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Class-Action Suit Filed Against Apple
AC writes "A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Apple. The plaintiffs allege that Apple failed to fully honor service contracts and warranties, didn't get repair and service businesses properly licensed, stole trade secrets from its own resellers, and sold used computer equipment as new."
How is this different, from, say, Mattel making small doll stores pay more for Barbies than Wal-Mart or Target, resulting in the big chains being able to sell the dolls for less than the independent doll stores are paying Mattel? I mean, neither practice seems particularly nice, but if one is legal shouldn't the other be?
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Too bad none of these resellers hit on a formula to grow Mac market share. They never figured out ways to attract new customers. Isn't that the business of sales?
so, because you dont like idea of lawyers making a living we should give companies cart blanch do whatever they will to their customers and partners with no penalty?
since when is every class action suit a BAD thing?
if people like you had your way, and with this President, you will, we would be living in asbestos houses.
I think the real question is whether the companies like Small Dog and MacMall are really feeling a hit in their business. AFAIK, they're not part of these lawsuits.
Indeed. The fact that they're not involved may well be the answer in and of itself.
Even when you consider the plaintiffs (claimaints? whatever) alone, it's rather telling what's probably going on: MACAdam is almost universally known for how much they sucked, so it's no big surprise Apple "ran them out of business."
I also like the bit from TFA claiming Apple Stores were selling product to consumers at 8% under retail price. I don't know what alternate planet the owner of the also-infamous Elite Computers was shopping on, but I've been shopping at my local Apple Store since it opened in 2001 and they've always charged full price (unless you count the one day a year they offer a pittance of a discount on iPods).
Heck, I generally don't shop at the Apple Store for non-Apple goods simply because their prices aren't (and never have been) competitive. When I want something Apple makes, though, it's always a nice place to go play with it first without any pressure, and just shoot the breeze with the sales staff.
I don't shop at my local Mac reseller because my experiences with them have not been pleasant. They're either clueless or aloof or trying to cram products down your thoat. Assuming they even have what I want in stock. Therefore the Apple Store gets my business. If the local resellers would bother competing, I could be bothered to shop there. But as many people have mentioned repeatedly through the TellOnApple fiasco, there are a ton of awful independent resellers.
Imagine, the gall of Apple for opening their own retail stores and charging full price when a network of inept third parties were doing nothing positive for Apple's bottom line or brand.
11. In Apple's ethics document posted on their website, Apple states, "In some cases, the law may also view our resellers as our competitors when we are actually competing for the same types of customers in the marketplace." Why is Apple competing against their independent resellers?
This question is idiotic. By definition, a store is competing with all other stores that try to sell the same things to the same people. A legitimate question would be "Why does Apple run its own retail stores?" to which the obvious answer is: because they make money. Somehow, I'm having difficulty envisioning the shareholder outrage.
Apple only opened their own stores in the first place because the dealers were doing a lousy job! If the dealers were adequate, would Apple spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that it took to launch a whole new retail chain?
Some dealers did a good job and they're still in business today. Others, like MacAdam and Elite Computers, were dingy, slipshod operations with a very poor record of customer satisfaction.