(LA Weekly)

It was announced Wednesday that Amazon will begin granting refunds on all sales of two-wheeled electronic balance boards, commonly referred to as “hoverboards,” despite the obvious fact that they do not hover. Not to go off on a tangent here, just saying.

After the e-tail giant launched a refund program in December covering certain models of “hoverboards” – which, to be clear, do not glide a foot above the ground like the deck Marty McFly rode in Back to the Future II – Amazon is now extending its offer to include models from all companies that are sold on its site. This is according to a report by CNN – a typically steadfast news organization that oddly holds no reservations over incorrectly calling these conveyances “hoverboards.”

Safety concerns attached to “hoverboards” – the wheeled devices that are so far from popular science-fiction depictions of hoverboards that I don’t understand how the two ever got mixed together – began to overshadow their cultural popularity after multiple reports of the devices’s batteries catching fire while charging. Social media videos of the “buzzy boards” (which is a fine nickname for these handleless Segway-type things) catching fire have also surfaced in recent months.

Some makers of “hoverboards” – companies whose complicity in the miscategorization of their products sure gets me steamed – have come forward claiming that poor quality control by knock-off brands is what’s led to episodes of exploding devices. But that hasn’t stopped airlines from banning all “hoverboards” from flights in the meantime, citing safety concerns. (Though if Delta, American, and Spirit decided to restrict them from flights solely over how mad they are about their being called “hoverboards,” I’d understand completely.)

Customers wishing to return his or her “hoverboard” to Amazon for a full refund – whether because it may blow up or because you ordered a hoverboard from Amazon and got this clearly-not-a-hoverboard thing in the mail instead – can contact the site’s customer support center for further instructions.

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