With the introduction of the iPhone 6s lineup and the new iPhone Upgrade Program, Apple’s AppleCare+ extended warranty program gets a slight price increase to $129 from the previous $99 price point.
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Apple and Best Buy have agreed to begin selling both the standard AppleCare protection plan for Macs and the more premium AppleCare+ for iPhones, iPads, and the Apple Watch through Best Buy stores, according to sources. The plans call for Best Buy to begin offering the AppleCare plans in its stores at checkout around the week of September 14th, just ahead of the iPhone 6S launch. This will mark a notable expansion of the Apple and Best Buy relationship, and Best Buy will become one of the only retailers, aside from select U.S. carriers, to offer AppleCare outside of an Apple Store.
Apple today announced a replacement program for the 3TB hard drive included in some 27-inch iMac models due to a concern that some of the components “may fail under certain conditions.” Apple doesn’t mention a specific product number, but notes that affected machines would have been sold between December 2012 and September 2013, which would apply to Apple’s late 2012 iMac model.
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Last month we showed you what exactly Apple would cover under warranty for Apple Watch customers and now images of the replacement box for the device have emerged. As shown in the images above, Apple does not want Apple Watch straps shipped during the warranty process and requires only the device itself.
Apple will be doing a visual mechanical inspection of the Apple Watch, like with the rest of its products, when customers bring in a damaged device for repair. But what will be covered under your warranty exactly? And what issues will Apple be looking for to determine what is eligible for repair under or out of warranty? Head below for all the details…
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Following a number of complaints from consumers regarding graphics issues with Apple’s 2011 MacBook Pro, the company today announced a replacement program to remedy the issue for customers still experiencing problems.
The affected models include 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros built in 2011, as well as 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros built in 2012 and early 2013. MacBook owners who believe they may have one of these machines can check their warranty coverage on Apple’s website to determine whether they are eligible for a repair under this program.
Following our report late last month that Apple was preparing to start charging for out-of-warranty online chat support, we’ve been informed that today Apple support has finally flipped the switch on the new feature and started charging customers. While originally planned for earlier this month, Apple has been having difficulties with a new payment system it developed specifically for the online chat feature. Apple is also introducing a new training program for AppleCare employees called “Here to Help” that it hopes will improve the overall AppleCare support experience.
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, a business competition watchdog organization, has forced Apple to make modifications to its refund policy in order to comply with consumer protection legislation, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. According to the group, Apple misled customers with regard to what types of refund or repair they were entitled to.
According to the claims, the U.S.-based company did not provide customers with sufficient compensation for faulty devices to comply with Australian law. Now Apple has been forced to re-evaluate its practices and will have to re-examine countless potential violations that took place over the past two years. Failure to comply with the new policy could result in a massive class-action lawsuit against Apple.
Update 2: The changes appear to be EU wide as pictured above.
Update: Apple updated its warranty policy in France and Germany too. (Thanks @settebit)
Belgian consumer groups have been following the move of Italian regulators in recent months to push Apple for changes to its warranty programs in order to clarify rules regarding a statutory warranty enforced by EU law that requires companies to make sure products are free from defects for two years. It isn’t the only other nation pushing for changes to warranties, consumers groups in at least Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and Portugal had also filed lawsuits against Apple over its AppleCare and warranty practices. Now, Dutch-language a-n-v.be reports Apple has tweaked its online warranty program in Belgium to meet EU law.
The change in the online warranties tweaks the wording of Apple’s 1-year warranty for free repair and replacements to clarify the 2 year statutory warranty, much the same as what happened in Italy.
Apple published a document on its website highlighting the changes.
If the rubber surface of your MacBook has separated from the bottom case, and you bought it between Oct 2009 and April 2011, you’re in luck: Apple has just extended warranty coverage of this specific issue to four years. Apple originally launched the replacement program in May 2011. Full details on the Apple support site (via MacRumors.)
Apple agreed to comply with Italian regulators’ requests last year to alter AppleCare warranties in the country after being fined $1.2 million (and an additional $264,000) for “misleading consumers” regarding two-year warranties mandatory by European Union law. We expected to hear much more about AppleCare in other EU countries that also employ the mandatory, free, two-year warranty, and now Belgian consumer watchdog Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats has filed a complaint to escalate its case (via TechCrunch):
For many years warranty issues are at the top of the charts of complaints dealt with Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats. One of the recurring problems are the complaints about Apple. Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats found major problems fixed on the information provided by Apple and its authorized distributors regarding the legal guarantee, the commercial one year warranty, and the warranty extension through the “AppleCare Protection Plan” of 2 or 3 years.
In March 2012, consumer groups from 10 countries requested Apple make changes to its warranty policies after the case in Italy. The Belgian consumer group was one of them but filed a complaint today with local courts because “Apple remained deaf to the demands.”
During negotiations with Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, Apple ultimately changed its warranty policies on its website, terms and conditions, and even removed AppleCare from brick-and-mortar store shelves.
Following Italian authorities forcing Apple to make changes to its AppleCare Protection Plan warranty policies, and Apple taking the product off retail store shelves, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato has once again fined Apple. The antirust authority originally fined Apple $1.2 million for misleading consumers regarding a two-year warranty mandatory by EU law, and today the AGCM said it will fine Apple another $264,000 (€200,000) for failing to make changes to its warranties between March 28 to the Nov. 10 (via TNW):
In light of the above considerations, it was determined that Apple’s behavior during the period of 28th March 2012 – 10th November 2012 constitutes non-compliance with resolution no. 23155 of 21st December 2011, as modified by resolution no. 23193 of 11th January 2012.
The fines will be split between Apple Sales International, Apple Italia S.r.l, and Apple Retail Italia S.r.l.
We have kept you updated on Apple’s warranty situation in Italy with the company forced to pay a $1.2 million fine imposed by Italian antitrust authorities after losing an appeal to the fine in March. Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato claimed Apple mislead consumers by selling its one-year AppleCare warranties without properly informing its customers of a two-year warranty mandatory by European Union law. Today, Reuters reported Apple is facing further fines and “temporary closure of its operations in Italy” if it doe not make changes to its warranty policies:
Apple Inc was threatened with the temporary closure of its operations in Italy and with further fines of up to 300,000 euros ($377,500) if it does not offer customers a free two-year warranty as demanded by Italian law… The AGCM said in its monthly bulletin that Apple was continuing to adopt unfair commercial practices in Italy and noted this could eventually lead to the closure of its Italian operations for up to 30 days.
In March, reports claimed that authorities from up to 10 other countries in the EU were considering requesting Apple make similar changes to AppleCare.
Update: Apple commented on the matter:
“We have introduced a number of measures to address the Italian competition authority concerns and we disagree with their latest complaint.”
Apple plans to appeal a decision by Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato to impose $1.2 million USD fine for not providing consumers with a two-year warranty mandatory under European Union law and the Italian Consumer Code. An Apple PR representative apparently confirmed the decision to appeal the fines to The Register.
We reported earlier this week that Italian antitrust authorities were fining Apple Inc., Apple Sales International, and Apple Retail Italy $1.2 million USD related to “bad commercial practices that harmed consumers.” The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato claimed Apple has not implemented a two-year product guarantee available to all consumers through EU law. Instead, Apple continues to push their own AppleCare warranties to consumers without indication of the consumer’s rights to the free two-year guarantee.
The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato asked Apple “cease practice” of their current warranty policies, and “notify the Authority” of a new course of action. They also want Apple to publish clarification of the new policy on Apple.com to notify consumers. It is unclear if other authorities throughout the EU will take similar action.
Apple is also accused by the European Antitrust Commission of engaging in “illegal agreements or practices that would have the object or the effect of restricting competition in the EU or in the EEA” related to their iBooks business.