Samsungs ongoing Galaxy Note7 saga has continued today, with the product recall officially making it to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) recall website. The dangerous nature of the recall has also been noted by three Australian airlines with Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia all banning the phone from flights.
According to Reuters, the airlines advised that ‘they had not been directed to ban the use of the phone by aviation authorities’, but had noted the recall of the phone around the world and have banned the phones as a precaution.
After pausing sales at retailers and carriers in Australia last week, Samsung issued their voluntary recall late on Monday night.
That product recall has now been listed on the ACCC Product Safety website, which lists the hazards associated with the recall as ‘The battery in the product may overheat, posing a potential fire/burn hazard’.
The airline ban doesn’t include making customers leave their phone behind but they will bot be able to plug their phones into the USB ports provided for the in-flight entertainment systems. Nor, it would be expected would they be able to use the AC power outlet if available.
Twitter user noted that Qantas had been making announcement on planes today regarding charging the Note 7 on aircraft
https://twitter.com/dcabena77/status/773135347953709056
According to Reuters, Samsung Australia ‘said in a statement that it had liaised with Qantas and Virgin Australia following the recall’.
For the recall of the Note 7, Samsung has noted that over 50,000 units had already been sold in Australia since they went on-sale on August 19th. Globally, Samsung appears to have around 2.5 million handsets in the market, with Bloomberg estimating the recall will cost around $1 billion.
Samsung Note 7 customers are being urged to bring their handset back to the place of purchase. Customers will be issued with a loaner phone until replacement Note 7 units are available in 3-4 weeks, or are being given the option to refund the handset or replace with another device such as a Galaxy S7/S7 Edge.
So far, two note 7 handsets have had issues in Australia. The threat of explosion or fire is very real and it’s highly recommended if you are still using your Note 7 to stop, box it up and take it back to the store. For more information check the Samsung Australia website.
