IKEA apologises, offers refund after woman's glass cabinet cracks and sends pieces 'flying everywhere'

Swedish retailer IKEA has apologised and offered a full refund to one of its customers after her glass cabinet suddenly cracked and sent glass bits flying in all directions.

Stomper Veron told Stomp she had bought the cabinet from IKEA two years ago.

She had returned home at about 2.45pm on Jan 14 when she heard a loud sound of glass cracking.

"At first I thought a charger had exploded or something heavy had dropped," she said.

"To my horror, it was the glass door of my IKEA cabinet that had spontaneously cracked by itself.

"The sheet of glass had shattered and was attached to the door frame but pieces of glass bits had flown everywhere.

"I could still hear the glass cracking sound for hours until about 8 to 9pm.

"I don't think it cracked because of the wind as the cabinet was placed in the dining room, away from the window."

She said she immediately called the IKEA hotline but after 20 minutes, nobody answered her call.

She also messaged them on Facebook but received no reply either.

"I wore slippers and laid newspaper around the cabinet as I was so scared the whole shattered glass panel would just fall off," she said.

On Jan 20, she said she had arranged for her town council to help her dispose of the cabinet.

In response to a Stomp query, Corinna Schuler, head of corporate communication at IKEA, said:

"IKEA Tampines has been in direct contact with the customer to offer a full refund and apologise for our failure to provide fast support following her bad experience with an IKEA cabinet.

"We understand how alarming it must have been to see a glass product shatter without any apparent warning and are really sorry that the service agent she contacted at our store did not offer full support.

"Tempered glass is used in the FABRIKOR glass cabinets and most other glass household products because it does not break into uneven shards.

"However, nicks and scratches could compromise the glass and those nicks may eventually lead the tempered glass to shatter unexpectedly into small pieces. (As it did in this case.)

"We have confirmed that no one was hurt in this case but we will be reporting the incident to our product developers.

"Safety is, of course, a top priority and all our IKEA products are tested rigorously to comply with the highest standards and legislation.

"Our Customer Relations Manager has invited the customer to come to our store for a personal meeting to see how we can improve."

This is yet another incident where furniture made with tempered glass has shattered in someone's home without warning.

On Jun 19, house guests were left bloodied and cut after a glass table "exploded" during a steamboat dinner.