A Wiltshire man said he was left partially deaf for 24 hours after his Google phone exploded next to his face.
Matthew Richardson, a gardener and farm worker from Marlborough, had been on the phone to his mum after a night out with his football team, on July 1, when his Google Pixel 6’s battery suddenly erupted.
Mr Richardson says he suffered loss of hearing, which lasted a full day but fears the incident could have been much worse if not for the protective case around the device.
He said: “My mum was asking if I’d got home and then it just went boom.
“The bang completely blew the back of the phone out and cracked the front screen so I think the protective casing saved me, because if not for that I could’ve have had glass in my hand.
“It’s a safety concern and I don’t want another Google phone because if my nephew had been playing with it then that could have been catastrophic.”
Mr Richardson recalled that in the days leading up to the explosion his phone had been malfunctioning, with the screen reportedly turning a rainbow colour and freezing.
He has since been trying to cancel his contract so he can source a replacement phone.
Despite the ordeal, Mr Richardson claims Vodafone employees insisted he was tied into the remaining two and a half years of his £40 a month contract, and would need to pay for a new deal alongside that if he did not want a Google Pixel device.
He added: “I’ve missed out on months of work because I haven’t had a phone, they keep saying they’ll repair it, but you can’t fix that.
“People haven’t been able to get a hold of me and I’ve lost their business because they think I’m unreliable.
“To lose work like I have while they were happy to take my money is hard to take.”
A Vodafone spokesperson claimed that Mr Richardson has since been offered a way out of his contract.
They said: “We are sorry to hear of the experience Mr. Richardson had with his device. As a gesture of goodwill, we’ve offered Mr. Richardson a replacement device or the termination of his contract free of charge.”
According to Google, they have also offered Mr Richardson a replacement device and the tech giant are now awaiting his decision.
They added they would happily issue a refund once the device is returned to them and intend to run a full safety investigation once they receive the phone.
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