I bought a glass-top dining table from John Lewis several years ago and was in shock after it exploded on the hottest day of the year.
I contacted John Lewis but it said I was not entitled to a refund or a replacement. There was a camera and a laptop sitting on the table at the time and the “heat given off by these devices is a known cause of glass breakage in tempered glass”, it told me.
It added that “given that the warranty period has passed, and we cannot identify a fault with the product, we are unable to offer a refund or take any further action regarding this issue”.
I maintain that the table was not fit for purpose and, if a glass-top table should not have warm things placed on it, it should come with a warning notice.
Luckily, no one was in the room at the time. But the incident left my 79-year-old wife traumatised and in shock for several days.
PG, by email
It is a miracle no one was hurt when the £279 Tropez table exploded. When I asked John Lewis to revisit your case, it investigated but says it could not help because the table was seven years old and out of warranty. “Given the age of the table, it is also very unlikely that it broke due to a manufacturing defect, as this would have presented itself much earlier on,” it says.
This is a disappointing dead end given what was a genuinely shocking event, so I asked a consumer lawyer, Gary Rycroft, about any possible next steps. He says: “I would say PG has a simple claim under contract law arising from paying for goods which have ultimately failed to do their intended job. Bottom line is a table like this should not shatter.”
If no one told you to avoid placing hot items on it when you bought it, you could issue a claim in the small claims court for the cost of the table, Rycroft says.
John Lewis may argue that you have had some use out of it, and seek to reduce the value of the claim, but he adds that it “should be grateful this is not a personal injury claim, as glass shattering can cause terrible injuries”.
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