How long is too long to wait for a recall replacement?

BOUNTIFUL — An important safety recall was announced last December. Blenders were cutting people and catching on fire.

One Utah woman has been waiting for a replacement blender ever since. Worried it may never come, it was time to Get Gephardt.

The Blendjet 2 was a hot stocking stuffer last Christmas. But there was a problem with some models. The company determined that certain units “can overheat or catch fire and the blades can break, posing fire and laceration hazards to consumers,” according to the recall notice.

Aubrey Dyson received one of those recalled blenders from her Grandma last December. Blendjet ordered her to destroy it.

“I went through all the proper steps, showed them pictures of it destroyed, and then they never sent it back to me,” she said.

For a replacement, Aubrey was told to wait a few weeks. When it didn’t come, she was told to wait a few weeks more.

“They are working on it. They are working on it. Then I ask for an update of how much longer it’s going to be and I get no response back,” she said.

Almost a year later, Aubrey’s patience has run out, especially because she receives advertisements from the company asking if she wants to buy a new blender.

“I feel ignored and not prioritized,” she said. “They are more interested in selling new blenders and not replacing those that have already been sold.”

Aubrey asked Get Gephardt to investigate.

Get Gephardt reached out to BlendJet on Aubrey’s behalf through the public relations firm that handled the recall.

A short time later, we heard back from BlendJet’s Assistant Priority Support Manager who wrote, “a full replacement heading her way immediately as a goodwill gesture to apologize for the delay.”

Sure enough, less than a day later, Aubrey received a tracking number that hers was in the mail. With any luck, she’ll be able to use last year’s Christmas present by this Christmas.

There is usually no end date to a product recall, but there are also no hard-and-fast rules about how long a company has to fulfill a recall.

We see it all the time with cars, where there’s a recall, but the company says they don’t have the parts so people are forced to wait months or even years.