Too Hot To Handle!

So apparently Farberware, a fairly well-known brand of cooking pots and pans, can't really handle the heat.

According to their website,

...the Farberware®name has stood for value, quality and durability. This commitment to the customer continues to this day. All of the Farberware®family of products are designed with the consumer in mind and manufactured to the highest standards.

I beg to differ...in a big way!

First a little back story. My wife and I are by no means gourmet chefs, but we do like to, and have to cook on occasion. Over the years, we've had quite a mishmash of pots and pans handed down from family that replaced theirs, odds and ends that we've picked up as needed, etc. Over time the frying pans that we had had lost their non-stick coating and it was time to replace them. It happens. No biggie.

We also collect Coke Rewards points (well nowadays we get most of them from my step-mom as we're down to tea mostly). Feel free to save your unused caps for us :-). Anyway, as our points accumulated, we noticed that one of the rewards was a set of frying pans. Perfect. It was a set of three or four different sizes. Made by Farberware (not Joe's Fry Pan Heaven) - a well-known and, until now, respected brand. We cashed in our points and awaited their arrival.

After a little shipping snafu, we got the set and thought we'd be all set. NOT.

One of the problems with the inexpensive pan we had just tossed was that it had warped on the bottom so it didn't sit flat on the glass cook top. This led to very uneven heating. I was glad to be rid of it because it would wobble as I tried to stir the ham and eggs my kids have become so fond of.

After just a few uses, the Farberware pans seemed to have warped as well. I was shocked. It's not like we cook in a blast furnace. It's a standard consumer-grade electric cook top. Why would a frying pan not be able to stand cooking scrambled eggs?! I thought surely this was a defect. Farberware? Maybe they were the low-end 'cuz Coke was giving them away (well not really, but "offering them as redemption options."). In any case, I decided to call Farberware and ask -- "What's up with not being able to use your pans to scramble some eggs?!"

I had the "pleasure" of speaking to a $10 phone rep named Allegra when I called Farberware's consumer hotline. I explained my situation, received the pans via a Coke promotion, the pans had warped after just a few uses, and I wondered if this was expected behavior or if I just got a "bad batch" of pans.

Her response? "You can't cook on high with those pans sir." I said, "uh, can you repeat that? I thought you just said that I can't use my pans on a consumer cook top on a normal setting to cook food." She repeated her stance that they are not designed to be used on a high setting. "If you had followed the directions for care included with the cookware they wouldn't have warped sir." So I repeated that I was using these on a consumer cook top, not a commercial gas blast furnace. I stated that in my opinion, before this incident, Farberware was a trusted, quality brand that I had grown up with. Not at all perceived as a cheap piece of crap that I could pick up at the Dollar Store. Showing no care nor concern for any damage to their reputation, nor explaining the possibility that there might have been cheaper quality that other items in their line that might be more suited for my needs, she simply repeated that I should've followed the instructions for care.
I don't know about you, but after reading the dishwasher safe, don't use metal objects to stir because they'll strip the non-stick coating, I pretty much assume that cookware is for cooking. Forgive me for missing the fine print about COOKWARE not being suitable FOR COOKING! This must be another one of those disclaimers that some high-paid lawyer made them put in...."blah blah blah, caution, contents may be hot. don't use this cookware for it's intended purpose as it might become destroyed in such usage..."

Well, I guess I know what's going on my birthday list this year -- a set of NON-FARBERWARE frying pans that can stand the heat!

Feel free to tweet, forward, link, fax, email, blog, call, or generally harass FARBERWARE about such a ridiculous product as one that can't be used for its intended purpose. What a shame.

I suppose I should call them again and see if I can get ahold of someone that cares, but Allegra ticked me off so much, I'm not sure I want to even give them a second chance.