A woman working in East Harlem said her LG XPower phone burst into flames after her son tried to remove its battery and SIM card.
“The thing goes poof! Lights up in his hand,” said Janice Phabian, 57, who works at Unc Car & Limo Service.
“I didn’t know what to do. I’m so stupid, I couldn’t even move. My husband snatched the phone out of his hand and threw it on the floor and stamped on it with his boots.”
Her 18-year-old son was not hurt in the January 2nd, 2017 incident. A burn mark was left on the carpet at her job.
Afterward, Phabian, who lives in Allentown, Pa., said she was unable to get a straight answer from Boost Mobile or LG customer service.
“I’m telling you the phone blew up in my son’s hands!” she recalled telling the companies’ staff during long, unproductive phone calls.
“They’re like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Miss.’ ”
She received a refurbished phone in the mail Thursday after the Daily News contacted the phone carrier and manufacturer for comment. The phone sells for about $184.
“We take matters like this very seriously and are glad to hear no one was hurt,” LG spokesman Frank Lee said, adding that the company was in touch with Phabian.
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