

Apple: Puerto Ricans Can't Have Free iPhone 4 Cases - jawngee
http://consumerist.com/2010/07/apple-puerto-ricans-arent-americans-and-cant-have-free-iphone-4-cases.html

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pierrefar
As much as I'd love to bash Apple on this one, we don't have a critical piece
of info: the guy's type of address. The generic rejection from Apple mentions
multiple reasons, including PO boxes. If he's got a PO box then the title and
fury against Apple are wrong. If he's got a physical address, we should
sharpen the pitchforks. Again.

As evidence, see how many times the phrase "therefore your order has been
cancelled" is found in the email from Apple. And the bit explaining PO boxes
asks him to edit his address within a week or risk cancellation. It's a
rubbish email fro Apple no doubt, but we need more before we call this one.

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ugh
Sigh. I’m as happy as everyone about blogs and all that stuff but, you know,
sometimes some real journalism would be appropriate. It’s not that hard, dial
(408) 974-2042 (Apple’s PR hotline, not at all hard to find on their PR page
which has a short and memorable URL [+]) and ask if they have a comment.

[+] <http://www.apple.com/pr/>

~~~
tshtf
I suspect a blog post from the Consumerist will attract the attention of
Apple's PR team much faster than even two dozen phone calls to their PR call
center to complain.

~~~
ugh
You don’t call them to complain, you call them to get information. If they are
unable to provide you with that information they suck and you can write in
your article that Apple declined to comment. It’s as easy as that.

As is this article is pretty much worthless. No information, only an anecdote.

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sachinag
I'm more upset that the Consumerist doesn't know that Puerto Rico has no
Representatives in the House. (Or Senators, or anything really. Of course,
they probably could if they wanted to but they keep voting to retain their
commonwealth status.)

~~~
telemachos
It's a little weirder than literally no representation. Puerto Rico, like the
District of Columbia, has a non-voting representative to Congress. (This is
the source of the popular "Taxation without representation" bumper stickers in
DC.)

Citations:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress>

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricos_At-
large_congressi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricos_At-
large_congressional_district)

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Samuel_Michon
Funniest headline I've read all week. I doubt there's meat to it, though. Has
the customer in question tried to, you know, _call_ Apple (1-800-MY-APPLE)?
It's entirely possible that there's something wrong with Apple's online
ordering system, but surely a live person will be able to process the order.

Apple's Shipping & Delivery page clearly states that they will ship to Puerto
Rico and other US territories:
<http://store.apple.com/us/help/shipping_delivery>

There are also some service centers and AVRs in Puerto Rico that one may want
to try: <http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/us/>
<http://latam.apple.com/buy/lae/find.php?r_pais=Puerto+Rico>

And lastly, the 'free iPhone 4 case' deal is valid wherever the iPhone 4 is
sold, not just in the US, but also Canada and Europe etc. Even if Apple has
some bizarro atlas that has Puerto Rico pegged as a separate country, surely
they will still send cases there, because AT&T in PR offers the iPhone 4.

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SoftwareMaven
Nothing like link bait. I share rubymaverick's sentiments that this might be
making a mountain out of a mole hill and WAY overstating the case.

My guess: some poorly implemented back-end system automatically canceled the
orders or, even more likely, some dip in shipping said "Umm, port o reeko?
Wazz that?" and canceled the order.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity,
unless it can capture a few more eyeballs.

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rubymaverick
This title is completely accurate. I happen to have some inside info on this,
actually. Steve Jobs went on one of his epic rants after a person from Puerto
Rico tried to order a free case. Everyone at Apple agrees with his basic
sentiment: Puerto Ricans can suck it. It's like a new company mantra. Good
thing the kind folks at consumerist are on the job!

