Samsung kicks off its Note7 recall program in the UK

UK folks who own a Samsung Galaxy Note7, take notice: Samsung has officially started its recall program for the device due to defective, potentially exploding batteries.

The company posted instructions on how to replace your current Note7 with a new one.

Customers who had bought a Note7 device will be contacted by whoever sold them the phone and an exchange will be arranged. Those who weren't contacted before Monday should contact the provider or operator that sold them the phone themselves.

Of course, those in possession of a Galaxy Note7 are warned to turn it off immediately and stop using it until they exchange it for a new one.

If you've pre-ordered a Galaxy Note7 and have not yet received it, Samsung says it will be shipping the phone "as soon as possible".

The program follows a similar recall program launched in the U.S. last week, although there, the new Note7 phones will be available for exchange "no later than Sept. 21."

Samsung has been urging customers to return and exchange defective Note7 devices for a few weeks now -- shortly after the first slew of reports pointed out that the phone has battery issues -- but a relatively low number of people actually did so. Up to 1 million Note7 phones are affected in the U.S., and 2.5 million were shipped worldwide before Samsung stopped production due to faulty batteries.