Apple Adjusts Warranty Coverage in Australia to Comply With Consumer Protections Law

Belmont31R said:
Amazing how people think this won't or shouldn't cause the price to go up.
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If Apple could get away with charging higher prices for Macs, then why aren't they doing it already?

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king756 said:
Apple might of notified staff of changes and documentation to meet legal warranty requirements, doesn't mean they'll up hold it!!!

I took my MacBook Pro to a Apple Store on Saturday, it's just over 12 months old with a faulty superdrive, it's detected but the mechanism won't load disks. After they went through the diagnostics they said you need a replacement as it's older than 12 months old I'd be charged.

After quoting the UK Sale of Goods Act saying it's of unsatisfactory quality they pulled out a new fancy warranty leaflet showing EU, Apple standard and Apple Care warranty comparisons. In bold it said a consumer has up to 2 years to report a fault at time of purchase (first time I come to use the superdrive). After pointing out the bold print I was told the EU act doesn't apply to the UK as the UK supersedes it and the UK does not follow EU law "at all". The UK sales of goods act does supersede EU law as we have up until 6 years!!!

After quoting the Sales of Goods act several times, even pointing to the relevant sections on the Apple leaflet given to me I was getting nowhere, I was told to take it up with Apple Legal and I quote "sometimes you buy a good one and it'll last years sometimes you'll by a bad one it might fail in 12months, it's the risk you take". Asking for details of to contact legal I got none! Was told to do it via the apple site. Has anyone tried getting hold of a human from the apple site? A contact email? Address? If you have your a better man than me.

Apple Warranty works like this, they've got better lawyers than you and make it impossible to escalate. Last purchase I make from Apple direct, in the UK we have John Lewis who provide a no questions blanket warranty for 2 years on electrics with far better customer service and real people to escalate issues!

Rant over
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This is why you should always buy your Apple gear from a third-party retailer and never from apple.

If you do that, you get the best of both WRT consumer policies. You can go to the apple store just like any other Apple owner, or you can go to Wal Mart or Best Buy or wherever you bought it if they have better policies WRT returns or whatever.
 
Belmont31R said:
None of that is free market. That is big government.
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Bwahaha. Do you know where the US would be right now if the government hadn't done the bail out? It would be completely in the toilet and a good proportion of the world markets would have followed.

Lack of government involvement is what caused the GFC.

"Big Government" is also exactly the reason why Australia was nearly left untouched by the GFC - Strict government regulation of our banking and financial industries saved us.

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Belmont31R said:
You guys down there can mandate that all you want...just don't complain when stuff is cheaper in other countries with less mandates and less taxes...:)
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Even considering our 10% GST, Apple gear already was more expensive when compared to the US. A point which you've missed no doubt.
 
sir1963nz said:
Sorry..... how many trillions of dollars did the US government use to bail out the US free market economy ?
And lets not get into all of the protections the US government has in place to protect its farmers, along with all the subsidies they get.

If you want to hold up the US as a free market, then I want to hold up China as a Democracy.
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Um I think he was being sarcastic in his comments, meaning, those are the silly things people post....
 
SlCKB0Y said:
Bwahaha. Do you know where the US would be right now if the government hadn't done the bail out? It would be completely in the toilet and a good proportion of the world markets would have followed.

Lack of government involvement is what caused the GFC.

"Big Government" is also exactly the reason why Australia was nearly left untouched by the GFC - Strict government regulation of our banking and financial industries saved us.

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Even considering our 10% GST, Apple gear already was more expensive when compared to the US. A point which you've missed no doubt.
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Most of the hit in the US was areas with over inflated housing prices anyways. Our house in Texas never went down in value. People who bought $500k track houses in California in 2006 were stupid. A needed market correction because the way prices were going anyone with sense could see what what was coming. I am glad my parents moved out in 2004 and my best friend's parents moved out in 2005. Both went to places where housing prices remained steady and were already about true market value.

The answer is much more complex than a single sentence. It was government, bankers, and people buying more house than they could really afford and not being informed consumers with a ton of tit for tat reasons mixed in over a few decades. Repeal of Glass Steagal, CRA, Fannie and Freddie, ect.

Nothing has been fixed since 2007. Just been covered up by massive government spending. Look at the amount of physical cash there is out there now since 2007, and the shell games the Reserve/Treasury are playing. Nothing has been done to prevent the same thing from happening again.

Most of the money the US lent out (not the same as TARP) went to foreign banks...:)

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ReanimationN said:
Are you serious?
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We have welfare programs which pays for housing, food, ect. Like I said earlier we spend more per average welfare family than the median income.


Or should we round up 'homeless' people and physically stick them in a house? The programs are available and out there.
 
Fruit Cake said:
If apple is as premium as everyone here thinks it is, then they shouldn't be worried as their products rarely fail, right?
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Exactly. That's it in a nutshell.

If 50 people by a Mac with 12 month warranty, and one of those 50 (we'll call him Unlucky Smith) has his blow up a day after the warranty runs out, what do we have? I'll tell you… We have 49 happy Apple customers and one really upset one. (Oh, and we have a bunch of customers who paid the overpriced AppleCare extended warranty laughing and shaking their heads and telling Unlucky that he should have got AppleCare.)

To all the 'free-market' zealots, does this really sound like a good system to you? Placing the entire burden of Apple's quality control on poor Unlucky's shoulders? Australian consumer law has a different view. It says that everyone who buys a personal computer has the reasonable expectation that it will work as advertised for a few years. Unlucky wouldn't have bought his Mac had he known that it was a ticking time bomb, and neither would you.

Apple shouldn't be at all worried about a two-year warranty if their products are as reliable as their advertising proclaims, and that's what this is all about—keeping companies accountable to put their money where their mouth is.
 
Belmont31R said:
Then buy from someone else if you don't like it. All it does it cost you guys more money the more 'services' a company is forced to provide. Ain't gonna get something for free.
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I would expect that kind of response from a fanboi. I hope you don't work in customer service. I don't understand why you would not support a longer warranty, why does it bother you? Have you ever asked Apple to disregard an obligatory warranty because it may cost them money?
 
Instead of fighting about us vs them can somebody answer my question please!!!!


My MBP was purchased last June (2012) so can i wait till May 2014 to purchase Applecare? And if i do will it be only for an additional 1 year or 2?
 
buysp said:
Instead of fighting about us vs them can somebody answer my question please!!!!


My MBP was purchased last June (2012) so can i wait till May 2014 to purchase Applecare? And if i do will it be only for an additional 1 year or 2?
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No idea. However a useful hint:
If you know someone in the USA, get them to buy Applecare there for you, open the packet and email you the serial number so you can register the Applecare.
This way you will save a small fortune on Applecare and still get all the same benefits. I did this for my Mac mini that I bought in the US and shipped to NZ, and even with Applecare saved $300 (yes I paid NZ Taxes ).
 
ozute said:
I would expect that kind of response from a fanboi. I hope you don't work in customer service. I don't understand why you would not support a longer warranty, why does it bother you? Have you ever asked Apple to disregard an obligatory warranty because it may cost them money?
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Nope. The price on the shelf is what comes with it. Here in the US that is a 1 year warranty. If I want a longer warranty I pay extra...which I did. If I didn't want the extra warranty I didn't have to buy it.


Im not the one whining about their profits or expecting something for free like Apple is a charity, public utility or non-profit organization like a church. They are in the business to make money. I'm not sure why that concept is so harsh to some people. There are people in this thread suggesting Apple return their profits to the consumer (and screwing over their shareholders :eek:) as if they are just that.

Then they wonder why Apple products cost more where they live than here. I can't help it if people can't put 2 and 2 together. Higher cost of business = higher consumer costs. If you guys want a state run 'non-profit' business then go beg your government to build your phones and computers. See how well they do in the global marketplace....:D
 
Belmont31R said:
We only pay a state sales tax which is like 7.8 cents per 1 dollar so a 99 cent song would be like $1.08 (rounded up on the penny). You guys likely pay a lot more in taxes on stuff than we do.
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GST in Australia is 10%, so in your case only 2.2% more.

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iGrip said:
What is the world coming to when a small government can tell a big corporation what to do?


/s
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Smaller than the US Maybe but doing a lot better than the US at the moment.
 
I searched for ASUS stocks, and in Taiwan (where they are from) their stock is worth less than $12USD. Not traded on US markets.



And? Buy an ASUS, if Apple starts losing sales they might rethink their market strategy.


I am sure if Apple offered a 2 year global warranty their stock would go down, and then we would get more doom and gloom posts about how Apple is on the way out.

And I do like ASUS for PC stuff. I bought a Maximus V Extreme and a 660TI from them last year.
 
Belmont31R said:
As far as minimum wage goes...is this wrong? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/minimum-wage-world_n_2686049.html#slide=2109619 In US dollars it equals $9.53 an hour in AUS.
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Yeah, it's wrong.

National minimum wage for adults

Currently the full-time minimum wage is $15.96 per hour or $606.40 per week. This means that most employees in the national system shouldn't get less than this.

Casuals covered by the national minimum wage get an extra 23% ($19.63 per hour).

National minimum wages for apprentices, juniors & trainees

There are special national minimum wages for trainees, apprentices and juniors who don’t have an award or agreement. From 1 July 2012 these are:

Juniors:

Under 16 years of age $5.87
At 16 years of age $7.55
At 17 years of age $9.22
At 18 years of age $10.90
At 19 years of age $13.17
At 20 years of age $15.59.
Apprentices

Year 1 of apprenticeship $10.22
Year 2 of apprenticeship $12.08
Year 3 of apprenticeship $14.87
Year 4 of apprenticeship $17.65.
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If we're not getting this in other countries like US, UK, Japan, etc, lets raise the price in Australia.
I dont care if Im greedy or not.
 
What's any of this got to do with the original story?

Also with the iPhone/iPod broken screens I'd like to know the % for other brands? Yes I know there is the also the issue of Apple only repairs but maybe the think here is people need t be more careful with their tech.

And with the recent releases don't the current iPhone and iPad survive better in drop tests?
 
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