[Update, 11 Nov 2016]: Following their recall of 2.8 million units in the US earlier this month, a Samsung washing machine has been reported to have caught fire in a Singapore home along Segar Road on Wednesday afternoon.
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To say that 2016 is a horrible year for Samsung is a gross understatement.
Early this morning, local news sites Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times reported on the battered electronics giant getting hit with another blow.
Samsung announced on Wednesday (28 Sep) that it is currently “in active discussions” with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on “potential safety issues” with regard to its top-load washing machines manufactured between March 2011 and April 2016.
This comes after a “class-action lawsuit” which complained that the appliances were exploding – some as early as on the day of installation itself.
“In rare cases, affected units may experience abnormal vibrations that could pose a risk of personal injury or property damage when washing bedding, bulky or water-resistant items,” it said, and has since recommended owners of the machines to “use the lower speed delicate cycle when washing bulky items”.
Samsung is also said to be currently “working on a remedy for affected customers”.
Needless to say, the Facebook comments section of both news sites exploded (pun intended) with comments from Singaporean netizens, and has garnered close to 2,000 shares on both sites combined.
Not exactly surprising, since the scandal of exploding Samsung Note 7s has already been a big blow to their public reputation.
Singaporean Netizens = Conspiracy Theorists?
Some have come out to say that it’s a “conspiracy” which aims to bring down Asian companies in the US:
One took the chance to voice his grievances with Samsung in general:
Another predicted the future contents of our curriculum:
While another had a rather intriguing proposition:
However, there were a good number of comments making references to how Samsung is making products akin to explosive weapons, which is honestly quite inappropriate, even if they probably meant it as a joke:
Thankfully, there was one who decided to be the voice of reason amid the chaos:
Keep Calm And Look At The Bigger Picture
Personally, my family has been using a good number of Samsung appliances (we even have a Samsung washing machine!) for the past few years, and so far, they’ve been working fine and have not given us any problems – let alone explode on us.
Of course, we could be the lucky ones to have gotten appliances that do not have any issues, but let’s be honest – can you think of any other brands who hasn’t given us some form of trouble over the years of using them? (Though explosions are definitely a big WTH.)
There’s really no telling if the lawsuit is sabotage, and someone trying to take advantage of Samsung’s weakened state, or simply Samsung’s production flaws coming to light all at once, but from the recent slate of news, we can all agree on one thing:
Feature Image Credit: businesskorea.co.kr