The corporate logo of Samsung Electronics Co. is seen at its shop in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. The fiasco of Samsung's fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones - and Samsung's stumbling response to the problem - has left consumers from Shanghai to New York reconsidering how they feel about the South Korean tech giant and its products. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it is sending fire-resistant packages to its customers in the U.S. as a precaution against possible fires or explosions from Galaxy Note 7s they return to retailers.
Samsung is offering prepaid shipping boxes as an option for U.S. consumers who purchased the phones on its website, Samsung.com. It said consumers who purchased their Note 7 phones from mobile carriers should visit the carriers' websites for recall instructions.
On Tuesday, Samsung said it was discontinuing the Note 7 phones just two months after their launch, after two recalls and many reports of fires. Samsung must now deal with receiving back more than 1.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones, both the original ones and those issued as replacements. Most were sold in the U.S. and South Korea.
A video on YouTube dated Tuesday shows a man it says is at the XDA Developers office in the U.S., unpacking a kit containing a static shield bag, thermally insulated boxes, gloves and instructions for ground shipping only.
"We have just received this crazy Galaxy Note 7 return kit," the person said in the video.
According to the XDA Developers forum, Samsung's packing instructions say the Note 7 should be put in the static shield bag and then in a box labeled "OEM Replacement" to be put inside an "Inner Box" and a "Recovery Box." Shipping companies reportedly had complained they did not want to handle Note 7 returns because of fire concerns.
Samsung said the packaging kits conform with U.S. requirements for shipping lithium-ion batteries or devices containing them that are subject to a recall.
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