Childminders lose children!

[hectors house]

Saw this post on the Independent Facebook page about a child safety tag My Buddy Tag Child Safety and Locating Device in Green Kiddicare.com

This bullet point has upset lots of us, what do you think
"Email with ‘last seen’ location feature emails time and map locations when your child was last seen by the BuddyTag App. Perfect for parents with a childminder taking the kids out!"

I have sent them the following e-mail "Your advertisement for My Buddy Tag has been brought to my attention (and that of 70,000 childminders on our facebook page) and I strongly resent the implications within the bullet point below that seems to strongly imply that childminders can not be trusted to take children out on trips. I think that if you do your research you will find that children left with Ofsted registered childminders are far safer that children left at Nursery and probably safer than when out on trips with their parents!!!

Please delete / amend this wording as we (Independent Childminders) are extremely offended by your allegations & assumptions."

So if anyone would like to e-mail them also to complain about their choice of wording, the e-mail address is hello@kiddicare.com - I know that they aren't going to get e-mails from 70,000 childminders but half of that should get them thinking about wording adverts better!

[tess1981]

Email sent with my complaint
I'm rather annoyed we are being singled out

[k1rstie]

Hi hectors House. Well spotted!!! What a thing to suggest? On the U.S. Website of the product, it swaps the word childminder for Nanny.

[Simona]

Saw this post on the Independent Facebook page about a child safety tag My Buddy Tag Child Safety and Locating Device in Green Kiddicare.com

This bullet point has upset lots of us, what do you think
"Email with ‘last seen’ location feature emails time and map locations when your child was last seen by the BuddyTag App. Perfect for parents with a childminder taking the kids out!"

I have sent them the following e-mail "Your advertisement for My Buddy Tag has been brought to my attention (and that of 70,000 childminders on our facebook page) and I strongly resent the implications within the bullet point below that seems to strongly imply that childminders can not be trusted to take children out on trips. I think that if you do your research you will find that children left with Ofsted registered childminders are far safer that children left at Nursery and probably safer than when out on trips with their parents!!!

Please delete / amend this wording as we (Independent Childminders) are extremely offended by your allegations & assumptions."

So if anyone would like to e-mail them also to complain about their choice of wording, the e-mail address is hello@kiddicare.com - I know that they aren't going to get e-mails from 70,000 childminders but half of that should get them thinking about wording adverts better!

....as do nurseries. We have read many articles of toddlers wandering off from nursery premises despite some of them being like Fort Knox...or not maybe!
This item is only going to fuel anxiety in some already anxious parents willing to pay a lot of money...how long is that tag going to be safe on a child's wrist?
The terminology is certainly wrong and points to CMs...maybe leaving a comment on their review section would help a lot.
If anything they would need to point to any setting that takes children out...and nannies too!


There was a similar incident with Tesco last week when they singled out CMs..they ended up apologising to CMs.

[shortstuff]

Email sent. That is awful. The exclamation mark at the end makes it even worse imo.

[hectors house]

It's shocking that they have singled out "childminders" branding us irresponsible and not to be trusted with your children unless you spend £45 on a buddy tag to protect them. The more people who can e-mail them the better - especially as we form an important part of their customer base!

[tess1981]

An apology email back

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[hectors house]

An apology email back

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Gosh looks like they are wording each one differently as mine says "Thank you for contacting Kiddicare.

I'm sorry that you took serious offense of this, but for clarification that is not what we are trying to say. We will internally look into this."

[shortstuff]

My reply said my issue had been dealt with? I have replied again stating that as their advert is unchanged how can my issue be solved. I'm now fuming!

[tess1981]

I bet they are wondering why all of a sudden so many of us emailing

[shortstuff]

OK. So I've now had another reply saying they are looking into rewording the ad. They also apologised for offending me but are aiming the product at nervous parents.

[bunyip]

At least we CMs don't lose children like Kiddicare lose stores:

Jobs at risk as Kiddicare in Nottingham closes down | Nottingham Post

This particular one only opened about 3 years ago. (Gonna make a boycott difficult if there's nowhere left to not buy from. )

[Simona]

OK. So I've now had another reply saying they are looking into rewording the ad. They also apologised for offending me but are aiming the product at nervous parents.

Looks like their 'internal' examination has paid off...
Nervous parents will not be reassured by this in anyway....they'll all rush on Mumsnet now in panic and demand CMs have a tag for every child!
idiotic marketing that is what it is all about...it could have worked if Kiddicare had handled it a bit more sensitively!

[Mouse]

I have to be honest and say that comments like the Kiddicare one and the Tesco one don't bother me at all.

I don't think either of them were intentionally having a dig at childminders and I really don't believe that either comment will have done any harm to our reputation.

I wonder if other professions get quite so upset and offended when they're 'misrepresented' in the media?

[Simona]

I have to be honest and say that comments like the Kiddicare one and the Tesco one don't bother me at all.

I don't think either of them were intentionally having a dig at childminders and I really don't believe that either comment will have done any harm to our reputation.

I wonder if other professions get quite so upset and offended when they're 'misrepresented' in the media?

I agree that neither were meant to have a dig but I think we all need to use words 'wisely' especially in marketing.
CMs are targeted a lot so the reaction is expected and possibly justified....it won't do any harm and we can cope with any nervous parents.

The Tesco incident was a bit different because it 'misquoted' someone who then went on to apologise profusely to cms as her words had been 'twisted'
I am sure it will resolve itself and Kiddicare will change their words.

[bunyip]

I have to be honest and say that comments like the Kiddicare one and the Tesco one don't bother me at all.

I don't think either of them were intentionally having a dig at childminders and I really don't believe that either comment will have done any harm to our reputation.

I wonder if other professions get quite so upset and offended when they're 'misrepresented' in the media?

I have to agree. I like the odd moan as much as the next MOG, but I'm of the generation that doesn't spend its time desperately seeking another reason to be "offended"......................constantly.

IMHO Kiddicare are just trying to flog another almost-pointless over-priced piece of brightly-coloured techno-tat to nervous mums.

Still I think they've got the marketing wrong if they think they can target nervous mums with such "reassuring" features as an alert to tell them "your child is currently under water".

Something tells me the Kiddicare marketing department didn't quite think that one through.

[Simona]

I don't think anyone is offended Bunyip...but people have a right not to be seen as singed out
We can all agree Kiddicare marketing is very poor and they can learn their lesson from this and add it to their CPD!

[Mouse]

I agree that neither were meant to have a dig but I think we all need to use words 'wisely' especially in marketing.
CMs are targeted a lot so the reaction is expected and possibly justified....it won't do any harm and we can cope with any nervous parents.

The Tesco incident was a bit different because it 'misquoted' someone who then went on to apologise profusely to cms as her words had been 'twisted'
I am sure it will resolve itself and Kiddicare will change their words.

Are childminders targeted a lot, or do we just notice references to childminders because that's what we are?

[k1rstie]

Still I think they've got the marketing wrong if they think they can target nervous mums with such "reassuring" features as an alert to tell them "your child is currently under water". :

When I looked it up on the makers website, it says it goes off if under a foot of water. Remember in the states many homes have their own swimming pools.

[k1rstie]

I have just looked at kiddicare again. It looks like they have changed their wording already!!!!