Samsung Sued After Galaxy S10 Goes Up In Flames

A man sued Samsung’s Chinese unit after his newly-bought Galaxy S10 went up in flames while charging, reports claim.

A man from China’s Xinjiang region is reportedly suing Samsung for a newly-bought Galaxy S10 smartphone that went up in flames as it was plugged into the power outlet and charging, South China Morning Post reported.

Catching fire

The man, who preferred to remain anonymous, is a Kazakhstani national who lives in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi. In a post on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, the man said he bought a Galaxy S10 smartphone online on May 26, and received it a day later. Come May 28, he said he needed to charge the smartphone as it was low on battery, and so he charged it using a wired charger.

Moments later, the man noticed that the phone was hot but not charging. He disconnected the charger from the phone, but said the phone kept getting hotter until he couldn’t touch it anymore and had to drop it on the ground. It started smoking, and then it started to catch fire. He said he had to pour water on the burning device to put the fire out.

Lawsuit

The man said he contacted Samsung’s designated aftersales center on May 31. There, an engineer simply took photos, then gave him his phone back with instructions to send the burned smartphone with all its packaging back to Samsung. The tech giant, however, didn’t respond to him for a whole month. He said his calls asking for an explanation were also ignored by the company.

Due to Samsung’s silence, the man filed a lawsuit demanding that the tech giant pay him “symbolic” damages of 1 yuan (about 15 U.S. cents) and that the company provide him with a report of the “complete test” of the phone and an explanation as to why the 5,998 yuan (less than $875) smartphone went up in flames.

The man also demanded that Samsung be ordered to publicly apologize for creating a “defective product” that puts people at risk of danger, and for failing to fulfill its aftersales responsibilities. The case will be heard by the Urumqi Saybagh District People’s Court as a product quality dispute.

Interestingly, the man said he wanted to be paid 1 yuan (15 U.S. cents) because “I don’t need money.”