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Apple Support Company Sues Customer For Complaint
tekgoblin writes "An Apple authorized Service Provider called System Graph is suing a customer who complained online about poor service from them. The customer Dimitrios Papadimitriadis took his iMac to them because he was seeing gray spots on his LED panel. The Greek company System Graph recommended a full interior cleaning of the iMac and performed the service for Dimitrios. He then got his iMac back and noticed moisture behind the screen and that it still did not work properly and took it back to the repair center. System Graph then told him that they needed to keep his iMac to replace the LED screen and he would be without it for another week.
Or maybe it's actually an LED screen. You may find that you are behind the times here, chum.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
No, newer Apple's use LED-backlit displays.
"Fast friendly service and if you say it wasn't we'll sure you". Apple needs to ship him a new computer and cut off ties with the service company. It'll cost them a 100X as much in the long run.
No, there is no way someone would pay that much for such a small screen, even if it does have a huge contrast ratio. The tech just isn't mature yet.
It will be an LCD screen with an LED backlight.
...
But no, even worse: We're destined to entwine the legal system throughout every facet of our lives until we reach stasis between wanting to act and fearing to act and then entropy will take over and we'll just...stop.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
You don't even read the stories you post, do you?
The company is called System Graph.
It may be 7 digits, but at least it's a semiprime
..why can't the gov't just give us the money.
You're allowed to sue anyone you like for any reason you want. I could sue every single person reading this post in a John Doe lawsuit because I believe that the gray aliens told me that people who read my slashdot posts are making the value of my stamp collection drop, so I want a million dollars from every one of you. Plus expenses.
Here, read up on this guy.
See? You can sue anyone you want for any reason you like. Stories like these are really non-stories. About the only value is in letting you know "hey don't use these guys, they're litigious jerks."
You can sue anyone for any reason, sure - but winning your suit is of course another matter. Let these guys bringing the suit win, then you've got a story.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
It's illegal in 26 states, and can sometimes make a nice countersuit.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
No, you aren't, if you actually read the product you linked to, you'd have seen
"A 27-inch widescreen display with LED backlight technology. Stunning is an understatement.".
Now, in all fairness, it doesn't explicitly say it's an LCD, but a true LED display wouldn't usually use a backlight, as the color source themselves are the light source as well. Thus I'd say it's safe to assume that the product you linked to is in fact LCD technology with an LED backlight source, as apposed to the standard flourecent tube.
So it is. I suppose I'm ahead of the times.
That's not real LED screen, that's LCD screen with LED backlighting.
There are real LED screens too, such a Sony XEL-1 OLED display, but their cost is way out of the budget of most iPeople, not to mention they're also a bit small for iMacs... And by "real" I mean, actually displays the image using LEDs.
The whole fad of marketing LCD displays with LED backlight as "LED displays" is really confusing for the consumer. Many less-clueful buyers believe they really got a LED panel on their "LED display".
Yeah, an LED-backlit LCD display. AC is right.
My car has many electrical parts, but that does not make it an electric car.
I agree. Unfortunately, LCD TVs with LED back lighting appear to be widely marketed as LED TVs in ads, sales flyers and on the packaging. I really haven't been paying close attention to whether it's true with computer screens too.
After the moisture issue, he sent it back to the company, they told him it'd be a week, he demanded a full replacement of the machine according to some Greek law
"Some greek law?" Well, as you can see from the OP, he obviously took it to them for warranty service, complaining about gray spots showing on the display, as an apple authorized service center, they would have an agreement to service Apple equipment under warranty for repairs and replacements.
They took it in and according to them, performed the repairs.
The problem, and it would appear, cause for him to complain, is he got it back in even worse shape. Complaint of moisture behind the LCD panel.
This would mean not only did they fail to perform the proper cleaning procedures, but they caused more damage to his display, and tried to hand it off to him as repaired.
Demand for replacement of the entire iMac may have been a bit much, but it seems like their customer could have good reason to be upset.
A week is a long time to go without a computer. If he were relying on this in some professional capacity, their 1st attempt failure at repair and unreasonably long timeframe for fixing their mistakes (A week?!) can be incurring significant costs for their customer.
The title of this summary, while technically correct, is deceptive. I read it as "Apple's support sues customer for complaint."
I'm gonna sue!
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The Samsung Galaxy S phones also use OLED screens.. Super AMOLED = Super Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Dioide
So I didn't accept it and after 200 or 300 pixels, I just disassembled my Sony Vaio 16.4 inch panel made in North Korea (yeah..) by Sharp and cleaned it, it took about 4 hours of my time but its perfect now.
Don't ask me how the hell the dust got between those two layers.
They're tards for leaving crud inside the glossy panel. Yes, the glossy panel is a pain in the butt to clean, but you'd better be sure it's clean when the computer leaves or you'll have more fun on your hands. In addition, be sure you properly test it once you've installed replacement hardware.
He's a tard for thinking that they have any obligation to replace the computer under these circumstances. As they rightfully pointed out, they are not Apple, just a company authorized to service Apple computers. Having worked for an independent Apple service provider in the past, this is a maddening mistake that many customers make, especially irate ones who don't want to listen to a thing you say. The bottom line is that if he didn't buy it from them, then they have no obligation to refund the item. If he wants a refund, THEN TAKE THE ISSUE STRAIGHT TO APPLE.
It doesn't help that this guy has been throwing an utter tantrum to everyone within possible earshot about the issue. It's impossible to say if this is a justified suit as there are no details about what he's said to a ton of other parties about this. If he has indeed lied (and from the grotesque levels of butthurt coming out of the guy, it's possible), then it's a justified lawsuit. We just don't have enough information, and I think too many people are kneejerking in favor of the guy. Having seen some truly idiotic, angry customers, I'm going to reserve judgement here until more comes out.
LED screens are common in outdoor displays, like the big TV in the Cowboy's stadium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboys_Stadium#Video_screen
maybe iMacs are much larger in Greece
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Apple products have a very low penetration rate in Greece due to the absymal support and commercial channels we have to put up with. Greek users have begged SJ in the past to get rid of the local reseller that up to a year ago worked under an exclusivity contract. There was no way to get an Apple computer directly from Apple, you had to get it from them and they would charge something like 50 or 100 euros more for the greek support.
It's easier now to get an Apple computer from big consumer electronics stores but it's still a nightmare when it comes to support quality... so yea, people complain but Greek law allows companies to take people to court for libel and since the courts do not follow the spirit but the letter (the one that best suits the guy that bribes more or has better connections) of the law, if this guy wrote something wrong among 10 valid complaints, he might get the shaft...
End result: apple products in greece will still remain a niche and I will still provide them to my parents through the Italian Apple Store :(
"HD Ready" means "supports 720p, and fakes 1080i"
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Because you can't read?
This isn't Apples doing.
Yep these things are actually quite easy to make in small sizes. Scaling them to the size of a tablet or a monitor is prohibitively expensive, something like $3000 for a 15" display. Samsung and Sony are the two main companies actively researching OLEDs and Samsung is aiming for 55" TVs by 2012.
Guess what? It ain't Apple. RTFA; or are your comprehension skills that poor?
One of the unwritten issues here is that in the Greek society, the idea that the customer is always right does not hold true. Customers can, and often are, berated by the stores, not because of any inherent evilness, but because that's just the way things are. In Greece, where the economy, before it collapsed recently, was still primarily cash-based, most transactions were between individuals. Stores are primarily mom-and-pop operations, although that is changing, and the mentality between a customer and the seller is still very much one individual to another. Couple that with a society where macho-ness (manga in slang Greek) is valued, it's easy to imagine a shopkeeper and an individual getting their horns locked.
I've experienced this myself (BTW, I'm of Greek descent, living in the US) when dealing over the net with Greek companies; I found a reasonably serious bug in a company's web site, provided a solution (without being asked), and suggested they might send me one of their magazines (USD $10) as a thank-you. Based on the vitriol spewing forth from the site owner, you would think that I was trying to rob them and had caused the bug myself (the bug was that their shopping cart wasn't detecting if javascript was running, and when it was disabled still produced a valid cart order, but with incorrect values)
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
In Europe at least HD Ready has quite a precise set of minimum specs that TVs must be compliant with to sport the logo - HDMI, 720 lines or higher and being able to accept PAL and 720p / 1080i at 50 & 60. Most TVs go higher than that these days and there is also an HD Ready 1080p standard which goes even higher and mandates DVB-T and AVC decoding too. I realise some US sets might take the piss, but that kind of underscores the importance of producing a reasonable standard of compliance so consumers know for sure what they're getting.