Total recall: Amazon faces legal action from US consumer protection group over hazardous goods
(2021/07/15)
- Reference: 1626374712
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/15/amazon_cpsc_complaint/
- Source link:
Amazon is facing legal action in the US from a consumer protection group over the sale of allegedly faulty goods including carbon monoxide detectors and hairdryers.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) yesterday filed a complaint against Amazon.com to force the etailer to "accept responsibility for recalling potentially hazardous products sold on Amazon.com."
But Amazon has already hit back, claiming in a statement that it removed many items for sale when notified and has been working with the CPSC to resolve the other outstanding concerns.
[1]
According to legal documents, the complaint centres on "specific products [that] are defective and pose a risk of serious injury or death to consumers."
[2]
[3]
The named products contained in the [4]24-page complaint [PDF] include 24,000 faulty carbon monoxide detectors, numerous children's pyjamas that are not fireproof, and nearly 400,000 hairdryers that aren't properly insulated.
All the items named were being sold by third-party sellers.
[5]Amazon will know when its business, privacy practices keep you up at night – it has an FCC-approved sleep radar
[6]Amazon Lumberyard is dead, long live the permissively licensed Open 3D Engine
[7]Lock up your Peloton smart treadmills, watchdog warns families following one death, numerous injuries
[8]Halt don't catch fire: Amazon recalls hundreds of thousands of Ring doorbells over exploding battery fears
"The complaint charges that the specific products are defective and pose a risk of serious injury or death to consumers and that Amazon is legally responsible to recall them," said the CPSC in a [9]statement.
"Although Amazon has taken certain action with respect to some of the named products, the complaint charges that those actions are insufficient," it added.
[10]
For its part, Amazon said "customer safety is a top priority" and that "for the vast majority of the products in question, Amazon already immediately removed the products from our store."
It continued:
For the remaining few products in question, the CPSC did not provide Amazon with enough information for us to take action and despite our requests, CPSC has remained unresponsive.
We are unclear as to why the CPSC has rejected that offer or why they have filed a complaint seeking to force us to take actions almost entirely duplicative of those we've already taken.
Yesterday, Unite – the UK's largest trade union, with some 1.4 million members – accused Amazon of inflating prices for items such as hand sanitiser and other health products sold via its e-store during the pandemic.
Working with competition lawyers Preiskel & Co LLP, Unite [11]submitted a formal complaint to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over alleged "abuse of its market position in relation to price gouging at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Amazon yesterday played down the complaint insisting there was "no place for price gouging on Amazon." ®
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[4] https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/pdfs/recall/lawsuits/abc/001-In-re-Amazon-com-Inc__.pdf?TvLLxHy1UMfiz3BpfXaKjQy1ibQbYAiU
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/amazon_fcc_sleep_radar/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/open_3d_engine/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/peloton_cpsc_warning/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/11/ring_recalls_360000_doorbells_over/
[9] https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2021/CPSC-Sues-Amazon-to-Force-Recall-of-Hazardous-Products-Sold-on-Amazon-com
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPCv-3g2ZOr2PuE2Eq6ulQAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/uks_largest_trade_union_takes/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) yesterday filed a complaint against Amazon.com to force the etailer to "accept responsibility for recalling potentially hazardous products sold on Amazon.com."
But Amazon has already hit back, claiming in a statement that it removed many items for sale when notified and has been working with the CPSC to resolve the other outstanding concerns.
[1]
According to legal documents, the complaint centres on "specific products [that] are defective and pose a risk of serious injury or death to consumers."
[2]
[3]
The named products contained in the [4]24-page complaint [PDF] include 24,000 faulty carbon monoxide detectors, numerous children's pyjamas that are not fireproof, and nearly 400,000 hairdryers that aren't properly insulated.
All the items named were being sold by third-party sellers.
[5]Amazon will know when its business, privacy practices keep you up at night – it has an FCC-approved sleep radar
[6]Amazon Lumberyard is dead, long live the permissively licensed Open 3D Engine
[7]Lock up your Peloton smart treadmills, watchdog warns families following one death, numerous injuries
[8]Halt don't catch fire: Amazon recalls hundreds of thousands of Ring doorbells over exploding battery fears
"The complaint charges that the specific products are defective and pose a risk of serious injury or death to consumers and that Amazon is legally responsible to recall them," said the CPSC in a [9]statement.
"Although Amazon has taken certain action with respect to some of the named products, the complaint charges that those actions are insufficient," it added.
[10]
For its part, Amazon said "customer safety is a top priority" and that "for the vast majority of the products in question, Amazon already immediately removed the products from our store."
It continued:
For the remaining few products in question, the CPSC did not provide Amazon with enough information for us to take action and despite our requests, CPSC has remained unresponsive.
We are unclear as to why the CPSC has rejected that offer or why they have filed a complaint seeking to force us to take actions almost entirely duplicative of those we've already taken.
Yesterday, Unite – the UK's largest trade union, with some 1.4 million members – accused Amazon of inflating prices for items such as hand sanitiser and other health products sold via its e-store during the pandemic.
Working with competition lawyers Preiskel & Co LLP, Unite [11]submitted a formal complaint to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over alleged "abuse of its market position in relation to price gouging at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Amazon yesterday played down the complaint insisting there was "no place for price gouging on Amazon." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPCv-3g2ZOr2PuE2Eq6ulQAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/pdfs/recall/lawsuits/abc/001-In-re-Amazon-com-Inc__.pdf?TvLLxHy1UMfiz3BpfXaKjQy1ibQbYAiU
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/amazon_fcc_sleep_radar/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/open_3d_engine/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/peloton_cpsc_warning/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/11/ring_recalls_360000_doorbells_over/
[9] https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2021/CPSC-Sues-Amazon-to-Force-Recall-of-Hazardous-Products-Sold-on-Amazon-com
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPCv-3g2ZOr2PuE2Eq6ulQAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/uks_largest_trade_union_takes/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: All the items named were being sold by third-party sellers.
katrinab
The good quality stuff tends to also be made in China. You rely on the retailer to do quality control on the stuff they sell. Other retailers manage this, Amazon doesn’t. Amazon isn’t always cheaper than other retailers.
Re: All the items named were being sold by third-party sellers.
A. Coatsworth
I wouldn't be surprised if the defective products were "Amazon basics" knock offs. Where they were made is irrelevant.
Of all the nasty business practices Amazon does, these "basics" must be one of the lowest.
Amazon store content providers
The commentard formerly known as Mister_C
Anybody care to call the odds on Amazon trying to claim that they only publish the adverts and therefore aren't responsible for the goods that _other_ bad, bad people want to sell?
Re: Amazon store content providers
Anonymous Coward
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court.
It's a bit like suing Google and it's Play Store for being the largest supplier of mobile malware.
Paging Irwin Mainway
Anonymous Coward
Saturday Night Live skit featuring children's toys of dubious safety -- https://www.youtube.com/embed/veMiNQifZcM
All the items named were being sold by third-party sellers.
Were all these items made in China? Vietnam? Or another country were "safety of product" isn't a reality?