Colin Cowie

Purchased an infusion pitcher from Colin Cowie Inc, through HSN last May. The lid is plastic, but pitcher and insert tube are glass. The only instructions coming with the pitcher were for washing it. When I saw how thin the tube was, I called HSN to find out if replacement parts were availble in case the tube broke. They said that they didn't carry parts, but referred me to colincowie.com to inquire. While using the pitcher the second or third time, the tube did break when I pressed the fruit down slightly to make a little room for more. The tube shattered outwards between the holes for infusing the drink mix. In June when I went to their website, I found absolutely no contact for customer service except a phone number for HSN. I sent an email to the individual listed as PR. No answer. I believe I sent a second email, then called HSN back to see if there was any way they knew to actually contact someone about replacement parts. Their representative was very helpful and found the name of the manufacturer, Artland Inc. After this call, I emailed both Colin Cowie and Artland, once again with no reply at all. In October, I tried once more to get some response, addressing emails to every contact listed in Colin Cowie's website and once again to Artland Inc. Again, no reply. Yesterday, I called the number listed for Colin Cowie's Los Angeles office. A recording comes on informing you to either dial the extension you desire or enter the first 3 letters of the person's last name to be connected. If you don't have a contact name, you don't get in. Since this fiasco has begun, I researched and found an acrylic infusion pitcher from another company. This pitcher actually has instructions for use on the package, and the design works better to get fruit flavor into water or whatever fluid is being infused. I would not recommend buying the pitcher from Colin Cowie unless breakage and replacement is not a concern for you. From my experience in this, I believe that Colin Cowie has devised a marketing strategy taking advantage of the widespread visibility of HSN, and at the same time completely insulating his company from having to "bother" with customer service after the sale. While this may not be true for the purchasers of his event services or high-end products, as an average person and small customer, I found his commitment to customer service to be completely lacking and unresponsive.