Yesterday, a story broke about an alleged Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 phone that had exploded. Today Xiaomi has come out with a statement regarding the controversy, putting forward their side of the story based on an internal ‘investigation’.
In the statement, the company said, ” At Xiaomi, customer safety is of utmost importance to us. Recently, a video has been shared across a few news publications claiming that a Redmi Note 4 unit experienced an explosive scenario. We would like to state that this video has no relation to Redmi Note 4 or any other Xiaomi device. ” As a matter of fact this statement is true about the video and we do agree with Xiaomi and share their observations listed below:
(1) The video was attained from a random WhatsAppgroup and has nothing to do with this recent Redmi Note 4 case.
(2) In fact, the phone in the video is not a Redmi Note 4 or any other Xiaomi phone.
(3) The video is not from the aforementioned Poorvikastore,or any other Poorvika store. On further investigation, we found that the CCTV video was from a retailer in Anamangad, Kerala. Xiaomi India only started selling devices at 3G and Fone 4 stores a few weeks ago in Kerala.
(4) The CCTV video was recorded on a different date, not 1st June (when Arjun bought the phone) or 17th July (when his phone got damaged).
Coming back to the statement, Xiaomi further adds in the statement, ” After an internal investigation, we found that the only recent incident of a burnt Redmi Note 4 stemmed from a Bangalore based customer – Arjun. He had purchased a Redmi Note 4 from a Poorvika store in Bangalore on 1st June 2017. His phone was damaged at his home on 17th July 2017, following which he took the phone to the aforementioned Poorvika store on the same day. As soon as we were alerted to this incident, we took the device back. After a thorough technical investigation, we found out that the damage was caused due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customer. In addition, there were signs of physical damage on the phone as well. Despite the customer-induced damage, we worked with the Poorvika store where the unit was bought and replaced the customer’s damaged unit with a brand new Redmi Note 4 on Monday, 24th July 2017. We advise our customers to only use Xiaomi authorised chargers and accessories.”
So obviously a key unanswered question here is, did the phone explode or not? Why did Xiaomi replace the device if the customer was at fault? Will they repeat the goodwill gesture for all the customers? Has Arjun lodged a FIR? We did reach out to Xiaomi to connect us with Arjun to hear his side of the story, but they refused to share his coordinates and said in an email, “For privacy reasons, we cannot provide details on(of) our customers.”
We have been trying to get in touch with Arjun since the last evening but haven’t been lucky so far. But we did manage to get in contact with TechCase, the blog which reported the story first. Editor In Chief of the blog, acknowledged that the video they had uploaded was uploaded without investigating its authenticity. He further said, “I got the video in one of my WhatsApp group and uploaded it.”
Update: Editor in Chief of TechCase acknowledges he had shared the video of the alleged Xioami Redmi Note 4 Blast via email with Amit Bhawani, Editor In chief Phone Radar without authenticating it. He has further added, ” I and Arjun can vouch for the authenticity of the pictures of damagedXioami Redmi Note 4 which we had uploaded on our site.”
When we asked him did he try to verify the authenticity of the video after uploading it, he said, “Yes I had called up Arjun day before yesterday to check the authenticity of the video. He confirmed it.” He further stated that on 25 July he again called up Arjun to reconfirm but this time round Arjun said, “When you had called me yesterday, I was on my bike and couldn’t hear you correctly and by mistake said yes.”
We further inquired, if the FIR was for real and did the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 of Arjun really blast, he answered in affirmative. He said, “Yes the FIR is for real, and phone did explode.” He added, ” Someone was also injured as well (Arjun has medical records for the same), and the phone was taken to thePoorvika store after the blast.”
When we inquired from TechCase, from where did they get the copy of FIR, they said Arjun had shared it and in the same breath added, ” Arjun is a bitillusioned off late and has been changing his statement frequently.” To probe further, we asked TechCase if they have any proof ofhisinteraction with Arjun, they said not all but yes we had recorded our last callwith him, and we do haveWhatsAppmessages thatwere exchanged with him.
At the time of filing the story we were not able to contact the Police station mentioned in the alleged FIR, but as soon as weget to speak to the stationin charge, we will update our readers.
UPDATE: We have got a confirmation from Bellandur Police Station,Bengaluru that a FIR ( First Information Report) was lodged by Arjun on July 17,20017 against Xiaomi. The officer said, ” Arjun has alleged that his Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 has blasted and the investigation is still pending because he has not still submitted his statement.”
In the meantime, we would urge Arjun to come forward with his version of the story. If he can go to a blog and share alleged pictures of the device that blasted and even the copy of FIR. Why can’t he come out in open to share the truth? Especially, when Xiaomi in its statement has squarely put the blame on him for using a faulty third-party charger, and even their internal investigation revealed signs of physical damage on the phone allegedly induced by Arjun as well.
There can only two scenarios, either Arjun was telling a lie and defamed the Xiaomi brand by the way of falsely accusing them or the phone did blast and Xiaomi is putting the onus on the consumer. What ever the case only Arjun can now unveil the truth.
“Customers is always right.” We will go by what Arjun says and hope he comes out with truth and only truth.