Tennessee, United States
More than 40,000 Christmas tree light controllers, which help in operating the tree lights wirelessly, have been recalled by companies because of a fire risk.
Mr Christmas LLC and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have been warning customers regarding these gadgets which have been produced by Mr. Christmas LLC, who is from Memphis, Tennessee, because they contain wireless receivers which carry the chances of overheating after getting connected to any outlet.
The company received an alert regarding 10 instances of overheating, one of which also caused a fire. No one suffered injuries in the incident and the recall was voluntarily initiated by Mr. Christmas.
The company has appealed to the customers to stop using the product immediately and give it back to the shop where they purchased it, which will give them a full refund.
The recall will impact around 44,600 units sold at Walmart, Target and Cracker Barrel stores as well as online. The shops had sold the affected batch between July and November.
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The products recalled were manufactured in China and were priced between $25 and $40.
Here's what the companies said
"If you are experiencing issues with a recall remedy or believe a company is being non-responsive to your remedy request, please use this form and explain the situation to CPSC," advised Mr. Christmas over the recall.
A recall notice was issued by the Consumer Affairs Department on its website for the tree light controller.
"This recall involves a decorative tree light controller that operates wirelessly to turn on holiday lights on a tree. The decorative controller contains two parts: a lever or a switch that can be pulled to turn the holiday lights on or off, and a separate white receiver that plugs into an outlet and into which the tree's holiday lights are plugged. The controller sold at Walmart and Cracker Barrel is shaped like a green, red and white peppermint candy with a candy cane on/off lever, and displays the words 'Christmas Light Controller'," read the statement.
"The controller sold at Target is sold under the Wondershop™ brand and is shaped like a square on/off switch box with green, red and white balls, and displays the words 'Tree Lighting Switch.' The white wireless receptacle that is plugged into an outlet contains the words "Mr. Christmas" and one of these three model numbers printed on the white receptacle: 39611, 39612 or 39630," it added.
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The words "Christmas Light Controller" were printed on the recalled controllers sold at Cracker Barrel and Walmart which appeared like green, red and white peppermint candies.
Mr. Christmas President Leslie Hermanson, in a statement to ABC News, said, "As a 91-year-old family business, nothing is more important to Mr. Christmas than the safety of the families who celebrate with our products. As such, out of an abundance of caution we voluntarily engaged with the CPSC to recall these 2024 Light Controllers immediately upon receiving reports of a small number of incidents with them."
"We want all consumers who have purchased one of these products this season to stop using them and visit our or the CPSC website for information on how to return your Light Controller for a refund. We note that Light Controllers sold prior to 2024 are not impacted by this recall," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)