Macs Effectively Now Have a Three-Year Warranty in Australia and New Zealand Under Consumer Law

[tillsbury]

I’m not sure why people think prices will go up. There is no new law here. New Zealand has had this law for decades. The difference is that Apple now has internal policies that fully recognise the Consumer Guarantees Act instead of consumers needing to bring Apple before a tribunal each time it disagrees with what a ‘reasonable’ period of time means.

Agreed. The New Zealand law is strong and has been tested to show that a decent laptop has a "reasonable" life expectancy of at least five years. That's why it's more expensive to buy Apple gear in NZ, and why Applecare is somewhat irrelevant here. To be fair, Apple has always been good at this and rarely needs to be "brought before a tribunal".

This is just a note that makes it clear internally within Apple that they won't question anything under three years. On the other hand, within Australia this is probably something of an improvement as the law there isn't currently considered to be unquestionably three years.

 

[colinchuang]

Don’t know why this is only being mentioned now unless it’s just been formalised. It’s been around for a while, even with phones and iPads, which are 2 years under Aus Consumer Law. It’s been good. I still get AppleCare on my phone and watch as it’s much cheaper to repair a screen with it, and the chances of breaking it are much higher.

 

[tillsbury]

Certainly the linked page referring to cover in New Zealand on Apple's website has been there for many years. I read it in 2012 before buying my original Retina Macbook. Maybe it's just that MacRumors has only just found it...

 

[scarecrowmac]

Apple will now offer warranty coverage on most Mac parts for up to 24 months after its limited one-year warranty period

Is this 24 or 36 months?

 

[charlituna]

these consumer laws have zilch to do with the warranty, which is serviced by Apple. They are about the seller to buyer. if someone buys from a 3rd party and something breaks after 1 year, Apple can still legally refuse to service it for free under these laws because you have to go back to the seller

 

[macTW]

Three years is a bit ridiculous. If there are issues by then, it’s either a defect deserving of a recall or user error.

 

[tillsbury]

these consumer laws have zilch to do with the warranty, which is serviced by Apple. They are about the seller to buyer. if someone buys from a 3rd party and something breaks after 1 year, Apple can still legally refuse to service it for free under these laws because you have to go back to the seller

Indeed, and that's a critical point. In NZ we don't have Apple stores but we do have online ordering. IMHO it would be idiotic to buy an Apple product from a retailer over here, as you would have to do all claims through the retailer (who knows nothing), and then repairs through a third-party repairer (who are usually a bit iffy). Buying from Apple online you just ring them up and they deal to it.

In Oz you can buy from the Apple store and deal only with them. But you would be out of luck trying to get a fault repaired after more than three years.

 

[Ries]

Two-year warranties in the US would probably signal the slow death of AppleCare and the profits that come with it. I’m sure Apple hopes that never happens in the US.

There is only warranty costs if you make a bad product
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Three years is a bit ridiculous. If there are issues by then, it’s either a defect deserving of a recall or user error.

User errors aren't covered by warranty. So 3 years shouldn't make a difference.

 

[Music Ambulance]

I’m not sure why people think prices will go up. There is no new law here. New Zealand has had this law for decades. The difference is that Apple now has internal policies that fully recognise the Consumer Guarantees Act instead of consumers needing to bring Apple before a tribunal each time it disagrees with what a ‘reasonable’ period of time means.

And what’s more, it’s not effective from 13 December 2017—it’s would be 2014

 

[Defthand]

You are basically describing the current situation in the US. Apple declares a one year "quality level". A lesser quality manufacturer may declare a 6 month "quality level" if they choose. So is your gripe that Apple doesn't declare a higher/longer quality level?

And I don't follow your logic that declaring your own warranty period absolves them from liability of defective or subpar parts. They are liable, during their specified warranty period. Unless you are referring to companies with no warranty at all, which would be very unusual for electronics.

A manufacturer’s warranty is arbitrary and nonmandatory. When one is offered, it is not without retractions and limitations that favor the manufacturer. The issue is when you spend more to buy a “premium product” but the warranty is not commensurate with the cost of the item. For example, I bought a Mitsubishi DLP tv for $3500. A similarly sized plasma tv was less than half the cost. Less than 3 years later, hundreds of owners like myself experienced flawed circuit boards. The cost of replacement was $900 plus labor. Mitsubishi was sued. Still, the only resolution was an opportunity to purchase the next gen model for cost, provided you surrender your original tv for “study purposes”. The clincher is that the advanced, unproven tech features of the product were not the problem. It was a commonplace part that should have provided many years of service.

 

[Nermal]

Is this 24 or 36 months?

An additional 24 on top of the "base" 12, so 36 in total.

instead of consumers needing to bring Apple before a tribunal each time it disagrees with what a ‘reasonable’ period of time means.

There was a recent thread on Geekzone where someone had a 2011 MBP (now considered obsolete by Apple) with the infamous GPU failure. He took Apple to the tribunal and nobody even bothered to turn up. The guy was awarded $2000 towards a new machine.

 

[TheHammer]

The one good thing about living here lol.

Don’t forget about the free health care ;-)

 

[Tucom]

By now, the average expected service life of electronic components should be well known. It’s ridiculous that manufacturers can absolve themselves of any liability for defective or subpar parts by declaring a warranty period of their own choosing. The warranty should be proportional to the quality level declared by the manufacturer. If Apple, for example, were to advertise that their laptops meet a defined industry specification for best-in-class parts, then Apple should back up that claim with a better guarantee. What do they stand to lose if their advertising claim is genuine? Meanwhile, a discount-minded manufacturer can declare a lower quality expectation for its product and have less liability for performance failures.

This, is brilliant. 100% in agreement.

 

[haddy]

Indeed, and that's a critical point. In NZ we don't have Apple stores but we do have online ordering. IMHO it would be idiotic to buy an Apple product from a retailer over here, as you would have to do all claims through the retailer (who knows nothing), and then repairs through a third-party repairer (who are usually a bit iffy). Buying from Apple online you just ring them up and they deal to it.You can buy from the Apple store and deal only with them. But you would be out of luck trying to get a fault repaired after more than three years.

Well a few years ago my BTO iMac's hinge broke (late 2012 27"). The new hinge and logic board were shipped from Sydney and arrived at the repairer (Imagetext Integrated Solutions) in Auckland in 4 hours!!!
Repaired within the day...definitely not "iffy" more like unbelievable good!! and still working just fine. All under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

 

[DaveP]

A manufacturer’s warranty is arbitrary and nonmandatory. When one is offered, it is not without retractions and limitations that favor the manufacturer. The issue is when you spend more to buy a “premium product” but the warranty is not commensurate with the cost of the item. For example, I bought a Mitsubishi DLP tv for $3500. A similarly sized plasma tv was less than half the cost. Less than 3 years later, hundreds of owners like myself experienced flawed circuit boards. The cost of replacement was $900 plus labor. Mitsubishi was sued. Still, the only resolution was an opportunity to purchase the next gen model for cost, provided you surrender your original tv for “study purposes”. The clincher is that the advanced, unproven tech features of the product were not the problem. It was a commonplace part that should have provided many years of service.

If "the warranty is not commensurate with the cost of the item" then don't buy it. Or buy a third party warranty. Or understand the risk of bad things happening in life. Basically, do whatever you want to do. And that can include arguing for longer manufacturer warrantees on online forums to try to pressure companies to increase their warranty. But personally I don't need to government telling me I can only buy products with certain length warranties and deciding how long a warranty should be based on the perceived quality of an item.

 

[Brandhouse]

... we can't guarantee that every employee will be knowledgable about this policy. The 36-month coverage period for Macs is effective from today--that's December 13, 2017.

If it falls under the change to Consumer Law, then yes, every person at an Apple store should be aware of this. You don't have a job and choose what you want to know and don't.

 

[iMacC2D]

Removed.

 

[Thunderbird]

God I wish we had similar consumer protection laws in Canada. We still pay about 35-40% more for the same Apple products than the US.

 

[dampfnudel]

There is only warranty costs if you make a bad product

And if you unintentionally stray away from making the best products at some point in the future to ensure your excessive margins or more to the point, focus too much on the short term gain.

 

[msephton]

I'm in the UK and in October 2016 - thanks to Consumer Law - I got a free replacement 500GB SSD fitted in my wife's late-2013 Retina MacBook Pro. Less than one month away from the machine being 3 years old.

 

[DaveP]

God I wish we had similar consumer protection laws in Canada. We still pay about 35-40% more for the same Apple products than the US.

Huh? Are you treating US and Canadian dollars as equivalent? I quickly checked a couple of computers and accounting for currency exchange the price on the Canadian Apple Store was less than 5% more in each case.

 

[VictorTango777]

This shouldn't be a problem for Apple because I never had problems with Mac in a first 4-5 years, but rest of PC industry going to struggle.

Dell UltraSharp monitors have a standard 3 year warranty with advance exchange, with up to 5 year warranty available.

Extended warranties for Dell and Lenovo laptops include onsite service for up to 5 years. For the price of AppleCare for MacBook Pro, onsite service should be available.

Remember when everyone thought Apple was going to make a car? What would the warranty have been? Standard 1 year/6000 miles and 3 year/18,000 miles with AppleCare?

 

[dotnet]

This is nothing new, of course. The Australian Consumer Guarantee came into effect in 2011. It covers all consumer products, not just computers or electronics.

https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/consumer-guarantees

This is also not an extended warranty. Manufacturer warranty and consumer guarantee are not the same:

A warranty is a voluntary promise offered by the person or business who sold the product or service to you. Once you buy the product or service, the promise becomes a right that can be enforced under the ACL.

Warranties are separate from your automatic consumer guarantees. The consumer guarantees which apply regardless of any warranties suppliers sell or give to you, apply for a reasonable time depending on the nature of the goods or services. This means consumer guarantees may continue to apply after the time period for the warranty has expired.

The key words here are reasonable time depending on the nature of the goods or services.

With the few out-of-warranty claims I had, Apple always came through and fixed them at no extra cost to me, even before 2011. Now, what constitutes a reasonable expectation of durability for any product has to be either agreed between vendor and customer, or in case of a dispute, established by the courts. Since 2011, ample precedent would have accumulated for the consumer laptop market. Also, I would imagine Apple being loathe to drag product defect disputes through the courts unnecessarily, and have apparently – via internal policy – decided that the reasonable expectation of durability of a MacBook is three years. This will cover most claims without involving red tape or lawyers, the rest will probably be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

This shouldn't be a problem for Apple because I never had problems with Mac in a first 4-5 years, but rest of PC industry going to struggle.

Its funny how I’ve almost exclusively have had problems with macs in the first year, but after fixing they last a long time afterwards.

 

[69650]

Given the high prices of their products, Apple should provide a 3 year warranty as standard worldwide.