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I do agree with people demanding warranty for defects and not accidents.

Not sure about Australia, but the EU and UK statutory warranties are all about defects and do not cover accidental damage.


In America, we have the choice unlike most other countries:
A. Buy a computer and hope Apple's quality control standards are high enough of a risk to buy something without a warranty.
B. Buy AppleCare/SquareTrade/Warranty in general for accidents & defects.

Let's translate that into non-US English. The real choice is:

A. Buy a computer from a manufacturer with no incentive to make products that last for more than 90 days.
B. Pay (usually*) an insurance company (indirectly or directly) to insure yourself against the risk that the manufacturer has done a shoddy job - plus a lot of extras like telephone support or accidental damage cover that you may not want. Since electronic stuff is actually quite reliable, this is a license to print money.

Doesn't sound quite so God Bless USA that way, does it?

C results in a price hike. At times, I rather pay for a product without the additional warranty and hope it doesn't fail.

And if it does fail, guess what? Lots of people take out warranties rather than take the risk, so in a free market the cost of repair services is now determined not by how much customers are prepared to pay, but by how much insurance companies will pay. So be prepared to pay through the nose for those repairs. N.b. the insurance company is a much better customer for the repair service than you are, so don't expect them to give a wet slap about your custom unless they can persuade you to sign up for their "own" warranty plan (which gets them a nice commission from the insurer). After all, if you're selling warranty services you want all the potential punters to know how expensive repairs are.

I like to pay $2,000 for a MacBook and not $3,000 for inflated warranty practices, when I could easily buy AppleCare for a much cheaper amount.

Only if you believe the utter FUD that these differences are all down to half-decent consumer rights.

At least half of that difference is sales tax - included in the sticker price in many places outside of the US. Then there's hedging against currency fluctuations. Now think of the extra cost of selling to lots of little countries with their own languages, currencies and legal systems c.f. the large single market of the USA, not to mention various import tariffs. Even the EU isn't quite the big single market it is cracked up to be. Then add on a bit of mark-up 'because you can' - in reality, people don't go shopping with a local-currency-to-dollars calculator, because it is meaningless: today's exchange rate is £1 = $1.64 - please point me to the bank where I could hand over a quid and get a dollar 64 back.

(* Since Apple are famously sitting on billions of dollars of cash-y money, maybe they act as their own insurance company, but I bet the folk in the Applecare division are pretty much run like an insurer).
 
Not sure about Australia, but the EU and UK statutory warranties are all about defects and do not cover accidental damage.

No statutory warranties in Australia don't cover accidental or malicious damage either but they do cover a reasonable* level of wear and tear along with manufacturing defects.

As you say the legislation it's all about making sure the consumer gets what is sold to them. The other important part is to give the consumer a channel to get issue resolution with out the need for lawyers and courts.

*reasonable is still a bit subjective, it doesn't cover the item looking box new but the purchaser can expect a serviceable life out of the item.
 
With Apple's pricing who could tell?

Well, some people here seem to think that the cost of providing a EU/Oz-style statutory warranty is somehow going to be more than the cost of AppleCare, which provides far more than the statutory minimum plus a profit margin for Apple. Not logical captain.

Logically the true cost must be the difference in price of AppleCare in the UK (which only has to cover the bells and whistles over and above the UK statutory warranty) and the US (which includes the defect cover).

So let's see - UK price for AppleCare on a new base Mac Pro = £199.
Take of 20% sales tax: £166
Exchange rate of £1=$1.60 brings that to $265

Now, cost of AppleCare on base nMP in the US = $249, so:

$249 - $265 = -$16…

Hence, the unit cost of providing a UK-style statutory warranty for the Mac Pro in the US would be minus sixteen dollars. Er, hang on...

Lesson of the day: logic and simplistic calculations do not apply in this situation. Local prices are largely based on what the local market will bear. The main reason US prices are lower is that it is a huge single market with 300 million punters, one currency and one main language.


No statutory warranties in Australia don't cover accidental or malicious damage either but they do cover a reasonable* level of wear and tear along with manufacturing defects.

Well, yes, but presumably in the sense that failing to withstand reasonable wear and tear is a manufacturing defect.
 
I would say that the person who needs to ridicule a valid comment, insult someone and then laugh about it is the one who needs to "get a life". :rolleyes:

In addition, the guy who tried to insult you seemed to think that backups are a lot of work - but if you have a Mac that is properly set up, it is actually zero work. On the other hand, when my wife's iPad broke (which was always backed up without her even noticing), and she got a replacement, I just typed in our Apple ID, and some time later it was 100% identical to the old iPad.
 
pity UK consumer law wasnt as tight as in Aus.

Pity you don't know UK consumer law. Another pity that you didn't say very clear what happened. 1. The manufacturer has no responsibility towards you beyond the manufacturer's warranty. 2. The seller has more responsibility - but you didn't say who the seller was. If you buy at PC World, then after a year Apple has no responsibility, but PC World has. If you buy at an Apple Store, Apple still has responsibility. 3. After six months, if you don't rely on the manufacturer's warranty, you have to show that the fault was in the product and not caused by you. Normally no visible outside damage should be enough proof. 4. If you don't tell them about this, they are not going to do anything.
 
Pity you don't know UK consumer law. Another pity that you didn't say very clear what happened. 1. The manufacturer has no responsibility towards you beyond the manufacturer's warranty. 2. The seller has more responsibility - but you didn't say who the seller was. If you buy at PC World, then after a year Apple has no responsibility, but PC World has. If you buy at an Apple Store, Apple still has responsibility. 3. After six months, if you don't rely on the manufacturer's warranty, you have to show that the fault was in the product and not caused by you. Normally no visible outside damage should be enough proof. 4. If you don't tell them about this, they are not going to do anything.

Oh sorry i assumed you had more then two brain cells to figure out since the discussion was about apple and i had a apple iPod , i purchased it from the apple store, not pc world or i wouldn't be posting about apple id make a new thread about pc world the so called genius at the apple store said this was a know fault with the iPod classic but they wanted 90 pound to fix it.

oh and last time i checked tim cooke didn't work at pc world or did he suddenly move?

:rolleyes:

----------

. On the other hand, when my wife's iPad broke (which was always backed up without her even noticing), and she got a replacement, I just typed in our Apple ID, and some time later it was 100% identical to the old iPad.

what so because you made a backup apple gave you a 100 percent identical iPad ? that was nice of them, how much time later? did it just suddenly appear magically did a genius wave his magic wand and it was delivered to your door by a unicorn in a santa suit?
 
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Just a wee update to my problem,

got a call from Apple store monday asked if i could take my ipod 160gb classic in for them to take another look at,

Agreed to swap it out for a new unit at no extra cost to myself.

amazing what a strongly worded Email to Tim Cooke (i know he personally didn't read it) can accomplish.
 
what so because you made a backup apple gave you a 100 percent identical iPad ? that was nice of them, how much time later? did it just suddenly appear magically did a genius wave his magic wand and it was delivered to your door by a unicorn in a santa suit?

Severe lack of reading comprehension.

Fact 1: iPads have a backup feature that is very easily installed and so unobtrusive that my wife - who is the major user of that iPad - didn't even know that backups happened.

Fact 2: When your iPad breaks out of warranty, and if you can't find any reason why Apple should pay for it to be fixed, Apple offers you an identical replacement for a payment. That offer doesn't seem to be time limited.

Fact 3: Apple doesn't employ unicorns in santa suits. The genius didn't wave a magic wand either. Instead, he left for a minute, went to the back of the store, and came back with a new iPad.

These facts put together, my wife took that new iPad home, turned it on, entered Apple Id and password, picked the right WiFi network, and a bit later it was exactly as before. That compares very well to other computers, where getting a replacement is still a major pain.

Oh sorry i assumed you had more then two brain cells to figure out since the discussion was about apple and i had a apple iPod , i purchased it from the apple store, not pc world or i wouldn't be posting about apple id make a new thread about pc world the so called genius at the apple store said this was a know fault with the iPod classic but they wanted 90 pound to fix it.

Most people having problems with a third party seller will complain about Apple. There have even been threads about phone companies in the UK, where the person who sold you the phone will (a) send you to the Apple Store next door to fix it (which is illegal), and (b) when Apple refuses because the 1 year warranty is over AND their "genius" offers the customer their expert opinion that the phone was sold defectively (in other words the "proof" that you need to force the seller to fix the phone), they _lie_ to the customer that they don't have to repair it because it is made by a US company and UK law doesn't apply...

I'd also say that you are pretty insulting here, but your wit let's you down severely, so I won't start arguing about that.
 
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No statutory warranties in Australia don't cover accidental or malicious damage either but they do cover a reasonable* level of wear and tear along with manufacturing defects.

As you say the legislation it's all about making sure the consumer gets what is sold to them. The other important part is to give the consumer a channel to get issue resolution with out the need for lawyers and courts.

*reasonable is still a bit subjective, it doesn't cover the item looking box new but the purchaser can expect a serviceable life out of the item.

Just because its Australian law, doesn't mean its always followed. While those businesses would 'eventually' be caught out, that's' only IF someone raises it.
 
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