Days after a Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville to Baltimore had to be evacuated after smoke and fire began to spew out of a supposedly safer replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Sprint has announced it will allow owners of the Samsung smartphones — whether it is recalled or one of the recently replaced devices — choose a phone from any other manufacturer.
Under Samsung’s initial recall of millions of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the company gave customers two options: exchange their defective phone for a new non-defective one, or exchange their device for a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge and receive a refund in the price difference, Recode reports.
The phone manufacturer noted at the time it began the exchange program that it had pinpointed the original issue — a battery problem — and had fixed the defect in the replacement phones.
While many users of the Note 7 have reported difficulty in acquiring their replacements, the recent Southwest flight debacle — which is under investigation by federal regulators — is the first to really put the safety of the new devices into question.
For that reason, Sprint will let customers with second thoughts about the safety of their replacement Note 7 exchange it (again) for a different model.
“If a Sprint customer with a replacement Note 7 has any concerns regarding their device, we will exchange it for any other device at any Sprint retail store during the investigation window,” a rep for Sprint tells Recode, noting that the company is “working collaboratively with Samsung to better understand the most recent concerns regarding replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.”
Other carriers aren’t yet following in Sprint’s footsteps: T-Mobile, which began selling the Note 7 again this week, said it will allow customers who purchase the device to exchange it within 14 days; AT&T and Verizon did not provide comment on their exchange options.
Sprint will let Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners trade their replacement devices for any other phone [Recode]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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