Hopefully they'll probe all companies not just Apple, as most tech companies only state 1 year warranty in their marketing and also offer extended warranties.
Euro bigwig turns heat on 'unacceptable' Apple warranties
Apple's warranty ads are again under the spotlight after a European Commission big cheese blasted them as "unacceptable". In December, the Cupertino goliath was fined €900,000 by an Italian regulator for trying to flog two-year Apple Care extended cover when under Italian, and indeed EU law, customers are entitled to it as …
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Monday 1st October 2012 12:30 GMT Julian C
But what's covered?
EU regs only apply to defects present when the customer takes delivery. The law says that retailers must sell goods that are 'as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality'. If a defect is detected when, or in a reasonable period of time after, the sale is made, then buyers can demand a full refund. However, the rules get fuzzier when faults develop over time and a buyer has to return goods after possessing them for a longer period. That's what they offer you the extra cover for!
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Monday 1st October 2012 23:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: So do we get 2 years in the UK?
It's all about reasonable expectations of product life times but you can potentially be entitled to a full or partial refund for up to 6 years in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and 5 years in Scotland from the date of purchase if there is an inherent fault. That's from the retailer too, not the manufacturer.
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Monday 1st October 2012 12:25 GMT Julian C
Try looking!
Not a fanboi at all, but it took me all of 30 seconds to find the following page (http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/) that clarifies what the customer gets from the standard 2 year EU regulations, what Apple offer free for a year and what you can pay to extend to 2 or 3 years.
Whether this is clarified in store when a fanboi is forking out their hard-earned for their fondleslab or iThingie and pressured by the salesperson to take out the extra AppleCare I can;t comment on.
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Monday 1st October 2012 12:36 GMT turnip handler
Re: Try looking!
I don't think that really clarifies the situation - examples of potential defects would be nice, I'm not clear how defects to my sealed consumer electronic product would not be present before shipping. The only defect I can think of post shipping would be damage rather than defect...
Plus in the small print it states useful information, like that the UK may actually allow for longer than 2yrs.
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Monday 1st October 2012 12:38 GMT Aitor 1
Re: Try looking!
Apple offers you the warranty. But, after the first year, you will have to prove that it is broken because of a manufacturing/design defect. At least 50€ and going to trial.
Also, my mother in law had a defective laptop battery. We knew it was defective not only because it got bigger and ceased to work: there was a recall in the US (not europe) and the S/N of the battery was included. Their reply? sue us. I would, but not my mother in law.. and she still likes the company!!
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Monday 1st October 2012 13:10 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Try looking!
@Aitor 1: "there was a recall in the US (not europe) and the S/N of the battery was included. Their reply? sue us."
I had the same problem, i.e. a battery outside warranty was expanding and was on a US recall list, and Apple swapped it immediately. Were you dealing directly with Apple or through a reseller? Resellers, especially outlets like PC World, can be a real pain even when a solution is open to them.
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Monday 1st October 2012 13:58 GMT MrIan
not just apple
I've had several convos in the past with companies that seem to think the Sale Of Goods Act and the Supply of Goods are Services Act don't apply to them. No 1 year is not enough. Even if it's 2nd hand equipment, if you're a company selling it you cannot shirk your legal obligation to warranty everything you sell for a nicely worded "reasonable length of time." (Courts in England/Wales that's 6 years max, Scotland it's 5).
As a consumer North of the Rio Tweed I'm also sick of seeing "all disputes will be under jurisdiction of English courts"... no they effin won't, see the above noted laws - that contract clause in your T&Cs is entirely invalid - so stop wasting bits on the internet by putting it in there. There are only a limit number of 1s and 0s available on the internets, please stop needlessly wasting them.
I advise everyone to download a copy of each of these laws and read them - especially if you work in retail. I keep a copy on my phone for reference and I'm not opposed to quoting the law to dumb PC World managers.
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Monday 1st October 2012 14:42 GMT Dave 150
Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)
Consumers can expect that goods will be:
Of a satisfactory quality. Satisfactory quality means that the product should be of a quality that a reasonable person would expect from the goods taking into account any description, the intended purpose and the price that is paid.
http://www.ukecc.net/sub.asp?id=248
In the UK it's not 1 year or 2 years, If you spend £3,000 on a TV you (a reasonable person ;) would expect it to last longer than a £300 TV
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Monday 1st October 2012 23:37 GMT TheTick
SOGA should be mandatory teaching in schools
Absolutely right, and an important section of the Sale of Goods Act is this:
14 Implied terms about quality or fitness.
(2B)For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—
(a)fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,
(b)appearance and finish,
(c)freedom from minor defects,
(d)safety, and
(e)durability.
Durability was the argument I made when I sued Apple for an iPad failure after 18 months of use. As far as I was concerned an iPad should reasonably work without failures for much longer than 18 months i.e. be durable. Apple Store rejected this, so did their phone support, my email never got a response.
Within a week of me submitting the small claims court action they were on the phone doing everything they could to "resolve this problem to my satisfaction". Old original iPad got replaced with a brand new top of the range 3rd gen one which promptly got eBayed for more than I demanded on the court claim.
Little guy 1 - Apple 0
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Tuesday 2nd October 2012 02:55 GMT Chimp
Re: SOGA should be mandatory teaching in schools
You were doing fine until the last paragraph, when you admitted to fraud, which makes you just as big a tosser as the companies that don't live up to contacts of sale.
Basically, this is the wrong site for you. Most of us are in the biz as well as being consumers.
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Tuesday 2nd October 2012 15:02 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: SOGA should be mandatory teaching in schools
Interesting:
"a)fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,
(e)durability."
Can't see how something who's "purpose" is to be used outside can fail to endure rain AND be compliant.
Queue a lot of claims from people with once damp, now ex-phones. Please.
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Monday 1st October 2012 22:08 GMT Henry Blackman
Correction
The article states that in the US Apple used to provide 90 day warranties. This is not true.
Apple provides 1 year warranties, and 90 days phone support. They always have.
In the UK on their computers, if you buy through their education store, you get 3 years warranty at no extra charge, but not phone support. Same if you buy it through John Lewis.