Couple find mice in new fridge; company offers gift card but no cleanup
A couple in Enschede discovered four live mice inside the packaging of a brand-new refrigerator they ordered last week from an unnamed international online retailer, RTV Oost reported.
Hao Shi and his wife, Yidan Yu, said the refrigerator arrived on time, but when they removed the protective foam, four mice suddenly ran out. “They immediately escaped and ran in all directions,” Hao told RTV Oost. “We managed to catch only two. We put them in a bucket and sealed it with plastic wrap.” The couple believes the mice had been hiding between the foam and the back of the fridge.
Yidan contacted the company’s customer service via online chat. The response came quickly: the refrigerator would be picked up that same day, the full purchase price would be refunded, and they would receive a 10-euro gift card.
However, when the delivery driver arrived, he only took the refrigerator. “To our surprise, he refused to take the packaging or the mice,” Hao told RTV Oost.
In a follow-up chat, Yidan asked the company to collect the remaining packaging and rodents and to disinfect the storage area where the mice had escaped. “Because of potential viruses the mice could have carried and spread,” Hao explained.
Instead, the company raised the gift card amount to 40 euros. “But they offered no disinfection and took no further action,” Hao told RTV Oost.
The couple expressed frustration with how the company handled the incident. “It’s unacceptable how they treat complaints—no concern at all for their customers,” Hao said. “We regularly order food from them for our business. It’s delivered in the same trucks. That fridge, with mice inside, was loaded back into the same truck, right next to boxes of food. It’s disgusting.”
On June 12, the couple filed an official complaint with the Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. As of Monday, they had not received a response.
