To complain about impenetrable packaging

Go it, elegran! I sympathise entirely. There is a tip for helping with twist tops that I have found very useful: wrap elastic bands around the parts (or at least one of them). That gives you a much better grip.

Elegran, I have got good hands and fingers and I still have trouble with things like this. You have mentioned my particular bugbear - writing so tiny that it can't be read. These days, even when things come with instruction leaflets, they are usually written in ten or so different languages (to save money, of course) and consequently the print is so small that it is less than useless.

Sissors... you buy them all packed up so that no one can run amock in a shop only to find that when you get home with them you need sissors to open the pack, now if you had sissors to open the pack would you have brought sissors in the first place .
I am now going to lie down in a darkened room all that thinking has brought on one of my "heads"

baggytc - tried the elastic bands, but the thing is so small they did not make any difference. I've written the letter, can't email them as their website does not show an email address.

GillieB - I had good hands and fingers until a few years back. Then a few knuckles stiffened up one at a time and now since starting Femara it has spread over a few months to all knuckles and wrists and my thumb joints clunk painfully in the mornings. GP says Femara speeds up osteoporosis but not arthritis. I hae me doots.

Annika - so many things are sealed up so you can't get at them!

Packaging from hell, I call it! Worst I can remember was a sandwich packed by M&S. 30 minute lunch break - attempted to open said packet - broke two nails - split corner of lip, bit end of tongue and was a cheap source of entertainment for passers-by. By the way, I failed to gain access to the contents until I stabbed the cellophane with a ruler...by which time, I was past caring! On a serious note...if there is a straightforward way to open anything wrapped, packed or stacked...with or without instructions, I have yet to master it.

Lakeland do a great little tool! It connects to the edge of a sealed jar lid and when lifted (like a bottle opener) releases the vacuum, and the lid opens easily. Very inexpensive, too!

I've just remembered the name of the little tool! It's called a 'Jar Key'.

One of my pet bugbears is the packaging that comes with children`s toys. All the kiddie wants is to get at the new toy and play, but you need half a flippin` tool chest to get at the toy, which incidentally, would have fitted into a box half the size!

Oh yes to all this!!! I cant get into packaging so I take a kitchen knife stab myself and cause cuts which bleed for days!!!

Betterwear have a thing for opening those rigid plastic coffins that they hang up small toys and electronic bits in. It is like a miniature Stanley knife in a protected cover. You pierce the packaging, then slide it along. Works well if you can remember where you put it away last time.

Instead of complaining to each other, how about we all email or write to these firms whenever we have to fight their packaging? They should have contact details somewhere on their product. I have posted my complaint about Lypsyl. Now its your turn.

I've got one of those. There's a new type that has a ceramic blade, doesnt cut skin but will do paper and plastic. I'll look up where to get them.

That sounds like a really good invention.
Do you know what it's called hellypelly?

twizzle, found tge catalogue. It's called iSlice and I got mine from essentialsbypost. Hope you find one. Now I need to find where I put mine!

Thanks, will check out their website.

To release the vacuum on a sealed jar I find a sharp tap on a hard surface does the trick.

Elegran Lypsyl is owned by the Lornamead Group.

You can email them at:
[email protected]

Thanks Twizzle. The packaging says Novartis Consumer Health, so I have written to them. If I get no reply I shall try Lornamead Group

Lakeland also sell the iSlice for £3.99. It is magnetic so I can keep mine on the fridge door. They also sell Jar Grippers which are a thin circular rubber pad to help opening jars and bottles

The worst packaging I can remember were some b.b.q tools. Apart from the rigid plastic coffin the tools were also covered in a cellaphane shrink wrap which it was impossible to remove, even by tearing it off in small pieces!! I ended up throwing them away as I just couldn't get at them. I would have taken them back but bought them whilst on holiday and didn't think it was worth a 3 hour drive to return them!!!

I think I'd have been tempted to melt it off on the barbecue!

I bought a tub of cottage cheese from Morrisons, when I tried to open the lid there was a sneaky piece of foil underneath, I cut the ball of my thumb really deep, if that had been a child they would have needed stitches (my skin being so tough), I did write and complain to Morrisons but they never bothered to reply, so I don't buy it from them any more, if we all threaten to move our custom if these manufacturers don't listen to us maybe we could be a force to be reckoned with!

thanks for the islice tip - getting one next yime I go to Lakeland - my favourite shop for gadgets. I just can't walk past the door. And they are online if there isn't a branch near you

Two cheers for Revlon: their lip primer, though encased in plastic (hence only two cheers), had a gap at the back and perforations so that the panel could easily be torn down. Why don't others follow suit?

I ordered two mascaras online from John Lewis (they were the only store that had the colours that I wanted and I didn't want to drive to my local store just for these small items) and they arrived yesterday when I was out. The postman left a note saying the parcel was too big to go through the letterbox and I would have to collect it, which I did today. Remember I ordered 2 mascaras - and they arrived in a box that measured 8" x 6" x 6". I reckon that I could have got at least 100 mascaras in that box. I've emailed John Lewis complaining about the over-packaging.