When Carolyn Jensen was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of a loud pop-like bang, she was confused, frightened and went to investigate.
The 61-year-old found herself walking on a sticky floor and to her horror, she discovered her newly built kitchen diner was now the scene of a disaster after her bottle of Ribena exploded – leaving her with £20,000 of repairs.
“I first discovered it having got up in the middle of the night awoken by the sound of my Ribena lid blasting off and I wondered what on Earth it was,” Carolyn told The i Paper.
“Upon entering the room, it looked like a bloodbath. I broke down as soon as I saw it. The tables, chairs, walls and floor were completely ruined.
“My home is now rendered a red stained mess that cannot be cleaned due to the walls being lime plastered and the floor being polished concrete.”
Carolyn, who lives with her dog Gerry in the home in Sussex, explained that she had only opened the bottle of Ribena the week before and had consumed around a quarter.
While she says she sometimes puts Ribena in the fridge, sometimes she does not. On this occasion, she had left the bottle of Ribena outside the fridge lying horizontally on a wine shelf.
For some reason, the bottle had exploded and the squash had shot out splattering all over her wall and over some of her dining chairs with woven seats, before seeping into the floor.
Carolyn, who works as an Airbnb property manager, estimates the damage caused to her newly built kitchen diner will cost around £20,000 to repair – not to mention the inconvenience of having tradespeople in her home to fix it.
She lives in a high-spec new-build registered passive house (known as passivehaus) – an ultra-low-energy building standard that reduces heating and cooling energy usage by up to 90 per cent compared to typical buildings.
“I paid to get it built and then got all the different trades in to get everything done individually. I project-managed it and got all the carpenters and plumbers in.
Carolyn says the stains will never be removed from her concrete flooring“It is a three-bed detached home and it cost me around £650,000 in total. I have only been living here for a couple of years as I moved in before it was completely finished.
“It has only been finished for about a year and I got the beautiful kitchen diner from a showroom in Wimbledon. It looked stunning – but now it has been ruined by horrendous Ribena stains.”
Shortly after the incident, she said she couldn’t stand looking at the stained walls so painted over it herself.
Carolyn noticed the bottom of the Ribena bottle had rounded, indicating a build-up of pressure. She contacted the manufacturers of Ribena and sent them the little bit left in the bottle for testing.
Ribena replied to her and stated their assessment showed signs of fermentation caused by yeast activity, which led to a build-up of pressure inside the bottle. This pressure caused the base of the bottle to push outwards, resulting in the release of the cap.
However, Ribena said the yeast was not caused by their manufacturing process and that storage instructions on the bottle label clearly state: “Once opened, store in the fridge and drink within 21 days.”
The lime plastered walls of Carolyn’s kitchen were splattered with RibenaCarolyn was asked to send in receipts and invoices for the damage, which she did amounting to £20,000. She explained: “Instead of normal plastering, I paid extra to have lime plastering, which has this amazing silky finish.
“After the house was constructed, I had a floor polishing company come in and they took off a few millimetres off the concrete so I have the aggregate showing everywhere.
“Everyone loves the floor and says it looks stunning. But because concrete is porous, I will have a permanent Ribena stain.
“Then I got these lovely Scandinavian chairs from an auction in Denmark which have woven seats and a couple of them are now stained and the cushions are too.
“The quote for the plastering is £4,500 due to the boards needing replacing as well as the lime plaster. The cost of floor polishing is £1,500 and it will not remove the stain but lessen it. And the chairs cost £3,600 each.”
Carolyn says the weaving and cushions of some of her dining chairs have been defaced by the incidentCarolyn says she was baffled to initially receive a £30 drinks voucher from Ribena, and after she protested, they offered her a £100 goodwill gesture.
“It is a total mystery why this happened and I can’t understand why Ribena won’t compensate me for the damage,” she said.
A Ribena spokesperson said: “Consumer safety and product quality are our highest priorities, and all Ribena drinks are produced and tested to meet strict safety standards.
“We thoroughly examined the bottle in question and reviewed our production quality records and retained samples for the relevant batch, which showed no defects or irregularities.
“Events of this nature are extremely rare. Once opened, Ribena should be kept refrigerated as stated on the label to help maintain quality and prevent any fermentation and build‑up of pressure.
“We appreciate how upsetting this experience will have been for Carolyn and we have been in direct contact with her to understand her concerns.
“Based on our investigation, we do not believe the level of compensation requested is appropriate, but we have offered a goodwill gesture as an apology for the inconvenience caused.”
Ribena added that its quality team found evidence of fermentation activity in the returned bottle after reviewing its production and quality records for the relevant batch.
The reference samples confirmed that production proceeded as normal, with no unusual occurrences, and microbiological testing showed no presence of yeast, mould, or bacteria in the batch.
The company stated that in the photos shared by Carolyn, they could see the Ribena was stored near a toaster and said that if the bottle is stored at a warm temperature, there is the possibility of further fermentation.
This could have led to a build-up of pressure inside the bottle, which resulted in the base of the bottle being forced out.
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The company said it can confirm they have not received any other complaints from this batch.
However, Carolyn said: “I don’t really use my toaster. It is just there for show because it matches the kettle. My house is at a constant temperature, so there is no reason the Ribena would have suddenly got hot.”
Carolyn added that the whole experience has completely put her off Ribena. “I normally always have a bottle in and nothing like this has ever happened before.
“I used to drink Ribena myself too, but this experience has put me right off it. I never want to drink it again.”
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