Is Samsung trying to cover up proof that the replacement Galaxy Note 7 units are not safe?

It is bad enough that another "replacement" Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has exploded. What is worse is that a text message shows that Samsung is trying to cover up the problem. Let's start with the incident, which took place on Tuesday. That is the day before a replacement Note 7 exploded on a Southwest Airlines plane as passengers started boarding for a Louisville to Baltimore flight.

So let's return to Tuesday. It was about 4am when Michael Klering of Nicholasville, Kentucky heard a hissing sound in his bedroom. He began to come to his senses and realized that smoke was coming from the replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that he had owned for slightly more than a week.

Later in the day, Klering began to feel ill and started vomiting black. He ended up in the ER where he was diagnosed with acute bronchitis caused by smoke inhalation. Samsung immediately got in touch with the victim and that is when things got strange. Klering would not allow Samsung to take his phone, but allowed the handset to be x-rayed at Sammy's expense.

At this point, Klering thought Samsung was interested in how he was feeling until he received a text from Samsung that was not meant for his eyes. The message from a Samsung representative read, "Just now got this. I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it."

This got Klering upset. "It made me think you know they're not taking this serious enough and it's time to move on," he said. Klering added, "They're in kid’s pockets, people's cars, all kinds of things. We saw with the first ones. Samsung needs to do something to get these off the market." The victim is now looking for a lawyer.

Obviously, Samsung was not going to alert its customers to the threat that even the so-called "safe" Galaxy Note 7 represents. There are possibly four such models that have exploded in the last week including one that caught fire while a woman in Taiwan was walking her dog.

The major U.S. carriers are allowing those with the replacement Galaxy Note 7 to exchange the phone for any new model in stock. You might want to take your carrier up on this offer.

source: WKYT via TheVerge