Elliot F. Kaye, the Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, issued a statement last week about hoverboards, those uber-cool but quite unsafe “toys” that have been flying off the shelves of late. Mr. Kaye’s statement gave kudos to Amazon the first retailer to offer blanket hoverboard refunds.
Mr. Kaye said he was “pleased that at least one leading retailer is erring on the side of caution. I want to commend Amazon for voluntarily stepping up, providing a free remedy and putting customer safety first.”
No official statement was issued by the online retailer as to whether the offer of full refunds is worldwide, nor was there comment as to limits on dates of purchase. Amazon still has some hoverboards for sale, including those from Swagway. Several brands, including Swagway, have been removed from the website, though certain models remain available.
Amazon has issued warnings to customers advising them to dispose of certain brands that had non-compliant plugs. According to Mr. Kaye, several hoverboards were found to have counterfeit UL marks, falsely certifying them as being electrically compliant.
One customer’s defective hoverboard apparently caused a house fire in which the customer’s two dogs were killed.
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