Lumia 620 almost caught fire!

exegenisis

New member
Nov 6, 2014
4
0
0
Visit site
So about two months ago, my phone started acting strange and not charging properly. I didn't give it a second thought, and just changed the charger to a new one and threw the old one out. Then my phone ran flat and wouldn't charge any more.
I was more than a little upset, it was just outside the one year warranty, and although I am within my rights in NZ under the consumer guarantees act to get it repaired/replaced because it did not last for its intended duration (failure just outside of warranty is not accepted here), I just put the phone back in its box and get my old Nokia E72 out. I assumed the battery was dead.

Today, my friend was playing with HIS nokia 620, so I got mine out and we switched batteries. My phone worked, as I expected. Then I plugged it into the USB port, and it started charging. Very happy!
Take my phone back home, plug it into the micro USB cable that it always attached to my PC, and it starts charging - with the orginal battery. I figured maybe the phone was just playing up and starting it again has fixed it. Who knows.

5 minutes later I smell something, I look over, and the micro USB port on my phone is smoking! I pull the cable out, the area around the connection pins has melted, melted plastic is stuck inside the micro USB port, and there is a small amount of melting around the port. The USB cable still works fine on all my other devices. Good thing I was right there and able to catch it before it got worse. Could have started a fire.

Called up Nokia customer service - first time they hang up on me, second time I get through. The agent at one point tried to imply that because I didn't use the original charger it wouldn't be covered - well actually it was plugged into a computer using a known good cable, can't use the original charger for that, can I?
Then the agent tried to say because the phone was parallel imported it wasn't covered by warranty. I explained this isn't a warranty problem, this is a safety problem, and possibly a major hardware fault. I also read off their own warranty section on the website that the main unit is covered for 24 months (in NZ/AUS according to the website), and parallel imported does not necessarily void warranty or remove responsibilities to consumer guarantee act.
Interestingly, even though the phone is apparently parallel imported (according to IMEI), the warranty manual is for NZ/AUS.

Waiting for a call back from the supervisor as the case has been escalated.

Sorry for the long first post! But considering I haven't seen much about melted USB ports on this phone, I thought I would post to let people know what had happened.

*UPDATE 7/11: Nokia will be repairing the phone free of charge, pending approval from higher up the food chain. Decently fast response, and an OK outcome, so I can't complain.
 
Last edited:

jojoe42

New member
Sep 13, 2013
1,078
0
0
Visit site
So about two months ago, my phone started acting strange and not charging properly. I didn't give it a second thought, and just changed the charger to a new one and threw the old one out. Then my phone ran flat and wouldn't charge any more.
I was more than a little upset, it was just outside the one year warranty, and although I am within my rights in NZ under the consumer guarantees act to get it repaired/replaced because it did not last for its intended duration (failure just outside of warranty is not accepted here), I just put the phone back in its box and get my old Nokia E72 out. I assumed the battery was dead.

Today, my friend was playing with HIS nokia 620, so I got mine out and we switched batteries. My phone worked, as I expected. Then I plugged it into the USB port, and it started charging. Very happy!
Take my phone back home, plug it into the micro USB cable that it always attached to my PC, and it starts charging - with the orginal battery. I figured maybe the phone was just playing up and starting it again has fixed it. Who knows.

5 minutes later I smell something, I look over, and the micro USB port on my phone is smoking! I pull the cable out, the area around the connection pins has melted, melted plastic is stuck inside the micro USB port, and there is a small amount of melting around the port. The USB cable still works fine on all my other devices. Good thing I was right there and able to catch it before it got worse. Could have started a fire.

Called up Nokia customer service - first time they hang up on me, second time I get through. The agent at one point tried to imply that because I didn't use the original charger it wouldn't be covered - well actually it was plugged into a computer using a known good cable, can't use the original charger for that, can I?
Then the agent tried to say because the phone was parallel imported it wasn't covered by warranty. I explained this isn't a warranty problem, this is a safety problem, and possibly a major hardware fault. I also read off their own warranty section on the website that the main unit is covered for 24 months (in NZ/AUS according to the website), and parallel imported does not necessarily void warranty or remove responsibilities to consumer guarantee act.
Interestingly, even though the phone is apparently parallel imported (according to IMEI), the warranty manual is for NZ/AUS.

Waiting for a call back from the supervisor as the case has been escalated.

Sorry for the long first post! But considering I haven't seen much about melted USB ports on this phone, I thought I would post to let people know what had happened.

Wow, that's pretty intense. I've heard of occasional 920s melting at the charging port before, but not 620s. Where'd you parallel import it from? (and thank goodness for the NZ Consumer Guarantees Act, it's saved my *** a few times over with faulty Macbook logic boards :p)
 

exegenisis

New member
Nov 6, 2014
4
0
0
Visit site
Imported from Mobicity - at the time it was the best price and the phone wasn't really available anywhere else. If only I had waited for another month or so - they released the 625 at telecom/vodafone around then.

I still don't really like any of the other phones out there, all too big and horrible battery life - I could get 2 days out of mine if I didn't go crazy. Any suggestions for a replacement around the same size?

Still waiting for the call from a supervisor at Nokia...
 

jojoe42

New member
Sep 13, 2013
1,078
0
0
Visit site
Imported from Mobicity - at the time it was the best price and the phone wasn't really available anywhere else. If only I had waited for another month or so - they released the 625 at telecom/vodafone around then.

I still don't really like any of the other phones out there, all too big and horrible battery life - I could get 2 days out of mine if I didn't go crazy. Any suggestions for a replacement around the same size?

Still waiting for the call from a supervisor at Nokia...

Could always opt for a 635 or a 730...I think they'll both be coming to NZ (the 635 is here already)
 

exegenisis

New member
Nov 6, 2014
4
0
0
Visit site
Yeah I was hoping for a replacement offer for a 635, but I can't complain about a free repair which could be considered out of warranty.
BTW phone has been repaired and should be making its way back to me shortly.
 

MOSJ

New member
Jul 14, 2013
31
0
0
Visit site
Unfortunately, the same thing just happened to my L620. It was 13 months old, which means that my warranty ended last month. Consumer laws aren't very effective here in Brazil so I am pretty much screwed.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
323,144
Messages
2,243,333
Members
428,030
Latest member
ChadDaniel