Owners of a Brookstone-branded tabletop fire pit can get a full refund after federal regulators announced a recall of about 48,700 units. Southern Telecom, the company that imported the fire pits, is offering to return the purchase price, which ran between $20 and $25 at retail. The recall was announced on August 13, 2026, and it covers three models sold at well-known stores over roughly two years. For a household that bought one, the practical point is simple: the product is eligible for a refund, and claiming it takes a short set of steps.
A full refund on a $20 to $25 fire pit
The remedy in this recall is a refund of what the buyer paid, not a repair or a replacement. The fire pits sold for between $20 and $25, and Southern Telecom is offering to return that amount to owners who come forward. Because the units were inexpensive and widely sold, many buyers may have forgotten the purchase or set the fire pit aside, which is exactly the kind of small refund that goes unclaimed.
The three recalled models are BSFIREPIT01, BSFIREPIT02, and BSFIREPIT03, with the model number and product code printed on the bottom of the packaging. The fire pits are round or hexagonal concrete reservoirs designed to hold burning liquid alcohol. Roughly 48,700 units are covered by the action, which the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission detailed in its official recall notice. Confirming a model number is the first step toward a refund, since it establishes that a given fire pit is part of the recall.
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The flame-jetting hazard behind the recall
The reason for the refund is a serious safety defect. The alcohol fuel used in the fire pits can produce uncontrolled pool fires, where flames spread across the surface of spilled or pooled fuel, and it can cause flame jetting, where fire shoots out of the container. Both failures can lead to serious or fatal burns, which is why regulators paired the recall with an instruction to stop using the product immediately rather than wait.
The risk is not theoretical. Southern Telecom received two reports of flame jetting or flames escaping the concrete container, and those incidents resulted in two injuries, including second-degree and third-degree burns. Flame jetting typically happens when fuel is added to a burner that is still lit or hot, sending a sudden jet of flame outward toward anyone nearby, while a pooled-fuel fire spreads wherever spilled alcohol reaches across a surface. A tabletop device puts that hazard at seated eye and hand level rather than at the distance of a fixed outdoor pit, which is part of why regulators treat these units as a stop-use item to be set aside rather than a repair-and-keep product. For older owners in particular, a burst of flame from a tabletop device carries a real danger of severe injury, and regulators advise against giving the fire pit away or selling it, since that would only pass the hazard to someone else. The federal government maintains a full catalog of active recalls through the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall database, where the details of this and similar actions are posted.
How owners claim the refund
To recover the money, an owner contacts Southern Telecom directly rather than the store where the fire pit was bought. The company can be reached by phone at 877-832-3822 or online at southerntelecom.com, where a “Recall Information” link at the top of the page explains the process. As part of the refund, owners are directed to email a photo of the fire pit marked with the word “Recalled,” their name, and the date written in permanent marker, and then to dispose of the product safely. The marked-photo requirement is how the importer confirms a unit has been taken out of service before it issues the refund, which prevents the same fire pit from being returned twice or passed along to another household after a claim. It also spares owners the cost and hassle of shipping a bulky, fuel-holding product back across the country simply to collect a refund worth only what the item first cost.
The fire pits were sold at Macy’s, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and other retailers nationwide, as well as online, from February 2023 through December 2024. That distribution means the units reached a broad set of households, and anyone who bought a concrete tabletop fire pit branded Brookstone in that window has reason to check the model number. A buyer who no longer has the receipt is not shut out, since the model number on the packaging and a photo of the unit are what the refund process relies on. Broader information on federal recalls across agencies is collected at the government’s central recall site.
The amount at stake for any one owner is modest, but the recall pairs a small refund with a genuine safety reason to act, and the two work together. Stopping use of the fire pit removes a burn hazard from the home, and the same phone call or website visit that reports the unit also recovers the purchase price. For a retiree who bought one of these fire pits for a patio or a small gathering, the recall turns a hazardous product into a straightforward refund, provided the claim is made through Southern Telecom rather than left unclaimed. The window to act is open now, and the process asks only for a model number, a photo, and a short request to the importer.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
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