Apple Officially Launches Third-Party USB Charger Takeback Program in 30 Countries

[Richdmoore]

So you've answered what I've been asking. They only accept knockoffs.

I am betting that there is a lot of confusion about what they will accept and what they won't. I emailed apple's executive team about my issue with apple's service provider refusing to offer the program today.

I would suggest that others who get denied (such as the person trying to use a samsung branded charger) email as well to confirm that it is only pirated or knockoff chargers that can be exchanged and not any third party phone charger. I imagine that there could be some rogue stores that are not acting per the instructions from corporate.

i used the sjobs@apple.com address to contact the executive support team. I have not heard a response yet, but it is Saturday.

 

[SeaFox]

I think he's right, but yeah, we should really keep our opinions to ourselves on a forum.

Actually, only Apple employees should be allowed to speak here.

I think you're confusing MacRumors with Apple's own discussion forums.

 

[charlituna]

Great! Now I can get some additional 10/12W chargers for my several iPads for REALLY cheap

Not really since you have to present a device and turn in a charger for each iPad.

----------

Is it only the charger or is a cord included with the charger?

Only the wall charger, no cables or car chargers, docks etc

 

[coolspot18]

Apple's Official charger probably only costs a couple dollars to make at most ... either way, Apple is still making a healthy markup.

----------

So a bunch of cheapos go buy a cheap chinese adaptors and Apple has to replace them?

What nonsense. Those people deserve to have their phones blow up in their face for their cheapness.

Shouldn't the phone have some sort of charging smarts to prevent an overload?

----------

We have counterfeit Apple stores here in Canada too. They’re called “Samsung."

Only one in Canada ... in Burnaby of all places.

 

[macs4nw]

Why would there need to protection from unauthorized third-party chargers? The instruction manual says to only use Apple authorized chargers. If you decide to not follow the instructions, you deserve whatever you get.

Of course, it's all Apple's fault because people want their products and they don't give them away. Don't buy it if you don't like the price, but don't blame Apple for someone else's unscrupulous behavior.

Agreed; 'you get what you pay for' may be an old saying, but it usually still applies. If you buy an apparently similar product for one-third the price, or less, you can be sure that corners have been cut, somewhere.

Imho, what this program comes down to, is:

1) Great PR; Apple looking good, for caring about their customers, who've 'strayed' and regretted.

2) Henceforth putting doubt in customers' minds, about the wisdom of saving a couple of bucks on non-Apple accessories.

3) Pre-emptive strike against future lawsuits; Apple having done everything reasonable in their power, to prevent injuries or fatalities partially involving their hardware.

Iow, a very smart move by Apple.

 

[Plutonius]

Just reduce it's regular price to $10.

To make something safe that works, it cost more then $10.00. The reason the Chinese knockoffs are cheaper is because they cut corners (and look how they are not safe).

 

[12vElectronics]

So i am guessing the new original charger might cost Apple $2 or $3 or even $5.
Or even $8 (very unlikely).

This recall is a very clever advertising campaign: stay in the news and be considered as a company which cares about safety of its products, even to the point of exchanging a bad charger for a good one; at no cost to Apple of course.

Brilliant! This advertising campaign is brilliant and its free to Apple.

I bow to the geniuses at Apple. They do the exchange a their stores..... get people to come into their stores to do the exchange.... these people will probably buy more while there...... and at the same time Apple will be considered the samaritan-corporate hero by news media.

Nothing wrong with this strategy, in my view.

Yep. I think it's great as well.

 

[maxosx]

This is really a great gesture from apple.
But where is singapore apple !!!

A great gesture? You've got to be kidding.

It's a $4 part that Apple retails for a "screw the customer-they won't mind" $20!

So they lower the price in a self serving move designed to keep their profits flowing and you are impressed?

How very very sad. Clueless & sad.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Not really since you have to present a device and turn in a charger for each iPad.

Yeah, I know... I have all the iPad models (I'm a dev, a lecturer and also a tech writer - so I need to have all iDevice models). and I also have some cr@ppy Chinese chargers I've ordered back in 2010 (and haven't used since) when I still didn't know how cr@ppy they are.

 

[donutbagel]

I am betting that there is a lot of confusion about what they will accept and what they won't. I emailed apple's executive team about my issue with apple's service provider refusing to offer the program today.

I would suggest that others who get denied (such as the person trying to use a samsung branded charger) email as well to confirm that it is only pirated or knockoff chargers that can be exchanged and not any third party phone charger. I imagine that there could be some rogue stores that are not acting per the instructions from corporate.

i used the sjobs@apple.com address to contact the executive support team. I have not heard a response yet, but it is Saturday.

To be honest, I think you're spending too much time to get a $9 discount (minus the value of your trade-in). A Samsung charger should be fine anyway unless you just want something with more capacity.

 

[Menneisyys2]

I think you're confusing MacRumors with Apple's own discussion forums.

There, there are very few (unwritten but very-strictly-adhered-to) rules:

- no referring to jailbreaking
- not uttering the expression "class suit action against Apple" when talking about a (major) problem - these posts are censored in 2-3 minutes there
- being ready to be called a "clueless, ignorant, stupid whiner" or a "liar" by Apple MVP's if one dares to complain about a missing feature (for example, cursor movement keys on the on-screen keyboard)

 

[Tork]

A great gesture? You've got to be kidding.

It's a $4 part that Apple retails for a "screw the customer-they won't mind" $20!

So they lower the price in a self serving move designed to keep their profits flowing and you are impressed?

How very very sad. Clueless & sad.

I'm pretty sure iPhone chargers don't result in much profit for the multibillion dollar company, so that's not why they price them the way they do.

Supply and demand says people will pay $20 for their chargers. Why would they charge less? Why would any company charge less than what people will pay for their things? They have no obligation to offer their chargers for less, and therefore this is a very nice gesture on their part.

And regardless, is $20 for a tiny well-designed charger really that expensive? One comes in the box, so it'd be a spare anyway. Nobody is forcing you to buy one.

 

[Tankmaze]

A great gesture? You've got to be kidding.

It's a $4 part that Apple retails for a "screw the customer-they won't mind" $20!

So they lower the price in a self serving move designed to keep their profits flowing and you are impressed?

How very very sad. Clueless & sad.

Huh, clueless & sad ? So let me get this straight, a woman in china got electrocuted by a cheap and fake charger. A month later apple create a worldwide program to exchange fake adapter that we bought for like what $2-$4 and pay for half price on the original so we don't get electrocuted, and that is sad ?

We all know about this so called "apple tax" / premium price for their product, and i'm sure you are willing to pay for it, otherwise you won't be here.

What other company that you know that did this kind of thing ?

5 years ago, when I used a nokia phone. The original battery cost a lot, for like $40 -$50 , and there was a fake "compatible" china battery cost for only like $10. There were news about this cheap battery that can overheat and explode, and nokia knew about this, what did they do ? nothing.

So yeah let me repeat myself, this is a great gesture from apple.

 

[iosuser]

I guess this is up to the individual store or rep you're dealing with.

I just came back with an extra 12W charger for my iPads. Brought an old, humongous Blackberry charger with my iPad 4 to use for the exchange. The rep says "Blackberry huh", didn't act like he cared and just entered the description into the system.

The chargers used under this exchange program are shipped to the stores in brown bags. The funny part is, the detachable piece with the electrical prongs is described as "duck head". Looking at it now, yeah it really looks like a duck head lol.

PS they will only give you what your device came with. The guy brought out a 10W charger at first. Another guy caught it and said he needs the 12W for his iPad 4. So I guess if you brought in an iPad 3 you'll receive the 10W version.

BEWARE - Apple retail store clerks (including Store Manager) are very ANAL about what you turn in. It must be a generic fake USB knock-off. Although they state "turn in at least one USB power adapter" they won't accept just any regular USB power adapter.

I just tried to do this and my I brought an old USB adapter from a prior generation Samsung phone and after waiting 45 minutes to be "checked in" via the Genius Bar appointment system as a walk-in" I was told "that's a Samsung, not a 3rd party USB. We don't accept that".

So, if you really want to take advantage of this to get an Apple power supply for $10 instead of $20, head over to eBay ASAP and buy one of those generic Apple USB power supplies (approx $1.50 USD with free shipping) and hope you receive before this "limited time" promo ends.

Oh, and book a Genius Bar appointment in advance so you don't have to wait when you get to the store.

 

[RobertMartens]

I wonder if we will see a similar scheme with Macbook chargers? £50 is simply too much for some people, especially when the fake ones cost £15..

Why do you call it fake? The cheaper power adapters are not fake.. An adapter is real if it works.

 

[donutbagel]

Why do you call it fake? The cheaper power adapters are not fake.. An adapter is real if it works.

They look exactly like Apple ones. Also, I've seen a knockoff MacBook charger, and it works but does not always show the light and is poorly constructed.

----------

There, there are very few (unwritten but very-strictly-adhered-to) rules:

- no referring to jailbreaking
- not uttering the expression "class suit action against Apple" when talking about a (major) problem - these posts are censored in 2-3 minutes there
- being ready to be called a "clueless, ignorant, stupid whiner" or a "liar" by Apple MVP's if one dares to complain about a missing feature (for example, cursor movement keys on the on-screen keyboard)

I think they want it to be purely for technical help and not for any kind of opinion, which is understandable, but they should do some rewording. And you can't get technical help for jailbroken stuff because Apple hates that

 

[brdeveloper]

Just buy a plastic iPhone 5C and you won't suffer any electric shock.

 

[yusukeaoki]

Only in countries where fake chargers are sold the most lol

 

[saha-med]

Singapore's not in the list aw

 

[rdlink]

If the regular price of the Apple adapters was $10 they never would have had this issue to begin with...

That's a crock. First of all, they don't have an issue. When people buy counterfeit chargers and get electrocuted, it's their issue, not Apple's.

Second, no matter what Apple were to set the price at, people would always be looking for a "bargain." It's human nature. It's why some people will spend 8 hours searching on line for an airfare that's $20 cheaper. Some people are just too stupid to know the real cost of things.

But that's the beauty of nature. No matter what "society" does to try to protect the stupid, natural selection will eventually overcome it.

----------

Why do you call it fake? The cheaper power adapters are not fake.. An adapter is real if it works.

Until it kills your machine. Or you...

 

[BarryL]

i used the sjobs@apple.com address to contact the executive support team. I have not heard a response yet, but it is Saturday.

Let us know how that works out.

 

[krravi]

Apple's Official charger probably only costs a couple dollars to make at most ... either way, Apple is still making a healthy markup.

----------



Shouldn't the phone have some sort of charging smarts to prevent an overload?

----------



Only one in Canada ... in Burnaby of all places.

Sure, if you can put a transformer inside a phone.

 

[gnasher729]

Why do you call it fake? The cheaper power adapters are not fake.. An adapter is real if it works.

Excuse me, but that is nonsense.

First, a power adapter that is intentionally made to look like an Apple adapter, except possibly for the writing on it (adapters were found marked as "made by Appel", "designed by California" and variations) is a fake, whether it works or not.

Second, an Apple adapter (or any good quality adapter) takes an input of 220 Volt / 50 Hertz and produces an output of 5 Volt DC. Rubbish adapters produce an output anywhere between 3 Volt and 6 Volt, changing between these voltages at 50 Hertz. Phones are not designed for this. With iPhones, a typical effect is that you can't use the touch screen while the phone is charged (that is hammered with 50 Hertz varying voltage by the charger). A charger producing too high a voltage can destroy the phone.

Third, many cheap chargers don't produce the amperes that the iPhone excpects, so that is why your phone might take so long to charge.

Fourth, many cheap chargers are not actually built to stand the heat during a long charge.

And fifth, there is 220 Volt coming into the charger. 220 Volt is lethal. A quality charger is built to make sure that under no circumstances will the 220 Volt reach the cable. Cheap chargers, as a woman in China sadly found out, don't make sure. Especially after a long charging session, where cheap plastic inside the charger gets hot and doesn't stay hard anymore but can start moving around.

 

[Lannoc]

A great gesture? You've got to be kidding.

It's a $4 part that Apple retails for a "screw the customer-they won't mind" $20!

So they lower the price in a self serving move designed to keep their profits flowing and you are impressed?

How very very sad. Clueless & sad.

I am impressed. I think it's a brilliant move.

 

[RobertMartens]

Everybody got a nice Apple Charger when they got their device. Let's all use them. Problem solved.