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FTC Report Highlights Consumer Harms of Manufacturer Repair Restrictions
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No. That's called following Australian law and regulations.Do you really wish those days back?
Next crybabies are just around the corner...
AirTag Removable Battery Sparks Child Safety Concerns
More than a week following their international debut, Apple's AirTag item tracker is now facing child safety concerns about its replaceable...www.macrumors.com
I am happy about the success Apple has. If you don't have success in life, you will try to make life difficult for Apple. This is called envy or bad upbringing.
You're being very selective in choosing your photographs. Most PCs do not look like this in 2021.
How will that self regulate? All that will happen is that we will end up with more monopolies.
HaHa. So much for green reasons to electrify the vehicle fleet and ban internal combustion engines.
Yes it is wonderful. And all the fanboys will say this is for security reasons.
This is being taken up in the courts....Right to Repair. Apple and John Deere are in the same boat and it costs people MILLIONS.....and usually the ones that can least afford it. Watch the story of how farmers are resorting to buying older gear so they can indeed keep their machinery running with out exorbitant repair bills because Deere and Apple set the rates and keep the repair software to themselves. A happy medium must be struck for all involved.
No, of course not, I'm sure you'll be able to replace a tire out of warranty, for the low-low price of 85% what the total car retails for. Admittedly though, if your side-view mirror comes off in a side-swipe, your car will have to be totaled.
I don't understand how the costs will ensure self regulation. Must be new economics.
You are just wrong. When Apple products can be repaired they do so often on the spot. I’ve been an Apple user for a long time. I’ve taken in laptops to AirPods to be fixed & they have repaired them while I wait. I haven’t gotten replacement products, just what I brought in and seen them fix in their stores. They tell you whether you have a simple cleaning, or replacing a part. Only rarely have I traded a new iPhone for another new one. Besides they literally recycle everything if a part is defective. Who else does that?
Have to side with FTC. The original Apple in the 1970s and 1980s run by an engineer, Steve Wozniak, provided schematics with products and encouraged right to repair. The current Apple run by that clown Tim Cook just wants to make everything disposable to increase profit while offering lip service about the environment.
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Now we’ve seen the new iMacs, repairability and even user upgrades seem out the window now. Even the side hustle repair guys on Craigslist or Kijiji are going to find repairing devices tough.
Serious question. Can you link to that directive or those watches as an example please?
Replacement tyres will only be available from Apple and cost 3 times more than anywhere else because it’s vital for security that you use Apple tyres.
To me one major problem is that untrained, poorly trained, or random users can damage sensitive components then try to claim it was defective. Or cause an issue that burns down their house or blows up the battery 🔋. These are not copper tops. Even with training there have been battery explosions at Apple stores during repairs.
I hate when these government agencies use my blackness to justify stuff they wanted to do anyway. Wtf?! This is why Im beginning to hate being aligned with the left and the democrat party.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has published an in-depth report looking at how the product repair restrictions that manufacturers put in place negatively impact consumers and small businesses in various ways.
Titled "Nixing the Fix," the report covers a litany of methods that companies use to limit the ability for customers and independent business to repair their products.
Focusing on mobile phone and car manufacturers in particular, the report found that even when a warranty does not explicitly require that repairs be performed by the original manufacturer, many manufacturers restrict independent repair and repair by consumers in the following ways:
Manufacturers including Apple have argued that these repair restrictions exist to protect intellectual property rights and prevent injuries and other negative consequences, and that opening up repair access would undermine the safety and security of their products.
- Product designs that complicate or prevent repair
- Unavailability of parts and repair information
- Designs that make independent repairs less safe
- Policies or statements that steer consumers to manufacturer repair networks
- Application of patent rights and enforcement of trademarks
- Disparagement of non-OEM parts and independent repair
- Software locks and firmware updates
- End User License Agreements
However, after evaluating manufacturers' explanations for the repair restrictions via a workshop and requests for research, the FTC found "scant evidence" to support them. The report continues:
The report cites one study which found that the appearance of electronic goods was only "moderately" important to consumers, as opposed to longevity and reliability, which were "extremely" important, and suggests that the lack of information regarding repairability causes "an asymmetry in the market balance and leaves consumers unable to make the best buying decisions regarding to their own needs."
In addition, the report notes that given a choice between a low-cost repair and buying a new mobile phone, many consumers will opt for the former. In defence of this claim, it cites Apple's 2017 battery replacement program, which was introduced after Apple was found to be throttling the performance of some iPhone models to compensate for degrading batteries. In a letter to investors, CEO Tim Cook said that iPhone sales were lower than anticipated due to "some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements."
In the conclusion of the report, which was carried out at the direction of Congress and submitted with unanimous consent, the FTC pledges to address what it perceives as unfair restrictions by pursuing "appropriate law enforcement and regulatory options, as well as consumer education, consistent with our statutory authority."
The FTC also suggests that consumers can help to redress the balance by reporting when manufacturers aren't obeying the existing rules regarding repairs.
"This is a great step in the right direction," said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, commenting on the report. "The bi-partisan report shows that FTC knows that the market has not regulated itself, and is committing to real action."
Apple continues to lobby against state-level legislation that would require electronic hardware manufacturers to provide device schematics, device parts, and instructions to third-party repair shops for device repairs. A "right to repair" bill currently being contemplated in Nevada is one of many bills that states across the US are considering to put into law, although none have yet been successful.
Outside of the U.S., the European Parliament in November voted to support the recommendations of the EU Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection on the "Right to Repair," including a system of mandatory labelling on consumer electronics to provide explicit information on the repairability and lifespan of products.
Article Link: FTC Report Highlights Consumer Harms of Manufacturer Repair Restrictions
This is nothing new, and something that companies have had to deal with for ages. The difference is now that companies like Apple often not doing what they are legally suppose to do and determine if the damage by the user was the cause of problem leading to the warranty claim. They are now just starting to deny claims, and people don't know it is illegal. Just use the many post on this forum saying "it will void your warranty if you do"...
If Apple did what they are suppose to when it came to defective equipment, troubleshoot and find out what is actually wrong with it, a lot of situations like this would be caught and Apple could then legally deny a warranty claim, but since they often just say the problem is from user damage or a generic issue that requires replacement of the device, such as a bad logic board, people end up paying much more money for repairs, or having expensive devices with a minor defect that Apple refuses to repair.
I have no data to back this up, but I would suspect that there has be many, many more house fires cause by untrained cooks in the kitchen than there has been people with Apple devices.
Maybe the government should ban cooking to protect us from ourselves.
All free markets self regulate via consumer choice, if the consumer sees another shop down the street offering the same repair at a better price, or with a longer warranty, that's where they will go. That's a smart shopper.
Now naturally sometimes a shop might open up on the highstreet that offers a ridiculously good price on a repair, too good in-effect because it may turn out that they don't offer the quality service they've advertised. Their customer service may be weak, the variety of different things they can repair might be small, or they might offer a short warranty because their workmanship quality is poor. Even if they enter the market with brilliant prices, far better than anyone else the reviews consumers leave will mark the shop, they will lose customers and if they don't change their ways they will go out of business.
In this free market right to repair scenario I think Genius bars would die out pretty quickly, they're overpriced compared to third-party repair places, they offer shorter warranties, they don't repair anywhere near the amount of repairable parts that actually exist inside apple devices, they can't carry out data recovery.
Its not the government demanding this - its the consumers. The read the comments 😂
This has wide bi-partisan support from both Republicans and Democrats which is very rare and indicates this is of genuine public concern and interest.
Who's literal job is it to stand up for the people? A private company driven for profit, or the officials we elect to office?
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The onus is on all manufacturers to prove how the individual changes you made to the device have caused the fault your device is now displaying as long as its still within the warranty time period. This is the law plain and simple.
Battery explosions are a risk its true, but so is hurtling around the earth in metal boxes at 70mph+ passing merely feet from each other. At any second someone could turn their wheel a quarter turn and spell catastrophe. Car crashes happen but its no justification for people not driving. When a self driving car comes out I can afford I'll buy it, when an electronics repairing robot comes out I'll buy it.
I can replace saw blades, I can work in a kitchen with sharp knives and boiling water. I can climb under a car and replace the tyres. Sure iPhone batteries are dangerous, but not dangerous enough to not allow third party repair outlets and professionals to replace and recycle them.