| CONSUMER INFORMATION | |
| Thomas Wooden Railway (June 2007) | |
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25 June 2007 Dear Thomas customer, RC2 Corporation, licensee and manufacturer of Learning Curve's Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway products, in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has announced a voluntary recall of certain Wooden Railway vehicles and set components within this range. For details of the specific products affected within Learning Curve's Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway products range, and for instructions on how to return the products and obtain replacements, please go to the RC2 recall website (http://recalls.rc2.com) or, for US-based customers call RC2's Customer Service Line at 866-725-4407 between 8am-5pm CST Monday - Thursday or 8am-11am CST on Friday. For details of contact numbers and other information for all international territories, please visit the international recall website ("http://recalls.rc2.com/international.html"). HIT Entertainment is very sorry for the recent recall of a number of items in the Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway range. The RC2 Corp. recall arose because the surface paint on the affected products contained lead in excess of CPSC standards. Lead can be harmful if ingested in large quantities. We fully understand that everyone expects that every single product that bears the Thomas & Friends™ brand must be safe for children. In this case some of the products manufactured under license by RC2 Corp. have fallen short of that expectation. While HIT requires all of the carefully selected licensees who manufacture products sold under the Thomas & Friends™ brand to adhere to all safety standards, wherever those standards are applied in the world, that requirement was not met in this situation. We have been working with RC2 to identify ways in which their processes can be improved to ensure the safety of all products that they manufacture. Although this recall only affects a small percentage of the total range of Thomas & Friends™ products, having even one item fall short of safety standards is unacceptable to us. RC2's recall website gives detailed information to allow customers to determine if any of the products you have purchased are affected, and on how to return any that should be replaced. For US-based customers, RC2 has also set up toll-free numbers, the details of which may be found here: ("http://recalls.rc2.com/recalls_Wood_0607.html"). Additionally, HIT's own Consumer Services personnel in the US are available toll free at 1-866-894-6710 to direct inquiries appropriately. RC2 informs us that notices and posters with the recall information have been provided to retailers who stock the products, and they have been asked to immediately remove all affected products from their shelves and to put the posters up for consumers to see. In addition, we immediately discontinued sales of the affected products from the HIT Store website and also asked operators of "Day Out With Thomas" events to discontinue sales of the affected products. All customers deserve to know that all Thomas & Friends™ products are safe for them. Nothing is more important to us than ensuring that this is the case, and rebuilding your trust and loyalty. HIT Entertainment | |