A lawsuit, filed in New Jersey by John Waudby, Robert Spuntak, and Mohamad Ibrahim is demanding Samsung to compensate them for “economic injuries.”
The lawsuit wants Samsung to respond to the plaintiffs’ data and voice plans that they could not use while waiting for the company to replace their Galaxy Note 7. The Galaxy Note 7 was released in August, and since then, customers have reported that the device has overheated and exploded. The Korean company had to recall all devices to replace them with “safe” ones, but it turned out that the replacement started to explode too.
Waudby, Spuntak, and Ibrahim are not complaining about the explosions nor that Samsung made them change their new device twice, but the fact that they could not enjoy their data and other phone services and still had to pay for them. The plaintiffs did not have the chance to enjoy their mobile plans because they did not have a phone to used them.
The three men allege that due to Samsung’s actions and the initial confusion regarding the exchange policy, they were charged with the device and monthly plans for an unusable phone that could not be exchanged immediately.
“Samsung has agreed to recall and reimburse the cost of the device, but their customers have had to continue to pay their data and voice plans during the time they had to make their device inoperative until they received their replacement device. That is the loss that the case is focused on,” said one of the lawyers defending Waudby, Spuntak, and Ibrahim case.
The Galaxy Note 7: One of many problems after its mysterious explosions
Samsung is caught in a mess since the first Galaxy Note 7 overheated and exploded in August. But after their “safe” replacement started to catch fire as well, the company’s problems escalated quickly. The battery overheating problem is still a mystery, and now the Korean giant is facing questions about its transparency throughout the whole situation.
A Samsung executive, who spoke anonymously, stated that the company is in a challenging situation because they do not want to say something “too early.” After a first recall and saying the replacement will solve the problem, which did not, Samsung must find the real cause of the battery overheating problem before saying something to the public, reported NPR.
The first recall involved 2.5 million Note 7s globally and 1 million in the U.S. due to “a tiny problem in the manufacturing process,” according to Samsung’s mobile chief Dongjin Koh. There has been about 96 incident reports of overheating batteries that have burned people or set things on fire, but none of the cases have been fatal.
After the first recall, users started to enjoy their replacement phones, which had batteries from another supplier. But the explosions started all over again. Samsung had to recall another 1 million Note 7s, which were presented as “safe,” and now it has halted the device production and distribution.
Representatives of U.S. phone carriers have only addressed the recall to warn owners of the smartphone to stop using it and exchange it in an authorized store.
Samsung has not disclosed any details of the current situation and the ongoing investigation regarding Galaxy Note 7’s explosions. The company did say that they are working “around the clock” to discover the real cause of the problem because the battery apparently is not.
The overheating accidents were thought to be caused by the batteries used in Samsung Electronics Co., a peculiarity since those components are tested in a lab to make the U.S. and other countries allow the sale of the product.
The Korean tech company said Friday that it plans to make “significant changes” in its quality-assurance processes because of the Note 7 crisis, but it did not specify which changes nor whether it has plans to use third-party labs to test the batteries they will use in future devices.
Samsung’s Note 7 is banned from planes and people could face serious charges if they get the cell phone on a plane.
Boarding an airplane with the potential explosive Note 7 is now a crime in the United States, but Samsung is looking out for its customers. After the reported explosions and the problems they could provoke if they happen on an airplane, the Korean company is setting shops at the airport exchange the devices.
Samsung is setting up exchange booths at airports around the world to replace passengers’ Note 7 cell phones to avoid they board the plane with the potentially dangerous device.
People boarding a plane with a Note 7 could cost them almost $180,000 and up to 10 years in prison. If the smartphone happens to caught fire during a flight, the accident could cause severe damages to anything nearby the flames, including people.
It is unknown which brand or model the booths are exchanging since Samsung halted the production and distribution of the Galaxy Note 7. Regarding the information trapped inside the burnt cellphone, ABC News reported that Samsung’s service providers could transfer the data from the damaged Note 7 to the replacement device at their booth.
Source: NPR