M&S glass coffee table - spontaneously exploded/shattered

kingla

Just to let you know it did't break into little safe 'blocks' of glass.. it broke into large shards mainly with small splinters also that were scattered across the room.

Also there had been no oils around, or anything else similar.

M&S are going to investigate, I am sending them photos to allow them to do this.

I'm sorry also this has turned into a debate about who could have been in the room and been injured. This was purely meant as a warning... as I would not have purchased this table had I seen or heard anything like this.

oldagetraveller

hoyles10 wrote: »

I'm quite impressed M&S refunded straight away without any form of investigation. After all what's to say the OP hadn't dropped something heavy on it and it broke then called them to say it had just randomly exploded.

I wonder if this isn't the first incident for this particular table and by offering a refund and voucher they're hoping the OP will "go away" without any further fuss?

Liquorice_Twirls

Why make snidy remarks about my comments about the thought that a young child had been near when the coffee table exploded?

The reason why this worries me is that children are much nearer the ground and more likely to be at coffee table height whilst playing etc than an adult and also as any major blood loss in a child through such an injury would probably be more dangerous.

Of course the table could be dangerous to anyone and I for one am grateful to the OP for posting this and also helping M & S to investigate this.

kingla

My table did shatter/explode spontaneously into large shards and smaller splinters. If anyone disbelieves this I am happy to provide/email the photos of the aftermath. There were glass shards scattered up to 3 feet away. Whilst some of the posters here may be accusing others of 'melodrama', had any of my family been in the room, they could have been injured.

My advice to anyone with this particular table is to get in touch with M&S and get it out of your house.

Also, as someone relatively new to these threads, I am a little taken aback by the negative posts that some people feel the need to place. This thread was started as a genuine warning after our experience and I'd appreciate it if it could be treated as such.

cybergibbons

We broke one of the glass computer desks when moving it. That broke into large chunks, much larger than say a bus shelter does, but still not dangerous shards.

It does sound a bit like the glass wasn't tempered properly.

Also, I think this is possibly one situation where "think of the children" might be valid. If I was in a room and a coffee table shattered, I would sit still and make sure I put some shoes on.

If a small child was in the room, they may well panic and run around in bare feet, or worse still crawl.

bcl999

I had an old internal glass door shatter a few years ago which broke into very sharp pieces. When the glazier came to replace, he said it was illegal to use glass other than safety glass nowadays. I wonder if this also applies to furniture? I think I would contact local authority Trading Standards to see if they can investigate/test and also if they maybe have access to some national database where they can check for other instances.

explodingtable

EXACTLY the same has just happened to us with the same M&S table. I am furious. Luckily it also happened at night, otherwise our children could have been serously hurt.

Dear Kingla - did you get any further response from M&S about any investigation into this?

kingla

explodingtable - I have replied to your DM.
Shocked to hear of another person experiencing this, though not completely surprised, as the table design appears fundamentally flawed.
Glad to hear that no one was injured.

ausvic

Kingla, this morning my son was moving the second table of the nest of glass tables (the same as your coffee table) and it 'collapsed'. Like you there was glass shards everywhere. Thankfully he wasn't injured. I was watching him as he placed it down it just collapsed. I called M&S. The tables were purchased over two years ago. Without any hesitation I was offered a full refund. When asked if anyone else had had this trouble was told no. Obviously this is not the case. I will not be purchasing these again and in fact have found some acryllic ones on John Lewis website which look the same and hopefully won't shatter.

rak_2

Almost six years ago I bought an Alaska dining table from Argos. This was a glass-topped table, complying to BS6206 Class B and to BS7376:1990.
The table served me well until July 2010 when it spontaneously shattered.
Fortunately there were no injuries but the debris consisted of many sharp fragments of glass, from microscopic in size to centimetres.
I consider this incident to have been dangerous. Had anyone been dining or working at the table, or had a child or pet been beneath the table,
serious injury could have been caused.

Although my table was within the 6-year warranty period, Argos demanded that to obtain reimbursement I would require a report from an independent engineer.
They said "After the initial 6 months of purchase has expired, the onus is on the customer in order to prove the fault is a manufacturing defect.
We therefore ask for an independent report from an accredited engineer on company headed paper proving the defect. If a manufacturing fault is identified,
we will of course reimburse you the cost of your report and offer a suitable remedy."
They informed me of this requirement many weeks after I reported the incident to them and after the
debris was cleared away to recover my living space - so no report was possible.

The lesson is: beware of glass tables and if they explode, Argos, unlike M&S, will not compensate.