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Kmart Still Selling Shatter-Prone Martha Stewart Tables

Eight Years of Shattered Glass, Broken Promises, Government Inaction

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 9, 2007

Case in point: Since 1999, consumers who purchased Martha Stewart patio furniture at Kmart have been getting a nasty surprise -- the glass tops of the patio tables have been spontaneously shattering.

The tables, made in Taiwan by JRA Furniture, are also sold under other brand names, including Home Depot's Hampton Bay.

“I was sitting at my computer when I heard this tremendous crash,” said David Potts of Marietta, Ga. “I went outside to see what it was and it looked like my patio was covered in ice. It was the glass from the table top.

“I got a couple of slivers of glass in my fingers while I was cleaning it and here I am a year later and I can still feel pain in the tips of my fingers,” Potts said.

"Nothing Unusual"

While Home Depot is at least claiming it wants to help consumers whose JRA tables have shattered, Kmart, which has sold the tables since 1999, has consistently done nothing.

Martha Stewart OmniMedia has never uttered a word on the subject, has failed to respond to numerous requests for comment and, as far as we know, has never lifted so much as a pinkie to help any of its customers whose tables shattered.

For years, Kmart employees have told consumers whose tabletops shattered that they had never heard of a similar incident. Customers were usually greeted with a shrug and told to submit a warranty claim to the manufacturer, JRA.

Now Kmart is going so far as to insist there is nothing unusual about spontaneously shattering glass tabletops.

When Lilyan of Paramus, NJ, went to Kmart a few weeks ago to report that her Martha Stewart Outdoor Collection table had blown up just as her family sat down to dinner, store employees were no help, she said in a complaint to ConsumerAffairs.com. They suggested she file a claim on her homeowner's insurance, she said.

"K-Mart ... will not refund the price of the table or even discount the purchase of a replacement table. We were told that we could purchase another table for $115.00," said Ginger of Alpharetta GA.

"I still have my table and would like to have the glass replaced. They were absolutely no help at Kmart's service desk," Deb of Bellbrook, OH, said.

JRA Bankrupt

JRA Century recently dissolved, within just a few days of JRA Furniture's filing for bankruptcy.

But none of that has stopped Home Depot and Kmart, which also owns Sears, from continuing to sell the tables, knowing they tend to shatter and knowing the manufacturer is bankrupt.

Sears/Kmart spokespeople have danced around the question of whether they will honor the warranty now that JRA is less likely than ever to do so. (Just for the record, we don't know of any consumers who actually collected on a JRA warranty claim).

When ConsumerAffairs.com asked two weeks ago whether Kmart will step in to honor the warranty, Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite wrote in an e-mail: “Given JRA’s recent chapter 7 filing, JRA will likely be unable to honor its manufacturer’s warranty. As a service to our customers, Kmart intends to work with our customers to attempt to resolve issues that would have otherwise been covered by that manufacturer warranty.”

Just what did that answer mean? An answer like that is an invitation to repeat the question.

So last Friday, ConsumerAffairs.com asked Brathwaite three times for a definitive 'yes' or 'no' response as to whether Kmart will honor the warranty. He replied in an e-mail: “Did you not get this (his previous answer)? I sent it two weeks ago.”

Contact Numbers

Brathwaite said customers should visit Kmart Customer Care or call toll-free 866-562-7848.

Home Depot has established a specific toll-free phone number for consumers whose Hampton Bay tables have shattered. Home Depot will be honoring JRA's defunct warranty, company spokeswoman Sarah Molinari said. Consumers can call 800-585-9969.

Molinari said Home Depot's Hampton Bay tables are higher quality than other JRA lines of furniture. She said Home Depot has received fewer than 10 complaints on the matter.

That may be so, but ConsumerAffairs.com to date has received 81, admittedly fewer than the 548 from Kmart customers but quite a few more than 10.

"Perfectly Safe"

In a Jan. 30, 2006 report that Sears/Kmart submitted to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the companies claim that the tables are perfectly safe since, when the glass does shatter, it breaks into tiny pieces because it is tempered.

The CPSC has said that there is no longer any investigation underway.

In documents obtained by ConsumerAffairs.com under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, it was stated that Kmart and Martha Stewart had taken steps to "address" to problem of glass shattering.

The explanation of just what those actions might be takes up three lines of text in the letter but those lines were redacted -- crossed out, in other words -- because of FOIA rules that protect trade secrets.

Tempered glass undergoes a different heating process that allows the glass to crumble rather than break into large, potentially deadly shards, according to the report.

The report also says that some spontaneous shattering of tempered glass is to be expected and thus, the tables are not defective.

“Less than one percent of all the tables at issue have been reported as having an incident involving glass breakage,” Brathwaite wrote in an e-mail.

Perhaps, but many complaints in the ConsumerAffairs.com database are from consumers whose second, or even third, replacement tabletops have shattered. Many consumers report that their tables spontaneously shatter within two months or less after bringing them home from Kmart.

A pending nationwide class action lawsuit may be the reason for JRA's bankruptcy, said lead counsel on the case, Richard Doherty, of Horwitz, Horwitz and Associates in Chicago. Because the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it is not held liable for whatever penalties may arise from the pending court case -- and, thus, consumers who might otherwise have received at least some token compensation may wind up with nothing.

What To Do

Doherty said that although JRA’s bankruptcy may slow the case’s progress, he is still going forward and that consumers whose table tops explode should:

• Keep a sampling of the glass in a bag for proof;

• File complaints with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, your state attorney general, and ConsumerAffairs.com; and

• Contact Kmart and Omnimedia to remind them how dangerous their tables are.

An Ounce of Prevention

Consumers who own any kind of glass tabletop should be aware that they are prone to shatter. While it is true that tempered glass does not produce deadly shards, it does produce small, sharp-edged pieces of glass that can cause superficial cuts to the hands and feet and be a more substantial hazard to small children and pets.

Consumers can easily and cheaply replace glass tops with a custom-cut clear plastic top, available at most glass and mirror shops.

Better safe than sorry.

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