From what AhPook was describing, his house took a power surge. He said everything plugged into the power strip that failed was off except an answering machine and cordless phone so the microwave and lights that flickered were on a different circuit. This can happen due to bad design, manufacturing mistakes, inadequate components, or even user issues. With the article Colorado Fatboy cited but the fact there hasn't been a general recall, my guess is that it's a quality control problem in either the manufacturing process or components.