7 On Your Side: Hoverboard recall refund problem

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Nina Pineda got results for a local family who had purchased two now-recalled hoverboards.

WAYNE, NJ (WABC) -- For Matthew and AJ Bonilla, the joy of riding their new hoverboards went bust. Just days after they opened their Christmas gift, the news was filled with videos of hoverboards on fire.

"Once this (recall) came out my kid wouldn't even go on it anymore," said Wayne mom, Linda Bonilla.

Then in July, the models Linda Bonilla ordered from Hoverboard360 were part of the recall of 500,000 hoverboards.

"As soon as I got that notice I called them to find out what was going on," said Linda.

Hoverboard360 is one of the ten companies on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission list for its exploding, dangerous batteries.

Hoverboard360 was the only one offering store credit. An offer that Linda didn't find appealing. When we checked the Hoverwear360 options, they were only for men, no ladies or kids clothes at all.

"I thought that was ridiculous. I didn't buy $800 worth of clothes and I'm not giving my kids $800 worth of clothes," said Linda.

Customers across the globe skewered the company on social media, demanding "refunds" complaining its" unfair" they're not getting their" money back."

And good luck getting through to Hoverboard360's parent, Keenford Limited. On this day Linda says she waited on hold nearly an hour, then hung up.

So we went looking for them at their Long Island address. We were told to leave, but later assured our message to Hoverboard360's owner requesting a call was delivered.

Also, the hoverboard company got an "F" rating from the BBB, which said complaints spiked after the CPSC recall.

But a day after our visit Hoverboard 360 told us it was issuing Linda a full cash refund.

The company thanked us for contacting them, saying it had previously tried to contact this customer but hadn't heard back. Keenford Limited is also offering customers new hoverboards with the UL certified batteries as a refund, but when we checked the website just before broadcast, the website said all the hoverboards were sold out. When we asked the company about this it responded, "no comment."