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The Ironic Timing of My Last Post and the Galaxy Note 7

A few days ago, I wrote a post about how corporations need to be mindful of not holding too fast to a legal mindset because it may end up doing more harm than good. When I wrote that post, I did not have the Galaxy Note 7 in mind at all, but that post has huge implications on that issue.

For those of you not aware, the Galaxy Note 7 has been plagued by a battery issue that is causing cellphones to overheat and literally explode. Samsung eventually issued a recall to provide consumers with a "safe" version of the phone only to find out that some of these "safe" versions are, too, blowing up.

The internet has been abuzz about the situation from start to finish, prompting many internet memes at the phone's expense like the one below:


But even though people have been online talking about it 24/7, Samsung really hasn't had a strong presence in these forums. I would imagine that this is because, like my previous post discussed, they are focused on providing a legally-rounded answer rather than addressing the needs immediately.

This is made worse by the fact that Samsung was well aware of exploding "safe" phones and purposefully chose not to address it immediately. Check out this article from The Verge. Apparently, one consumer tried to make Samsung aware of his phone issues. They only responded asking if they could take the consumer's smartphone for "examination", but the consumer refused to give it up. Even worse, a Samsung representative inadvertently sent this text message to the consumer:

Just now got this. I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it.

Whoa.

For a company being awfully quiet on the forums, this was the wrong thing to let get out to the general public.

As of this morning, Samsung has officially discontinued the Galaxy Note 7 but still has not issued a second recall. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds, but for now, it seems as if what I wrote about in the last post may be already becoming true for Samsung. Let this serve as a lesson to all of us.
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