Enschede Couple Discovers Mice in New Fridge, Retailer Offers Gift Card but No Cleanup

A couple in Enschede received a nasty surprise when they found four live mice in the packaging of a new refrigerator they bought from a foreign online store. Last week, Hao Shi and Yidan Yu took the wrapping off their new appliance, and then watched mice race away from their home. "Then they immediately ran away, in any direction," Hao told RTV Oost. The couple managed to catch two of them, which they put in a bucket so that they would not escape.

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The mice, it seems, were squeezing their way between the foam insulation and the back of the fridge. Yidan got in touch with the company's customer service and it responded quickly with a full refund and a €10 gift card. Fridge was collected the same day.

Retailer: Not Mice or Packaging to be Collected
But when the delivery driver turned up, he only took the fridge – leaving the soiled packaging and the two trapped mice behind. The couple then requested that the company complete the rest of the cleanup and disinfect the area where the mice had spilled out, to protect their health.

Rather than dealing with the hygiene problem, the company hiked up the gift card to €40, with no offering of disinfection or pest control. "Their handling of complaints is unacceptable," Hao said. They're constantly dropping off refrigerated food to our business... that fridge, with mice in it, was put in that same truck, amongst boxes of food. It's disgusting."

The pair made a report to the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) on June 12. By Monday, they had not received a response.