AT&T Considering Halting All Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Sales and Replacements

[MacRumors]

AT&T is considering stopping all sales and replacements of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 due to ongoing safety issues, reports Bloomberg. Citing a person "familiar with the situation," Bloomberg says AT&T may halt sales as soon as today.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint have all started allowing customers to exchange their Galaxy Note 7 devices for different smartphones such as the iPhone 7, but AT&T's full sales ban would go one step further, seeing the company cease offering "safe" replacement devices altogether.

Samsung first issued a recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in early September following dozens of reports of overheating, leading to batteries that explode and catch on fire. Many people who purchased a Galaxy Note 7 have reported injuries and property damage.

While Samsung has replaced more than one million Galaxy Note 7 devices with versions that are said to have batteries that are "not vulnerable to overheating and catching fire," at least one report suggests the replacement devices are also prone to problems.

Earlier this week, a Southwest flight from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated after a Galaxy Note 7 started smoking and caught fire, unusual because the device in question was a replacement smartphone that had been deemed safe by Samsung. Federal regulators are investigating the incident, which has reignited fears about Samsung devices.

According to rumors, Samsung rushed the Galaxy Note 7 into production in an effort to outshine Apple after hearing that the iPhone 7 would not feature major design changes. Suppliers were pushed to meet tighter deadlines for an earlier launch, which potentially led to critical oversights and has ended up costing Samsung millions in recall fees and replacements.

All customers who purchased a Galaxy Note 7 from one of the four major carriers can replace it with a different device, including those who have already exchanged their faulty Note 7 smartphones for versions that Samsung has declared safe.

Article Link: AT&T Considering Halting All Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Sales and Replacements

 

[Andres Cantu]

Samsung better enjoy the good quarter while it can, the next one won't be so pretty!

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Mull it over while houses and planes burn.

 

[nfl46]

As I said, the Note 7 is DONE. Give it a month or so, all air carriers are going to ban it from being on their planes.

 

[Rob_2811]

They just need to kill this device now, surely nobody wants to buy a Note 7 at this point ?

 

[jerry16]

just when you thought it couldn't get worse.. really doesn't get much worse than a fire on an airplane

 

[willboston]

After the replacement-phones-having-problems rumor started, I think the Note series is going to take a year off or so. They can’t invest a lot of money into a Note 8 model for next year if they think that it’s going to tank because of residual fear.

Maybe they’ll focus on the S8 and come back to the Note in 2+ years when the controversy is thoroughly dead.

 

[Bawstun]

What a complete failure on all fronts. Makes you wonder how they missed this.

 

[foxconn]

As I said, the Note 7 is DONE. Give it a month or so, all air carriers are going to ban it from being on their planes.

as someone who used to work for the TSA, it is nearly impossible for us to stop phones from entering an aircraft. almost everyone travels with a phone and we can't search every bag to see if they have a note 7.

all cell phones look similar on an x-ray image.

 

[gleepskip]

This seems so reactionary. The worst that could happen is a few hundred innocent people get killed. Let people have their Android phones, AT&T! /s

Seriously - why has it taken so long to get these LITERAL bombs off the market? This is enough to prevent me to ever consider another Samsung product in the future. It should have been mass recalled weeks ago -- and never put back on the market.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

just when you thought it couldn't get worse.. really doesn't get much worse than a fire on an airplane.

Had the plane been in the air that would have been quite scary indeed.

 

[nfl46]

as someone who used to work for the TSA, it is nearly impossible for us to stop phones from entering an aircraft. almost everyone travels with a phone and we can't search every bag to see if they have a note 7.

all cell phones look similar on an x-ray image.

Thanks for the information!

I just hope we don't see more Note 7 fires on planes like the one the other day. This could be dangerous.

 

[HiRez]

If they were smart, they'd keep selling the phones, with flame retardant pants available for an extra $100.

 

[kerrikins]

I'm flying in a week, I really hope no idiots have Note 7s with them.

 

[deputy_doofy]

 

[canadianreader]

I am wondering how such a big company failed so miserably at addressing this issue.

 

[dannyyankou]

I just feel bad for Samsung at this point.

But at the same time, they deserve it. The CEO or someone directly responsible should resign over this. Worst quality control I've ever seen.

 

[Analog Kid]

After the replacement-phones-having-problems rumor started, I think the Note series is going to take a year off or so. They can’t invest a lot of money into a Note 8 model for next year if they think that it’s going to tank because of residual fear.

Maybe they’ll focus on the S8 and come back to the Note in 2+ years when the controversy is thoroughly dead.

Change the name, problem solved... Worked for ValuJet.

 

[arkhanjel]

As I said, the Note 7 is DONE. Give it a month or so, all air carriers are going to ban it from being on their planes.

Let's just hope that this doesn't cause them to institute bans or stricter rules for all handsets not just Note 7

 

[Analog Kid]

I am wondering how such a big company failed so miserably at addressing this issue.

Yeah, I think that's most of the story here. Stuff happens. Samsung, by all objective measures, really did try to do the right thing when things went bad, but they still didn't seem able to get ahead of events.

I think this should be a lesson to all companies: have a contingency plan for disaster. Planning for disaster is not inviting disaster-- it's a hedge against it.

 

[KiwiAdventure]

Surly sales should have been stopped weeks ago. So what if these types of phones are stopped on planes. Surly living is better than being killed.

We have Samsung washing machines catching fire in New Zealand. They have been recalled but not every person looks at media until their house burns down and they become front page news.

 

[marine0816]

The bad thing is that the Note 7 kills the IP7 Plus. I wish I could get that phone.. I'll just stick with IP7 since I have no choice

 

[magbarn]

I wonder if airlines have a tub of cold saltwater to throw the phones in when they catch fire. I've purposely short circuited big 6 cell 5000mah RC Heli batteries by jamming a piece of metal through them till they caught on fire and then threw them into salt water bath which quickly calms them down. I'd imagine it would work on a wimpy 1 cell lion cell phone battery

 

[TurboPGT!]

This is what needs to be done. Safe devices only.

Samsung needs to pull the device entirely. Its a joke and a failure.

 

[sir1963nz]

This seems so reactionary. The worst that could happen is a few hundred innocent people get killed. Let people have their Android phones, AT&T! /s

Seriously - why has it taken so long to get these LITERAL bombs off the market? This is enough to prevent me to ever consider another Samsung product in the future. It should have been mass recalled weeks ago -- and never put back on the market.

Seriously, if deaths of people were at all a concern to the American people they would have banned the gun long ago, that 14,000 americans murdered by gun each year...... and you wet your collective panties over a hot phone...