Amazon have issued a product recall for 6 models of their own brand AmazonBasics portable battery chargers after 53 reports of overheating failures including one report of chemical burns due to contact with battery acid and four reports of property damage, including fire and smoke damage.
Before people get too worried, the failure incident is relatively low as they sold well over a quarter million units over a three year period but of course the risk should still be taken seriously – Amazon have advised consumers to immediately unplug and stop using the recalled power banks and contact Amazon for instructions on how to return the unit and receive a full refund.
All customers who purchased one of the recalled devices are being contacted by email directly by Amazon. The affected devices have the AmazonBasics on the front with the part number – B00LRK8EVO, B00LRK8HJ8, B00LRK8I7O, B00LRK8IV0, B00LRK8JDC or B00ZQ4JQAA – on the back.
With a selling price of between $9 and $40, this represents a loss of between $2.34 million and $10.4 million in refunds.
Amazon do not hesitate to act when a safety concern may affect a product. Last year they acted when solar sunglasses weren’t authenticated and in 2015 advised customers to bin hoverboards over battery concerns.
Amazon are working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to perform the recall. If you purchased one of the affected models you can go to amazonpowerbank.expertinquiry.com to register the product and receive a full refund or call Amazon toll-free on 855-215-5134.
One Response
And we would have been closed own for such a serious violation as a Marketplace seller