One Irish Galaxy S III owner has had to return his phone after it caught fire in his car. Posting to Irish forums Boards.ie, user dillo2k10 explains that the incident occurred while he was driving his car and his Galaxy S III was docked in his car mount. He said there was a bang as well as a white flame and sparks. When he pulled in to take a look at his phone, it had burned through the plastic and melted his case to the phone.
Dillo2k10 says the phone kept working, but without any signal. A trip to Carphone Warehouse, the retailer he purchased the phone from, didn't yield positive results.
"I brought it to the carphone warehouse and they told me that they couldnt replace it for me that they had to send it off to be checked out first," he wrote. "No even replacement phone, left with nothing."
However, it's not all bad news. Dillo2k10 says that having received no help from Carphone Warehouse, Samsung contacted him, and the head of customer services visited him. He was presented with a replacement phone was told Samsung would send him some free stuff. He adds: "There is no confirmation that it was a fault with the phone. It may actually have been caused by a combination of my car mount and my cars heating system."
Samsung has also publicly addressed the issue on its Samsung Tomorrow blog:
"There have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung GALAXY SIII that appears to have heat-related damage at the bottom of the device," the company wrote. "Samsung is aware of this issue and will begin investigating as soon as we receive the specific product in question.
"Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation. We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously."
*Image via Dillo2k10/Boards.ie.
