Irish customers who bought Samsung’s troubled Note 7 have received an update on how they will get information about the exchange programme.

Samsung discontinued production of its new phone less than two months after it went on sale, after a number of incidents in which Note 7 handsets caught fire. More than 2.5 million devices had shipped, but only a small number in Ireland, where fulfilment of preorders had only just begun when the initial problems emerged.

Samsung Ireland is directing to customers to a page on its website and has provided a phone number (01-6950367) for those affected by the problems.

The company said it had taken the decision to stop production of the phone on safety grounds, and advised existing users of the handset to back up their devices and stop using the phone.

Exchange

Customers are being offered an exchange for the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, with a refund of the price difference, or a full refund.

Samsung Ireland said it would also be contacting customers directly.

“To all of our Galaxy Note7 customers, we are truly sorry that we have not met the high standard that you expect from Samsung,” the company said, emphasising that the Note 7 is the only device affected by these problems.

Samsung cut its third-quarter operating profit by $2.3 billion on Wednesday after deciding to end production of the troubled smartphone permanently. The Note 7 devices were overheating and catching fire even after a recall that was supposed to fix the problem.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission had announced voluntary recall of a million Note 7s on September 15th. The expanded recall will increase that number to 1.9 million, the agency said. The agency mainly enters into agreements with companies for recalls rather than going to court to compel action. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg)