Woman gets second-degree burns from a phone case

Erin Nelson posted this photo to the Facebook page of fashion, clothing and accessory brand Forever New. Photo / Facebook

A woman says she suffered "second degree chemical burns" on her backside after her new iPhone case leaked in her pocket.

Erin Nelson wrote on the Facebook page of fashion, clothing and accessory brand Forever New that an iPhone 5 case she had bought from one of the company's stores had a small crack in it and she woke up the next day to a broken phone and burns on her bum.

"On your packaging it doesn't say anything about having chemicals in the case," she wrote on the Facebook post, which has been "liked" more than 2000 times and has attracted more than 6500 comments.

"So I would like someone to get in touch with me to let me know what chemicals have burnt me," Ms Nelson said.

She said the $20 phone case - "the one with the glitter that moves around" - had cost her a lot of money and she was not happy about it.

Forever New replied to the post, in which Ms Nelson also included a picture of the alleged burns, and said: "Hi Erin, thank you for contacting us! We would certainly like to speak with you in regards to this. Are you able to send us a direct message so that we can obtain further details."

Further down the comment thread the company posted another message saying: "Hi Erin, Thank you for reaching out to us with this unfortunate set of circumstances, we are terribly sorry for the pain and inconvenience this has caused you. While we investigate this issue further, we will remove this style of iPhone case from Forever New stores and online."

It then added: "For any concerned customers who have purchased this style of iPhone case from Forever New, please return the item to any Forever New store and we will happily offer a full refund."

A few people commented on the thread to say they had had a similar experience with the case; others expressed concern as they had already bought one.

A spokeswoman for Forever New told Stuff.co.nz that the company was told of the complaint on Monday and had taken the issue seriously.

It had started an investigation into the product and removed those iPhone cases from sale in Australia and New Zealand as a precaution.

Forever New was considering changes to the labelling of the product, the spokeswoman said.

She said Forever New was providing Ms Nelson with the assistance needed.

The case had been bought from the Dunedin branch of Forever New.

Ms Nelson told Stuff.co.nz that her phone was in her back pocket when the case broke and she did not realise until she got home.

"I took my pants off and there was a watery substance in my pocket and on my bum but I didn't think anything of it, I thought it was just the water and glitter," she said.

She woke up the next morning to searing pain and a red rash.

Ms Nelson added that blisters later started to appear on a patch of skin.
The cracked phone case had damaged her phone beyond repair and had broken both cameras, the touch pad and the screen.

Ms Nelson told Stuff.co.nz that she was pleased with Forever New's prompt response to her complaint and said the company was compensating her for her medical bills and her phone.