WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Cinderella Kids Car Catches Fire; Family Battles with Manufacturer
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Dennis Stuart bought this car for his little girl.
Stuart showed us the burnt wiring.
You buy something and it doesn't work, you take it back.
Sounds simple, but not always the case if you are dealing with a warranty. A Rincon family found out the hard way.
A couple bought a Cinderella Pontiac Solstice power wheels for their 5 year-old.
Two weeks later, it catches on fire after a wiring problem. The store won't take it back, and the couple says dealing with the manufacturer has been a 3 month ordeal. Until WTOC stepped in.
It was supposed to be a 5 year-old little girl's big surprise.
"She was doing pretty well in school, so we bought her a car," Dennis Stuart told WTOC.
Not just any car. Dennis found a Cinderella Pontiac power wheels for his daughter, Hannah Marie.
"She rode it two weeks. I plugged it in one night to charge it and I went back in and it was on fire," Dennis said. "It was smoking."
No one was hurt. Dennis did take pictures.
"The wires are burnt up, smoke burnt the wires and came up the back of the seat," Dennis said. "I immediately unplugged it."
After the fire, the car wouldn't turn on. Dennis tried to take the car back to Wal-mart. They said call the dealer. The instruction manual says 'Do not take back to store.' So, Dennis called the dealer.
"He's going to send a box, but I'm going to have to pay for shipping and handling back to the manufacturer so he can see if he can do anything with it before I get another car." Dennis said.
Three months later, Dennis now has an attorney, has made countless calls to the manufacturer, and still no car. WTOC made a phone call Monday afternoon to Dumar International manufacturers out of New Jersey.
"Right after you called them, they called me right away and they are sending a new car that same day," Dennis told WTOC Tuesday afternoon.
Company spokesperson Kim Green told me Dumar will send a new Cinderella Pontiac power wheels and says their policy is to pick up merchandise at no expense to the customer. Se blamed the confusion on poor phone communication.
By the end of the week, Hannah-Marie will be driving her new Cinderella car.
"Until WTOC got involved, I don't think we would have got no where," Dennis said. "Thank you. Thank you guys."
While Dumar investigates the cause of the mini-car fire, the Better Business Bureau has a warning about warranties. Dennis says he didn't see the warranty until after the purchase and the fire. The BBB says always check the warranty before buying a product, just to be sure who pays for what if something goes wrong.
Reported by: Don Logana, dlogana@wtoc.com
