Lightweight jacks a letdown for Massmart

Walmart had a tough debut in South Africa after going to war with Trade & Industry Minister Rob Davies at the Competition Tribunal in 2011 for the right to buy Massmart for R16.5-billion.

Now in the saddle, things haven't got much easier. This week nearly 400 defective car jacks had to be recalled by Massmart after some simply collapsed.

Though no injuries were reported, Massmart was forced to pull its entire stock of the Mastercraft 3 Ton High Reach Garage Jack from Makro and Builders Warehouse after SABS tests proved it could not hold the three-ton weight it claimed it could. The R1200 jack, made in China and used mainly in home garages, raises a car above the ground for servicing. But since September an abnormally high number of customers have returned the jack, prompting Massmart to send it for testing. Of 842 jacks imported, 380 have been sold.

Massmart moved quickly to quarantine the remaining stock before tests isolated the defect and the nationwide recall was made.

"Two percent returns flagged the product, 4% returns activated a process of closer scrutiny and a self-initiated national stock quarantine," said Massmart spokesman Brian Leroni. By the time the product was recalled, returns had exceeded 14%.

Affected Makro card holders were contacted via SMS and e-mail, recall notices were placed in newspapers, notices were posted instore and alerts were included in store leaflets. A two-ton jack sold by Massmart in the same range is not affected by the recall.

"The three-ton jack underwent testing by both a German-owned test laboratory and SGS, a Swiss-owned test laboratory, both based in China, before being listed in our stores," said Leroni. "We're sending someone across to the factory to investigate further."

What has not helped Massmart is that its initial "product recall notice" was itself recalled on Tuesday, after the Sunday Times highlighted several problems with it.

Besides the fact that the Builders Warehouse website listed incorrect details on the recall, the print notice also did not comply with recall guidelines set down by the National Consumer Commission last year.

Massmart had referred to its recall as "voluntary", a term no longer permitted in product safety recalls, and it failed to mention that the jacks were also being sold at Makro - despite the fact that 70% of the jacks had been sold there.

The retailer also failed to communicate the defect in plain language, describing the jack as "non-compliant in its function at the rated maximum load of three tons".

In response, Massmart corrected the website, removed the reference to "voluntary", added Makro to the notice and reworded its notice to state that the jack did not hold a three-ton load.