Less than a year after its purchase, an oven belonging to a family in Singapore exploded, leaving them shell-shocked.
The shattered glass door left “thousands” of glass pieces scattered on the floor.
There were no signs prior to the incident that the oven would explode.
However, liaising with the distributor has also proven difficult — the woman whose oven exploded said their service recovery was insufficient.
They repaired the glass layer, but left the glass that they couldn’t reach inside.
Ms Wani said that they had purchased an ELBA built-in oven in May 2023.
“From the day we moved in and even on the day of the incident, there were no strange sounds, incidents or anything that suggested the oven might explode,” she claimed.
On 6 Jan, the family was at home and in the midst of preparing dinner.
“We started the oven to preheat as usual while my husband and I were in the living room nearby, discussing an upcoming family holiday when we heard a loud “BOOM” from our kitchen,” said Ms Wani to MS News.
Image provided by Wani Azahar
She said the sound was “super loud” as they have an open kitchen.
They then discovered shards of glass scattered close to their built-in oven which was somehow still running.
Her husband hurriedly turned off its power, only for the glass inside to shatter into pieces.
Image provided by Wani Azahar
The family had bought the oven from Gain City but was advised to contact CASA, the distributor of the ELBA oven, directly.
However, the experience left Ms Wani unsatisfied.
Image provided by Wani Azahar
According to Ms Wani, after contacting CASA, a repairman came the day after the incident to replace the shattered glass layer but left all the pieces they couldn’t reach or clean in the oven.
She was at work that day and her husband was the one liaising with the repairman.
“Naturally, this is unacceptable so I told them I needed a better service recovery,” said Ms Wani.
After much back-and-forth between the parties, CASA allegedly agreed to repair the door. However, Ms Wani declined.
“I wouldn’t accept that as a solution as I am very traumatised by this incident and do not trust their brand anymore to be in my house,” she said.
CASA has since offered repairs and set up appointments for house visits, but Ms Wani has declined them.
Instead, she has filed a case with the Small Claims Tribunals (SCT) in order to obtain a refund.
That said, Ms Wani told MS News that Gain City has been helpful and is trying to escalate the matter.
“I am not sure if they’ve accepted the legal notice but we received a call from Gain City that CASA approved an exchange,” she said.
“We might find a replacement oven but there has still been no apology from CASA or any news on whether they’ll turn up during the court date.”
As Ms Wani has a toddler at home, she is concerned about other households with young children that might have purchased the same built-in oven.
“While we wait for CASA to come back to us, I have to keep a watchful eye over our toddler every day in case he goes into the kitchen since the position of the oven is just at his eye level,” she said.
“With glass pieces still in there that could fall out anytime, I am extremely worried for the safety of our household and guests.”
Cases like what Ms Wani experienced are rare, but not improbable.
Many modern oven glass doors are made from tempered glass. Even though it is stronger than average glass, it is still brittle and can shatter, often suddenly and violently.
As for why this is the case, tempered glass can form micro-cracks over time due to thermal stress.
These cracks are often not apparent, meaning the glass door may appear to shatter at any time.
MS News has reached out to CASA for comment.
Also read: Winnie The Pooh Pot From FairPrice ‘Explodes’ After Heating, Supermarket In Touch With Customer
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Featured image provided by Wani Azahar.
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