Despite the CPSC issuing a second formal recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in the US and several international transport authorities banning the handset from being carried onto airplanes, Samsung is still treating the recall as an optional scheme in its home country.
According to a reddit user, the firm is informing individual customers in South Korea that their units are exempt from the recall and it's fine to keep on using them, despite its decision to up sticks and permanently halt production of the problematic device.
Shortly after Samsung announced that it would offer replacements handsets of a different model to Galaxy Note 7 owners in Incheon International Airport, a page popped up on its website apologizing for the “inconvenience of oversas travel bans from transportation authorities.”
The company then went on to reveal that customers would also have the facility to rent a device — in a similar way you would to a car — for their duration of their journey abroad, then when they return to South Korea, they can hand back their loan unit in exchange for their faulty Note 7.
To be completely honest, I'm a little shocked to find out that the recall in South Korea is being treated as optional as the company should care about the safety of it customers. To make matters worse, it's even following a different procedure to notify Galaxy Note 7 owners that a recall is underway.
For starters, it isn't rolling out regular push notifications to affected parties informing them that their unit is subject to a recall, and it's believed to have no plans to distribute an update to limit the maximum capacity of the battery to try to stop it from exploding.
If you're based in South Korea, we strongly advise you to return your Galaxy Note 7 for either a full refund or a replacement device of a different model. Even though you may not want to part ways with arguably the most impressive smartphone to launch this year, being safe is the most important thing.
