I really, really wanted to be able to write a great review for this Czech-produced wooden Wobbly Stacking Pyramid by Bino World of Toys, but that’s not going to be possible.
We bought this from a local furniture store and it was the first stacker I’d seen that I really liked. Unfortunately, after getting it home, we found that the paint was flaking off the bottom of the base. I didn’t think to take pictures of the defect at the time, but you can see the start of it circled in green in the photo on the right (click the photo for a larger version). We took it back and the store happily exchanged it for another. I was still ready to love it, things like that can happen every once in a while, then we pulled out the new one (no photo, sorry). This time the large yellow lower ring was wedged onto the base and unbudgeable. In addition to this, the orange ring had a large crack.
Now I was annoyed, and in my mama-chaos, I’d misplaced the receipt. I went back to the store, who said they could only provide a refund with a receipt (it was only 9.50 Euro, but I guess rules are rules), so the manager and I took down their entire stock (about 4 or 5, can’t remember) and managed to piece together an undamaged set for me to take home, since we found that they all had a defect. She said she was very sorry about the problems and that they wouldn’t be ordering from this company again.
After about a week, the wooden rod came loose from the base of this newest one. Not only that, but the information on the box led me to believe this was a German-made toy (it says it’s from Bino GmbH, Seitzstr 8, D-79115 Freiburg, Germany) and it wasn’t until I Google Bino for this review that i found out it was a Czech company. That seems a little deceptive to me, not that I have anything against the Czech Republic, I would have bought it anyway, I just find that odd.
I’ll be gluing it back together, and we’ll keep using it because I do like the look and feel of it, and it’s one of Oliver’s favorite toys, but I really wish Bino would work on their quality control. I can only recommend Bino’s products if you’re able to very thoroughly examine the toy yourself for defects before purchase. That said, I probably won’t be purchasing another Bino product myself.
