We’ve all read these stories before of phone batteries melting the phone or lighting on fire, but this one seems especially convincing. A Reddit user posted his story along with some pictures after his Galaxy S III “exploded” while charging over night. According to the user, he woke up to “loud noise and a weird squeaking sound” only to find his Galaxy S III smoking and beginning to catch fire! The phone was so hot that it was melting the plastic which subsequently burnt the users finger. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, the burning phone left a nasty hole on his bed which he had to throw away.
The user posted it on Reddit seeking legal advice and suggestions as to what he should do next. As I stated before, we’ve seen these stories before but most of them (at least to me) seemed pretty bogus whereas this one seems a lot more legitimate. I also charge my phone next to my bed overnight but perhaps I need to start setting it in some sort of fire proof container…
What do you guys think of the story? Fact or Fiction?
This is my first time posting so cut me some slack! Also not sure if this is the best place to post this.
Last night at about 3:15am EST (about 1 hour after i plugged it in and went to sleep) I was awoken by a loud noise and a weird squeaking sound. (I charge my phone while I’m sleeping on my bed right next to me)
So, I woke up, and saw a ton of smoke coming out of my phone — it also smelled REALLY bad. Half asleep, I jumped out of bed and turned the light on, only to see that my phone was just beginning to go on fire. I dumped a glass of water I had in the room on it to stop it from burning…then woke up my brother to come help. The smoke smelled so bad and wafted through the entire second floor of my house. I had a foam mattress pillow top that had a hole burned through it too–which we later threw out because it was still burning throughout. Also, some of the plastic on my phone was melting and kind of shooting out of it, and some landed on my pinky finger and burned some skin off (very small burn though).
Does anyone have any suggestions what I should do? Call Verizon? Samsung? Have a lawyer call them? I’d also like to get some type of replacement phone in the meantime…
Here are the pictures
EDIT: People keep requesting pictures of the battery. Here they are
ALSO: To answer many questions: EVERYTHING was stock/Samsung that I had received when I purchased my phone. Stock battery, charger, etc. Additionally, my phone was NOT rooted.
Edit 2: Thanks so much for all of your comments and insight. The real big question here is – Do you think I have an actual legal case? As in, a product liability case. Or, do you think I’m better off taking what the PR team will give me? (Perhaps, a new phone, new mattress, etc)? I did not suffer any TRULY substantial damages to myself or personal property. I am really tossed up on this…Any advice would be appreciated.
[Reddit]