats. There is Martins, which I do like except for the shelves. Then there is the CN. Then most of the other cages are too small, have too large bar spacing, or are crappily made (SPE, for example).

Oh and I had trouble with my new CN's too. One of the ladders had a broken bar. There were also places where the powdercoating had been partially rubbed off. It was horribly packed, and well, shipping companies don't care. I was sent a free replacement (by CSN stores, NOT midwest), though that one was bent. I figured since I got two cages for the price of one I could deal with some bent pieces.
 
jorats said:
I have rust on mine as well but I'm not upset over it. Same with anything metal, you will get wear and tear. My brand new bike that cost more than the CN has rust spots. Our lawn furniture is rusting badly after only a few months. Gone are the days of home made items using top quality stuff and paying top dollar for it.
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That it not wear and tear though i cleaned that cage a total of like 3 times since i got it lol (its just about a month old)

Anything i pay for and is not in the shape i want it i will return it or get a new one its what i pay for. If my bike did that id do the same thing(as long as the bike in question was well kept and not old) i understand years of wear and tear not almost a month of it.
 
If those cages are made in China it's highly likely that they aren't sand blasted or primed before they are powder coated. Plus they would use a cheap quality powder. Even by complaining, I'm sorry to say that I dont' think that will make any difference and if it did, it would just increase the price - and I'm talking a lot. Sandblasting and priming is the most expensive part of the procedure which is why most places just completely eliminate it to keep the price down. The top-coating is just to make it look pretty, it's the primer that seals the steel but powder coating (the top coat) is actually porous and so it doesn't give it much protection especially if the cage is exposed to urine and water.
For longevity, the best procedure would be to have a brand new cage sandblasted, primed and powdercoated with a good quality product but then you would probably be looking at the cost of the cage all over again.
 
Thank you for contacting Midwest regarding your Critter Nation cage. We are sorry to learn that you are having issues with the cage. Our product does have a one year warranty against manufacture defects. Please send pictures of the cage, a copy of your receipt and the Julian date which is located on a white sticker on the back of the door tag. We will forward the photos to our quality manager for review. If it is warranty issue we will send a replacement to you at no charge.

Kind regards,
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The sticker they are talking about they say is behind the "critter nation" sticker but i have not seen it and never saw one on my FN?
 

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