Mother-of-two, 31, tells how she had to rescue her children from smoke-filled house after baby monitor EXPLODES
- Shannon Makepeace, 31, had bought the device just two weeks earlier
- She received a ‘non-sympathetic’ email from manufacturer ‘HelloBaby’
A horrified mum has told how she saved her two children after a baby monitor exploded in her home.
Shannon Makepeace, 31, was baking cakes when her HelloBaby monitor, which was on the kitchen counter, started ‘hissing’ and smoking.
She grabbed one-year-old daughter Bonnie, who was asleep upstairs, and her son Joey, three, and dashed outside their home in Rugby, Warwickshire.
Meanwhile her mum Carmen, 51, smothered the burning device in a towel and threw it outside.
Shannon Makepeace, 31, was baking cakes when her HelloBaby monitor, which was on the kitchen counter, started ‘hissing’ and smoking
She says if the monitor had exploded while the family were asleep, the outcome could have been tragic
Paul and Shannon posted a public review on the product’s Amazon page, labelling it ‘Terribly dangerous and scary’
The fire broke out on Tuesday August 1, just two weeks after Shannon bought the £39.99 monitor from Amazon.
She says if the monitor had exploded while the family were asleep, the outcome could have been tragic.
She said: ‘It was a terrifying experience.
‘The monitor was in the kitchen. It had fallen forwards by itself and was making a sort of hissing noise.
‘Smoke was coming out of it really fast and filled the downstairs of my house within seconds. It smelled absolutely awful.
‘It just happened really fast, it was like a whistling kettle.
‘I told my mum the monitor was on fire and I thought it might really explode like you see electric bikes sometimes do.
‘The kitchen was completely filled with smoke and it was filled with a smell of burning plastic.
‘My mum quickly wrapped the burning monitor in a towel and chucked it in the garden.’
Shannon Makepeace, partner Paul Farrington, Bonnie and Joey
Shannon with children Bonnie and Joey
The fire scorched the kitchen worktop and photos show the melted remains of the monitor.
Shannon complained to the manufacturers HelloBaby but says they just emailed her offering to refund her the money.
She said: ‘The monitor burned my kitchen worktop and would no doubt have caused a serious fire had the circumstances been different.
‘We emailed the company and they replied with a very non-sympathetic offer of a refund and ‘sorry for the inconvenience’.
‘It looks like the battery exploded in it. We emailed the company and explained what had happened.’
Damage to Shannon’s kitchen floor after baby monitor combusted
Shannon added: ‘The first email was that they wanted the Amazon number and to offer a refund.
‘They sent me back some certificates from testing saying it theoretically shouldn’t happen.
‘I was there and I saw it so we could take action quickly. We used that monitor every night and asleep. It’s often on a carpet.
‘We’re unlucky that it happened but lucky it happened when and where it did.
‘It burnt the kitchen worktop where it was. The danger was had I not been in there it would have escalated into a fire very quickly.’
Shannon’s mum Carmen said: ‘We believe the battery exploded.
‘It was in use but not plugged into the mains.
‘Luckily Shannon heard it bang and we were able to get the burning unit out of the house after only a few seconds.
‘The whole downstairs filled with awful, acrid smoke.
‘It was so scary but we feel lucky. The situation could’ve been a lot worse..’
The couple posted a public review on the product’s Amazon page, labelling it ‘Terribly dangerous and scary.’
The Mail Online have reached out to HelloBaby and Amazon for comment without response.
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