Oh..I'm sorry that happened to your Sam..
When I had to get my Samantha's leg fixed{It broke off somehow...} They tightened her head w/ one of those plastic electrical tie things...{I'll take a picture of her neck so you know what I'm talking about} & They took her string ties compleatly out of her neck.....Her neck is acctually stronger than it was be fore {so far} But my Samantha had those neck ties for about 7 YEARS.

Oh well....There's not much that we can do w/ Mattel now incharge...