And Europeans are paying more for these so-called "customer protections."
Sigh. At least we then can make assumptions of what we are getting for our money. In a total "non-nanny state", you would pay less for the phone, but if it stopped functioning after an unreasonable amount of time, you'd just be "out of luck"? Or I suppose you could drum up the vigilante and march to the company and take matters into your own hand?
When a product fails within a certain ("unreasonably short") time after buying it, Dutch law states that the customer is entitled to a free repair. I'm sure even in your non-nanny state, this is the case. According to the article, Apple said "the phone can't be repaired". In that case, Dutch law says "OK - then you must supply a new phone to the customer." Apple then said "we won't - we'll give her a used one." She then said "well that's not OK with me, I'd like to annull the original purchase agreement and get a refund." That's what happened. She didn't "sue for damages" or "emotional distress" (which seems to be quite common in a certain non-nanny state).
You could argue that the law could have said "in case the product can't be repaired, the seller must provide a
similar product, or a
similarly used product" - but this opens up a can of worms. You'll get one with a scratch on the screen and they could say "well yours had a scratch on the back - that's similar" etc.
Apple could argue "refurbised is
as good as new", but when you buy a new phone, you would not settle for a refurbished one (at the same price) either. The law both exists to protect customers, but
also to provide an incentive for corporations to "do the right thing" in the first place. When you buy something, you should be able to have the reasonable expectation that it'll work as advertized. You don't want a way for corporations to "weasel out" by sending out used old crap until the customer gets tired and shuts up.