An Ohio woman said her Samsung cell phone “exploded” in her pocket, setting fire to her pants and pressing melted plastic against her leg.
Receipts show Dorthiea Preston, 72, of Lorain, Ohio bought the Samsung Gusto 3 phone on March 24 from a Medina Walmart.
The phone was not included in last year's recall of more than 2.5 million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones.
Preston said she was sitting in a chair Saturday afternoon when she heard a loud bang.
“Like a bomb,” she said.
She said she felt something burning against her leg as smoke filled her living room. Preston, who has difficulty walking, said she struggled to make it to the sink to put out the burning plastic that was pressing against her leg.
“It was terrifying,” said Preston, who also said she was lucky that her burns were minor.
Preston said she has only ever used the charger that came with the phone.
When she reached out to Walmart about the incident, she was told that her warranty had expired.
Preston said she’d heard about the fire issues with the Galaxy Note 7, but thought her model was safe.
“That’s when I starting thinking boy, somebody needs to know about this,” she said.
In September, Cleveland-based WEWS spoke to a Painesville, Ohio woman whose Samsung S-7 Edge also caught fire, burning her mattress and nightstand. She was not sleeping at the time.
Preston said she’s spent the last two days trying to report the problem to Samsung but has had trouble getting through.
WEWS also reached out to the company about the incident but as of Sunday night had not received a response.
