Apple Taken To Court For Refusing To Fix Devices (bbc.com)

Australia's consumer watchdog has begun legal action against Apple over claims it refused to repair iPads and iPhones previously serviced by third parties. From a report on BBC: It alleges that Apple made "false, misleading, or deceptive representations" about consumers' rights under Australian law. The case follows complaints that users were "routinely refused" repairs after an error disabled their devices. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) began an investigation after users complained about Apple's so-called "error 53", which disabled some users' devices after they downloaded an update to their operating system.

Comments

Apple has never been consumer friendly

[aurispector]

They are more like a boyfriend who is really good looking but kind of an asshole when you really get to know him.

Re: Apple has never been consumer friendly

[bobbied]

You don't figure that Apple doesn't have a small army of technicians refurbishing returned equipment because they have long lead times for warranty replacements?

If they were "sold out for months" my guess is that it's even more likely your device was replaced by a refurbished unit, likely built from serviceable parts from multiple returned units by some technician/contractor who has minimal training and equipment. If the units are hard to obtain new, you can bet they are likely to be refurbishing them as fast as they can for warranty claims.

But what difference does it make? You apparently got a serviceable unit for your replacement and Apple honored the warranty on the replacement. That's what they said they would do.

Touch Disease

[ArchieBunker]

If your phone has the "touch disease" Apple will admit its their fault and fix it for you for $149. Of course you get a refurbished board and minimal warranty. Apple cheapened up the phone and didn't solder a metal shield to the board that reinforced against flexing. Now they used some foil tape as a shield. However 3rd party companies will fix it the right way, reflow the chip and solder on a shield. They even offer a better warranty than Apple!

Re:Apple "Sales" Are Not Sell To Own!

[The Grim Reefer]

Actually, in the US, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act makes it illegal for any company to void your warranty if you open up a device and repair it yourself, or have a third party do so. Or using third party replacement parts. It covers any item that costs over $15. But since most people don't know this, most companies have gotten away with it.

Re:Apple's Response

[msauve]

"As someone who owns 2 iPads older than that..."

I wasn't aware that there was an iPad before the 1st generation one. WTF are you talking about?

Re:Dodgy logic

[omnichad]

they voided the warranty by taking it to an iFixit shop

No matter what their TOS says, that's illegal. See Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in the US.

turned out to be incompatible with an OS upgrade they knew was bound to happen

Incompatible = Apple deciding to block fingerprint readers with a different ID than originally came with the phone. A security move that only makes sense during the initial design - not when done after the phone is out there. It was a valid repair and the iPhone offers no way to pair with a new fingerprint reader except by Apple (which is just as bad as putting a chip on a printer cartridge and should be illegal).