Has your hoverboard suddenly engulfed itself in flames? Well, Amazon is offering refunds.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today that the online retailer is “erring on the side of caution” and has “voluntarily” stepped up to offer unhappy Amazon customers their money back.
“As encouraged as I am by Amazon’s actions, I expect other retailers and manufacturers of hoverboards to take action and offer a full refund now to their customers as well,” said the agency’s chairman Elliot Kaye.
Last month, Overstock was the first major retailer to offer customers who bought the self-balancing electric boards — and even pulled them from its site.
But, Amazon hasn’t gone that far because search reveals that it’s still selling the inexplicably popular items. The company didn’t immediately reply for comment on whether it’s going to follow Overstock’s lead and also stop selling them.
Hoverboards, which don’t actually hover, have attracted the government’s attention recently after a spate of viral videos showed the devices blowing up while in use. The cause is the hastily built lithium ion batteries and cheap manufacturing, with many of them built in China.
That’s led to an outright ban on them from being used at many universities, city streets, or stadiums and being barred from being brought onboard on major airlines, like United Airlines.
Amazon now refunding people who bought hoverboards
Amazon is being commended by the U.S. government for offering refunds to people who bought hoverboards from the retailer. A rash of viral videos showing the devices exploding has caused the government to issue safety concerns over the cheaply made devices from China.
Posted by Digiday on Thursday, January 21, 2016
More in Marketing
Digiday+ Research deep dive: Agencies find Meta’s platforms aren’t worth the investment
When it comes to agencies, both of Meta’s older sibling social media platforms may be past their primes.
The DoJ’s antitrust battle with Google underlines Big Tech’s preference for secrecy, a growing bugbear for advertisers
The legal battle sees Apple and Google et al attempt to conceal their inner workings, developments that mirror the experience of their media customers.
Snapchat sunsets its AR Enterprise division as it vows to give advertisers AR tools
“We are not diminishing the importance of AR,” he said. “In fact, we are strategically reallocating resources to strengthen our endeavors in AR advertising and to elevate the fundamental AR experiences provided to Snapchat users.”