Slashdot Mirror
Apple 'Error 53' Sting Operation Caught Staff Misleading Customers, Court Documents Allege (theguardian.com)
AmiMoJo writes: "Australia's consumer watchdog carried out a sting operation against Apple which it says caught staff repeatedly misleading iPhone customers about their legal rights to a free repair or replacement after a so-called 'error 53' malfunction, court documents reveal," reports The Guardian. Error 53 refers to an error message that renders iPhones useless if third-party repairs are made. From the report: "The case, set to go to trial in mid-December, accuses Apple of wrongly telling customers they were not entitled to free replacements or repair if they had taken their devices to an unauthorized third-party repairer. That advice was allegedly given even where the repair -- a screen replacement, for example -- was not related to the fault. Apple has so far chosen to remain silent about the case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). But court documents obtained by Guardian Australia show the company has denied the ACCC's allegations, saying it did not mislead or cause any harm to its Australian customers. The documents also show how the ACCC used undercover methods to investigate Apple. Investigators, posing as iPhone customers, called all 13 Apple retailers across Australia in June last year. They told Apple staff their iPhone speakers had stopped working after screens were replaced by a third party. Apple's response was the same in each of the 13 calls, the ACCC alleges."
The Australian consumer Law cannot be signed away. Same in the EU. More than one company has tried this and it never, ever holds up.
If the queue is long, the solution is for Apple to scale up the repair operation. Hire more technicians, have more repair functions going on concurrently.
That costs money, but they're charging money for services, so they should be spending it to deliver services.
It's a contract so it's legal.
There are plenty of reasons that a contract can not be enforceable or even legal.
I just replaced the battery in my 6, and it works fine. What triggers this?
Error 53 is invoked by Replacing the Display Assembly, but failing to TRANSFER the ORIGINAL Home Button/Touch ID Sensor (which is PAIRED with the SystemOn[a]Chip soldered to YOUR iP6's logic board) to the NEW Display Assembly, then Booting the Unit.
It's an anti-theft/anti-confiscation measure, not an anti-repair gotcha. C
(Rolls eyes)
It's a contract so it's legal.
As a consequence of which it has to comply with all the legal stuff such as for example s64(1)(c) of the The Australian Consumer Law
64 (1) A term of a contract (including a term that is not set out in the contract but is incorporated in the contract by another term of the contract) is void to the extent that the term purports to exclude, restrict or modify, or has the effect of excluding, restricting or modifying:
...
(c) any liability of a person for a failure to comply with a guarantee that applies under this Division to a supply of goods or services.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
car manufacturers can't do this so why should apple?
Ford can't say you went to jiffy lube for oil change so your warranty on the transmission is voided or you put an 3rd party radio in so your engine warranty is voided
Everything I've read or heard about it is that it happens upon update. Louis Rossmann of Rossmann Group (3rd party Mac repair facility) and Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab (3rd party iPhone and iPad repair facility) are my primary sources on this. One iPhone/iPad repair neither of them will do is a home button replacement, after the first batch of such repairs on fingerprint-enabled devices resulted in Error 53 weeks after the repairs. Given that the phone must be shut down for the repair, a reboot is part of that process and the error would have been evident before the phones were returned to their owners if it happened after a reboot.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
It's probably not true anymore, but there was a period in time when the 'Engine computer' on certain models of car was embedded in the Radio. Swap out the radio?
If only you had read TFA, you wouldn't look like an idiot now.
Take their iOS Device to the Apple Store, where they can determine whether you are likely the ACTUAL OWNER of the iPhone, and will "Pair" the NEW Home Button/Touch ID to the Device.
That's what they tried to do. And the staff told them that they had to pay, when it was supposed to be free. That's the problem here.
Nice try Tim.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC