A home-entertainment system caught fire during a shop demonstration in Accra on Wednesday evening, forcing its maker to recall 8,640 units sold across Ghana. The company said it had received 11 reports of overheating, including the fire at an electronics shop in the Circle district; nobody was hurt.
Volta Soundworks Ltd said the recall covers its Vela One system, a single cabinet that combines television audio, streaming and room-filling speakers. The unit retailed for 7,900 cedis (about €470), a sizeable purchase for households who bought it as an alternative to separate television and audio equipment.
The company asked customers to unplug the system and return it to one of 34 authorised service counters for a refund or replacement. “We are stopping sales immediately and will make every affected customer whole,” said managing director Kyan de Lange-Hendriks. He said the company would pay transport costs for customers outside Accra.
Fire prompts immediate recall
The fire began at 19:40 as a shop employee demonstrated the Vela One to a customer, according to shop owner Lola Roberts. She said a sharp crack came from the unit, followed by smoke and a small flame near its rear panel. Staff cleared the counter and used a shop extinguisher before firefighters arrived.
“People were choosing a television when the speaker started smoking. We closed the shop, and nobody was injured,” Roberts said on Thursday. The blaze damaged the demonstration unit and nearby packaging, but did not spread beyond the display counter, she said. The shop reopened after the damaged stock was removed.
The Consumer Product Safety Directorate, Ghana’s product-safety regulator, said its inspectors examined the unit on Thursday morning. Deputy director Maika Sala said preliminary tests pointed to a fault in the power-control board that could cause overheating after extended use. The regulator has asked retailers to stop sales while further testing continues.
Buyers face a long wait
Volta Soundworks said the affected systems were sold from February to October through shops in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and other cities. Customers can check the serial number on the back of the cabinet against a list on the company’s website, or take the unit to a service counter. The firm has not yet said when replacement stock will be available.
The incident comes as more Ghanaian retailers promote compact, feature-packed home systems to buyers who want fewer separate devices and cables. Electrical engineer Emilio Fontana, who has advised the regulator on consumer products, said a single cabinet can make faults harder for users to spot. He urged owners not to switch on recalled units while the company arranges collection.
Sala said the directorate would publish its test results when laboratory checks were complete, and could widen the recall if other production batches showed the same fault. Volta Soundworks has set up a phone line for buyers and says refunds will be available from Friday. Several Accra shops had removed the Vela One from their displays by midday.
