Just when you thought the saga of Samsung and the Galaxy Note 7 couldn’t get any weirder, it has. The South Korean tech company has announced that they will no longer be making the device. The reason? More fires, but this time from the replacement devices they sent to consumers burned (both figuratively and literally) the first time around.
The Galaxy Note 7…A No Go
Customers eagerly awaited their replacement devices following the disastrous self immolation of their brand new smartphones. It came on the tail end of some confusing messages about what to expect, as spokespeople contradicted one another in the scramble to figure out what was wrong.
But if they were hoping for smooth sailing, they were wrong. Over the weekend reports began coming in of new fires. Not from the old devices still in the hands of some consumers, but the replacement phones that had been sent out to take their place.
Safety regulatory agencies across the world said ‘enough’, and Samsung has replied. No more of the smartphones will be manufactured, which means the much hyped handset is set to become nothing more than a shocking (and a little amusing) blip in technological pop culture. Years from now when we think of bad phones we will ask, “Yeah, but remember when Samsung actually tried to burn our faces off?”
We are living in incredible times, folks.
The Even Weirder Messages That Follow
Obviously, customers are pretty anxious about this whole situation. They are waiting for refunds, but those refunds aren’t coming for many of them. Instead, they are writing in over and over again, only to be met with confusing emails that only serve to make things less clear.
For example, Samsung says that some customers (read: a lot) are getting refund emails where the email addresses and confirmation numbers don’t match. Why? They don’t say, but it is making it very hard for customers to get the proper information out to get their money back.
Others are being told that Samsung themselves don’t have all the details about the recall. The refunds are being handled by a third party company, which is probably why the mistakes are happening in the first place. So people who bought the handset, only to risk third degree burns when they used it, now have hundreds of dollars hanging in limbo.
This has been a screw up of epic proportions, and Samsung is really feeling the heat – no pun intended.
Meanwhile, Samsung is officially telling users to stop using the Galaxy Note 7:
We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7. Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place.
We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.
