As of October 11th: Samsung is now recalling ALL Galaxy Note 7 Phones. The previous recall and replacement program failed, the phone is basically dangerous, don’t use it, get rid of it, make them give you a new one.
In my view. Samsung should be providing cash back for the phones so people can buy whatever phone they want. That seems to be an option but I doubt they will actually do this for many customers. You can try, though!
Here is the latest information from Samsung.
WARNING As of October 10th or so, it is now known that Samsung phones other than those recalled are ALSO OVERHEATING and in at least some cases, bursting into flames. This may be the replacement phones that Samsung is providing its customers as part of the below described recall.
The FAA is asking people to not board aircraft with a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone because it might bring the aircraft down, should it start a fire. Also, stow the phone in such a way that the on switch can not be accidentally actuated.
The US Consumer Product Safet Commission has issued a warning to stop using the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and to turn them off immediately.
I’m not sure of the frequency with which this happens. However, earlier “exploding phones” problems such as with an earlier version of Apple’s iPhone occurred with very few phones, and generally, only as a result of the phone being damaged. Apparently it is very rare that phones burst into flames entirely spontaneously, and apparently, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is doing this at too high a rate to allow the phones to exist.
According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
Consumers should immediately stop using and power down the recalled Galaxy Note7 devices purchased before September 15, 2016. Contact the wireless carrier, retail outlet or Samsung.com where you purchased your device to receive free of charge a new Galaxy Note7 with a different battery, a refund or a new replacement device.
As noted, this applies to phones sold on or before yesterday, September 15th.
Samsung has more details here.
You can get the phone replaced or get a refund.
Here is what Samsung says you can do:
Exchange your current Galaxy Note7 device with a new Galaxy Note7 as approved by the CPSC available no later than September 21, 2016; or Exchange your current Galaxy Note7 for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge and replacement of any Note7 specific accessories with a refund of the price difference between devices; or Contact your point of purchase to obtain a refund.
In addition, “Customers who exchange a Note7 device will also receive a $25 gift card, in-store credit, in-store accessory credit or bill credit from select carrier retail outlets.”
Go to THIS SITE with the US CPSC to find the appropriate phone number and link for each of the major carriers (AT&T, Best Buy, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon).
As long as we are on the subject of Cell Phone Safety, you may be interested in whether or not cell phones cause cancer. (Short answer: no.)
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I’m not sure why people with note 7s haven’t begun returning them, but numbers show that very few have.
Still, numbers also show that the risk of having one blow up is exceedingly small – not an everyday occurrence.
If I had one would I be exchanging it? Sure – discretion and all that, plus a new replacement.
Samsung certainly screwed itself over by not jumping on this more quickly and aggressively. I think about this, and then about how Invidia dealt with a similar issue last year with their tablets. They didn’t dick around, made the return/exchange process simple, and they got new tables into the hands of customers quickly.
Mind you, 26 reports have either been found to be incorrect or have been unsupportable and blank claims without evidence supporting them.
7 claims were unreachable.
How were they to get a refund if they weren’t reachable for later access, but WERE able to both report the fault AND provide contact details that turned out to be unavailable some months later?