NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A lot of people like to shop online and why not? From the comfort of your home, you can buy what you need with a few clicks and soon after have it delivered to you.
You order your products and they usually wind up right here on your front porch. And no one sells and delivers more items than Amazon. But here's the thing, there are products being sold online that are defective, sometimes dangerous, even recalled products.
Now Amazon is under pressure to do a better job of warning customers about these items.
Sunila Brown is a busy mom of three.
“We live in the country. We farm. We can't get to town. I can have something here in a couple of days, maybe a week,” Brown said.
She shops on Amazon. Sometimes directly from Amazon, other times, things that are “Fulfilled by Amazon” or F-B-A. A third party, not Amazon, sells these items, but Amazon handles the packing and shipping from one of its Fulfillment Centers.
Why does this matter?
Recently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission unanimously determined Amazon may ultimately be liable for notifying you about unsafe or defective products and providing cash refunds or replacements that were purchased through the Fulfilled by Amazon program.
The decision focused on more than 400,000 units of faulty carbon monoxide detectors, non-compliant children’s pajama sets, and dangerous hair dryers sold through Amazon’s FBA program all of which the CPSC said were “defective and pose a risk of serious injury or death”.
Consumer Reports says this new rule is good news.
"This is clearly the right decision. Otherwise, products that could injure or kill people might slip through the cracks," said Consumer Reports' Oriene Shin. "Consumers are affected either way and need the platform to step up. The sooner Amazon acts, the better people will be protected in their homes.”
Amazon didn’t dispute that the products were hazardous but argued that it wasn’t required by law to follow the same recall rules as other companies because it was
merely an intermediary between its third-party sellers and the buyers.
But the government says otherwise.
Amazon will now be responsible for recalling these products and reaching out to people to get more of the products out of homes," Shin said. "This is a major step forward for consumer protection and it helps hold online marketplaces accountable in the future.”
In a statement, Amazon said it plans to appeal the decision, adding that the products in question have been recalled and refunded and that Amazon stands by the safety of every product in its store, and that its recall process as it is is both “effective and efficient.”
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at jennifer.kraus@newschannel5.com.
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