Pre-reading questions:
- How popular are Samsung smartphones are in your country?
- Do you believe that self-destructing devices will be abundant in the near future?
A total of 527 Galaxy Note 7 owners in South Korea filed a case against Samsung Electronics over the smartphone’s tendency to overheat or catch fire. According to Attorney Peter Young-Yeel Ko, head of the Harvest Law Firm, Galaxy Note 7 users requested to be compensated for the expenses and inconvenience it cost them to return their defective phones. The complainants include someone who claimed to have lost thousands of pictures taken during a family vacation. Another asserted he drove for eight hours round-trip only to respond to recall request. Samsung offered coupons worth 30,000 won ($26) to all Note 7 users, while those who are planning to purchase another Samsung phone would be offered 70,000 won ($62) coupons. Moreover, those who would upgrade their units to Galaxy S8 or Note 8 would get 50 percent discount after surrendering their series 7 smartphone.
The multinational conglomerate company initially recalled the defective Galaxy Note 7 units with Note S7. However, its replacement was called back recently due to similar battery issues.
The company has eased on manufacturing and selling these smartphone units two months after introducing it to the market.
Vocabulary:
tendency – chance, likelihood
compensate – reimburse, repay
complainant – a person or a party who makes the complaint in a legal action
upgrade – enhance
conglomerate – combination, mixture
Comprehension Questions:
- How many Samsung users filed a case against the company?
- What model of Samsung smartphone has the tendency to overheat or catch fire?/li>
- How much are the coupons offered by the company for those who are planning to buy another Samsung phone?
- Why is Galaxy Note S7 called back recently?
Express Your Opinion:
- If you were the owner of Samsung Electronics, how would you handle a scandalous event like what happened in the article?
- Do you think this incident will affect consumers’ view about Samsung recent and future products?
- Is the compensation given by the company to the affected consumers enough? Expound your answer.