To all who responded to my post, thank you for your responses. I apologize for not updating you.
Perhaps I was not clear in my original post, my concern was about the damage done to my oven and repair/replacement of the oven.
Regarding the fire, there is no fire department like the ones in cities. There is only a small, rural VOLUNTEER fire department that takes quite awhile to respond. Our log home has wiring running through the logs so if there is any chance of a fire originating from or moving through the wiring, it is best to shut off the main breaker on the electric panel. I did this immediately. I only threw water into the oven when it was clear that the fire's only fuel source was the air entering through various means into the oven. There was no longer any butter, sugar, or anything else that could fuel the fire. I could have waited for the fire to burn itself out but wanted to move the oven so that I could do other things like check the wall behind the stove and the wiring.
Regarding QVC and forum posts, I received an email message from QVC very shortly after my initial post. I forwarded it to my husband who used the link QVC included in the message to read my post. He also read the responses from the QVC forum community. He was extremely upset and angry with some of the posts. Having obtained positive and helpful comments from forum members immediately after I posted, then receiving an email message from QVC mgmt, my focus shifted to obtaining possible solution(s) from QVC/Temptations. I spoke to a QVC person who was extremely kind, concerned, and helpful. She told me to contact Temptations Customer Service. I tried daily to speak to a Temptations rep for two weeks. I could never get past the automated call system and waited for an average of 45 minutes before hanging up.
Regarding my previous comments about Temptations and it's quality at the time of posts, I stand by those comments. China's manufacturing processes continue to be problematic/lower quality to this day. Only with extreme monitoring and quality assurance by companies themselves can they be assured that they are selling good quality products. When the product is clothing, there's less potential for causing harm. However when the product is an ingredient in foods, vitamins, OTC medicines, etc. there is tremendous potential for lethal consequences. A situation involving defective ceramic bakeware could become lethal if other factors (oven insulation/fire containment, etc.) fail in addition to the ceramic piece. In our situation, the oven (which was manufactured in the USA) performed as designed and contained a fire for a long period (over an hour) of time that fully engulfed the entire oven in flames resulting in extremely high temperatures.
My last and FINAL Temptations purchase was three dinnerware sets. Of the three sets, (one blue old world vivid, one red old world vivid, and one light blue floral lace), the old world vivid sets had the most defects. I posted in the forum about the poor quality of the dishware. The first set of Temptations bakeware we received was fairly good quality. The next set of bakeware was sloppily painted. When we received the poor quality dinnerware sets, we used the defective pieces for feed and water dishes for our rescue babies rather than return them to Temptations. We are dog and cat rescuers/foster parents.
Regarding the investigation I've done, I reviewed the Temptations statements regarding care and handing and noted that if a dishwasher is not used for cleaning, the dish can be filled with water and set on the counter to soak but can NEVER be immersed in water. Of note in the previous statement is the word "immersed" not "soaked". While I can understand why soaking may weaken ceramic pieces with minimal/shoddy glazing or perhaps quality ceramic pieces over time, the word immersed could be used to describe every method of cleaning including by dishwasher. Sites online discussing ceramic bakeware problems had a variety of explanations.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/828687
We do not have a dishwasher. Although I can truthfully state the ceramic dish had never "soaked" in water, there was no way I can truthfully state that it had never been "immersed" in water since during hand washing the entire piece can, technically, be "immersed" in water if held under vertically under our kitchen faucet.
Considering the other information I obtained online, cracking is a problem in most ceramic bakeware and dinnerware.
However there is one ceramic product that involves pressure moulding process which might minimize the possibility of cracks being present at the time of manufacture and thereby result in products more resistant to cracking. In addition, the entire manufacturing process appears to be superior to that of other manufacturers. http://www.pillivuyt.fr/en-pillivuyt-fabrication.php
As a result of my investigation, we only purchase Pillivuyt products for baking.
In conclusion:
(1) We appreciated forum board members comments and support,
(2) We were happy with QVC's quick response to a problem they learned of from a post in the forum,
(3) We can't say anything about Temptations Customer Service other than we could never get past the automated system which did not give an option to have a customer service representative call back by placing a return call to the number on record within the system as the telephone number used during the original call,
(4) Finally, review of available information regarding Temptations remediation for defective ceramic bakeware involved replacement only. The only means to obtain any reimbursement for the damage to our oven could only be accomplished by entering into a lawsuit against Temptations and eventually QVC. Since there appeared to be many things that Temptations could cite as causing the ceramic bakeware failure (incorrect cleaning, too much butter, faulty oven, etc.), we decided to move on.
As Temptations and QVC both know, to prove beyond a doubt that Temptations bakeware was defective and caused the fire, would involve laboratory testing, conducting repeated experiments in which every factor is controlled to the point that if the ceramic bakeware fails and causes an oven fire, there can be no other explanation other than defective manufacturing.
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Thanks for the chuckle and the subtle reminder that we do sometimes need to regain perspective and remember that we're not discussing war and peace here.
