An electric cleaning brush bought on Temu ripped out the hair of a three-year-old girl.
Her mother, Amy, 36, purchased the ‘Magic Brush’ online for £4 to ‘make life easier’ with housework.
But when her daughter took it out of its box, the brush ‘just came on, the brush flew off.. and just sucked her hair in’, Amy told BBC News.
When she checked the girl’s head she saw a bald patch where a significant amount of hair had been pulled out.
A month on, and the hair still hasn’t grown back, said Amy, who lives in Norwich.
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She reported the product to Norfolk Trading Standards, who said Temu had removed it from sale in the UK.
A spokesperson for Temu, a Chinese-owned site, confirmed to Metro it had removed the brush in August after being made aware of the incident.
The company said they had been ‘deeply concerned’ to hear about the incident wished the child ‘a full and speedy recovery’.
Amy said she hadn’t initially realised how bad it was.
‘Then I see the hair attached to it [the brush] and my husband just lifted her hair up and there was a massive bald patch. I was distraught.’
She added that the youngster was upset, although it wasn’t until later that the pain properly hit her.
‘I don’t want any other child to go through what she’s been through,’ Amy said.
Temu, which launched in 2022, is an e-commerce website and app that connects shoppers with third-party sellers, rather than offering its own products.
The majority of the sellers are based in China, with many products shipped directly from there.
Amy said she was offered a ‘£1,500 PayPal solution’ from the site, which she has refused.
A spokesperson for Norfolk Trading Standards told the BBC Temu’s UK representative voluntarily withdrew the brush to carry out a review of the appliance in line with legal requirements, especially in regards to warnings and instructions.
Trading standards also listed the product on the Product Safety Database, which is the notification system used by local authorities to report unsafe products.
A Temu spokesperson told Metro: ‘The safety and well-being of our customers are always our top priority, and our customer service team is in contact with the family to offer assistance.
‘The product in question was removed from our platform in August, and we have since taken down similar products as a precautionary measure.
‘Temu operates as a third-party marketplace connecting independent sellers with consumers.
‘We require all merchants to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and safety standards, and we maintain a comprehensive quality control system to prevent, detect, and remove non-compliant products.’
The spokesperson added that it also works with global testing organisations to help ensure products meet relevant safety requirements.
Metro has contacted Norfolk Trading Standards for comment.
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