Just a month or so after getting their hands on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Note7 phones, thousands of consumers have had to exchange them for new ones this month, in a worldwide recall of the phones sparked by incidents in which they caught fire.
A few of these consumers even had to exchange the phones twice – after replacements were found to overheat and cause rapid drain of power while charging.
Two consumers told The Straits Times that they had to swopped their phones again over the weekend. 10 consumers posted similar complaints about their newly exchanged phones on Samsung Mobile Singapore’s Facebook page.
After a software update last Thursday, its screen showed an range of rainbow colours. The device also took more than 7 hours reach full charge.
“This sounds ridiculously long as the phones are supposed to be equipped with fast-charging capability,” she said, noting the original Note7 took about an hour to fully charge. She returned to Suntec last Saturday to exchange the phone for a second time. “Even this set feels extremely hot when charging,” she added.
Retiree Herman Chia, 64, also returned to Suntec last Saturday after his first exchange set started to overheat. “The screen turned red at the edges when I swiped up and down,” said Mr Chia, who was loaned a Galaxy S7 Edge while Samsung examines his Note7.
Senior lecturer Tracy Loh of the communications and new media department at National University of Singapore said Samsung should allow a refund or exchange the phones for another item of similar value. “Giving out replacement phones that have similar problems as the defective phones can unravel the good crisis management strategies that Samsung has in place so far,” she said.
What a disappointment in Samsung phones. Lets just hope it wont need any repairs anytime soon.