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Sloppy Seven Stings Samsung Severely

Although there have been no reports of the Galaxy Note 7 igniting in Iran, Samsung has recalled all the phones in the domestic market
Samsung is waving goodbye to its worst phone ever.
Samsung is waving goodbye to its worst phone ever.
Until foreign companies have a robust official representation in Iran and smuggling of mobile phones is truly choked, risks like this are likely to remain

The recent disaster for Samsung Electronics over its now discontinued Galaxy Note 7 has cost the company in excess of $5 billion in recalls and the worst public relations fiasco in its history.

Although there have been no reports of the Note 7 igniting in Iran, Samsung has recalled all the phones in the domestic market following the global recall of 2.5 million other phones.

Financial Tribune contacted Samsung Iran whose representative said they have kept open the offer to exchange the phones for other Samsung Galaxy models, though it did not state whether the offer is open to dealers.  

The company did not say how many phones were swapped but seeing as the phone was not pushed like the Galaxy S7, it may be only in the low thousands, according to estimates by mobile phone watchers.

The Note 7 was not officially sold in Iran, but like most other phones, it entered the country via gray channels. And the company didn’t take any chances and urged everyone to give their phones back.  

At the time, Samsung Iran released the following press statement: “To secure the future interest of these customers in the brand, Samsung has devised a scheme to provide services to these customers and refund their purchases in full.”

Just as well, as it seems the next batch of the phones shipped globally with new batteries were also catching fire.

One comment on a local Persian chat board suggested that the phones smuggled into Iran were coming from Taiwan and highly likely to explode. However, this was just conjecture and not proof.

 Note 7s Still for Sale

This is not the end of the story for the Galaxy Note 7 in Iran, as it seems there are a few still knocking around and Financial Tribune went to track them down.

According to a local price comparison website, Emalls.ir, several retailers listed Note 7 for sale, as some of the shops had not yet removed the item off their site.

Upon calling the companies, the majority said that they have now discontinued the sale and the phones were no longer in stock, though one still had them in store.

When Financial Tribune contacted one of the companies, its representative said, “We do have several handsets in stock, but please don’t buy it. Why would anyone want to buy the phone now is a mystery to us.”

The retailer, however, called us back to offer “a 20,000-toman ($6) discount on the phone”, as if we were keen to see how it actually explodes from close.

This is part of the wider problem in the domestic market, as Samsung has no interest in taking the phones back from retailers who smuggled it. Hence, the phones were a dead-loss for the company.

There might be a moral story in this, after the government on several occasions urged local cellphone retailers not to handle smuggled phones, for warranty and tax reasons to name a few of the issues.

What does this mean for future commercial mishaps? Well, like other industries, until foreign companies have a robust official representation in Iran and smuggling of mobile phones is truly choked, risks like this are likely to remain.

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