

Reader Corey relays his explosive tale, filled with luxury coupes, detonating phones and chemicals in the eye.


I have (had) a Samsung Rogue cell phone with Verizon. I was leaving the gym and had the phone in my pocket. As I sat down in the driver's seat of my car, the phone fell in between the seat and the center console. (Isn't that the worst!) After unsuccessfully trying to retrieve it by the tips of my fingers, I got out of the car and moved my seat up. (Infiniti G35 Coupe) The reason for giving you the make of the car is that the seats automatically slide forward when lifting the lever.

So here I am, torso in the rear seat's foot space, trying to see my phone, when I begin to hear a creaking. I look closer underneath the seat and my phone explodes in my eyes, and my face. I immediately ran to the gym window, banging on it to get someone to let me in, and sprinted to the bathroom to rinse my eyes. Black crumbs and remnants of what I thought was the screen bursting streamed out of my eyes the 20 minutes I was rinsing it. The burning sensation in my eyes receded slightly, but I was still afraid of what chemicals could be eating away that I couldn't rinse. My roommate pulled the phone out from underneath the seat and couldn't believe what he saw. "No way dude." I have a few pictures attached.


After rushing to the hospital and getting rinsed out, checked for scratches on the eye, and being prescribed antibiotics I'm feeling much better. I thought I was going to be blind for the rest of my life. This was a very scary experience and I still have the phone. I took it to Verizon today to see what they could do about it. I have insurance on it but obviously don't want a phone that can basically be a bomb. The associate there proceeded to take pictures of it and showed it to every other employee in there. "I've never seen this before in my life."

I'm just happy to have my vision. Fortunate really. After telling my friend that, he said one thing no one else said, "Regardless of your seat sliding slowly into it, the phone should not turn into a bomb."

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Corey then follows up with Verizon, who took the cheap way out.

I spoke with Verizon/Samsung yesterday. Verizon at first tried to give me a refurbished phone as a replacement. After having problems putting that phone in the system under my account I asked them, "So is this what you guys do when a phone malfunctions or blows up, give them a refurbished one?" He then said that's why he's getting me a new one. (Crappy one by the way)


But logically, this is a Samsung problem, not a Verizon problem, since Samsung made the phone. But Corey had even less luck there.

Just as an update, the Samsung rep has yet to return my call. I called him back after he spoke to me on Monday, he gave me his email to send the pics, the email didn't go through, and he still hasn't called me back. This situation is super :/ My eyes have been irritated the last couple of days and I'll be seeing an Ophthalmologist Friday.


At the very least, Samsung, you should reimburse the guy for his medical bills (it doesn't seem like much) and provide him with a new phone. A better one, even, like the Samsung Moment, that just got Android 2.1. In any case, like his friend says, a phone should not turn into a bomb...ever. From what it looks like, it's the battery—the most volatile part of the phone—that exploded.

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