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Calvin Teo
IKEA is recalling about 29 million chests, including one of its most popular lines – Malm. The clients will be reimbursed for the expenses. The Swedish retailer has taken this decision after three cases of infant death in the United States. Each of the babies died because of the furniture crushed on them. IKEA should officially announce the revocation of chest of drawers tonight.
According to the company’s representative, IKEA has sold about 65 million Malm chest of drawers worldwide. The piece of furniture is very popular among customers because of its cheapness. Head of the US division Lars Peterson confirmed the information about the upcoming recall, saying that sale of the problem furniture has already been stopped.
It turned out that IKEA have long been aware of dangerous instability of some kinds of chest of drawers, including the Malm series. In the last two years, the company had recorded 14 cases of incidence, 4 of which resulted in injury. To remedy the situation, the retailer released a formal appeal to buyers in the middle of last year. The statement encouraged the furniture’s owners to fix the furniture with free mounting kits that IKEA was ready to send out to all addressed customers. As a result, the retailer has distributed almost 300 thousand such kits among its American customers in nearly a year. American associations for consumer rights protection considered this measure insufficient. In particular, they stated that replacement of "recall" with "repair" (anchoring the furniture) had a negative impact on customer response. And once the third case of infant death occured, the company decided to completely stop selling these cheap chests of driwers.
IKEA plans to offer a full refund to customers who return the furniture. Those who wish to keep the goods will be provided with services of repair crews to fasten the furniture.
However, this step is not going to save IKEA from lawsuits. Two families lost their children because of Malm chests of drawers have already sued the retailer. They accuse the company in conscious realization of unstable furniture, as well as the fact that the proposed fixing kits were not suitable for many types of walls. This, in their opinion, actually forced the buyer to leave the furniture without fastening.
June 23, it became known that the company is recalling all safety gates Patrull due to risk of harm to children. The company noted that compromising safety of children is unacceptable question. The retailer itself says that if it gets information about child injuries or potential risks, it recalls the unsafe goods immediately.
IKEA company was founded in 1943 and belongs to Stichting INGKA Foundation, headquartered in Delft (Netherlands). It specializes in selling of furniture and home accessories.
source: bbc.co.uk
According to the company’s representative, IKEA has sold about 65 million Malm chest of drawers worldwide. The piece of furniture is very popular among customers because of its cheapness. Head of the US division Lars Peterson confirmed the information about the upcoming recall, saying that sale of the problem furniture has already been stopped.
It turned out that IKEA have long been aware of dangerous instability of some kinds of chest of drawers, including the Malm series. In the last two years, the company had recorded 14 cases of incidence, 4 of which resulted in injury. To remedy the situation, the retailer released a formal appeal to buyers in the middle of last year. The statement encouraged the furniture’s owners to fix the furniture with free mounting kits that IKEA was ready to send out to all addressed customers. As a result, the retailer has distributed almost 300 thousand such kits among its American customers in nearly a year. American associations for consumer rights protection considered this measure insufficient. In particular, they stated that replacement of "recall" with "repair" (anchoring the furniture) had a negative impact on customer response. And once the third case of infant death occured, the company decided to completely stop selling these cheap chests of driwers.
IKEA plans to offer a full refund to customers who return the furniture. Those who wish to keep the goods will be provided with services of repair crews to fasten the furniture.
However, this step is not going to save IKEA from lawsuits. Two families lost their children because of Malm chests of drawers have already sued the retailer. They accuse the company in conscious realization of unstable furniture, as well as the fact that the proposed fixing kits were not suitable for many types of walls. This, in their opinion, actually forced the buyer to leave the furniture without fastening.
June 23, it became known that the company is recalling all safety gates Patrull due to risk of harm to children. The company noted that compromising safety of children is unacceptable question. The retailer itself says that if it gets information about child injuries or potential risks, it recalls the unsafe goods immediately.
IKEA company was founded in 1943 and belongs to Stichting INGKA Foundation, headquartered in Delft (Netherlands). It specializes in selling of furniture and home accessories.
source: bbc.co.uk
