A PHONE charger which was part of a body care gift set exploded and filled a teenager's bedroom with smoke.
Helen Taylor from Whitecross in Hereford bought a Dove Ultimate Care Gift Set for her 19-year-old son Ryan, which included a portable power bank that charges mobile phones on the go.
She was downstairs at their home with husband, Kai, and Ryan was upstairs in his bedroom when she heard a noise which sounded like a gunshot.
Helen, 40, said: "Ryan followed the instructions and put it on the bedside table to charge. It was a new oak bedroom set. He plugged it in for 30 minutes until the light stopped flashing.
"He unplugged it and left it on the side. Thirty minutes later it started to make a noise, which started getting louder. Smoke started coming out of it.
"All of a sudden, it was like a gunshot had gone off upstairs. The whole house filled with smoke. There was shrapnel everywhere. It singed the carpet and the bed. There was also smoke damage to the side. "
The shrapnel from the charger was so hot that it singed the fabric it landed on.
Helen, who also has a seven-year-old son called Logan who was not home at the time, said: "I heard it. It sounded horrific. I went to the bottom of the stairs and I could just see smoke."
She ran upstairs and gathered up the duvet and put it in the bath. Ryan burnt three of his fingers, she said.
But Helen has been less than impressed by the reaction from Unilever, the company which made the gift set. She has sent a number of letters to the company, along with the power bank.
But In a letter from Dove Men Car Consumer Care at Unilever UK, they said “the findings of our investigation confirmed that the power bank you purchased meets our high safety standards. All of the power banks made are thoroughly tested to ensure that they are safe and meet international regulatory standards.”
They said out of 1 million units of this products, Helen's was the first complaint and they said they would not cover the cost of damage.
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