Montgomery Ward Recalls 20,000 Toy Telephone Sets

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 9) -- Montgomery Ward is recalling approximately 20,000 toy telephone sets offered for sale through its mail-order catalog, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced.

The phone sets were imported from Yugoslavia and are very similar to the toy telephones recalled last month by another U.S. firm. The sets include two battery-operated toy telephones connected by means of a detachable cord. The two-prong plugs at each end of the cord so closely resemble genuine electrical plugs that children may try to force them into household sockets, thereby receiving severe shocks or burns.

While Montgomery Ward has received no consumer complaints of injuries from the cords, CPSC staff reports that an 8-year-old girl was burned earlier this year when she forced a plug from a similar phone set (which was distributed by another company) into a wall electrical outlet.

The sets are ivory in color, and are equipped with functional intercoms, signal lights and buzzers. The name "Mehanotehnika" is printed on the bottom of each phone.

The sets have been sold through Ward's catalogs since 1975. They are advertised in the current Christmas catalog as a "Desk Phone Set," number 48T20192, at a retail price of $9.96. Consumers ordering the toy phones are being informed that such orders are not being filled until the company can equip the phone sets with cords and plugs which are safe.

Consumers should return the toy to any Montgomery Ward catalog store for a full refund.