If your phone behaves like a bomb, you treat it like a bomb.
Samsung had ordered the recall of millions of Galaxy Note 7 devices after they unexpectedly started exploding after their release. And the recall didn’t just involve chucking your phone into a parcel and sending it back to Samsung – Samsung sent a whole return kit to return the phones.
The return kit looks like something the bomb disposal squad would use. The kit has not one, not two, not three, but four protective layers around the phone. The innermost layer is a static shield, which is a sombre, silver plastic bag with a yellow warning sign on the front . Then there are two intervening layers, before the final, thermally protected layer. The outermost box carries a large printed message that says it carried a damaged or defective Lithium ion battery, and says that its contents are forbidden to be transported by an aircraft.
And in the final crazy bit, the return kit comes with a pair of blue gloves that are apparently meant to be worn when you’re handling your Note 7. Once packed, the package must be sent back to Samsung by land – carrying the battery on aircrafts is a fire hazard.
The Note 7 has been officially shut down, but will Samsung ever recover from this mess? If you’re one of the unfortunate people who thought they were buying a phone, but ended up getting something that needed gloves to be handled ,and had to be sent back in a box that looks like something out of an apocalypse movie, you’d probably think twice about buying Samsung again.