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Thousands of Note 7 Phones Still in Use On Verizon, All Non-911 Calls To Be Rerouted To Customer Service (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the enough-already dept.

Thousands of Verizon customers continue to use the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, the carrier said. This despite the widely publicized recalls spurred by battery fire concerns and a software upgrade designed to kill the phone by preventing it from recharging. From a report: "In spite of our best efforts, there are still customers using the recalled phones who have not returned or exchanged their Note 7 to the point of purchase," a Verizon spokeswoman said. "The recalled Note 7s pose a safety risk to our customers and those around them." So now Verizon is fighting fire with fire, so to speak. The carrier plans to reroute all non-911 outgoing calls to its customer service line, and it might bill the holdouts for the full retail cost of the phone.

8 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. If you work at Verizon customer service by Jawnn · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...sucks to be you. I can feel the waves of hate already. It's as if millions of voices suddenly dialed out, and were silenced.

  2. Verizon is going to get in trouble by Scarred+Intellect · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a coworker who's holding on to his Note 7. He's been staying on top of all of this. It appears that after a recall, a company cannot require nor continue requiring payment for a recalled device. Some may argue that he has a loan he still owes Verizon, but it appears also that Samsung bought out all those loans.

    There has been no word from Verizon that they will prorate service contracts since they are effectively disabling service...that's gotta be some kind of illegal.

    I haven't confirmed any of the above, as I don't care, but I do find it interesting.

    I think Verizon and the other carriers have done all they should do for the recall; my coworker even got the fire-proof box shipped to his house for the return. He likes the phone, he knows about the (extremely minor) risk, and wants to keep the phone. All Verizon is doing with this is pissing off those few thousand customers.

    1. Re:Verizon is going to get in trouble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And when your coworker's house burns down, and his insurance company refuses to pay because he knowingly kept using a device that was a fire risk, maybe he'll grow up and decide that "I know better than the engineers at the manufacturer" is a stupid fucking game to play.

    2. Re:Verizon is going to get in trouble by cyn1c77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have a coworker who's holding on to his Note 7. He's been staying on top of all of this. It appears that after a recall, a company cannot require nor continue requiring payment for a recalled device. Some may argue that he has a loan he still owes Verizon, but it appears also that Samsung bought out all those loans.

      Verizon doesn't want the liability of your coworker suing them after his house burns down. Or to be sued by someone else after he burns someone elses house down, or a bus, or a plane.

      If they completely discontinue service to the phones, they have a justifiable legal basis for saying that they did all that they could to prevent the phone fmor being used. They have likely decided that alienating a small portion of their customer base is worth avoiding such liability.

      Also, your colleague sounds a bit daft.

    3. Re:Verizon is going to get in trouble by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Funny

      You never look at the bright side. That device could fry his nuts and he will not have any children, thus improving the quality of the gene pool for the next generation for millenia to come...

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    4. Re:Verizon is going to get in trouble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      A second impact!? Let's rename NEO to Angel. It is falling from heaven, after all. If Angels are falling to earth (Adam, Eve, Lilith, et al), I'm going to be less concerned with exploding phones and more concerned with giant mecha, Seele and the human instrumentality project.

    5. Re:Verizon is going to get in trouble by AndyMoney · · Score: 4, Informative

      A single unit in my condo complex had a major fire due to a faulty fan. The complex was built to code and fire damage was limited to the source unit, and a little to the unit above (vinyl flooring got too hot). However, our WHOLE complex had to move out for 2 months while they repaired all of the smoke damage done to many units in the building. Burning rugs and mattresses release a lot of toxic soot, and firefighters opening the fire proof doors to ensure everyone was out allowed enough smoke to travel and stick to everything.

  3. Re:Phone Calls? by lbmouse · · Score: 5, Funny

    I use my Note 7 to call my wife at work. She's a 911 operator so it's all good.