Tag: Recall

While there remains a few thousand Galaxy Note7 in the wild, Samsung is continuing to make heavy handed efforts to get those recalled devices back in their hands.  Already issuing an update that limits the charging to 60% of capacity, the South Korean company has gone a step further by not allowing the devices to charge at all.  Effectively, this is the kill switch for the device so if you are one of the few who have one, you won’t be able to use it much longer.  The news is not surprising as the company has been trying to get all of the remaining devices in the globally back in their hands.

What is surprising is that Verizon has said they will not roll out the update to their customers.  Uh, what?

Citing safety concerns (ironic) and not wanting to cut customers off during the holidays from their devices, Verizon has said they will not be pushing the update out to the Note7 on their network.

The long, painful and expensive saga of the Galaxy Note7 is over.  Samsung today has halted all sales and production of the beleaguered device, citing safe concerns over batteries catching fire.  The Korean manufacture has requested all consumers power down the devices and return them to the retailer or carrier from which it was purchased for a refund or exchange for another device.  The news comes just a day after all the major carriers here in the United States along with retailer Best Buy announcing they were no longer selling the phablet.

While Samsung and carriers here in the United States have been voluntarily recalling the Galaxy Note 7, yesterday the government made it official.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency in charge of protecting US consumers from dangerous goods, has officially issued a recall for the nearly 1 million Note 7’s in the country.  The CPSC also makes it very clear that the phones should be powered off, not used, and returned to Samsung or carriers for a replacement or refund.

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.  Go to www.samsung.com for more details.

Despite the warning to not use the phone, reports seemingly come in daily about someone getting hurt from a battery catching fire or property being damaged.  Folks, seriously.  Shut them off and get them back to where you both them immediately.

Samsung has setup an official recall site that has an IMEI search feature which will allow you to see if your Note 7 is impacted by the recall.

Samsung is working hard to try to sort out the battery situation with the Galaxy Note 7 and in their homeland, are taking an extrodinary step.  Starting today, the Associate Press is reporting that  Koreans who have a Galaxy Note 7 that has been recalled but is still out in the market, will receive an OTA update that will limit the battery charging to 60%.  The idea, of course, is to not over charge the batteries (which is a leading theory on the battery exploding issue) and make it painful enough for users to return the phone for an updated and safe unit.

Unfortunately, for now, this is only going to happen in Korea.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have all issued statements regarding the Galaxy Note 7 recall and what their customers can do who have the devices.  Overall they are trying to work with their customers as quickly and as effeciently as possible.  T-Mobile and Verizon have already indicated that customers with Note 7’s can return them for a full refund without any restocking fees while AT&T will clarify what their customers can do later today and Sprint is offering “similar” device exchanges for customers.   Here are the details from each carrier:

AT&T

Samsung has notified us that they have identified a battery cell issue in certain Galaxy Note7s. They have asked all retailers, including AT&T, to stop selling the device. We are in the process of determining the exchange process for our customers and how they can replace their current Note7 as quickly as possible. We will have more information later today.

Sprint

Sprint has suspended sales of Samsung Galaxy Note7 immediately following Samsung’s announcement to discontinue sales of the device globally.

We are working closely with Samsung to ensure those customers who already have purchased the device are taken care of. For those customers that previously purchased the Note 7 we will offer them a similar device until the issue is resolved. Customers should go to a nearby Sprint store to exchange their Note 7 device.

Due to 35 reported cases of batteries exploding, Samsung has voluntarily stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7 effectively immediately and are issuing a recall on all those sold.  The European launch of the device has also been delayed.

To date (as of September 1) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7.

The announcement will be a huge financial blow to the company but clearly is the right thing to do.  Demand for the Note 7 has been high but equally, the cases of battery issues has caused many to pause.  It is good to see the company responding in a proper way.