September 11, 2020
It has been reported that products from AmazonBasics are fire hazards but are still for sale on the Amazon website.
The stories about the dangerous products are disturbing; for instance, a man went to the hospital after his chair caught fire while sleeping, and it was due to a melted USB cord. AmazonBasics microwave caught fire when an eight-year-old used it to heat a mac and cheese cup. Another saw a fire coming from an AmazonBasics surge protector while only a single phone charger was plugged to it, and his baby is sleeping in an adjacent room.
For the past few years, reports about different products from AmazonBasics are piling up. It has been recorded that at least 1,500 reviews ever since 2016 more than 70 items describing;
“products exploding, catching on fire, smoking, melting, causing electrical malfunctions or otherwise posing risks.”
Amazon has been taking down the items that customers reported were dangerous, like the surge protector and the USB cable, but many products remain on the site.
In more than 1,500 reviews, several customers openly addressed the potentially dangerous; they used the terms such as “hazard” or “fire” or saying the product should be returned. Nearly 30 things with three or more similar reviews are still for sale on Amazon.com. Another 11 other products within these criteria are no longer on sale as of this time. After reports have been publicized, at least four product pages were removed from the retailer’s site entirely, leaving dead URLs behind, also known as “dog pages.” Amazon stated that eight of these products are under investigation and that they had accomplished the safety standards.
Regardless of the many testified safety issues yet, Amazon has only issued two official AmazonBasics products’ returns. On the other hand, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received only ten reports in the past eight years, mentioning AmazonBasics products with concerns like the reviews discussed earlier.
When interrogated, Amazon specified reasons why the said products met its safety standards and, in a few cases, how it had been removed after the reports.
In the past, Amazon has been under numerous analyses for selling defective products. It has been reported that more than 60 federal lawsuits for product liability toward Amazon in the past decade.
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