The Return of the Exploding Cookware

You probably remember Art Krull selling his Ultrex by Innova cookware on HSN.

Yeah, I know these home shopping channels sell loads of cookware. But these pans were super special. They exploded! How exciting! Making dinner will never be the same boring drudgery again.

After going out of business and not honoring their touted 75-year warranty, this cookware company seems to have reconstituted itself into Classicor on ShopNBC.

Didn't anyone at ShopNBC think to take just a quick minute to Google Art and his infamous pans before getting into bed with him? Just a thought.

Take a gander at all the complaints here and here--everything from the nonstick coating scratching (even though Art said that you could use metal utensils), the nonstick coating flaking off, bent and cracked pans, broken knobs, to handles falling off. Whatever. Handles are for wusses, right?

To top it off, there was an official government recall (that's still posted on HSN). Hers's the money quote, "The non-stick part of the pan can separate forcefully and be propelled when the pan is preheated, used on high heat, or used for frying, deep-frying or braising. This can pose a serious burn hazard from hot oil or food contents spilling onto consumers."

Even the Ultrex pressure cooker was recalled. "The pressure cooker's lid can open while its contents are under pressure, allowing the hot contents to be expelled and causing burn injuries to bystanders. ... HSN has received two reports of injuries which involve second and third degree burns to the upper arm and an unspecified burn injury."

Here's the letter that HSN sent out after they finally had enough of the exploding pots and didn't want to be left sweeping up the broken pieces--leaving the customers no where to turn.

Dear Valued HSN Customers,

As you may have seen in our earlier post, or heard from other members of the community, an HSN cookware supplier, Innova, Inc. (makers of Ultrex, Country Cottage and select products under the Cooks & Chefs label), ceased business operations and is liquidating its assets. Innova going out of business was as much of a surprise to us as it has been to our customers - we had virtually no advance notice and we stopped selling Innova products as soon as we were informed. The reasons for the business closing are unclear, but we have no information indicating that it was related to any health or safety hazard with respect to the non-stick coating on the Ultrex cookware. And while millions of HSN customers have enjoyed their Ultrex products over the years, we, at HSN, are extremely disappointed that Innova, an independent company, not owned by HSN or any of our affiliated businesses, has discontinued operations and is no longer available to provide warranty support. We sincerely regret being involved in any way with a company that has disappointed you. However, in the event you have any questions or concerns related to your Innova products, our customer service team is prepared to assist you at 1-800-284-3900.

We very much appreciate your business and your continued support of HSN, and we look forward to serving you in the future.

Sincerely,
Rob Solomon
Senior Vice President of Customer Care


So tell me again why ShopNBC wanted to sell this???