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FIRE HAZARD | Amazon UK urges customers to throw away hoverboards

Amazon has stopped selling all hoverboards while it investigates.

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Global online retailer Amazon has told consumers to dispose of their hoverboards and for buyers who were planning to purchase the self-balancing “scooters” to cease making orders.

In return, Amazon is issuing full refunds, which customers should expect to receive within three days. “We regret the inconvenience this may cause you but trust you will understand that your safety and satisfaction is our highest priority”, the email reads.

Amazon advised customers who have bought self-balancing scooters with unsafe plugs to ditch them.

In an email to its consumers shown by the British newspaper the Telegraph, Amazon U.K. has alerted hoverboard owners that their purchased hoverboards are “unsafe for use as this product is supplied with a non-compliant U.K. plug”.

The U.K.is not alone in its hoverboard woes, as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has also been receiving alarming reports regarding the gadgets’ safety (or lack thereof). That means the batteries can overheat and catch fire. “As a responsible retailer, Argos takes customer safety extremely seriously”.

Watchdog the Retail Ombudsman urged companies to take away the unsafe hoverboards from sale and warned they could possibly be “held answerable for any accidents brought on by unsafe items”.

“We do not sell any products that do not meet the necessary safety requirements and the situation is under review”. “While we undertake these checks, we have temporarily withdrawn the Nevaboard from sale”, a spokesman said.

If you’ve bought one from Tesco, John Lewis and Argos, you should contact the retailers about your particular hoverboard as only certain brands are being withdrawn from those stores.

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Those who bought models suspected to be faulty would get a full refund ranging from 200 (HK$2,327) to 500 from the internet giant, it added. In their email, Amazon apologized to the hoverboard customers.

Screenshot via Youtube