Apple Facing Class Action Lawsuit for Offering Refurbished Replacement Devices Under AppleCare+

[zorinlynx]

Def not true. And this is what apple wants you to think. Can't tell you how many iPhone replacements I've received with wear and tear on the sides. Scratches on the screen. Once the phone had the old users Apple ID logged in.

I hope apple loses this case. Apples replacements have always been ******.

Were these Apple replacements at the Apple store?

If you get replacement units from a carrier like AT&T or Sprint it's a gamble. Hell I'd be impressed if you got the same model of phone you turned in. I've never heard of issues with Apple certified refurbs from their store.

 

[dannyyankou]

What a load of bullcrap

Any time I've ever had an issue with a refurbished replacement, I took it back and they replaced it at no cost. Most of the time they've told me the device was brand new and not refurbished.

 

[WiseAJ]

The plaintiffs claim they were deprived of the "use and value" of their original devices when Apple replaced them with refurbished devices, suffering an economic loss in the amount of the cost of the AppleCare plans, the loss of value of their original non-refurbished devices, and the purchase cost and replacement cost paid to Apple.

Wouldn't the economic use and value of a device that is needed to be replaced be lower then a working refurbished device, especially when practically all the parts in an Apple refurbished device are new.

I would say that the economic use and value was thus increased with the replacement. If they don't like it then they should be more careful with their devices.

Just another useless American moneygrab lawsuit.

 

[Stridder44]

I don't blame them, this "equivalent to new" thing that companies do is pretty lame. If I buy a new device, and a week later the device turns out to be faulty due to manufacturer defects, I expect a brand new replacement. Hopefully they win and companies stop doing that crap.

 

[AndrewR23]

Were these Apple replacements at the Apple store?

If you get replacement units from a carrier like AT&T or Sprint it's a gamble. Hell I'd be impressed if you got the same model of phone you turned in. I've never heard of issues with Apple certified refurbs from their store.

Yeah they were. I also have all the paperwork in a file for my records. Pm me your email and I'll send it all.

It was pretty bad. This was 2012-2013. Since 2013s 5S I've had 0 issues. It was the 4,4s and 5 that I had multiple problems with.

 

[zorinlynx]

I personally hate that Apple gives out refurbished units, I can understand 1 year mandatory warranty doing it but considering you pay for Apple Care it seems like a bunk deal.
Also what is this nonsense that internal components don't get wear and tear? They most definitely do.

They are solid state devices. There is no appreciable wear and tear.

You might be able to argue that flash has wear and tear, but the lifetime of the flash memory inside the iPhone is so long that you'll never reach it even in many years of heavy usage.

Also, I'd much rather get a refurbished replacement right away than to have to wait days for my own phone to be repaired. Both times I've had hardware issues I walked out the same day with a working phone with minimal hassle. Dealing with a loaner that I have to bring in again days later is not my idea of good customer service.

 

[Karma*Police]

The funny thing is you never really get much with class action lawsuits anyway. Maybe $20 at most. It's not worth all the hassle.

It's the lawyers who get rich, and I'm sure helped instigate this.

Bingo. It's almost always the lawyers. Few people would go through all the trouble for a couple of bucks. It's like that iPod lawsuit where the idiot attorneys were scrambling at the last minute to find a couple of people to represent so that they could keep the lawsuit going.

Even worse, if they somehow manage to win this suit, the price of AppleCare will most likely increase, hurting the very customers this lawsuit is supposed to help.

 

[KPOM]

I personally hate that Apple gives out refurbished units, I can understand 1 year mandatory warranty doing it but considering you pay for Apple Care it seems like a bunk deal.
Also what is this nonsense that internal components don't get wear and tear? They most definitely do.

Many "refurbs" are just returns. Unlike other retailers, Apple doesn't sell returns as "open-box" or put them back out as "new." They go through QC and get new batteries.

 

[nutjob]

They are solid state devices. There is no appreciable wear and tear.

You might be able to argue that flash has wear and tear, but the lifetime of the flash memory inside the iPhone is so long that you'll never reach it even in many years of heavy usage.

Also, I'd much rather get a refurbished replacement right away than to have to wait days for my own phone to be repaired. Both times I've had hardware issues I walked out the same day with a working phone with minimal hassle. Dealing with a loaner that I have to bring in again days later is not my idea of good customer service.

Completely wrong. There is wear and tear on solid state devices, bad enough that it will kill the device, usually outside the warranty period though.

 

[Soterman]

For me, it is OK to receive a refurbished product that is "equivalent to new in performance and reliability". The problem is that never happens - EVERY refurbished product that I have received from Apple had serious problems and failed soon after I received it.

In my opinion, Apple doesn't know how to test products. Once, I had a problematic iPhone 5. The phone would simply restart randomly. I went to the Genius Bar and the phone would do crazy stuff in front of our eyes, but the diagnostic showed that everything is OK.

If they are testing the refurbished phones in the same way, how can they make sure that they are "equivalent to new in performance and reliability"?

 

[opq]

As someone who had their MacBook Pro logic board replaced twice in a 4 week window, I sympathize with the folks spearheading the class action lawsuit. The Apple Store employees insisted the parts going in my MBP were new, even though I knew they were not. They even replaced my perfectly fine SSD with a refurb that would slow down all the time. I painstakingly paid $600 or so to upgrade from a 500GB 5400rpm HDD to a 256GB SSD. I threw another drive in and all the random lockups introduced by their new drive went away.

I don't think the ask is for Apple to start providing new replacements. The ask is to be transparent that "the replacements will most likely be refurbished" so folks know what they are getting into.

 

[DotCom2]

I am sure that Apple has a slew of very savvy attorneys that make sure the AppleCare+ agreement was worded perfectly against this and other things of this sort.
And yet, stupid ppl and gold digging lawyers will still try.

 

[SatManager]

Apple could just say that they are going to keep your phone and repair it. See how you like being without your phone for a week or so under the new conditions that that Apple and the courts agree upon.

AppleCare just becomes an extended warranty. No exchange, no replacement. Unless you pay extra for immediate replacement coverage for a refurb phone.

 

[Fishticks]

I thought all the parts that receive wear and tear were new parts?

- New case
- New screen
- New battery
- New buttons
- New connectors

Basically the only thing that could be "used" is the PCB inside? Something that doesn't suffer wear and tear at all?

People are either idiots, or greedy. I'm gonna vote for the latter mostly.

Sure thing is people criticizing those who defend our rights as customers are idiots.

 

[AtheistP3ace]

I would never have read that wording and felt it meant anything other than a refurbished device. Greedy people.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I painstakingly paid $600 or so to upgrade from a 500GB 5400rpm HDD to a 256GB SSD. I threw another drive in and all the random lockups introduced by their new drive went away.

Wow, you replaced a 5400RPM drive with an SSD, and the system stopped running like a piece of junk?

Stop the presses.

 

[InsoftUK]

A refurbished device tends to be in the iPhone and iPad cases a water damaged device that has gone under some form of repair, and these devices are not as strong and some component are fragile and in any case the flash storage is degraded as they is so many read or write cycles for flash storage. If you ever drop a refurbished iPad in most cases it will brake due to no protection surrounding on most of the vital chips in it as it was scraped off during the PCB repair were a new iPad would survive 100% a drop on it's back. Apple refurbished replacements are poor quality, but what you don't know can't hurt you is Apple's view and that is just not on. Apple should repair the item or replace with new, it is Apple's fualt they made it so hard to repair their own stuff, Apple you are IDOTS

 

[Karma*Police]

I personally hate that Apple gives out refurbished units, I can understand 1 year mandatory warranty doing it but considering you pay for Apple Care it seems like a bunk deal.
Also what is this nonsense that internal components don't get wear and tear? They most definitely do.

AppleCare plus is relatively cheap compared to the AT&T insurance plan I had. Admittedly, that covered loss but still, very expensive compared to AC when you factor in the monthly fees plus the really high deductible.

If Apple is forced to give out new iPhones then they'll need to jack up the price of AC which is bad for me and all the others who would be satisfied with a replacement that is slightly less than perfect.

Maybe there's a middle ground where if it breaks within 30 or 60 days of purchase, they replace it with a new iPhone, but any period beyond that, they replace it with a refurb.

 

[keysofanxiety]

A refurbished device tends to be in the iPhone and iPad cases a water damaged device that has gone under some form of repair, and these devices are not as strong and some component are fragile and in any case the flash storage is degraded as they is so many read or write cycles for flash storage. If you ever drop a refurbished iPad in most cases it will brake due to no protection surrounding on most of the vital chips in it as it was scraped off during the PCB repair were a new iPad would survive 100% a drop on it's back. Apple refurbished replacements are poor quality, but what you don't know can't hurt you is Apple's view and that is just not on. Apple should repair the item or replace with new, it is Apple's fualt they made it so hard to repair their own stuff, Apple you are IDOTS

Absolute baloney from start to finish.

 

[dpx55]

The end result will be the end of the replacement program.

Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it.

 

[BobVB]

I personally hate that Apple gives out refurbished units, I can understand 1 year mandatory warranty doing it but considering you pay for Apple Care it seems like a bunk deal.
Also what is this nonsense that internal components don't get wear and tear? They most definitely do.

Considering every person that has purchased AppleCare+ knows that their claims might be filled with refurbished units or did soon after they read the agreement and could have returned it within the full refund period I’m not sure what claim these people have.

They want a guaranteed ‘new’ unit for any claim they can get that through their personal insurance, not Apple.

 

[rdlink]

The funny thing is you never really get much with class action lawsuits anyway. Maybe $20 at most. It's not worth all the hassle.

It's the lawyers who get rich, and I'm sure helped instigate this.

Not true. The named plaintiffs usually get a great payday. And the lawyers get a big chunk. But the vast majority of the class gets little to nothing. That's why it would be so cool if, when people get their notifications in the mail they replied that they wanted to exclude themselves. That would eliminate the class.

 

[jntdroid]

I love that when an issue arrises, you can walk in with a defective phone, and out with a working one. The last thing I would want is to be without a phone, while mine is sent for repair.

Doesn't always work that easy. I had "an issue" - ear piece was crackling horribly on calls. I also have Applecare Plus. I had to wait to get an appointment with a Genius Bar person, which around my area takes forever. I then had to wait for them to ship it off to their repair center, who then determined it was replaceable. I then had to go back to the store to pick up the replacement.

The whole process took about 5 days once I was finally able to get in to see someone. That's not bad relatively speaking, and fortunately I had a backup device. But if I didn't have a backup device that would've been a major problem. And it definitely wasn't just walking in and walking out with a replacement like I expected with A+.

 

[l00pback]

Grinds my gears something rotten.

I like this. I may "borrow" it.

 

[sudo1996]

They're phrasing it like the consumers just don't like refurbished devices, and I don't see the wording saying it's new. It says right there, "equivalent to new," not "new." Don't like it? Don't agree to it.