Samsung's first Note 7 lawsuit appears - and the exchange program isn't going smoothly

Galaxy Note 7

The Galaxy Note 7 saga seemingly isn't getting any better for Samsung or early buyers of the handset, with lawsuits now being filed against the company.

The first of these comes from a man whose Note 7 exploded in the pocket of his pants, according to Reuters, resulting in severe burns on his right leg and his left thumb.

The accident happened before Samsung officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7, but even for those who avoided explosions the recall doesn't seem to be going smoothly, as, after a trip to Reddit, Phone Arena found numerous posters complaining about the process.

From stores refusing to let customers return the phone, to others which were unable to offer a replacement or loaner phone, or attempted to charge customers for missing boxes and accessories (which Samsung stated weren't required when returning a handset), there seems to be a lot of confusion in stores as to what the returns process should actually be.

It's worth noting that all of these complaints are from the US, and that they likely make up a vocal minority, but this confusion is serving to drag out a debacle that Samsung and those affected would surely like to move on from.

Finding funds

In all, it's estimated that the cost of replacing the defective units could cost Samsung up to $1.5 billion (around £1.15 billion/AU$2 billion), and that's before dealing with any lawsuits like the one above.

Even for a company as big as Samsung some fundraising has seemingly been required to cover the bill, as Bloomberg reports that the company has sold stakes in Sharp, Seagate Technology, Rambus and ASML, raising $891 million (roughly £682 million/AU$1.18 billion) in the process.

Let's just hope the Samsung Galaxy S8 is less fire-prone, for everyone's sake.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.