DryEasy - Illegal Sale of Product in the United States of America

In our blog entry on December 6, 2014, we found DryEasy to be involved with Very Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment. There were a variety of issues that we found DryEasy to be deficient about, an important one being that DryEasy was not registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To repeat from our previous blog:

DryEasy and its parent company are not registered with the FDA. By U.S. law, any bedwetting alarm sold in the U.S. and shipped from a U.S. location, and its related facility, must be registered with the FDA. Any reader who wishes to check whether a bedwetting alarm and/or related facility is registered with the FDA in the U.S. can look at:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfrl/rl.cfm
 
and enter the Product Code  KPN  which is the FDA code for "alarm, conditioned response enuresis" which is a bedwetting alarm. A complete list of all registered parties and items will be shown from the FDA database. DryEasy and its parent company are not registered and listed. Consequently any buyer of the DryEasy buying it from a U.S. shipping source (including Amazon) is aiding and abetting in the violation of U.S. laws until and unless this item is properly registered with the FDA.

We hoped that by pointing out their illegal activity, the owners of DryEasy would register with the FDA as required by U.S. laws and FDA regulations. Unfortunately, as of today, looking at the FDA Establishment Registration & Device listing web-site (see above) we do not find DryEasy to be registered. Apparently DryEasy seems to consider themselves above and beyond the reach of U.S. laws, perhaps because they are based in China. Being very familiar with these issues, there is no doubt that the sale of DryEasy in the United States and being shipped from U.S. locations is a violation of these U.S. laws and regulations. It can result in regulatory fines and other actions against the vendors and shippers of this product in the U.S. No shipper of such unregistered products is exempt from these regulations.

We are informed that the FDA directly, or the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) acting on behalf of the FDA, is looking into taking action against such violators of U.S. law.

This notice is placed on this blog to again warn the owners of DryEasy, as well as sellers and shippers of this product, that they could see actions against them by the FDA and the FBI. 

We also repeat that  any buyer of the DryEasy buying it from a U.S. shipping source (including Amazon) is aiding and abetting in the violation of U.S. laws until and unless this item is properly registered with the FDA.

DryEasy - Illegal Sale of Product in the United States of America.

DryEasy: Very Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment

We examined DryEasy  in our blog on this site dated June 26, 2013. Since this was some time ago, we thought that we should examine DryEasy again. About 18 months ago, we had concluded that DryEasy demonstrated

Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment.

So we went to their web site (www.bedwettingsolutions.com) to take a fresh look at what DryEasy had to say about itself.

We noticed that their web site had become more "flashy" and sales oriented than what we recall of their previous site. There is a fair amount of general information about bedwetting, which we are not passing judgment on in this blog. Our objective is to identify how completely and accurately the DryEasy and its manufacturer were identified, and complete information provided to the reader. As may be judged from the heading of this blog page, DryEasy failed quite miserably. We consider this failure to be even more severe than our original review from 2013, as we had pointed out to DryEasy many of the matters that we took issue with.

DryEasy took the "Easy" way out by deleting or avoiding some of the issues that we had raised. Others were ignored instead of being addressed. The only relevant information about the DryEasy alarm on their own web site was on their page with the header "Bedwetting Alarms."

Let us list our unanswered questions and our comments relating thereto:

1.            Who is the manufacturer? Who is the seller? What is their location and address? What is their telephone number?

We have a very strong aversion to parties who are marketing over the internet and not providing the buyer with adequate information about themselves. Complete information should be freely available, so that there can be greater confidence in the seller. Not knowing if the manufacturer and seller are the same or not, we are assuming that they are the same and shall refer to them as the seller.

We noticed that DryEasy was listed on Amazon.com, and telephoned Customer Service at Amazon to get the address and telephone number for the DryEasy seller. We were informed that Customer Service did not have this information and could not provide it. A possibly illegitimate seller on Amazon? This is very troubling for us, and should be very troubling to anyone considering purchasing the DryEasy anywhere. Perhaps the public, people considering purchasing the DryEasy alarm, should ask DryEasy to publish this information and make it freely available.

2.            What is the size and weight of the DryEasy alarm?

This would be of interest to any user. We promptly noticed that the sensor is 33" long (for the newer sensor) and 30" long (for the older sensor). The Product Details page did provide some additional dimensions. Amazingly, none of this information is provided on DryEasy's Amazon.com listing, which appears to be the most important U.S. listing for this seller.

We went to the site (sites, actually) that we consider to be by far the most complete for comparing bedwetting alarms: 

www.bed-wettingalarms.com

www.urinealarms.com

sites.google.com/site/comparebedwettingalarms

sites.google.com/site/urinealarms

These appear to be identical in content, and are the most comprehensive sites for comparing the complete details of all (or most) bedwetting alarms, both wired (like the DryEasy) and wireless.

This site states that the DryEasy is 2.4"x2.3"x0.63". No weight is provided of the DryEasy alarm box by itself, but with batteries it is supposed to weigh 2.1 oz. No weight is provided for either sensor. These correspond closely to what is on DryEasy's web site. Kudos to these comparative sites.

3.            We had previously complained that DryEasy had given no practical measure to its claim of "extra loud sound," which is very deceiving. We found nothing about this on DryEasy's web site, but noticed that in their Amazon.com listing they stated:

"Support max. loudness of 85 db."

Loudness is a function of the amplitude (size) of the sound waves, and dissipates (becomes smaller) over distance. The loudness statement provided is meaningless. Can this 85 dB loudness be heard if the alarm is held attached to the ear, or what distance from the ear? Avoiding stating the distance at which the 85 dB loudness can be measured is a very convenient way of possibly misleading the naive reader. If the seller has adequate technical knowledge, he/she should understand the need to provide meaningful information instead of something that is deceitful and incomplete and can be misunderstood.

4.            So let us examine DryEasy's listing on Amazon.com:

Apart from matters mentioned earlier, we note that

a.            There is no Country of Origin. Apparently the DryEasy originates nowhere, or everywhere! If so, perhaps that should be claimed.

b.            Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces. This is impossible as the alarm itself weighs more than that.

c.             Clicking on the seller DryEasy's name on Amazon.com takes us to a details page, which provides no information about DryEasy (as mentioned in 1. earlier).

d.            On this details page we note that the Shipping ETA to  a Continental U.S. Street address is 17 - 28 days. Surprise! The typical Amazon customer in the U.S. expects to receive purchased items in a few days . Does the average person buying this device on Amazon realize that it may take 3 to 4 weeks to receive it? Why does the seller not clearly state on Amazon that they are located in China (an assumption on our part) and shipping from China after the order is received. Consequently it will take several weeks for the buyer to receive the product from China. Attempting to keep this hidden unless the reader does some detective work on the Amazon site is very deceiving. 

5.            For other bedwetting alarms sold on Amazon.com, there is an "Answered Questions" section in which readers can ask about the product. We notice that this has disappeared for DryEasy, together with many other relevant facts about this device. We can only conclude that this is part of DryEasy's deception campaign on Amazon.

6.            DryEasy and its parent company are not registered with the FDA. By U.S. law, any bedwetting alarm sold in the U.S. and shipped from a U.S. location, and its related facility must be registered with the FDA. Any reader who wishes to check whether a bedwetting alarm and/or related facility is registered with the FDA in the U.S. can look at:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfrl/rl.cfm
and enter the Product Code  KPN  which is the FDA code for "alarm, conditioned response enuresis" which is a bedwetting alarm. A complete list of all registered parties and items will be shown from the FDA database. DryEasy and its parent company are not registered and listed. Consequently any buyer of the DryEasy buying it from a U.S. shipping source (including Amazon) is aiding and abetting in the violation of U.S. laws until and unless this item is properly registered with the FDA.
 

7.            DryEasy is currently listing for $24.90 on Amazon.com (+ $4.54 shipping with typical arrival 17 to 28 days after the order is placed). We have already expressed our feelings about this deception. Now we point out that on its web site DryEasy is offered at a price of US $49.95 . There is nothing wrong in DryEasy offering it on Amazon for approximately one-half of its normal sale price. But it does make us wonder about the viability of the DryEasy seller if he is selling it in the U.S. for one-half of its normal price.

It is appropriate to raise the issue of how the buyer/user will get warranty or other support from the DryEasy seller if the seller proves to be unresponsive, as the seller has carefully hidden his exact location (full street address) and telephone number so that the seller can be verified and contacted as needed. This, too, is suggestive of the seller wishing to hide his identity from buyers so that he cannot be contacted directly. Again, very deceiving in our opinion.

We believe that DryEasy's continuing behavior in providing incomplete product information and hiding from its public is very deceiving, and strongly recommend that the public be cautious about doing business with an unknown entity. 

Very Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment.

Potty Pager: Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment.

Potty Pager        http://www.pottypager.com/Home/                     (July 16, 2013)


Potty Pager is sold by the same company that sells the Night Hawk bedwetting alarm. Unfortunately, the web site for Potty Pager is even more devoid of useful and factual information than the site for Night Hawk.

There was less information about the Potty Pager than the Night Hawk. There was a small picture of the Potty Pager, which looked quite similar to the Night Hawk. If it is like the Night Hawk, we would refer the reader to our review of the Night Hawk as well.

The instruction manual was quite similar to that of the Night Hawk. Except for mentioning that the Potty Pager uses two (2) AA Lithium batteries, and showing where the alarm is located on the user, we could find nothing more informative about the Potty Pager device.

The entire site is basically a sales pitch which avoids providing relevant details about the Potty Pager device itself.

We consider this site to be particularly void of factual information relative to its Potty Pager alarm. We could not even determine how the Potty Pager may be different from its identical looking Night Hawk twin. The seller must believe that the buyers do not merit, or would not like to know, or should not be provided with proper information, but should buy the Potty Pager merely on the basis of the sales pitch. Perhaps there is not much worth talking about the Potty Pager. We find this approach to be very unsettling.

Our usual reference site at http://www.urinealarms.com/ did not list Potty Pager among the alarms whose properties are described there. We would recommend that the Potty Pager be compared (if that is possible with such a little information about it) with other wired and wireless alarms on this site, so that the reader gets a good idea of the abilities and value of the many other alarms available, and can then decide if it is worthwhile to pursue Potty Pager any further.

Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment.

Rodger Clippo: Deceit by Concealment.

Rodger Clippo    http://www.rodger.nl/en/products/clippo-dayalarm.html           (July 10, 2013)


Looking at Rodger's site above, there is much less information about the Clippo alarm than we previously saw about their wireless alarm. There is one picture, and a statement of the essential properties. The page is very concise, and many details are missing. Thankfully, boasts and exaggerations are also missing.

Rodger appears to believe that they do not need to provide readers with any substantial information about their Clippo alarm. Based on this very limited information, we would give the Rodger Clippo a rating of Deceit by Concealment.

We would strongly recommend that instead of fishing in the dark, readers should check a comprehensive bedwetting alarm comparison site such as
http://urinealarms.com/Wired_Alarm_Chart.html
and compare the Clippo with the properties, abilities and costs of other wired bedwetting alarms to determine what may be most suitable.

Deceit by Concealment.

Night Hawk: Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment.

Night Hawk                         http://www.bedwetting.us/                      (July 9, 2013)
 

Night Hawk is a bedwetting alarm which raises many questions.

Night Hawk refers to itself as being “wireless.” The nature of the alarm is such that the urine sensor is attached to and part of the alarm “box,” so that the entire alarm is placed at the urination area. Although there are no external wires connecting the sensor to the alarm (it is one unit), in standard electrical/electronic terminology “wireless” is commonly used to describe signal transmission through the propagation of electro-magnetic waves between a transmitter and a receiver. We think that Night Hawk’s use of the word “wireless” is misleading, as one cannot place any receiver away from the Night Hawk device and have the receiver trigger an alarm. This is deceit by perversion.

On its first web page, at the bottom, Night Hawk states that its Vibe power is 6.0 watts. This is completely meaningless to us, as Night Hawk provided no further explanation. We are assuming (and this may be false) that the Night Hawk provides strong vibrations. The same is true for the Buzzer Volume of 100dB*. We could find no explanation or reference point for the *. Although we really don’t know it as a fact, we very much doubt that a user, with his/her ears perhaps two feet away from this alarm, would hear 100dB sound levels. Night Hawk provides no clarifications. This is deceit by perversion and concealment.

 

We felt uncomfortable about the 100dB sound level for an alarm. If the volume at the ear was truly that, might this loud sound harm the hearing? We asked an audiologist, who said that anything louder than 85dB would be considered to be potentially harmful for the hearing.

We understand that Night Hawk recommends that this alarm be used with older patients. Although we prefer not to pass judgment on the working of an alarm, our senses do not find the idea of strong vibrations in genital areas appealing. We recognize that young adults may have a different opinion on the appeal of strong vibrations in the genital area, but such devices are usually called something other than a bedwetting alarm.

To get any understanding of how the alarm may be placed on the patient and used, we had to look at the instruction sheet which was provided. Here too, there was no information about size, weight, etc. But looking at the batteries used (2 AA Lithium batteries), we can imagine why Night Hawk does not say much about any physical characteristics, including the high cost of replacing these batteries.

There was very little factual information about the Night Hawk on its web site, other than the little that we have addressed. Perhaps there is not much worth talking about the Night Hawk.

Our usual reference site at http://www.urinealarms.com/ did not list Night Hawk among the alarms whose properties are described there. We would recommend that the Night Hawk be compared (if that is possible with such a little information about it) with other wired and wireless alarms on this site, so that the reader gets a good idea of the abilities and value of the Night Hawk compared to the many other alarms available.

Strong Deceit by Perversion and Concealment.

Malem MO3: Deceit by Concealment.

Malem MO3       http://www.malem.co.uk/audio-range-maximum-performance-at-minimum-size-alarm             (July 8, 2013)


Malem’s web site for its MO3 alarm is rather like its other alarm descriptions – concise, without significant exaggerations, and not particularly informative. The entire description is in seven sentences. Much of the page is dedicated to colors, sounds, options, and prices. We do not object to the contents of the page, but would have liked to see it more complete and answering obvious questions that arise when reading it.

“…have a choice of safety pin and a reliable clip.” We could not find any information about this clip, and wonder about its design, how and where it can be used, and its effectiveness.

Batteries are provided, but what is their “size” or model number, and consequently cost? If they are small and expensive, this can significantly raise the cost of using the alarm. Looking at http://www.urinealarms.com/Wired_Alarm_Chart.html three A76 batteries are needed. These are “button” type batteries. We found them online at Walmart at a price approximately double that of a brand-name AAA alkaline battery. The capacity of an AAA alkaline battery is much greater than an A76, which means that the relatively frequent replacement costs of the three A76 batteries can add up significantly.

This alarm does not have a vibration mode. We found that out, not by reading Malem’s description on this page, but by noticing that they had another model (alarm) which provides a vibration.

There is no mention of a low battery indicator, or a volume control (they are not in the alarm).

Malem places a great emphasis on sound in this alarm. "Malem Enuresis Alarms have loud sounds..." (the underline emphasis is ours). Surprisingly, we could find nothing on the MO3 site about the loudness of the sound. For an alarm focusing on and emphasizing sound, not providing its loudness is deceiving.

We would again suggest looking at a comprehensive bedwetting alarm comparison source such as http://www.urinealarms.com/Wired_Alarm_Chart.htmlto compare the merits and price of the Malem MO3 versus other similar alarms, and make an informed decision of its value to you.

Deceit by Concealment.

Malem Wireless Alarm (MO12): Deceit by Concealment.

Malem Wireless Alarm (MO12)     http://www.malem.co.uk/wireless-alarm      (July 3, 2013)

Looking at Malem’s website (above) for its MO12 wireless alarm is an exercise in frustration. How can such an “old” company present such a little information about its product, and present it incompletely? Following are some of their limited comments or explanations about their product:

“Comfortable, compact and light-weight.” What is its size, weight, etc.?

“Easy to set up and use.” How? Why?

“Transmitter magnetically clips to underpants waistband.” How? Explanation? Description?

“Uses Malem’s famous unisex Easy-Clip sensor.” Substantiation? Description?

“Advanced auto channel tuning with 64 choices.” This means what? Explanation?

The other such statements are rather trivial and obvious.

For a bedwetting alarm, using sound as its only alarm, we find the absence of loudness for the alarm to be disturbing. The reader should be interested in the loudness of the audio alarm at a typical distance from the ear where the alarm is usually placed.

All-in-all, these are rather incomplete explanations, with poor details (if any) of what is being provided and how it works. This is deceit by concealment.

The plus about Malem’s site is that there is no absurd bragging about being the “best” or other extravagant claims that some other bedwetting alarm manufacturers make.

Still, we come away from looking at this site feeling quite ignorant about Malem’s alarm. Perhaps Malem thinks that everyone should know everything that there is to know about their alarm, or simply assume that because this is Malem, nothing merits much explanation. To us this is akin to Malem saying “Since we are Malem, we don’t need to say or explain much. And if you don’t understand this adequately, tough!” Perhaps Malem does not particularly care if their site is user friendly, or readers understand their product.

We would urge the reader to go to a detailed comparative site such as http://urinealarms.com/Wireless_Alarm_Chart.html  and compare this alarm’s properties and price with those of other wireless bedwetting alarms.

Deceit by Concealment.

Nite Train-r: Deceit by Concealment and Perversion.

Nite Train-r                   http://www.nitetrain-r.com/                      (July 1, 2013)

Nite Train-r has what we consider to be a minimal site, with basic information about its alarm.

Very little information is provided, but essential data about the size of the alarm box and the sensor are provided. Weights are not provided, and our normal reference site at http://www.urinealarms.com/Wired_Alarm_Chart.html says that the weight of the alarm box only is “Not Provided,” while the weight of the alarm box with sensor and battery is less than 8 oz. We wonder why Nite Train-r does not place these weights on its web site, or reference them. Deceit by concealment.

Although pictures are provided of the alarm and sensor, very little is said about using the Nite Train-r. Perhaps there is very little that can be said. But the sensor is of exceptional size and there is inadequate information about its use. This is not a criticism of the sensor as we do not know much about it, but any potential user should be concerned and interested. Deceit by concealment.

“Nite Train-r alarms produce an alerting and more attention getting "warble" not a monotone. This feature assures quicker response to the alarm for the bed wetter.” We do not know how Nite Train’r can make such a claim without providing substantiation. Deceit by perversion.

There are several other unanswered questions, such as the loudness of the alarm, vibration, and other characteristics that Nite Train’r avoids addressing. Hiding basic facts about the alarm and its use can only be thought of as deceit by concealment.

As we said earlier, this site is minimal. We would recommend that interested persons look at a comprehensive comparison site such as http://www.urinealarms.com/Wired_Alarm_Chart.html to get more information about Nite Train’r, and how it compare with other wired bed wetting alarms about characteristics, warranties, price, etc.

Deceit by Concealment and Perversion.