Problems with iPod/Apple

WeAreShels

Hi

I purchased my iPod the 23rd of February this year and with it, got a one-year warrantee. A month or two down the line I had a problem with the click-wheel so I went through the process for getting it fixed for free under my warrantee and Apple sent me out a new iPod - problem solved.

However on the 1st of June of this year, I was listening to my iPod which was functioning perfectly up until this point. The battery was very low at this point and as I was listening to it, the battery went. As soon as I got home that day, I put the iPod on charge and it wouldn't react to the charger. It was as if I never connected the charger to it. I tried several different battery chargers to eliminate the possibility of it being my charger that was broken, but none of these worked either. So I sent away a request to Apple and they arrived on the 18th of June to collect my iPod to be fixed. However, two days later I received an email from Apple telling me that my warrantee was null and void due to there being water damage (of which I am conviced there was none - but I'll come back to that later). So a few days later I wrote to them (they don't have an email address ) telling them in no uncertain terms that I rejected their decision and that my warrantee should be still valid. More than 4 weeks later, I got a phonecall from Apple telling me that they were to stand by their decision. Knowing that there was no water damage, I told the company representative that I wanted conclusive prrof that the iPod had water damage in the form of sending me out pictures of this. The company representative agreed to this.

Now over a month further on and I still haven't heard anything. My iPod certainly did not have any damage caused by liquids. I looked after it perfectly (after all, I did spend a lot of money on it) and definitely didn't let any liquids anywhere near it. Sure it was functioning perfectly until the battery went!!

Anyway, I was wondering what the next step I take should be? Is this valid for the Small Claims Court? I know well they have no pictures of my iPod incurring water damage but how am I to know if they end up using a picture of any old iPod to win their case??

I feel like I have been treated disgracefully by Apple. I spent almost €300 on one of their products, not to mention extras I have purchased and now I've been without an iPod for almost 3 months with them having no interest in returning any of my letters or emails.

Sorry for the length of this post and thanks in advance for any advice.

Nody

WeAreShels wrote:

I looked after it perfectly (after all, I did spend a lot of money on it) and definitely didn't let any liquids anywhere near it. Sure it was functioning perfectly until the battery went!!

You never touched it then? Liquid damage dosen't only mean "I dropped it in my pint of guiness" but would include any kind of liquid (sweat, rain going through a jacket, moist etc.) getting into the mp3 at the wrong place. The pictures (if they arrive) will most likely show a small spot, that you're going to have a hard time to see, that they will claim as the damage area causing the short circuit of the ipod when you tried to charge it.

The reason to use letters instead is that they are easier to track when arriving and they make it more painful and frustrating to do which means some give up = $. You can also drag it out further (multiple letters back and forth) and there by make people give up simply to get something out of it.

Can't really give you any help beyond that as water damage is a hard one. I'm sure if you check the documents that you will find water damage is not covered (same goes for mobile phones) and it is damn hard to prove that you did not cause it as well. On the other hand saying that a drop is water damage could bring up questions on if the product is suitable to sell in Ireland in the first place (which has been debated here many times before).

Long and short story though buy a better mp3 player next time 'cause Ipods are overpriced for what they offer imo. This coming from someone who's had my Irivers and Creatives wet all over and working with out problem but never heard anything good on the quality, price or sound of a Ipod product.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Motorola phones (and I presume many others) have a piece of cobalt chloride paper inside them which changes colour (from blue to pink) when exposed to moisture.

If the company sees even a spec of pink on the paper they will not honour the warranty. Drying the equipment out does nothing

This may be similar with iPods and if so, you'll find it very difficult to get anywhere with them.

WeAreShels

Nody wrote:

You never touched it then? Liquid damage dosen't only mean "I dropped it in my pint of guiness" but would include any kind of liquid (sweat, rain going through a jacket, moist etc.) getting into the mp3 at the wrong place.

Definitely didn't happen. I'm a control freak about things I spend a lot of money on so would never have brought it out running or in the rain or anything.

Water damage definitely isn't covered in the warrantee but I'm so sure that there was none that I appealed it.

Surely if this is the case, then they can do it to anybody who asks to have their warrantee validated? Just that simple - tell them there's water damage?!

Yeah I've bought a Creative since then, but I feel so robbed by Apple that I felt I had to pursue it.

Thanks for the replies btw, appreciated.

Gillo

Damn, was hoping this would spiral out of control like all those mobile threads.

Riesen_Meal

I used to fix mobiles and Sean is right, inside of a lot of phones there is strips that tell if its liquid damaged, then they dont honour the warranty, they have to provide you with a photo though as proof....

Im a bit of a control freak with my stuff aswell, not sayin I never took my ipod to the jacks whilst in the shower, because I have, even that could do the damage and they wont honour the guarantee.....