Samsung is investigating a U.S. Senate staffer's phone for overheating
Samsung is investigating whether there was an incident with one of the company’s phones overheating while in the possession of a U.S. Senate staffer, a company representative told Yahoo News on Thursday.
According to Megan Pollock, senior director for communications at Samsung Electronics America, Samsung was notified that a device belonging to a staffer for U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., overheated. She said Samsung is trying to get the phone from the staffer in order to perform tests.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, initially announced last August that it was looking into its Galaxy Note7 handsets after owners claimed on social media that their phones had burst into flames. Shortly thereafter, the company issued a recall for the handset and promised owners that they would receive a safe replacement unit. Unfortunately, those replacements also had a defect that caused them to catch fire, which resulted in Samsung issuing a second recall and scrapping the entire project.
Pollock was not sure whether it was a Note7.
Wicker’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News.
Samsung is government contractor and sells phones through business-to-government arrangements. According to Pollock, Samsung has been working to get back all of the Note7 phones that were given to Senators and staffers.
“I think we’ve gotten them all back, but you know, we’re still hearing from them on some of the issues,” Pollock explained. “We didn’t have that many incidents with the Note 7. It was about 190, so we’re trying to make sure we still have a record of every incident that there was, so were still just tracking down and making sure.”
Separately Samsung issued this statement on this matter: “Yesterday, we learned that a Congressional staffer had concerns about the temperature of their Samsung device. We reached out to his office to offer our support and investigate exactly what happened. We appreciate that given the events of last year, there is heightened sensitivity to phone heat. There are a variety of reasons that might cause a phone to get warm, including software updates or external damage and we are prepared to assist in determining what happened. If any consumer has concerns about their Samsung products, we urge them to contact us at 1-800-SAMSUNG.”
Pollock said the company investigates all reports of issues with its phones in light of the incidents that occurred last year. She said Samsung was notified of the issue in Wicker’s office by a consultant who heard from the staffer.
“We’re trying to just get all the facts,” she said. “That’s all were doing with every single issue that we’ve ever had. If you call us in a month and say ‘Mine actually did get hot’ then we want to know.”
Pollock told Yahoo News that Samsung would be unveiling its analysis of the issues with the Note7 in the next couple of weeks.
“We want to be transparent,” she said. “We want to be helpful.”
Yahoo News initially heard Pollock discussing the issue on her phone on an Amtrak Acela Express train traveling to Washington, D.C., on Thursday. She had expressed frustration, criticizing the state of Samsung’s operations.
Yahoo News followed up and asked her why she thought things were going badly at the company, Pollock pointed to the Note7.
“I mean we had a recall, so they did not go well in general,” said Pollock. “It’s really tough. I mean, the phones are — they are what they are. They’re overheating.”
