The problems over faulty Samsung Galaxy Note 7 batteries aren’t just exclusive to the US. In fact, as the manufacturer of defective batteries Samsung SDI was originally tasked with 70% of all production, Samsung has issued recalls of older Galaxy Note 7 units in most parts of the world. The tech giant’s home country of South Korea is no exception and an exchange program was just introduced there earlier this week after an initial refund period for the device has ended. However, the country’s government isn’t completely satisfied with how Samsung has handled the refund process and has just requested that the company extends its original deadline which ended this Monday.
The official request came from the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards which primarily handles product safety regulations but is also responsible for supervising refund and recall programs such as the one Samsung just introduced. Speaking to the media earlier today, the agency’s official Nam Taek-joo stated that he believes Samsung should have implemented much more efficient measures to remove dangerous Galaxy Note 7 units from the market. The agency concluded that these insufficient measures need more time to work which is why it has requested that Samsung prolongs the refund period.
The agency’s main complaint is related to the way Samsung was notifying customers that they’re eligible for both an exchange and a refund. Namely, South Korea has a similar problem to the US in the sense that owners of older Galaxy Note 7 models aren’t returning their potentially dangerous devices. The Korean government believes that’s because Samsung didn’t put enough effort into notifying its consumers about the situation. It also cites numerous reports of mobile carriers in the country complaining about the fact that they’re not sufficiently supplied with new Galaxy Note 7 models. Naturally, that is a potentially huge problem for the aforementioned exchange program as customers who are late to exchange their faulty devices will likely have to wait for days until they get the phones they’ve paid for. Samsung has yet to respond to the government’s appeal and the company’s representatives also currently aren’t replying to requests for comments on the matter.