It's no secret that I have a minor form of OCD, and I wash my hands way too much during the day.  During the winter and when I swim, my hands dry out to the point where they get really rough and occasionally bleed.  The only hand cream that seems to really do the trick is Neutrogena Fast Absorbing Hand Cream.

I was running low, recently, so I picked up 8x bottles from Amazon to last me the winter.  Their new obnoxious packaging in the form of sticky tape annoyed the heck out of me, so I sent them a note:

Hi -

I recently received 8x bottles of Neutrogena Hand Cream (ASIN #B001E96OBU).  Although the product's basic functionality (dispenses the correct type of lotion) works as expected, I am frustrated and disappointed with the packaging method that I can only guess is used to prevent accidental leakage of the lotion during transit.

The two orders (each order comes in a pack of 4) are individually wrapped in an easily-removed piece of plastic.  However, each individual bottle has a piece of what looked to be a variant of Scotch tape covering the cap, preventing it from opening.  This in itself appeared to be a minor nuisance, but turned into a serious complication as the tape ripped and almost disintegrated upon removal.  To make matters worse, after spending several minutes removing the tape from the bottles, at least some piece of the glue from the tape remained on all bottles.  The removal of this glue from the bottles necessitates the use of a 3rd party agent, such as Goo Gone, or type of degreaser.  Without this additional work and effort, a good portion of each bottle (including the cap) is sticky to the touch, and looks visibly dirty.

Although this item performs its basic function as expected, this additional packaging damages each tube to the point where it is difficult, frustrating, and uncomfortable to use.  I realize that some care must be taken to ensure that the bottles do not open in transit.  However, this type of tape is obviously not the right solution.  An alternate method such as rubber bands or small wire ties might be used, instead.  These methods prevent any residue remaining on the product after removal.

If this hand creme were available at any other retail store in my area, I would not hesitate to purchase it there.  As it stands right now, this will be my last purchase of this item and I will avoid using Amazon.com for any future purchases of similar products in the future, fearing that others may be taped in a similar method.

I hope this feedback is valuable to Amazon.com.

- Mark Kamichoff

Maybe they'll fix it.  Until then, I take my business elsewhere.

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