IKEA will refund a woman after she claimed that the glass cover of a pot she bought at IKEA shattered while she was cooking porridge.

Supposedly broke within a few minutes of covering the pot

According to the woman who reached out to Mothership, the cover supposedly broke on Nov. 22, within three minutes of covering the pot when the porridge started to bubble.

She further added that the pot had been purchased on Nov. 1 from IKEA's Tampines outlet, and that the stove was supposedly not on "high heat."

Photos of the pot showed that the crack appears to have originated in the centre of the cover, where the handle was located.

As for the pot itself, the reader added that it was IKEA's ANNONS pot, which is sold at a price of S$9.90, according to their website.

IKEA: Incident might be the result of tension

In response to Mothership's queries, IKEA replied that it understood how alarming such an incident might be and added that tempered glass is used in the pot in question, as it generally shatters into small pieces instead of breaking into uneven shards.

In addition, there are times when, "tension (is) caused by a strike, a knock or a scratch stays in the glass and a very small impact can make it shatter unexpectedly, hours or even months later. This happens rarely but is a well-known industry issue."

The furniture firm added that it had since apologised to the woman and offered her a full refund. It also highlighted that this was not the first such pot that she had purchased from IKEA, as she did not have any issues with a previous product.

Here is IKEA's statement in full:

"IKEA is aware of the customer’s experience and we are sorry to hear about it. We have been in direct contact with the customer to apologise for her unpleasant experience and she was offered a full refund. The customer has also shared that she used to own the same product without any issues and was surprised that this happened with the new set.

We understand how alarming it must have been to see the glass cover shatter without any apparent warning. Tempered glass is used in the ANNONS Pot and most household products because it generally does not break into uneven shards but instead, shatters into small pieces. However, sometimes tension caused by a strike, a knock or a scratch stays in the glass and a very small impact can make it shatter unexpectedly, hours or even months later. This happens rarely but is a well-known industry issue.

At IKEA, safety has always been a top priority, and all our products are tested rigorously to comply with the highest international standards and local legislation. We are glad that no one was hurt in this instance, and we will be reporting the incident to our product developers for further investigation."

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Top image collage via Mothership reader