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Apple Offers $53 Million Settlement to Customers Accused of Water Damaging Their iOS Devices
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But how do they keep records? I went with a friend who had an issue and the Genius look at the phone and said water damage can't do anything. They didn't type anything into the computer. What will keep people putting in a false claim?
That is why it is called a settlement. Apple isn't admitting it did anything wrong, and the other side is dropping its claims based on the agreed cash payment. If it went to trial, either side could lose.
Moreover, Apple never claimed people tried to defraud it. It merely claimed the phone, which was not in its control, got wet whether its owners knew how or not. Perhaps, a niece or nephew borrowed it. Perhaps the dog was licking it. Under those circumstance, Apple wouldn't be responsible for replacement. If the allegations are true, Apple's mistake was relying merely on the sensor.
First, you likely will have to have registered the device. Second, you will have to have filed a claim, or be able to otherwise prove you were denied such coverage.
Generally when something like this happens effected parties are mailed a notice of the class action suit and the settlement.
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With some of the macbooks if you cracked the case to access the hard drive you violated the warranty. Not say that is always fair, but that is what the warranty says. With that said, I have had really good luck with Apple Service. Sometimes the first person on the phone can't help, but if you escalate the matter to the supervisor you can get help.
I had an iBook that was effected by defective logic board design. Mine went bad for the second time two years out of warranty. I had it for five years at this point (I still own it). I emailed Jobs and his assistant contacted me the next day to mail a box to fix it.
Interesting, I had the same issue with mine and I had been in my unit mutlitple times and it even had a different HD in it. Difference is mine wasn't apple care, it was repaired under the extended warranty due to the defective graphics chip. They didn't say a thing, just fixed it. In fact the first repair failed within a week and had to take it back for another MB replacement. YMMV !!!
This is likely part of why Apple settled. They don't have have to admit to culpability or have it declared on record that they were in the wrong. And no one can force them to produce records of every possible offense. Folks will have to come to them.
That said I've seen them send out emails for all kinds of things including due to my once buying an IAP during the period from a local settled suit. So they might do it even without being forced. Watch your email, if its the one you would have been using back then. See what happens
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Not how it works.specific conditions will be placed on how much each person can get and the rest of the money just sits in an account waiting for more replies.
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Wait I'm confused. They were trying to only charge you $79 and you said no. guess you didn't know that the full price OOW would have been the same 'refurb' unit.
I'm sure the original individual(s) who filed the suit feel the same, the less people getting the payout the better for them
The original individual(s) who filed the suit get paid big regardless of how many people hop on. That's how class-action works.
Ah my bad, I thought it depended on how many individuals fall under the claim in these particular class action suits. Thanks!
Former Genius here.
When I was in training, in Cupertino, my trainer was talking about these sensors and what exactly it takes to set one off. I challenged him to demonstrate. So we went and got a 3GS, opened it up, and I took a toothpick and put a droplet of water on the sensor. Like literally had a drop of water, held by surface tension, sitting on the sensor dot. And it still took a solid 20 or 30 seconds to turn red. That was absolutely the best thing I saw in training (well, that and I got to see Steve Jobs talking to Jony Ive from a distance in the cafeteria, but that wasn't strictly relevant to my training
)Now, I'm not saying I don't believe 3M when they admit that humidity could have the same effect. They made the sensors; they would know. But the sensors don't just trip from casual, momentary contact; they do require the sustained presence of water before they'll turn color.
At the Genius Bar I saw people who had been, for example, out in the rain and unlucky enough to have a raindrop go right down their headphone jack and trip the sensor. I also saw teenagers who would leave their phone on the counter playing music while they took a long steamy shower and got the sensor tripped that way. My personal "favorite" was an older woman who had put her phone on the nightstand next to a glass of cold water, and in the night, the condensation on the glass built up, ran down onto the nightstand and into the 30-pin connector. Bad luck.
As a Genius you're supposed to make a judgment call about when to make an exception to the rules (or at least, when I was there you were supposed to; this was back in the Ron Johnson days and my friends who still work there tell me that under Browett there's been much less flexibility). So I would try to still help these folks out when I could.
Anyway, just wanted to make the point that, though there are a lot of bad-luck ways these sensors can be tripped without the owner necessarily being careless, they don't trip for nothing. They really do take some serious moisture to be set off.
Same thing happened to me. I was in Hawaii when my phone died. They said high humidity could have caused the problem. I said if that was true then it was a design flaw and they should tell people. I sued Apple in small claims court and they settled. They paid me the full price of a new phone.
I had this issue on my iPod Touch, but I couldn't drive 2 hours to "maybe get it fixed". So I finally just sold it and didn't keep a copy of all the info. I may have a copy of the serial number somewhere, but that would be hard to local...
Way to go, 3M. One of their product brochures states:
"Not affected by heat and humidity"
But on the same page, shows a chart rating "Humidity Resistance" as either "Good" or "Better". Huh? Which is it? They're either NOT affected, or they ARE affected. Perhaps Apple missed this obvious contradiction.
And now 3M says, oh well, humidity DOES set them off. So who should be blame for this c***up? Probably BOTH 3M & Apple.
Does anybody have a link to a statement by 3M (as indicated in the article) or is this an unpublished statement made during the case?
Edit: I DO realize that when selecting this product, Apple would have done MUCH more than simply look at a brochure!
"Not affected by heat and humidity"
But on the same page, shows a chart rating "Humidity Resistance" as either "Good" or "Better". Huh? Which is it? They're either NOT affected, or they ARE affected. Perhaps Apple missed this obvious contradiction.
And now 3M says, oh well, humidity DOES set them off. So who should be blame for this c***up? Probably BOTH 3M & Apple.
Does anybody have a link to a statement by 3M (as indicated in the article) or is this an unpublished statement made during the case?
Edit: I DO realize that when selecting this product, Apple would have done MUCH more than simply look at a brochure!
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Yeah but that requires opening the device up, which means more potential for mistakes. It's hard to make a mistake squeezing a few drops of bleach down the headphone jack with a pipette, and the result (usually) looks the exact same as a new sensor.
In my case the vibrate stopped working on my iPhone3G. I took it in and the "Genius" kid shone a light down there said it was water damaged and I'd have to buy a new one. I cursed up a storm as it had never been near water and everything worked perfectly except it sounded like the vibrate had come loose.
I refused to buy a new one and so I put up with not having vibrate for the 3years I had the phone.
I still have the phone in its box in the basement, but how am I supposed to prove I was denied warranty coverage to make my claim?
I refused to buy a new one and so I put up with not having vibrate for the 3years I had the phone.
I still have the phone in its box in the basement, but how am I supposed to prove I was denied warranty coverage to make my claim?
Haha, true story
![EMRztrA.jpg]()
And here's some music to lighten up the mood (is on topic and I actually own this single)
I love how everyone in this thread is SO ENTITLED, to the point where many are advocating defrauding Apple and other manufacturers by tampering with the liquid indicators. As if it's Apple's fault you brought your device into a high humidity environment where water condensed on the electronics which caused a failure and you were denied warranty service. Listen, it doesn't matter if you accidentally dropped it into the toilet, if you left it in the bathroom while you showered, or if you just brought it into any environment where water could condense on the electronics. The outcome is the same. None of these cases are "your fault", they were accidents I get it, but neither are they Apple's fault or responsibility to repair free of charge. Electronics and water don't mix. Get over yourselves.
Interesting, I wonder what 3M told them about the tape - were hand set warmed about how sensitive it was? maybe the law suit should be filed against 3M instead.
I had an iPhone that was delivered to me with a tripped water sensor - Apple wouldn't replace it, but american express had my back on that one. These sensors were changing colors under normal circumstances where they shouldn't have.
In real terms this settlement translates into everybody affected getting to download three new songs from the App Store. Meanwhile, all those who had to eat the cost of a replacement phone are just SOL.
By the way they did the same thing with the iPad. The charging connector on my wife's iPad went bad and Apple tried to wiggle out of honoring the warranty by saying it had water damage. I won that one and forced them to ante up a new replacement.
By the way they did the same thing with the iPad. The charging connector on my wife's iPad went bad and Apple tried to wiggle out of honoring the warranty by saying it had water damage. I won that one and forced them to ante up a new replacement.