Latest Incident Prompts U.S. Carriers to Allow Second Samsung Phone Replacement -- Update
October 08 2016 - 12:20AM
Dow Jones News
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.
"We continue to move quickly to investigate the reported case to
determine the cause and will share findings as soon as possible," a
spokeswoman for Samsung said. "Samsung understands the concern our
carriers and consumers must be feeling after recent reports have
raised questions about our newly released replacement Note 7
devices."
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 08, 2016 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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