
Apple Fined $1.2m by Italian Antitrust Authority - FluidDjango
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/12/27/apple-fined-1-2m-by-italian-antitrust-authority-over-misleading-product-warranties/
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AllenKids
I think Apple got in trouble with Chinese authorities over warranty time too.
Every computer sold in China has to come with a 2 year warranty for main
components (screen, mainboard etc). iPad was marketed under portable computer
category. Apple changed its policy to comply with China's consumer protection
law.

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fosk
In EU everything you buy is protected with a minimum of two years by law.

It would be odd and not clever for Apple to intentionally and illegally try to
be paid for one more year of customer support. I think this didn't happen for
two reasons:

\- They just did want to keep it simple and have the same customer service
rules across all countries.

\- They just didn't deepen into the EU laws, which I think is a syntom of
"corporate laziness".

Actually there is another option: they did know about the law, but the costs
of supporting a longer free customer service is higher than paying a fee: lots
of free product replacements? Just thinking.

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lloeki
> The company, which sells its products with a one year warranty, _is required
> under EU law to protect buyers with a minimum of two years protection on all
> consumer electronics_

I've never heard of such a law (which admittedly doesn't by itself make it
nonexistent), and about every single consumer electronic device out there in
France is sold with a one-year warranty, and every electronic retailer out
there (Fnac, Darty...) sells warranty extensions from the original one year to
mostly three years (sometimes two, four or five years).

~~~
Luc
The MINIMUM is two years guarantee on electronics for defects present at the
time of sale. European member countries are free to add additional
protections, but 2 years is the minimum. For example, the 2 year minimum isn't
specified in Dutch law because for many products (e.g. a washing machine) the
buyer can reasonably expect a longer lifetime (see in Dutch:
[http://www.consuwijzer.nl/Ik_wil_advies_over/Elektronica_en_...](http://www.consuwijzer.nl/Ik_wil_advies_over/Elektronica_en_huishoudelijke_apparatuur/Garantie/Basisinformatie/De_wettelijke_garantieperiode_in_Europa)
).

You can also expect salespeople to play dumb about this (or perhaps they
really don't know) and to suggest the defect happened because of your own
misdoing, but keep pressing them and they'll need to give in. We tend to pay a
hefty surcharge on electronics in Europe (even taking into consideration
differences in VAT etc., see for example
<http://www.asymco.com/2011/12/20/the-big-mac/> ), so in my mind this
guarantee is something I've paid for and have a right to.

~~~
Ecio78
We have to remember two things about this law:

1) it's "for defects present at the time of sale" (as you stated), and this
leads to various (mis)interpretations (like "how can i demonstrate that a non
working hard disk was already not perfect at the time of sale and that's not
my fault, or just the normal effect of the time and usage?)

2) it's valid only for consumers, so if you're a business and you buy anything
using your VAT account, you're not covered by this law and you must stick to
the typical commercial warranty (in Italy it is minimum 1 year)

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sek
These assholes, i was at the Munich Apple shop last month and the sales guy
was incredible rude to sell me the 2 year warranty. This costs round about
150€ extra.

This is just a rip-off i didn't expect from a company like Apple. Stupid move.
They risk damaging their valuable brand, while having enough money in the
bank. They lost me as a customer, my next phone will be an Android.

They lost my sympathy with this whole patent stuff already, but i still
thought they really care about their customers.

~~~
ugh
The German law is worthless in this regard. It gets you nothing, nowhere. You
need a warranty.

Apple Care is properly awesome but you shouldn’t buy it in the store, you
should buy it on ebay.

(I would complain about the salesperson. They are definitely not supposed to
be pushy. You encountered very abnormal behavior. I have never encountered
pushy employees in the Munich Apple Store. Sure, they will ask whether you
want Apple Care, but just saying no was always enough.)

~~~
sek
The European law also applies there, so the 2 year warranty was included
anyway as far as is understand it.

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ori_b
Or, in short, the amount of profit that they earn -- on average -- every 86
minutes (going by the July 2011 figures).

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smackfu
So should Apple be punished more punitively so that they actually follow the
law?

~~~
burgerbrain
That seems entirely reasonable. Drunk Driving (and possibly other) fines in
the UK take income into account so if it works for people, it should certainly
work for corporations.

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antirez
Two years in Italy for everything but Apple stuff. Always looked very odd, I
hope this issue will get fixed.

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nextparadigms
I hear they are doing the same thing in Norway, too, offering 2 years of
warranty instead of the usual 3 year warranty there. It's strange that the
company that wants to be known for having the highest quality products offers
the smallest warranty period.

~~~
Serentiynow
PCs, TVs, Cellphones etc. has five years warranty in Norway. See paragraph 27
of forbrukerkjøpsloven (Act on Consumer Sales)
<http://www.lovdata.no/all/hl-20020621-034.html#27>

Ove Magndal from ElektronikkForbundet has produced a simple and abridged
edition of the Norwegian Forbrukerkjøpsloven:
[http://www.elektronikkbransjen.no/Stiftelsen/?pageId=2&a...](http://www.elektronikkbransjen.no/Stiftelsen/?pageId=2&article_id=2190)

