Nokia owners were advised yesterday to stop using telephones with questionable batteries even if they had not received a new one from the phone maker, which said it could give no guarantee about how long it would take to send out replacements.
The advice came a day after Nokia issued a global recall of 46 million batteries that it said could short-circuit and overheat during recharging. Consumers have been struggling to come to grips with the replacement procedure.
Lawyer Daniel Wong Kwok-tung suggested that the affected users should buy a new original Nokia battery and stop using the recalled batteries immediately.
He said consumers had a better chance of claiming the cost of a new battery bought before receiving a replacement than of getting compensation for injuries suffered from an overheating battery.
His advice flew in the face of Nokia's stance that it is safe to keep using the old batteries until a replacement is received.
Nokia Hong Kong communications manager Emily Hung Wai-yi said the company had no plan to pay refunds to consumers who bought a new battery themselves.
She said people affected should register with Nokia which would send them a replacement battery by mail while their old batteries would be collected at the same time. However, she could not say how long a registered user would have to wait to receive a replacement.