I am writing this post today after an extremely scary and distressing event in my studio this past weekend. Any one of my clients can tell you how seriously I take the safety of their newborn. I have blogged about this before, as a mother, I understand the trust you place in me when handing over your precious baby and I do not take that lightly. As a business owner, I have invested countless hours and resources ensuring I do everything I can to ensure your newborn is safe in my care. Also, as a business owner, I would never "put a company on blast" if the error wasn't serious enough or without giving them a chance to correct any deficiencies. But when a $1000 table built especially for newborn posing that highlighted rigorous testing as a selling point, collapsed with a 2 week old baby on it in my studio Friday I was mortified, to say the least. My subsequent interactions with this company, a well-known leader in our industry have left me furious. I will try to make this post as succinct as possible, but I warn you it is a lot as I will post all of my communications with them directly via screenshots so that nothing gets misconstrued. Several posts I have made on social media have been deleted so this is the only way I know to put the full story out there. 

Paloma Schell Shop manufactures newborn posing devices as such for Professional Photographers. They have been around for a while, not sure how long, and have gained the trust of many of us with their innovative products. For many years newborn photographers including myself have used large bean bags to pose on. However, this is horrible for our backs. Having RA this pain can be exasperated and many times after a 4-hour newborn session I would be extremely sore for days. Looking for other options we began switching to tables. I first used an extremely heavy and bulky table, not meant for newborns but it was sturdy and did the job. It still was not quite the right height I needed so when Paloma Schell announced their new table with a ton of features especially for us I was excited.  https://www.palomaschellshop.com/off/plus-station-by-paloma-schell. Of course many balked at the price tag and within days there were cheaper DIY hacks all over the internet. Personally, I felt safer ordering from this company I trusted who said they had already done rigorous testing rather than trying to DIY. So, I happily paid the $963.00 for an added sense of security. I ordered pretty much right after the launch of their "Plus" (larger) version. I received my table in December. I believe it was mid-January before I first used the table. I am not a high-volume photographer, I do 4-6 newborns a month at most. This table was put up in my studio and not taken down since its arrival. Even though it is meant to be collapsable and travel easy. I was singing its praises to my clients, to fellow photographers until last week. 

On Friday I had a newborn session. I placed chosen backdrops on my table, clamped them down. Then walked around and made sure leg hinges were and the safety bar was pressed all the way down. Wheels were locked. Everything as instructed in the safety manual. During the session, I had just finished posing the baby on the table and needed to move my light to the prop area for the next shots. I needed to step away from the table, I did as I always do when stepping more than an arm's length away from baby and I asked dad to come to stand next to baby "just out of an abundance of caution", I never actually expected anything like this could happen but better safe than sorry. If you are a previous newborn client of mine, please feel free to speak up and confirm that I do this.  Dad happily walked over and kinda half placed his hand under his little girl in a cradling fashion and began to speak/play with her while I set up. The next thing I know the table completely collapsed. Dad and his 2-week old baby were on the floor. I can not put into words how I felt seeing that sweet 2-week old girl on the floor with my table collapsed under her. I still get upset just writing about it. Both baby and dad were ok. We were extremely lucky dad was there, with his hands in the position they were to protect the baby as they fell to the ground. Had I been there with my heavy, hard camera in hand (strapped doubled up over my wrist to prevent it from falling on baby) I would not have had the freehand or the time to react and catch her and this could have ended in tragedy. I shake as I write that sentence knowing how extremely lucky we were. 

I was mortified. After ensuring baby and dad were ok. We looked at the table, trying to figure out what could have happened. As we tried to set it back up we noticed no matter how hard we used hinges down, they would not lock. Both the dad and I tried. It was obvious they would not lock and as we moved it around pressing down we saw that with the slightest wheel movement the safety bar (that was added after initial manufacturing as an "additional safety feature") spontaneously popped off, allowing the legs to collapse under the least bit of pressure. I immediately assumed the hinges must have worn loose, causing the legs to bow and the safety bar to collapse. We completed the session without the table. As soon as they left I reached out to the company. Normally I would give a company time to respond but they are in another country (wasn't sure of the time difference) and it was the weekend. I did not expect an immediate answer but could not shake the thought of all the other photographers currently using this table. So I posted on all the Newborn Photographer Groups I am a part of on social media to alert them. I can not post everything that was on those social media posts, a lot has since been deleted by others and most of the groups have strict rules against posting screenshots outside of the group. The screenshots I share here of my communication with this company will likely get me blocked from most, if not all of my favorite newborn Photographer support groups online...however this is too important. I am only sharing my direct communication with this company. 

This was my first email to the company at 5:47 pm on 4/23 via a direct email I used to correspond with them previously, as my table arrived without a wheel. I included a video demonstrating a faulty brace. 

Here are the videos I posted on social media. The first video of the bracket is the attachment I sent to the company in first email. 

Faulty Bracket 

Faulty Safety Bar

After posting on public forums warning others of the dangers I began getting comments like "where are your safety hooks". I had no idea what they were talking about. Told them I never got any hooks. I double-checked my safety manual. No mention of hooks. 

I asked for pictures of what they were referring to. Commenters confirmed that there is no mention of these hooks in their safety manual, they received a separate email explaining how to use them. I was questioned if I maybe discarded the hooks on accident not realizing what they were as many others had done. People sent me photos of their hooks in use as to how they "guessed" they are suppose to be used since it was not in the instruction manual. I double checked my email for said instructions, I had none. Below is an image of what others received as well as copy of their email. After seeing this email it was obvious many were using their hooks wrong, they were uninformed. Many others thought the hooks, being attached with a simple zip tie were just there for shipping reason and cut them off, since they were not notified by Paloma. If there was time to make the new safety features to the table, there should have been time to update or even print out  an extra insert to accompany every table to ensure those that received the hooks used them as intended. What became increasingly apparent as well, was that Paloma KNEW THERE WAS AN ISSUE. As you can see from their email, in their own words, these hooks were needed to "AVOID ANY CASUALTY". 

Again I never received the hooks or an email notifying me of them. Upon further inspection of the photo above, I noticed my brackets did not even have the additional hole needed to insert the added safety hooks. 

After seeing my post I began getting messages from other photographers with the same issue. One of them was Misty Porter Teseneer. I have obtained her permission to share her post and what she found when she checked her own table. 

Another Paloma Newborn Station Fail

So at this point it became obvious the company knew there was a problem and attempted to correct the issue for some customers to "avoid any casualty". However, for those of us who had the older version we were not afforded the same consideration. At 11:16pm I sent a second email to the company notifying them of my findings. 

I did not get a reply that night. I checked Saturday morning. No response. With this weighing heavy on me I tried to search out another way to try to contact them. I found a contact form on their website and sent this message at 12:46 pm on Friday. 

I also saw they have a feature to contact them via Whats App on their website. I downloaded Whats App and reached out there as well at 1:16pm. They finally responded that they would get their team to look into it at 2:21pm. Keep in mind social media post regarding this product has been blowing up as well. It is hard for me to believe that they were unaware of my efforts to contact them until now, but in all fairness I guess it's possible. 

Finally at 3 pm they responded. They sent me 2 copies of the exact same email I am posting below so you can read them for yourself and another copy to Whats App. Just so happens I was in the middle of a Maternity shoot and did not see it right away. It was several hours before I saw it. I was busy making dinner and getting my girls ready for bed when I got a Facebook notification that Leonardo (company owner) had tagged me in a post. He had also sent me several PM's which I can not share here as he unsent them before I had a chance to save them. However, in them, he was questioning why I had not immediately responded to his email and subsequent messages became even more demanding, it was obvious he wanted the social media post down immediately. What he had not done, however was make any post or announcement of possible safety hazards. 

I will let you read my response to this email below, it pretty much sums up everything. I would like to point out, however, my video as well as videos posted and sent by others clearly showed this is not due to user error. By this time, even more, people were responding and writing the company demanding a refund. Leandro tagged me in a response to another video I posted showing how easily the metal on their brackets bent earlier in the day. His comment stated that their company had repeatedly reached out to me "over 10 hours ago" and questioned why  I had  "cut all contact" with them. It was written in an accusatory manner, as though I was refusing to work with him but that is only my interpretation and I can not share this with you to form an opinion of your own since while I was attempting to write a reply, he deleted his response on Facebook and my response was deleted before posting.

 Paloma table bending

However, not long after he wrote a gentler worded comment, yet still  a bit accusatory. You can read all of our responses below, at least those that did not get deleted before I could save them. Because his initial comment was not his comment and not a reply I am only guessing he himself deleted our first interaction. 

If you look at the time stamps from his last message, his last reply was made early in the morning. I was asleep. I did not have a chance to respond before Ana Brandt turned off comments. While I absolutely admire Ana as a business mogul and her beautiful work as a photographer, I have to respectively disagree that this is not a private issue. Many of her followers are using this product today and need to be made aware of it. 

If I had been given the chance to reply to his post this is what I would have said. As little as my table was moved, never once broken down in its 3 months of use, I highly doubt his claim that these tables were "tested thoroughly, with many iterations", and would like to ask of proof of professional testing. My table was never once folded or taken down since I put it up. I, as well as others have posted issues with this security bar (video's above) and emailed directly. It is obvious they provide little to no protection. They added to needed safety pin to "all new products, even though the product is safe without it". Again, videos are evidence this is untrue. Their own email that accompanied the pins said they were need to "avoid any casualty". And again, I can not stress this enough...no one notified those of us without these updates and they still refuse to notify those still in use. I highly doubt his statement that this affects only 30 customers, but if indeed it is true...even more reason to just supply us measly 30 photographers with a warning to stop using the current table and a safe replacement. I have stated again and again, my satisfactory solution is to RECALL ALL THESE DANGEROUS UNITS IMMEDIATELY! As far as taking time, they have had it for months, just one single day is too long. In fact, had they truly done the testing they reassure us they did before we invested in their product, more time would not be necessary. A fatal accident takes less than a second. Even my own experience with it could have ended in tragedy. 

As you can see, the company admitted knowing there were safety issues. They have known now for a while, not sure exactly but I am confident it is easy to trace back to when the first orders receive those "safety pins". They kept it quiet for their own reputation at the expense of our most vulnerable clients and their loyal customers, us, the newborn photographers who put our own names, reputations and families livelihoods on our businesses. My main concern was issuing a recall to get these safety hazards out of use before something truly tragic happens, by refusing to answer my very direct questions regarding a recall they do not seem to be willing to do that. Instead they ask to handle this matter privately and for more time to "fix the issues".

I have heard from several other photographers that they have notified the company of issues as well of the same issue, well before my incident. They have been provided with a new "upgraded table"but it us up to them to share their experience. I do wonder how many others were offered a full refund and an updated "safer" table for their silence. There was never any safety alert issued from the company. They only offered to provide a safer table to those that reached out first. If you are a customer of theirs I urge you to check your tables and stop all use if you have any concerns. If you are a parent of a newborn and looking to get your photos done, please check with your photographer and make sure they are not using one of these tables. Obviously you have every right to insist they do not use one on your precious newborn. 

I care so deeply about this issue it has occupied my thoughts and my efforts since the incident on Friday. I have spent all day today, my day off putting this blog together with all the information I could to present as many facts as I possible. I am exhausted due to lack and sleep and stress so please forgive any typos you may find. I am aware that this may get me banned from several of my favorite online groups and while I am dishearten by this possibility, if it can keep a newborn safe then it all has been worth it. Finally I urge everyone that can to share and help spread the word. Unfortunately I do not have a far reach on social media and I am being censored in other groups so please, please share this blog and help me spread the word. 

Since posting this blog yesterday here are the actions the company has taken. 

• They posted an announcement on their FB Page. They disabled commenting. When I checked today at 11:42am, it had been deleted.  In this post they:
• Denied their product was faulty and blamed user error.
• Claimed baby safety is their main concern but as of yet I have not heard from anyone if they have received any type of email alerting them to these issues. 
• Directed users to reach out to them directly and individually. 

When Customers have reached to a company with their concerns and requesting a refund this has been their reply. If you have received a different response please feel free to share. 

• Again they claim user error, without noting any specific user error, because there was none. I did exactly as directed in their safety guide. And my video shows that even when brackets are pushed all the way down, they do not lock...how is this my error? Both Misty and my videos demonstrate how the safety bar, when pushed all the way down, spontaneously pops off with the tiniest of table movement, the table build and marketed for its wheeling capabilities, how is this user error? 
• Once again claim their product is safe, yet from my communication from the above, you can see they acknowledged knowing units were faulty. 
• The state needs 10 days to fix their completely safe units. How do they know this would only take 10 days? Did they already have a solution but were waiting to provide it? If in only 24 hours they discovered a solution that would only take 10 days, then why was this not implemented when they first learned of the hazard in December? 
• They state if the customer wants a return then they can but they will need to return the product at their own expense. 
• They encourage customers to continue to use their table, following safety procedures, the same procedures that were followed by myself and other customers when the collapse happened. 

Ana Brandt reached out to me personally today, via email and voicemail she even wrote a blog comment but I can not get any of the comments to show I will contact photo biz about this tomorrow. She wanted to clarify that she was literally in-between planes and since some comments had been deleted was not aware of everything going on when she deleted my post on her site, as I mentioned above. She did indeed make her own post/statement on her Facebook group and linked this blog to spread awareness of safety issues. You can read it there if you wish. However, she was unintentionally brought into the middle of Leandro and our conversations since her group were the group he tagged me in for comment. I should have asked her permission before posting in her group, to begin with, and I apologize for any trouble this may have caused her. I was just trying to spread the word as quickly as possible and she has one of the largest newborn photographer audiences I am a part of on social media.  I never expected to find out what we did from that post or imagined the companies reaction to being what it was. Understandably, she would have preferred to not be part of the current conversation since Paloma is not her company, the table is not her product. Unfortunately, many people have already read my blog where she and her group are mentioned, so instead of deleting her name from my post, I feel like I should post this update. I appreciate her for reaching out personally and I thank her for helping to spread awareness. 

Leandro responded to one of the social media post discussing this blog today. I will post what I could save here and my response. His comment and my subsequent reply was deleted almost immediately. I will post below for you to read for yourself, I have blacked out names as I do not wish for others to be brought into this unintentionally as well. 

I have received multiple calls today from random numbers asking for personal information etc. that I refuse to give out. I don't know if this has anything to do with the current situation but it is odd. 

I just received a call from an "independent moderator" hired by Paloma. First, the number was blocked. I did not answer due to the previous calls, the phone immediately rang again from the number 1(832) 851-8546.  I told her that I was not comfortable speaking to her as I could not verify who she was and at this point I felt as I needed my own representation. She continued to push and said, "so you are not willing to work this out".  I clarified that is not what I said. I simply reiterated that I had no way of verifying who she was and did not feel comfortable speaking to her, after the most recent events. Again, she said the company "just wants to fix things". I asked if she has read the blog, she said no, so I directed her here to read it so maybe she can understand why this would make me uncomfortable if she is truly a professional moderator.

A moderator with me is not necessary because I am not the issue. This is not me against them. They simply need to accept responsibility. Notify users immediately and fix their product. As I write this email  I have no knowledge of them sending individual communication to photographers affected. They have only responded to those who initiated contact with them. Last I heard, they were refusing refunds or sending automated messages that they would get back to the photographer in 10 days. 

They continue to blame me and push this narrative that I am refusing to work with them. I have made it abundantly clear what needs to be done. This is not up to me. Quite frankly, ethically they should know what needs to be done. It is also their legal responsibility.  Send emails stating the safety hazard. Issue a recall.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. THEY KNOW THE RIGHT THING TO DO. 

I also received a message today from someone who wishes to remain anonymous out of fear they would face two same attacks I am. They stated they have worked closely with the company previously. While they cite many ethical concerns, the most important information from their email was that: 

• The tables were designed by Leadro himself, with no engineer or professional oversight. 
• The company ordered them directly from the factory with these designs with no professional oversight. 
• The tables have only ever been tested by the company themselves, no professional or outside agency. 
• Tables have never been tested or approved by any government or professional commission. 
• The company was aware of faults before selling them but chose to sell them anyways. 

I obviously don't know if these statements are true. Again, this person asked to remain anonymous but their statements should be rather easy to disprove if the "extensive testing" Paloma claims were actually done. If Paloma wishes to share this information I would love to update this statement. 

A customer reached out to me and asked me to post this statement. You can view her video of the new "safer model" below.

Watch her video here. She said she notified company on 12/30. 

https://www.facebook.com/100000268438366/videos/4324253707593534/

Today 4/27/2021 Paloma Schell Shop placed this notice on their FB page. As of yet I have not heard of anyone receiving any direct communication via email etc. unless they have initiated communication Paloma themselves. While I am glad they issued an alert, from what we can find this is only posted on their Facebook page, no where else. After learning everything we have over the last few days their solution seem insufficient and their inaction has demonstrated their motives to be insincere at this point. New tables seem to have the same issues. I would love to see them work with a qualified engineer when designing their upgrades. Personally, I would insist on outside testing from a government/professional commission before using their table again. 

Another customer video showing safety hazards sent to me on 4/27/2021. 

https://youtu.be/ZGcWfNgkHSg

4/28/2021

Paloma Schell Posted a comment in the FB Group (linked at bottom of this blog) I stated where customers can share their experiences with their table. I will post it, in Spanish and the translated version below, as well as my response. 

The Safety alert from yesterday is still posted on their FB page, with no updates. 

A quick note. Paloma stated that no issues have been reported with the upgraded tables but we have posted statements and video's from customers confirming they have previously reached out to Paloma with issues from the 2021 model as well. Same safety bar issue and wheels that fall off and do not stay in place. Brakes that do not work. There was a video posted on this blog and the group she commented on showing a video of a photographer's replacement "upgraded" table doing the same thing. A repair on the new tables is definitely needed as well and I hope they follow through with this using qualified engineers and professional testing.  

Whether I believe Paloma and her claims that she has no working knowledge of her company is really not relevant at this point. THE SAFETY ISSUE IS STILL PRESENT. Many of their customers still have no idea their tables could pose a serious safety risk to newborns. SHE CLEARLY ACKNOWLEDGES THEY ARE NOW AWARE AND ARE WORKING ON THE SOLUTION BUT HAVE DONE MINIMAL TO NOTIFY THOSE CUSTOMERS. The only post that was made acknowledging a safety fault and apologizing for the way they directed the blame to me is this post. In my group, which at the time had less than 50 members. Every time I sign on to Facebook I am greeted with one of their ads for this table, yet I only see the safety alert if I go to their FB page and look for it. The table is still for sale, even though she mentions taking approximately a month to develop a solution. I would also like to point out that if looking at their tables for one day demonstrated the issue, why was it not discovered during their pre-production "extensive testing". Why did the company immediately put out official statements that it was my user error without checking the tables themselves first? Again, their actions make it appear protecting their assets/liability is their main concern. 

Customers unsatisfied with their "solution" began emailing the company asking for refunds. I will post some of their interactions here: 

You can see more post in the FB group linked below but what really stood out was the continued deflection, still blaming user error and their encouragement to continue to use the tables after clearly acknowledging there are serious problems. 

They have also denied refunds as "all available budget will destined to provide a recall of the pieces."

They do not appear to be giving customers not satisfied with their fix an option. Also, most of us ordered our tables in November, a large majority used PayPal. If we give them the time they are asking for, our 6 months to dispute a purchase with Paypal will be up and we will not have any other recourse. Below is a response from Paloma after several people complained of their solution: 

I received this 4/29/21.

Since being notified of CPCS involvement some users have been offered refunds if they mail table to an address in Houston TX. We are still hearing from customers who had no idea what as going on and have been using their table. Or, those that believed what the company told them that their unit was safe and that they have only had a report from me which was due to my user error. Meanwhile others continue to post videos of their own tables failures, including 2021 versions. I can't possibly keep updating with everything here but feel free to look at the FB page your self at what some of their customers are saying and issues they are having. 

I am going to take a step back from this for the next few days, for my own mental health, therefore I will not be updating this blog as often as I have. At this point I feel I have done as much as possible to help get the word out but need others to help as well. Please help spread the word. Post your stories but most importantly if you have had issues report it to the CPSC immediately. The link is found below. 

I put in a report with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can put a report in as well, it took me less than 10 minutes to complete it online. 

To report an unsafe consumer product to CPSC online, visit www.SaferProducts.gov, or call CPSC’s toll-free Hotline at (800) 638-2772, or (301) 595-7054 for the hearing and speech impaired.

If you are out of the country I believe you can still report here to help get the product banned in the US, additionally please let me know of any reporting agencies for your country and I will add them here as well. 

Share your story/experiences here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/167073671992642/about