Sometimes even the most seemingly harmless and fun products can actually turn out to be the complete opposite, as we so often see with children’s toys and common household items. Take, for instance, a coffee mug. You wouldn’t believe that a product that is designed to simply hold hot liquids could pose as a serious fire hazard and put your health and home at risk, but indeed that’s the case this week with a novelty coffee mug sold at Home Depot stores across the country. In fact, one media outlet is even dubbing this the “dumbest recall ever”.
Manufactured and sold only in the past month, these ceramic mugs were created to look like the popular and recognizable orange Home Depot buckets that can be found at most construction sites and home remodeling jobs. Unfortunately, the mugs were also produced with a small silver-colored “bucket handle” on the side that can cause serious problems if the mugs are placed in microwaves. Specifically, they can cause the microwaves to spark and catch fire. Obviously, most metallic products that are used for food and beverage consumption come with warning labels about microwave use, but that might not be the case in this instance.
Approximately 3,700 of these $5 mugs are currently being recalled by China’s Mr. Christmas Ltd. and Home Depot, and the popular national construction and home supply retailer’s officials are urging consumers who may have purchased these novelty mugs to quit using them immediately and return them to any Home Depot store for a full refund. For additional information about the mugs and this recall, consumers can contact Home Depot representatives at (877) 527-0313 and choose the “Other Barnds” option when prompted.
Most recently, Home Depot was connected to the recall of 1.3 million General Electric dishwasher over fire hazards; however, that recall wasn’t caused by a product that was produced specifically for the company.