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Samsung to Customers: Stop Using Note 7, Then Wait For Replacements (samsung.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the see-you-next-week dept.

Samsung is now telling owners of their Galaxy Note 7 to "power down your device and return to using your previous phone. We will voluntarily replace your Galaxy Note7 device with a new one, beginning on September 19th... We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest quality products to our customers." The BBC reports: Samsung has urged owners of its Galaxy Note 7 phones to stop using or exchange the devices as they risk exploding. A statement by Samsung, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, said "our customers' safety is an absolute priority..." Earlier on Saturday, aviation authorities in the United Arab Emirates banned use of the devices on the Emirates and Etihad airlines.
Three Australian airlines have already banned use of the phone, and by last week 35 incidents had been reported to Samsung, which believes that the exploding batteries affect 24 phones out of every million (or one phone out of every 41,666).

14 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Then again by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Funny

    You aren't supposed to use it - but at least it has a headphone Jack.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Then again by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 3, Funny

      And you can still use it to listen to 4'33"

    2. Re:Then again by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 2

      Boy it sure would be nice if the battery were user replaceable, right Samsung?

      They really deserve this fiasco. So does Apple and any other manufacturer that ditched replaceable batteries just to force users to upgrade phones after 2 years.

    3. Re:Then again by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 2

      Of course, only idiots such as you would buy a phone that required a battery replacement after only two years.

      Or two weeks as in this case.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  2. How will you tell? by labnet · · Score: 2

    How on earth will anyone tell they have a fixed phone? Will it have a big S on it for safe. Or be a different colour? Or will you have to find some tiny serial number and look it up?
    I do feel sorry for Samsung, as you can test hundreds of samples and not see a problem, but when you sell millions it only takes a low failure rate with a big consequence to have major repercussions.

    --
    46137
    1. Re:How will you tell? by netcruiser · · Score: 3, Informative

      You guessed it! It will actually have a big S (for safe) on it, on the sticker on the box. http://www.gsmarena.com/how_to...

  3. Return to using? by sphealey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Return to using your previous device? Unlike an expired auto insurance card which many people stick in the glovebox, most "previous devices" have been traded in or sold to offset the cost of the new device thus leaving the hapless buyer device-less. Sorry about that.

    sPh

    1. Re:Return to using? by Solandri · · Score: 2

      In that case they're telling people to go to the store where they bought their phone. Most carriers will give them a substitute Samsung phone to use in the interim. Supposedly, Samsung is also providing loaner J-series phones, though I haven't seen details.

      The delay for a replacement is apparently a combination of a shortage of Note 7s using non-Samsung batteries (their battery division is new, and apparently not quite ready for prime time). And time to get FCC approval for a Note 7 with new batteries (probably made by the same Samsung battery division).

  4. Patronizing attitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest quality products to our customers."

    I really hate that patronizing attitude. And highest quality by whose standards?

    Well Samsung, I'm sorry for the inconvenience of the class action lawsuit I'm joining. And I'm sorry for the inconvenience of the millions of dollars in legal fees it's going to cost you.

  5. A fanatic is... by mccalli · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Churchill's quote: "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

    This situation and post has literally nothing to do with Apple, yet at the time of writing there's around a third of the threads talking about Apple and some fantasy reaction they may or may not have had if faced with this circumstance. People - for gawd's sake give it a rest.

    1. Re:A fanatic is... by macs4all · · Score: 2

      People - for gawd's sake give it a rest.

      Apple deserves every amount of shit heaped on it at every opportunity possible. They should be mocked at every opportunity whether or not related to the topic at hand. This is protest by media attention for their anti-consumer we'll force them to buy our shitty Beats by preventing them from easily using an alternative bullshit.

      Much like the "beta sucks" campaign which had a great result in the end there's a subtle hope if the cries are loud and continuous enough that they may see the error in their ways.

      Get help.

  6. Re:1/40k devices by DaphneDiane · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple did something similar with the iPhone chargers which is why all the new ones had the green dot ( I believe it was 3G charger, which the plugs could end up detached from the charger ). They also did a recall of knock off third party chargers and replaced them with genuine ones after a bunch of issues with including a KIRF charger killing someone.

  7. Yes by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    Is it at least waterproof?

    The flames it emits are hot enough to turn any nearby water into a kind of gaseous shield.

    If you direct the output of the flames you can also use the phone as a means of propulsion, look for the Note7 Nozzle Xtreme cases to hit the market soon.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  8. Inconvenient, but... by wantobe · · Score: 3

    The wife and I had continued using my Note7 up until yesterday, because I figured 1) the chances were pretty small(ish) that our phones were affected and 2) we hadn't yet had an official response from what Verizon was going to do. When I got the Samsung email yesterday, I decided that we should at least go to the local corporate Verizon store and see what they said. An hour later, we walked out with "loaner" phones (I got the s7, the wife got the s7 edge) and the promise that we would receive notification (text or email) when the fixed Note7s were going to be available. It wasn't too much hassle; they simply treated it as an exchange (they put the difference in taxes paid for the Note7 verses for the S7s on a gift card, which we'll use to pay that difference again when we get the Note7s) and I can't really see how they could have done much different. We're keeping all the accessories for the Note7, so we don't have to worry about any returns, and the rep we spoke to said the Zagg screen/back covers we bought would be replaced under the lifetime warranty Zagg offers. It's not a great situation, but I'm happy with the Samsung and Verizon responses.