The Consumers’ Foundation on Saturday called on Samsung Electronics Co to stop the sales and replacement process of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
The call came after Taiwanese and US media reports of Note 7 phones exploding or emitting smoke in the past week.
Samsung should take action to ensure consumers’ safety, the foundation said, adding that continuing to distribute the model would be like “sending bombs to consumers.”
Photo: Yang Mian-chieh, Taipei Times
People should stop using Note 7 smartphones and take their devices to Samsung Electronics Taiwan Co (台灣三星) or the company’s customer service centers for refunds, the foundation said.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily on Saturday reported that a Note 7 replacement phone began to smoke while a woman was walking her dog in a park in Taipei.
The 26-year-old woman, surnamed Lai (賴), said she saw smoke coming from the replacement device, which she said she had picked up 10 days ago.
Lai said she quickly pulled the device from her pocket and threw it on the ground, and waited until the smoke cleared before picking it up and taking it back to her office, the report said.
Lai said she purchased a Galaxy Note 7 in August and exchanged the handset with a replacement model on Sept. 27 after seeing TV reports that the smartphones could explode, according to the report.
Samsung Taiwan reached Lai on Saturday night to offer her an alternative smartphone and clarify the cause of the incident.
However, Lai wanted a refund instead, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday.
Samsung Taiwan said in a statement on Saturday that it could not yet confirm if the smartphone was a replacement model.
DESPERATE
Samsung is desperately trying to limit the damage of a record global recall announced more than a month ago, as the crisis is worse than any other the company has faced, in terms of product sales, brand image and trust with consumers.
The South Korean company said in a statement on Thursday that it was not thinking about management or organizational changes, and is focused on the Note 7 replacement process.
Samsung insiders said mobile division chief Koh Dong-jin needs to get sales moving again so that the company can salvage the fourth quarter and defend market share against Apple Inc and other rivals.
“If this does not get fixed quickly, everybody loses,” said a second Samsung source, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Missed sales and recall expenses could cost Samsung about US$5 billion this year, analysts said.
The risk to its brand is as yet unquantifiable.
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