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Apple Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Failing 27" iMac Displays

dude, that guy is right. Everybody knows that the screens in that line of imacs were all bad. It was like a lottery to get one with an uniform color gradient. I also had to replace it once, and then I HAD to purchase the apple care since too many screens were bad. In fact, after less than one year the screen went dark and it was replaced under warranty. The new screen was also bad, the apple ' genius' was in full denial, but i did not want to complain much, but the bottom of the display is very yellow compared with the top. I was so disappointed with this that I refuse to buy the new model when it came out last year.

I have been buying apple product since the 80s. Just to make a point, my last 5 purchases of apple product (2 iPhones5, 2 iPad mini and one iMac 27 inches) all went straight back for repair/substitution at some point. With all this mass production in china Apple quality controls now sucks and if you do not agree you are either lucky with your purchase or live in complete denial.
 
rmwebs said:
It's a very grey area, but the law is there so that when something like this comes up, the consumer is protected, and rightly so.
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to guarantee enough demand to support the large population of lawyers, and to guarantee the out-of-boundary power of the judges who can freely say the grey should be classified as "black" in one case and classified as "white" in another case.
 
KPOM said:
Yes, his comparison included sales tax. Sales tax varies by municipality here so it would be virtually impossible to quote prices inclusive of tax. I think there are over 6000 different sales tax jurisdictions in the US. I prefer our method because we can "comparison shop" different locales. The tax is in our face, so governments can't "hide" it as easily as they can in places where there is a VAT and prices are quoted inclusive.
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Even when you are physically in a store in the USA, commonly the sales taxes are not quoted.

The sale taxes here are known, 15%.
Now as a consumer which is easier, KNOWING there is a 15% sales tax which you can not avoid or figuring out which of the "virtually impossible" taxes applies and then adding it onto the price you will actually pay.
 
How can you sell such a premium product with such a weak warrantee? I would hope for better consumer protection in this country, but unfortunately the wolves are running the hen house.

We need to get the money out of Washington if any real change will ever be affected. This to me is the #1 issue our country faces and it should be a non-partisan issue if there ever was one.
 
Any product that has hundreds of pages of people complaining about failures of the product should not go unnoticed. Clearly there was a problem in manufacturing, and Apple are accountable for that regardless of warranty. High volume production with low tolerances can turn a small problem into a big one. The end user should not have to buy AppleCare to expect a reasonable life span out of a computer, we are after all paying premium prices to begin with.

Take for example the new 13" base MacBook Pro retina. 1299+279+tax is no small figure for a machine that will basically be obsolete around the time the AppleCare runs out.
 
Fanaticalism said:
Customer purchased product.
Customer decided not purchase service plan.
Customer knew manufacturer warranty was one year.
Product failed 6 months after warranty expired.
Customer feels entitled to a free replacement.

What is wrong with this picture?
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The fact that you think its acceptable to have a computer just for one year without paying for warranty. That is why in europe there is a consumer law that protects it from this nonsense as a company can pretty much do any warranty they want (i think 6 months is minimum - not sure though) but it doesn't matter because the consumer law protects you so for example in UK you have around 5 years for a device like that so you are covered no matter what you purchase.

Apple care is a rip off especially in Europe. Hence the lost lawsuits for Apple in last few years.

But its good to know that your life expectancy for a computer is one year (without paying extra for warranty). You must be rich to think this way as us "normal" people can't afford to buy a computer every year.
:p

That is what is wrong with YOUR picture.
 
KPOM said:
Given how the iPhone and iPad (but particularly the iPhone) threads here are flooded every release date with Europeans looking to score "cheap" Apple merchandise in NYC Apple stores, it seems like a lot of people prefer our pricing model.
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I seriously doubt that the price alone is a significant factor- one would have to be a complete idiot to spend more than the cost of the iPhone on the flight itself just to get the phone at NYC, but then again…
 
And an addendum to my previous post...

I'm totally against class action sleazy lawyers, but with 300 posts on this issue, Apple should have taken action by now. I've had many things replaced or repaired for free out of warranty, even from HP on a PC! OUCH!

Sometimes, I get the feeling Apple has gotten so big, they've lost their roots.

WWSWD?

What would Steve Wozniak do?

I know and it wouldn't be what Apple's doing, that's for damn sure.
 
Elijahg said:
Err... Yes they do. However, only one year on Apple kit is pretty poor nowadays, doesn't say much about what they think of their own hardware.

In the UK the statutory warranty is actually 6 years for items that should last a "reasonable length of time" even though Apple doesn't like to remind people of it. In the EU as a whole it's two years, but there's a really weird clause that the "consumer has to prove the defect existed when the product was first received". Apple got sued in the EU for refusing to honour the 2 year warranty, and pushing the 3 year AppleCare which was actually providing double coverage, since the EU already mandates a 2 year warranty.
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You are completely, absolutely wrong. You really need to read what these laws really say.

There is no "statutory warranty for 6 years". 6 years is the _claim period_. "Claim period" means six years is the absolute limit of how much time you have to complain. If you buy a Mac with a cheque, the cheque bounces, and Apple tries to get their money from you, there will be a claims period as well - if you avoid paying for so many years, they lose the right to the money.

How long a product should last, depends entirely on the product. If I buy a marble statue for my garden, that should last 50 years. But if I buy a computer, that will not be expected to last six years. 2 years if you're lucky, your rights are not against Apple, but against the seller (which may or may not be Apple), as you note yourself you have to prove that the defect was present when you received the product (that doesn't mean the defect must be noticeable, it can be a hidden defect that stops the computer from lasting as long as it should). And if you get money back, the use that you had will be taken into account as well. So you could never expect to get your full money back if a computer breaks after two years.
 
He should have purchased AppleCare

This is why regular consumers in the US have to pay so much for good products. Idiots like this opt to not purchase the extended protection coverage and when they have an issue with their system they want to rush to the legal system to be their savior instead of accepting the consequences for their actions. I hope Apple buries his butt as well as all the other customers that are too cheap to protect their investment like the rest of us.
 
This happened to me.

I own a 27" iMac with an LG screen. The left side light bar failed just outside of warranty, so I took it to my local Apple Store (Saint David's 2, Cardiff, UK).

I was told the repair would cost approximately £500, but I managed to negotiate it down to the cost of just purchasing AppleCare, which I think was about £100.

I know other people are having the same problem as me. I hope Apple acknowledges that these parts are defective, and refunds us accordingly.

Shouldn't be happening on their premium consumer desktop.
 
This same thing happened to my iMac about. 2 months ago. I've tried every possible solution (inserting a buffer in between the glass that does stop it temporarily) except the one that WILL work- re-soldiering the connect in the bottom right of the iMac.
 
After watching my friend pull his hair out because his iMac had different parts fail all the time.... I decided I would never get one and have been getting Mac Minis or building hackintoshes...

As the iMacs become less and less repairable friendly... Apple has pretty much stopped you from doing any upgrades or repairs yourself...

I'm not a fan of apples Mac hardware direction these days... Mac sales are shrinking and are only 15% of overall business. You would think with iPad and iPhones being so popular, that they would release cheaper hardware? or just not care how thin a desktop needs to be... How many people come into apple stores? probably 85% get sticker shock from Mac hardware...
 
I think if you're required to buy extended warranties for products all the time it doesn't say much for the quality of the product.

I for one agree that Apple quality care on screens sucks something bad. I've replaced no less than 3 27" Thunderbolt displays, and am just too lazy to replace the latest one at this point.

I've also gone through a couple Retina MacBook Pros... and again, I'm too lazy to complain about the bit of ghosting on this 3rd one at this point.
 
UnfetteredMind said:
Apple should just build the cost of Applecare into each device and extend the warranty to three years.

You UK'ers complain why your prices are higher, guess what's built into the price there? :)
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Actually the main additional cost is 20% Value Added Tax. Our government are greedy bar stewards. After you factor that and exchange rates in, you'll find our costs aren't as different as people think they are.
 
oopl said:
I'm glad I didn't have to deal with this issue.
I do agree that 1 year warranty is not enough.
Step up the consumer protection laws U.S.
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You know if you don't like the warranty you don't have to buy the product, right?
 
spidey211 said:
I can't believe that even some of you in here are saying things like, "there ought to be legislation..." "..that's what we have in the UK." That is really dumb... And how is the electronics manufacturing going in the UK? When are people going to wake up and see that it is idiots like this that ruin it for everyone else. NEXT TIME READ THE EULA!! You know, the one that they show you when you register your machine.... Apple doesn't have to fix it if they don't want to, and if they give in to this egomaniacal joke then every other idiot will fall right in line waiting for their hand out.

One thing consumers fail to realize is that when a product fails, there is NO WAY to tell how or why it did unless it has a big bullet hole in it. Your apple products will last if you treat them right. Just like any other product. Surge protection, did he have it? Did it fall off of his desk? Did he try getting in the bath tub with the toaster while his computer was plugged in? Your guess is as good as mine. This guy needs to get a life. Boo Hoo your computer is broken. Put on your big boy pants and deal with it. No one owes you anything.
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The warranty had nothing to do with the death of manufacturing in the UK, it was simply that it could be done cheaper elsewhere. Are you so foolish to think that consumers can shop around for the best price and manufacturers don't ?

Physical abuse is not covered under any form of warranty, so your straw man arguments are worthless.

Failure rates are a statistical problem and large manufacturers model this, so they will have a damn good idea about their potential failure rates even over a 5-10 year period.

As for spike protection, this is a known issue and therefore the product should be made to absorb these without failure. If they don't this is clearly a design fault.

If Apple or any other company wishes to do business in another country, the laws, etc etc are well known to them before the open up shop, Apple and other manufacturers can there fore choose to operate in that country or not..

Choice works both ways.
 
Figures...

Any some slimy lawyer stepped right up to the plate dreaming of a class action in which he and his firm would end up with the vast majority of whatever could be extorted from Apple. Why am I not surprised?
 
gnasher729 said:
You are completely, absolutely wrong. You really need to read what these laws really say.

There is no "statutory warranty for 6 years". 6 years is the _claim period_. "Claim period" means six years is the absolute limit of how much time you have to complain. If you buy a Mac with a cheque, the cheque bounces, and Apple tries to get their money from you, there will be a claims period as well - if you avoid paying for so many years, they lose the right to the money.

How long a product should last, depends entirely on the product. If I buy a marble statue for my garden, that should last 50 years. But if I buy a computer, that will not be expected to last six years. 2 years if you're lucky, your rights are not against Apple, but against the seller (which may or may not be Apple), as you note yourself you have to prove that the defect was present when you received the product (that doesn't mean the defect must be noticeable, it can be a hidden defect that stops the computer from lasting as long as it should). And if you get money back, the use that you had will be taken into account as well. So you could never expect to get your full money back if a computer breaks after two years.
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I have both working PCs and Apple Macs working for 5-10 years. I expected 5 years while knowing they'd be not up to date of course.

This Jobsian notion of the disposable computer is a joke and why he was a green energy phony. In Jobs mind, you just throw it away and spend another $2000 in 18 months. Apple doesn't even do repairs on much of anything anymore.

I have probably done more computer repairs than the average Apple Store!
They just ship it back to Apple and that's if you're lucky.

I took my original IPhone into an Apple store because the power button jammed inside the phone and they said that they couldn't help because it was out of warranty AND I PAID FULL PRICE FOR IT PLUS THE HIGH ATT MONTHLY RATE! :-(
 
sir1963nz said:
Even when you are physically in a store in the USA, commonly the sales taxes are not quoted.

The sale taxes here are known, 15%.
Now as a consumer which is easier, KNOWING there is a 15% sales tax which you can not avoid or figuring out which of the "virtually impossible" taxes applies and then adding it onto the price you will actually pay.
Click to expand...

But you have a unified system with a single government charging a ridiculously high rate. Here we have different states, and even different cities within each state competing for our business. We're used to dealing with different tax rates in different places. It's a different system. The retailer can't control sales tax. That money doesn't go to the retailer, anyway. Companies like to have relatively uniform retail prices throughout their networks. It just isn't practical to adjust every price for every tax jurisdiction.

Some places (e.g. bars, concession stands at sports stadiums) will post prices inclusive of tax, but that's primarily because they round off prices so that they don't need to make change.

Notably, gasoline is one of the few products here quoted tax inclusive. It also is one of the most heavily taxed items. The lesson is that "inclusive" pricing makes it easier to "hide" high taxes. We might all know the rate, but there's a psychological effect about seeing the tax added on. On a similar note, I sometimes think that income taxes would be lower if we had to pay it directly like any other bill, rather than having it automatically withheld from our paychecks.
 
dai.hop said:
This happened to me.

I own a 27" iMac with an LG screen. The left side light bar failed just outside of warranty, so I took it to my local Apple Store (Saint David's 2, Cardiff, UK).

I was told the repair would cost approximately £500, but I managed to negotiate it down to the cost of just purchasing AppleCare, which I think was about £100.

I know other people are having the same problem as me. I hope Apple acknowledges that these parts are defective, and refunds us accordingly.

Shouldn't be happening on their premium consumer desktop.
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You should've got trading standards involved mate. You would've got a free repair then.
 
iJon said:
It boggles my mind sometimes that people still avoid AppleCare on the iMac. It's $169, can often times be had for less on eBay and I can assure you, there are not many parts in that computer if any at all that are cheaper than $169, and that's not even factoring in labor.
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Agreed, the cost of AppleCare on an iMac is by far the best value for any of their computers, I recommend anyone buying an iMac to spring for it, it's great piece of mind for 3 worry-free years of use.
 
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