Do you remember 2016’s Samsung Galaxy Note 7? Famously known as a ticking time bomb? Something like that just happened to Xiaomi. Well not on the same scale, but it’s definitely the same incident.
Recently, a Xiaomi customer who bought his Redmi Note 7s via Flipkart reported that his smartphone caught fire. The incident left the phone permanently damaged and the company was not even able to retrieve the sim card. Fortunately, this is an isolated case and no other cases have been reported yet.
This is not the first time a Xiaomi smartphone has exploded. Before this, Xiaomi Mi 4C also blew up a few years ago.
The Whole Story
As narrated by the user, he bought the Redmi Note 7S on 1st October 2019 via Flipkart and received it on 3rd October. The smartphone worked fine for a month but on 2nd November, the smartphone randomly went up in flames. It was not charging and was not even connected to a laptop via a data cable.
Ishwar says that it smelled like something was burning in his office. Turns out that his new phone had caught fire. The transparent cover had already melted and the phone was burning up. According to the user, he never mishandled the device.
Xiaomi’s Response
Chavhan Ishwar contacted Xiaomi’s authorized store in Thane but the analysts said that the phone had, “abnormal burnt marks and damaged battery area”, insisting that the user’s application cannot be processed.
Not happy with the response, the user called Xiaomi’s official helpline where he was told, “Sir the battery is not covered under Warranty”.
Later on, when contacted by Gizchina for comment, Xiaomi said,
At Xiaomi, the quality of our products is of utmost importance. The trust that Mi Fans have shown in the brand for the past 5 years is a testament to that. We also take pride in having one of the strongest after-sales networks in the country with an aim to solve customer issues seamlessly. In this particular case, after careful examination, it was concluded that the damage was caused due to external force, and thus, classified under ‘customer induced damage.
The Giz China Comment endorsed, for MI fans trust in the brand a testament to disclaimer of product liability as Customer Induced Damage is certainly the responsibility of the customer.
FTA/PTA eligible nations reciprocal benefits to market access under the WTO regime should not be over sighted with reciprocity of bilateral treaties.
MI should consider local value addition/R&D., local assembly in Pakistan for special tariff lowered for incentive to assemble local market and be in top/leading brands position in Pakistan with exports for locally assembled products for he regional markets