Verizon Going to Great Lengths to Force Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Owners to Return Devices

BY Evan Selleck

Published 17 Jan 2017

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

While Verizon Wireless wasn’t all that quick to jump on a software update that would disable Galaxy Note 7s in the wild during the holidays, the Big Red carrier is definitely buckling down now.

According to a report from Fortune, there are still “thousands” of Galaxy Note 7 devices out there in the wild, from subscribers that haven’t returned their handsets yet. Verizon has already issued the software update that effectively disables the Galaxy Note 7, but it says many out there have found a way around installing it, and have opted not to.

As a result, those handsets are still potentially dangerous.

In order to address this issue, Verizon says it is going to make sure that all outgoing calls made by a Galaxy Note 7 are automatically rerouted to Verizon’s customer service department. 911 calls will be the only exception. On top of that, Verizon has already issued refunds for the Galaxy Note 7, apparently even for those who didn’t return the unit, and so the Big Red carrier might charge those who haven’t returned their units the full device cost.

“So now Verizon is going to go even further, putting the phones in a special category so that all outgoing calls not directed toward the 911 emergency service will only connect to customer service. Because Note 7 users have also already been reimbursed for the cost of the long-since recalled Note 7, Verizon is also saying it might bill the holdouts for the full retail cost of the phone.”

It’s worth noting that Verizon is still offering a $100 bill credit, as well as waived upgrade fees, for those who trade in their Galaxy Note 7.

[via Fortune]