Apple Fined Another $260,000 By Italian Regulators Over AppleCare Practices

2 year warranties and universal health care... Yep, the US is doing really good taking care their own.

First Steve's boat now this!

Oh for the love of GOD. Can't the EU inform their OWN citizen about such a major law? Instead they have their hands out because Apple isn't doing it for them? Apple's not lying by offering an extended warranty, and there needs to be a limit before people should expect to at least do SOMETHING to be aware of the laws in their own country.

Kaibelf said:

Oh for the love of GOD. Can't the EU inform their OWN citizen about such a major law? Instead they have their hands out because Apple isn't doing it for them? Apple's not lying by offering an extended warranty, and there needs to be a limit before people should expect to at least do SOMETHING to be aware of the laws in their own country.

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Apple claimed there was only one year of warranty if you didn't get Applecare, which of course was completely wrong.

lavrishevo said:

2 year warranties and universal health care... Yep, the US is doing really good taking care their own.

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It's great! You should try this in the US as well

Kaibelf said:

Oh for the love of GOD. Can't the EU inform their OWN citizen about such a major law? Instead they have their hands out because Apple isn't doing it for them? Apple's not lying by offering an extended warranty, and there needs to be a limit before people should expect to at least do SOMETHING to be aware of the laws in their own country.

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The problem is their graphics online, they market as only having a 1 year warranty when in fact they are required by law to have a 2 year warranty. Just look at their AppleCare page on their European sites.

This goes more to Apple following the EU's rules than the EU educating the public of the law.

Uh, they are already covering that fine by selling 16GB iPhones 5 at 739€ ($973) over here.

TheIguana said:

The problem is their graphics online, they market as only having a 1 year warranty when in fact they are required by law to have a 2 year warranty. Just look at their AppleCare page on their European sites.

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It's correct. It comes with a 2 year warranty, but a 1 year "Apple Limited Warranty".

The two are very different things - the EU warranty is similar to the warranty provided by the Sale of Goods Act in the UK - we're covered for 6 years, but you try claiming anything after 6 months - it's near on impossible, takes ages, and requires you to "prove" there was an inherent fault.

That's the key different - Apple's warranty (1 year) provides cover for all faults that develop - the EU warranty provides coverage for 2 years for faults that were present at the time of purchase. I think the italian regulator just needed some $$$.

Apple should just buy Italy.

I love Apple. But no need to defend this one. If you're gonna play in the EU, you gotta follow the EU laws.

Kaibelf said:

Oh for the love of GOD. Can't the EU inform their OWN citizen about such a major law? Instead they have their hands out because Apple isn't doing it for them? Apple's not lying by offering an extended warranty, and there needs to be a limit before people should expect to at least do SOMETHING to be aware of the laws in their own country.

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I had an argument with an employee in the London (Oxford Street) Apple store when buying my last mac from there. He was adamant that I would only be covered for a year without Applecare, and refused to acknowledge that there is a 2 year warranty as per EU law.

Apple dont want to acknowledge it as they make a crap load of money from warranties - everywhere does this.

Heck if you search around the forums, you'll see more than a few cases where someone in the EU has had a warranty repair refused in the 2nd year for not having Applecare.

Kaibelf said:

Oh for the love of GOD. Can't the EU inform their OWN citizen about such a major law? Instead they have their hands out because Apple isn't doing it for them? Apple's not lying by offering an extended warranty, and there needs to be a limit before people should expect to at least do SOMETHING to be aware of the laws in their own country.

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Gotta rebuild the Italian economy somehow.

When will Apple learn that they are not ahead of the law? They are the same as any other company when it comes to law enforcement.

What!!!!!!!!!!

macsmurf said:

Apple should just buy Italy.

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Are you insane? You want APPL under $10 a share by the 12/31/12?

rmwebs said:

I had an argument with an employee in the London (Oxford Street) Apple store when buying my last mac from there. He was adamant that I would only be covered for a year without Applecare, and refused to acknowledge that there is a 2 year warranty as per EU law.

Apple dont want to acknowledge it as they make a crap load of money from warranties - everywhere does this.

Heck if you search around the forums, you'll see more than a few cases where someone in the EU has had a warranty repair refused in the 2nd year for not having Applecare.

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Actually, in the UK we don't have a 2 year warranty - we have a 6 year one - since the Sale of Goods Act provides better terms than the EU directive.

However, if you wanted to claim in year 2 (or any time after 6 months), you'd need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was a not fit-for-purpose fault at the time of purchase - which would need to be done, usually, through an independent report. Say your hard drive failed after 2 years - no expert is going to write a report saying that it was an inherent fault, when they don't know whether that's been dropped or what have you.

There's so much misinformation spread around in general about what you're entitled to, or moreover, what's needed to make a claim under these implied warranties. Using these directives/laws isn't as easy as calling Apple and saying "it's broke - fix it" - which is exactly what you get with Apple's own warranties.

I love it when fanboys bash an entire country for enforcing a law that's beneficial to customers.

Apple is always going out of its way to make me one day move wholesale over to google. WHY do they have to be *******s all the time?

I wonder if Italy even know what Apple Care offers. It's not just a "warranty". Idiots.

adildacoolset said:

When will Apple learn that they are not ahead of the law? They are the same as any other company when it comes to law enforcement.

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Don't be a fool. This is nothing but an Italian money grab in order for EU Bankers to to see they are serious about bringing in outside assets.

So what if Apple uses language Apple Legal feels is adequate? You really expect a country like Italy to not twist any language into an opportunity to generate funds?

To much Vino.

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OtherJesus said:

I wonder if Italy even know what Apple Care offers. It's not just a "warranty". Idiots.

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Idiots.

why don't we all get 2 years free warranty? I mean come on if italy can force it on sellers by law why can't we all have it. Apple just being lazy though.

Allenbf said:

I love Apple. But no need to defend this one. If you're gonna play in the EU, you gotta follow the EU laws.

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I don't even think they were trying to side step the law intentionally.

They just didn't know or thought their way of explaining/applying it was sufficient and their Italian subsidiary people in charge weren't smart enough to pick up this discrepancy, especially if they have Americans working there.

The devil is in the details

Glideslope said:

Are you insane? You want APPL under $10 a share by the 12/31/12?

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As much as opposed to corporations owning a country (which is all ready happening especially here in the USA) but as an AAPL share holder, I'd get a piece of Italy!

My first order of business would be to kick Vatican City out of Italy and take back that square mile of land then open up a gelato factory in it's place.

OtherJesus said:

I wonder if Italy even know what Apple Care offers. It's not just a "warranty". Idiots.

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That's the crux. AppleCare offers 2 years of phone support, 2 years of "bring it in and we will repair it or just replace it", 2 years of advice. The original warranty offers various lengths of that from 90 days to 1 year.

The EU, Italian, UK warranties are not the same. Apple is not required to offer 2 years of free phone support, let alone 1. Nor is walk-in service required. There is a bare minimum Apple must do under those laws, generally far lower a standard than their own warranty.

Apple's problem is that they need to make clear that the EU (others) offers a very limited extended warranty in terms of scope and remedy. Then offer to sell a more COMPREHENSIVE warranty with better terms.

And make no mistake, AppleCare and AppleCare plus are very good programs, very much a "no questions asked" service unless there are clear signs of abuse or damage that obviously caused the problem. I've had plenty of dinged and dented laptops taken in for repair without question because it was obvious that the dings and dents didn't cause the issue. In my experience, they have one of the best extended warranties of any company for anything.

Edit: What the Italian regulators have done is what many governments do -- in the name of protecting citizens, they have instead harmed them by limiting options. Now AppleCare is not available in Italy, and customers are stuck with 90 days to a year from Apple + a crappy 2-year warranty from Italy. No other options. Knowing what I know about the Italian coverage, I'd still choose AppleCare...

Kaibelf said:

Oh for the love of GOD. Can't the EU inform their OWN citizen about such a major law? Instead they have their hands out because Apple isn't doing it for them? Apple's not lying by offering an extended warranty, and there needs to be a limit before people should expect to at least do SOMETHING to be aware of the laws in their own country.

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I live in the UK and I don't think any shops tell you anything about your rights.
Quite the opposite in fact, they lie to customers faces about the warranty.

The shop staff are on BIG commisions to sell extended warranties on ad many products as they can and they never want to tell you something it covered for longer than the old year.

Apple don't have a leg to stand on even after 1 year, 18 months of probably a couple of years or more in the UK as they sell a "Premium" product and it would be "Expected" to last a good length of time, even 3 or 4 years, if you bought a high end iMac I think they would be forced to fix if for free.

But would they ever tell the typical consumer that in a UK Apple store. Of course not, that's the last thing they want to tell customers.