Gobi Heat is offering buyers of its rechargeable hand warmers a choice between two remedies, and only one of them adds anything to the purchase price. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the company will provide a full refund or a store credit, with the credit worth the purchase price plus 20 percent of that amount. Either remedy follows a three-step process that begins on the company’s recall website.
Cash at the purchase price, or credit with a fifth added
The remedy sentence in the CPSC notice reads: consumers should stop using the recalled hand warmers immediately and contact Gobi Heat “for a full refund or store credit, equal to full refund of the purchase price plus 20% of that amount.” The “equal to” clause describes the store credit. The cash option is, in the notice’s words, a full refund, which means the purchase price and nothing more.
The hand warmers sold for between $20 and $40, a range rather than a single price. Applying the 20 percent to the two ends of that range is simple arithmetic and not a figure from the notice: a credit on a $20 purchase would come to $24, and on a $40 purchase to $48. The cash refund on those same purchases would be $20 and $40.
The same arithmetic shows the size of the premium. On the range’s endpoints the extra fifth works out to $4 on a $20 purchase and $8 on a $40 purchase, which is the gap between the credit and the cash refund for the same hand warmer. Those are computed amounts for illustration, since the notice states only the percentage and the $20 to $40 price range.
What the credit can be spent on is a detail the notice leaves to the company. The CPSC page uses the words “store credit” without describing terms, so conditions on its use are not stated in the commission’s notice.
The notice does not say a buyer must pick one option at the outset or whether the choice can be changed later, and it sets no deadline for either one.
Claim number, marker and photo come first
Neither remedy is paid on a simple request. The CPSC says consumers will be instructed to go to gobiheat.com/pages/handwarmer-recall “to obtain a claim number and instructions to destroy the hand warmers by writing in permanent marker ‘Recalled’ on the product and send a photo.”
The steps, as the notice lays them out, run in sequence. A buyer first visits the recall page and obtains a claim number. The hand warmer is then marked with permanent marker so that the word “Recalled” is visible, and the marked product is photographed with its model number in view. The photo goes by email to recall@gobiheat.com.
Because the refund and the credit are both conditional on those steps, the claim number is the document that ties a buyer’s photo to the company’s records. The notice also says the products are to be disposed of through municipal hazardous waste facilities, and not in standard trash or recycling.
One model, sold direct for 23 months
The recall covers a single model, UT3053. The warmers are black with gray coloring and are sold in pairs that join magnetically. They have a USB-C charging port, LED indicators and a silicone lanyard.
About 5,500 units were sold in the United States, the CPSC states, and the notice adds roughly 47 units in Canada. All were sold through GobiHeat.com from October 2024 through August 2026, a period of 23 months, so every buyer purchased directly from the company and not through a retailer.
That direct-sales channel shapes the refund. With no retailer in the chain, the company that took the payment is the one issuing the cash or credit, and the contact points listed are the company’s own: 888-462-4743, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on weekdays, and the recall@gobiheat.com address.
The company behind the recall
The firm is Dragon Gear Inc., doing business as Gobi Heat, based in Severance, Colorado. The hand warmers were manufactured in China. The CPSC notice reports no incidents or injuries tied to the product, so the recall is preventive on the commission’s own account.
The commission’s hazard description is short. It says the lithium-ion battery and electrical components in the recalled hand warmers can overheat and ignite, posing a risk of serious injury from fire and burn hazards. That is the reason the instructions end with hazardous-waste disposal and not the household bin.
The notice also lists a website, gobiheat.com/pages/handwarmer-recall, as the place where claim numbers are issued, and lists China as the country of manufacture, with the Colorado firm named above as the retailer.
The recall is numbered 27-009 and dated October 1, 2026. The remedy wording, the three-step process and the unit counts above are taken from the commission’s published notice, which controls the terms on which Gobi Heat pays.
Twelve official places where refunds, checks and forgotten balances turn up
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System is for people waiting on a refund, a settlement payment, a lapsed check or an unclaimed-property balance who are not sure which office holds it. It replaces scattered searching with a fixed list of official places to look and a set order for the steps.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a step-by-step filing walkthrough and the source vault of 12 official places money sits, so each filing and each search can be completed in order.
Walk through the Gobi Heat claim-number, marker and photo steps in the filing walkthrough →
Drafted with the help of AI and confirmed against the Consumer Product Safety Commission notice for this recall before publication.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
