iPhone battery spontaneously melts and leaks acid onto owner's hand but Apple refuse to replace it, New York woman claims

• Shibani Bhujle went to a Manhatten Apple store to report the problem but they refused to replace the handset
• Marketing manager said phone suddenly started to smell of burning and liquid was oozing out to the battery
• Angry New Yorker says she expected more from the firm who told her to buy a new phone

 

A New York marketing executive claims her iPhone 4S battery melted this week oozing acid that destroyed her handset, but Apple are refusing to offer her any compensation.
Marketing manager Shibani Bhujle told Quartz.com the concerning meltdown occurred when the phone was turned off and sitting on her coffee table.
Despite her claims, Apple are refusing to replace the handset and have told her she needs to pay $200 for her insurance to provide a new phone.

Meltdown: Shibani Bhujle, a marketing manager from New York, claims her iPhone, pictured, spontaneously started melting while placed on her coffee table. There was a sudden smell of burning, she said

Beyond repair: Bhujle took the handset to a New York Apple store but was told they would not replace it for free despite the alleged battery malfunction

The New Yorker's iPhone 4S unexpectedly turned on in the incident and gave off a strong smell of burning, according to Bhujle. 
'Within a minute, there was a very strong smell—it smelled like something was burning,” she told Quartz.com. 'I picked up my phone and it was very, very hot. It wouldn’t turn on. In the following minute. I couldn’t hold it because it was too hot to touch. I was panicking. I expected it to explode or something.'


She was able to open the back of phone and found the lithium battery had melted of its own accord.
She said she suffered some burning to her fingers when reporting the incident to her local Apple store.

Bad PR? Shibani Bhujle said she couldn't understand why Apple were dealing with her case so negatively

Fifth generation: Bhujle's iPhone 4S was purchased in December 2011. Apple say she must buy a new handset or claim for a new phone on her insurance which will cost $200

But she was told they wouldn't replace the phone because she bought it in December 2011.
She would have to buy a new handset at full price or pay $200 to activate her phone insurance, they reportedly said.
'I’m shocked that they’re handling it like this,' Bhujle told the website.
Apple were unavailable to comment.

Too hot to handle: Oregon firefighters last week blamed an overheated MacBook battery for an apartment fire, left. Bhujle said she saw acid oozing out of her phone's lithium battery, right

It isn't the first time overheating has been cited as a possible fire risk.
Last week an Oregon fire crew blamed an apartment blaze on an overheated MacBook battery which dropped onto a mattress.
There has also been previous incidents with phones.
In 2011 an iPhone 4 reportedly began emitting smoke in a plane cabin on a flight to Australia and in 2008 a 3G owner claimed his phone overheated in his pocket and burned his leg while he was asleep.
Other phone manufacturers have also reported problems with overheating batteries. In 2004 Kyocera recalled batteries over safety concerns and Nokia did the same for some of its batteries in 2007.

Read more:

• Woman says her iPhone suddenly overheated and melted. It¿s not the first time