AT&T stops Samsung phone exchanges after new fire reports

In a separate report by WKYT, Michael Klering of Kentucky woke up at 4 am to find that his room was full of smoke and that his Note 7 was on fire. Not because of its features, but because of the numerous reports of the smartphone suddenly catching fire! “It wasn’t plugged in”, Klering told the station. Later that same day Klering went to the hospital to be treated for acute bronchitis caused by smoke inhalation. He is now seeking a lawyer. This is the second reported incident of a replacement Galaxy Note 7 exhibiting the same problems as those of original units. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday that it was still investigating. The recall came after a series of incidents last month in which Note 7 batteries overheated or caught fire.

Earlier this week, a Note 7 device started smoking on a Southwest flight. Galaxy Note 7 phones after reports of multiple devices melting, further complicating a massive recall and sowing confusion among consumers.

AT&T’s decision to stop offering replacement Note 7s comes after US phone carriers Friday said they would allow customers to replace their phones a second time. Just this week, there have been four incidents involving Galaxy Note 7 phones, Samsung stated that the company isn’t sure that the units belonged to the batch of replaced Note 7 smartphones. AT&T has not been selling Note 7s since the recall.

“While Samsung investigates multiple reports of issues, T-Mobile is temporarily suspending all sales of the new Note 7 and exchanges for replacement Note 7 devices”, T-Mobile said in a statement.

AT&T encouraged customers with Note 7 phones to exchange them for other products.

“We are working diligently with authorities and third party experts and will share findings when we have completed the investigation”, said a Samsung spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. We remain in close contact with the CPSC throughout this process.

This statement is nearly exactly the same as they released after each incident of a Note 7 exploding.

Samsung has known that there’s an issue with the Note 7 replacements since Tuesday morning. That’s two strikes. It gets a little dicey. Samsung’s current bill due to its global recall of 2.5 million Note 7 units amounts to about $1 billion, according to Bloomberg’s estimates.

Like many competitors, the second-largest United States wireless carrier had been already offering alternative smartphones to people who return Note 7 devices. For now, it appears modest.

Hyundai Securities also lifted its projection for Samsung’s operating profit for this year to 30.1 trillion won from 29.5 trillion won.