LUV Southwest Airlines Co

By Trisha Thadani and Georgia Wells 

U.S. phone carriers said Friday they are allowing customers to replace their Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Note 7 smartphones a second time, a sign that consumer anxiety remains high over devices that were recalled because they were prone to catching fire.

The replacement offer comes two days after a Samsung device began emitting smoke on a Southwest Airlines Co. flight before takeoff in Louisville, Ky. Neither Samsung nor the airline identified what model of Samsung device was involved.

Verizon Communications Inc. decided to offer customers the exchange option after hearing of the incident on the Southwest flight, a spokeswoman said.

"We want to make sure that our customers who are concerned about their devices are able to exchange it," she said.

Samsung didn't reply to requests for comment.

Last month, Samsung launched a recall of one million Galaxy Note 7 phones in the U.S. because faulty lithium-ion batteries caused some to ignite.

The overheating of the Samsung phone on the Southwest flight has rekindled doubts about the recall. If the phone is a replacement Note 7 distributed during the recall, and bearing a different battery, it would undermine a recall process that has already been plagued by confusion and consumer frustration.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which authorized the recall in conjunction with Samsung, said it is investigating the incident. "Determining the exact model is part of our open and active investigation into the Louisville incident," a CPSC spokesman said in a statement.

On Thursday afternoon, the commission subpoenaed the smartphone from the Louisville Fire Department, according to Kevin Fletcher, captain of the department's arson unit.

"This is the first time this has happened in the 17 years I've been working with the arson bureau," Mr. Fletcher said.

Mr. Fletcher said the fire damage obscured the numbers on the back of the device that would have indicated its model number, although a Samsung logo was still visible. He gave the device to the commission before his department had a chance to perform planned scans on the phone to figure out its model.

Sprint Corp. said that it is working with Samsung to "better understand the most recent concerns regarding replacement Galaxy Note 7 smartphones."

T-Mobile US Inc. and AT&T Inc. said they are also working with customers who want to exchange their Note 7s for another device.

"Since the recall started, we have always been monitoring this situation really closely," a T-Mobile spokeswoman said. "And we are continually communicating with Samsung so we understand their process."

Customers had returned 130,000 affected Galaxy Note 7 phones sold in the U.S. before the formal recall launched, and about half of all the recalled devices were exchanged through the voluntary recall as of last month, the company said.

John D. McKinnon contributed to this article.

Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2016 19:43 ET (23:43 GMT)

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