Apple's 1 Year Warranty

Herrick

Apple offer a 1 year warranty on their products, I just wondered if they can get away with this within the EU? Would you not be able to get them to cover product faults into a 2nd year?

Just curious as I have an Apple product and figure this would be the best place to ask.

B0X

Yeah you'd be grand if it's within two years.

Apple were fined recently enough in Italy about not making this clear enough to Italian/European customers.

See here: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/01/following-fine-in-italy-belgian-group-sues-apple-for-warranty-practices/

timetogo

Herrick wrote: »

Apple offer a 1 year warranty on their products, I just wondered if they can get away with this within the EU? Would you not be able to get them to cover product faults into a 2nd year?

Just curious as I have an Apple product and figure this would be the best place to ask.

They can offer a 1 day warranty if they want. It's your statutory rights that are important.

A warranty is always added to your statutory rights. It doesn't replace them.

http://www.apple.com/ie/legal/statutory-warranty/

http://www.rte.ie/tv/theafternoonshow/2010/0330/warrantiesandguarantees894.html

I know there are better links than that but that's what I found after a few seconds googling.

Bepolite

In Ireland you've six years to initiate a claim. Anecdotally it seems electrical goods under five years will see damaged in relation to how old the product is. E.g. 5 years = 20% of purchase price, 4 = 40%, 3=60%, 2=80%, 1=100%.

Is there any chance of putting this myth of a two year European warranty to bed once and for all?

Also the manufacturers warranty is with the manufacturer and is (within reason) as long or as short as they say it is. Your statutory rights are with whom ever you have a contract with, e.g. CompuB, Tesco etc. I would always deal with the retailer, as if you have an issue and deal directly with Apple, the retailer has no record of the issue.

WildCardDoW

Completely Agree about going to your retailer but of course the retailer generally then has to talk to Apple (depending on the fault, but for high price items you are less and less likely to get a straight swap where they send the faulty item back to the manufacturer for credit) who insist on dealing with the customer.

I've been on both sides and it is very frustrating. On both sides. But more so when your the guy getting shouted at because you can't swap a 9 month old product for one straight off the shelf as it as to be sent to Apple for them to swap it, or at least tell us it's "ok" to swap it because if they don't agree, for whatever reason, the business loses the price of the product.

Herrick

Bepolite wrote: »

In Ireland you've six years to initiate a claim. Anecdotally it seems electrical goods under five years will see damaged in relation to how old the product is. E.g. 5 years = 20% of purchase price, 4 = 40%, 3=60%, 2=80%, 1=100%.

Is there any chance of putting this myth of a two year European warranty to bed once and for all?

Also the manufacturers warranty is with the manufacturer and is (within reason) as long or as short as they say it is. Your statutory rights are with whom ever you have a contract with, e.g. CompuB, Tesco etc. I would always deal with the retailer, as if you have an issue and deal directly with Apple, the retailer has no record of the issue.

Yes but I buy directly off Apple themselves so no retailer. So what would be my rights then?

wmpdd3

Apple are the retailer.

Bepolite

Herrick wrote: »

Yes but I buy directly off Apple themselves so no retailer. So what would be my rights then?

You're probably not buying off Apple directly, who knows I could be wrong and you're importing pallets of mac books, but a reseller. Either way your contract is with the seller. I assume you are a consumer, rather than a reseller yourself. If you are not a consumer then the law is very different.

Herrick

Bepolite wrote: »

You're probably not buying off Apple directly, who knows I could be wrong and you're importing pallets of mac books, but a reseller. Either way your contract is with the seller. I assume you are a consumer, rather than a reseller yourself. If you are not a consumer then the law is very different.

Ha no I'm not a reseller. What I meant is I buy my products off their official Irish website Apple.ie

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Herrick wrote: »

Ha no I'm not a reseller. What I meant is I buy my products off their official Irish website Apple.ie

And for the purposes of the topic under discussion Apple would then be the retailer and your usual rights vis a vis the consumer and the retailer hold.

ironclaw

I'd always deal with Apple directly. And I only mean that about Apple products in particular. The reason is they have excellent aftercare in my experience and you'll have a much faster, easier experience if you deal with them directly. They often courier devices to and from you for repair. A retailer won't be able to offer next to near that so you'd only be wasting your own time (in my opinion) by going to them directly as the device will be sent to Apple anyway.

On a side note regarding the warranty and statutory rights, 2 years is a very long time in the electronics world. If your instigating a claim against a 2 year old device, you'd probably almost be better off selling it given the depreciation. Case in point would be the likes of the iPhone, iPad etc.

B0X

ironclaw wrote: »

On a side note regarding the warranty and statutory rights, 2 years is a very long time in the electronics world. If your instigating a claim against a 2 year old device, you'd probably almost be better off selling it given the depreciation. Case in point would be the likes of the iPhone, iPad etc.

I don't think that really matters. If I spent €700+ on a new iPhone, I should reasonably expect that device to work for at least 2 years. If it breaks in that time I would expect Apple to provide a repair or replacement to me.

Bepolite

While I can understand the want to deal with the manufacturer directly (I do for PC components) the retailer is obligated to deal with issues without inconvenience to the consumer*. This would mean dealing with any issues promptly. Circumventing this by going straight to the manufacturer actually masks the problem. That said I can't very well admonish people for doing the same thing I do.

*Ironically this requirement comes from the SI that many people seem to think confers a two year warranty and is also in the much cited 1999 EU directive.

drunkmonkey

Your warranty only extends past 1 year, if and only if the problem appeared in the first 6mts.
If the problem appears in month 13 there's nothing you can do. Apple retailer is well within their rights to not support the product.

If somebody has evidence of Apple or an Apple retailer fixing an apple product after 24mts that did not have an extended warranty and the problem only became apparent after Apples warranty had expire I'd love to see it.

3/4/5/6 year warranty does not happen.

Bepolite

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Your warranty only extends past 1 year, if and only if the problem appeared in the first 6mts.
If the problem appears in month 13 there's nothing you can do. Apple retailer is well within their rights to not support the product.

If somebody has evidence of Apple or an Apple retailer fixing an apple product after 24mts that did not have an extended warranty and the problem only became apparent after Apples warranty had expire I'd love to see it.

3/4/5/6 year warranty does not happen.

They can't be forced to, no one can be forced to comply with a contract, or with consumer law. What happens is they get a judgment against them in the Small Claims Court, generally for what I described earlier in this thread. I've personally assisted people in getting redress after 3/4 years.

MoeJay

Here is an interesting (to me) scenario:

I purchased an iPad directly from Apple in Ireland a year ago. After 7 months, the wifi stopped working. I was in America at the time, so I arranged a visit to the local genius (!) bar at the nearest Apple Store and my iPad was replaced, no hassle at all. In fact, very impressed!

Now where do I stand in relation to my statutory rights for the replacement iPad?
Does the clock start ticking again from the date of receipt of the new hardware, or does the fact that the replacement iPad was supplied in the USA make any difference?

Thanks for any answers.

drunkmonkey

Apple replaced my iPhone 5, the warranty ran out the same time the original one would of.

Sonics2k

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Apple replaced my iPhone 5, the warranty ran out the same time the original one would of.

When was this if I may ask?

wmpdd3

MoeJay wrote: »

Here is an interesting (to me) scenario:

I purchased an iPad directly from Apple in Ireland a year ago. After 7 months, the wifi stopped working. I was in America at the time, so I arranged a visit to the local genius (!) bar at the nearest Apple Store and my iPad was replaced, no hassle at all. In fact, very impressed!

Now where do I stand in relation to my statutory rights for the replacement iPad?
Does the clock start ticking again from the date of receipt of the new hardware, or does the fact that the replacement iPad was supplied in the USA make any difference?

Thanks for any answers.

Original date of sale.

drunkmonkey

Sonics2k wrote: »

When was this if I may ask?

Launch day last year, my 1 year apple warranty is up:mad:

timetogo

MoeJay wrote: »

Does the clock start ticking again from the date of receipt of the new hardware, or does the fact that the replacement iPad was supplied in the USA make any difference?

No, and I don't know (probably not).

Once you get a replacement your rights don't reset.
Think of it like this. If you buy an expensive electronic device (about €600) you could reasonably expect it to last 3, 4 or maybe 5 years if it is looked after. So if it breaks in year 3 and the retailer doesn't want anything to do with it you can take them to the small claims court to decide.

I would guess if the small claims court found in your favour they'd tell the retailer to replace it with a second hand or equivalent model or to refund you the amount the device is worth now. It might mean you'd have to pay the rest to get a new model but you wouldn't get your full €600 back.

That's me guessing there. Maybe somebody with experience of the small claims court could post their experience.

I had an experience with Harvey Norman a few years ago. I bought a fridge for about a grand. In year 3 it went faulty. They sent a guy out twice to have a look at it. The first time he tried to fix it. The second time he tried again but said it was a common problem on the model I had and the problem reoccurred. They gave up and gave me a voucher for about €600 to go in and buy a new fridge. That was reasonable enough to me.

ironclaw

B0X wrote: »

I don't think that really matters. If I spent €700+ on a new iPhone, I should reasonably expect that device to work for at least 2 years. If it breaks in that time I would expect Apple to provide a repair or replacement to me.

Sorry, I should have been clear, I meant 2 years and older. It would be unreasonable to expect a phone to last longer than 2 to 3 years. The battery alone with a daily charge cycle would be well snookered by then. I would not expect a retailer to exchange / repair a phone of that age.

Bepolite

ironclaw wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been clear, I meant 2 years and older. It would be unreasonable to expect a phone to last longer than 2 to 3 years. The battery alone with a daily charge cycle would be well snookered by then. I would not expect a retailer to exchange / repair a phone of that age.

Batteries are consumables, although I 3GS still holds a 24 hour charge after 3 years to be fair to Apple (for once - I hate them! :pac:)

The components of the phone would be expected to last in the order of five years*, if not a repair would be expected. What happens if this is not forthcoming is well covered in this thread.

*Frankly with electronics there is absolutely no reason why it won't go on for 10-20 years, if it's passively cooled.