A Z Gallerie customer went to social media for help after her glass table suddenly exploded, and the furniture company reportedly refused to replace it.
In a TikTok with over 229,000 views, content creator @bradey_and_chandler shares how she was awakened by her Z Gallerie dining table exploding, the extensive cleanup, and how the company handled her request for a replacement.
“Two weeks ago, we were awoken by a loud explosion sound,” she begins. “I go into my living room to find that my glass dining room table had completely shattered. But when I say shatter, what I really mean is that it exploded.”
@bradey_and_chandler emphasizes that nothing had triggered the explosion. “This was completely spontaneous. No one touched it; no one was near it; there was no damage on it; we hardly ever use it,” she says.
She shares that the force of the explosion sent glass flying across her home. “The projection radius of the glass particles was absolutely unbelievable. It got to all four corners of my great room, including the dining room, kitchen, and living room. This included small and large shards,” she says, showing footage of a dustpan full of broken glass from the hallway, corner, and other places they “didn’t expect to find any glass.”
“It took a total of 12 hours to clean up,” she continues. “There was glass on top of the rug, underneath the rug. … There was glass on top of the couch, on top of the wall panels. There was glass tucked in between the fabric of the dining room chairs, everywhere.”
The TikToker says the “explosion” of glass is evidence of a defect. “Tempered glass isn’t supposed to explode like this; it’s supposed to fold out,” she says. She then shows footage of four trash bags full of broken glass, which she says was taken after just six hours of cleaning.
“A factory defect causing the glass to become an explosive object is extremely dangerous,” she says. “Any of us could’ve gotten shot … could’ve easily penetrated skin with this glass. It would’ve been like a bullet or shrapnel.”
It is not clear if tempered glass is meant to “fold in,” as the TikToker puts it, but it is designed to be five times stronger than regular glass and to specifically break into smaller pieces rather than in large shards, per Maryland-based WMAR-2 News.
According to glass supplier company Phoenicia, the phenomenon known as “spontaneous glass breakage” occurs only in tempered glass and can have several different causes, including those related to minor damage in the edge of the tempered glass or a small chip of the glass surface caused during transportation or installation.
More rarely, Phoenicia says the sudden shatter can be related to the presence of a Nickel Sulfide molecule in the raw material of the glass, which, in “extreme conditions of major differences between indoor and outdoor temperature” (a snow day outside and a very heated room inside, for instance), will cause the glass the shatter. This would be an internal defect caused during the manufacturing of the glass.
Despite the severity of the situation, @bradey_and_chandler says Z Gallerie representatives wouldn’t help her. “I reached out to the company and showed them this video. It took them two weeks to get back to me. They basically said they can’t do anything because I bought it three years ago, and it’s outside the 1-year warranty,” she says.
“Please help me hold Z Gallery accountable,” she asks viewers as the video ends.
@bradley_and_chandler Please help me hold @Z Gallerie accountable for their products. Glass should never explode with projectile force. So incredibly damgerous! Taking two weeks to tell me you cant do anything is unacceptable.
♬ original sound – Bradley & Chandler
In the comments section, viewers shared their reactions, similar stories, and advice on how @bradey_and_chandler could handle the situation.
“Imagine if you had children or pets in the room,” one viewer wrote.
“I work at a furniture company. They need to work with their vendor to issue a recall and offer a replacement of a different item or a refund,” a second viewer offered.
“Glass really does explode! Happened to our patio table, still finding glass bits 5 years later!” came another response.
“Same thing happened to my side table from Z Gallerie!!! They wouldn’t do a thing!” a fourth viewer added.
According to Business of Home, the Los Angeles-based furniture company Z Gallerie filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, its third time doing so (previous bankruptcies in 2009 and 2019.) In its 2023 filing, the company cited “severe liquidity constraints” due to “underperforming retail stores, adverse macroeconomic trends and industry-specific headwinds.” In November 2023, Z Gallerie announced on Instagram that all of its retail stores would be closing, but customers could still shop via its online channel.
Given the company’s financial issues, some viewers found Chandler getting her money back or a replacement table to be unlikely.
“Z gallerie went bankrupt…good luck,” one viewer wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @bradley_and_chandler via Instagram private message and Z Gallerie via email for more information.
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