Samsung's exploding smartphone nightmare just managed to get even worse: 'I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter'

Kentucky resident Michael Klering tells local CBS affiliate WKYT that his Galaxy Note 7 smartphone spontaneously combusted last Tuesday, even though it was a replacement phone that Samsung issued in the wake of its infamous global recall.

Tuesday was also the day that a smoking Galaxy Note 7, also a replacement phone, caused the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines flight. With Klering's phone, that's three total replacement Note 7 phones we know of that are affected by the exploding-battery problems, in addition to the dozens of reported cases before the recall was started.

Klering's story manages to get even worse:

• "The phone is supposed to be the replacement, so you would have thought it would be safe. It wasn't plugged in. It wasn't anything, it was just sitting there," Klering told WKYT.
• Klering was woken up in the middle of the night by his Note 7 spontaneously catching fire. He inhaled enough smoke to be taken to the hospital and diagnosed with acute bronchitis. He also says he was "vomiting black" after breathing the smoke.
• According to WKYT's report, the incident occured before the evacuation of the Southwest Airlines flight, but Samsung never acknowledged Klering's story in public or said anything about possible safety risks.

Klering also says that he thought that Samsung was willing to work with him to get the matter resolved, until a Samsung representative accidentally texted him:

"Just now got this. I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it."

In the wake of the reports of Galaxy Note 7 devices catching fire, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are making exceptions to their exchange policies and letting people return their replacement phones for different devices.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.