Australian Buyers Say They Were Told "No iPad Without Accessories" 412
CuteSteveJobs writes "Australian iPad buyers have been forced to buy all manner of unnecessary add-ons, including screen protectors, docking stations, covers, chargers, and extended warranties, due to a reported official Apple policy. Shoppers reported sales assistants said it was 'company policy' or 'Apple policy' to sell the devices only with accessories, or not at all. A store manager for Authorised Apple Reseller JB Hi-Fi said it was 'a bad policy but it was Apple's policy and they couldn't sell one without it.' Other customers were told they must 'buy a Telstra SIM because the iPad is locked to Telstra,' even though it wasn't. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission and Consumer Affairs are investigating the complaints."
Re:bad apple policies (Score:1, Interesting)
I went into JB-HI on Friday with the aim to purchase one of these babies. I tell you the top line iPad costs just over $1,000 and is simply not worth it.
The crappy res (nearly a decade out of date), poor website rendering (javascript struggles), the constant blank spaces navigating websites (cause of no flash), and the lack of camera just made the whole experience redundant. Its just a big iPod touch with less features.
IMHO if it was half the price, I would of purchased it for what it was but for its current price and feature list, its just not a smart buy.
http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/strategy/38566-five-reasons-the-ipad-will-fail-in-australia [itwire.com]
Illegal (Score:3, Interesting)
The ACCC will rip shit into Apple over this if it is true.
They'll probably also lay into the retailers that are performing the actual transactions. Any clause like that in an Apple agreement is illegal and therefore void, so the retailers shouldn't be enforcing it.
Re:bad apple policies (Score:1, Interesting)
* And the total raping of civil liberties and establishment of a corporate-sponsored police state in general, but who's counting?
Wii? (Score:4, Interesting)
Didn't we see this happening at BestBuy or Walmart or something back when the Wii was hard to find? I remember the whole controversy starting this way, stores saying it was manufacturer's policy, when it then turned out to be 100% store policy only. Maybe it was PS3. Anyway, the PR department of the chain should be releasing a statement in the next few days saying they were isolated incidents.
Re:bad apple policies (Score:2, Interesting)
Name one civil liberty that apple has raped.
Re:It's about time a stop was put to these combos (Score:1, Interesting)
The $30 snow leopard upgrade CD they sold actually checks for the existence of Leopard system files and then runs a signed, encrypted binary that I assume does some further checks for system files (but I obviously don't know what these are). HOWEVER... you can easily 'fix' this functionality so it installs on any Mac, as the binary just returns a certain value (so we patch the script so it always returns the right value). And Bob's your mothers brother.
Hell, at the top of that file you can remove the checks for RAM and CPU types as well.
So no, the $30 upgrade CD doesn't let you do fresh installs (at least out the box)
All a bit rambly as I've not slept in a couple days.. No one will probably read this anyway.
Re:bad apple policies (Score:1, Interesting)
On what planet are you paying over $1000 for an iPad? Even the 64GB WiFi + 3G model is under that mark by more than $150.
No offense, but after having worked retail... (Score:3, Interesting)
Policy probably promotes stores that had better sales for accessories or turn around on the sims.
It was probably store management PUSHING sales with these. iPads aren't having a problem selling and people that want them are more likely to buy with them.
Why is this a big deal, when I bought my Wii the first month of its release, I was forced to buy it in an overpriced bundle with a bunch of games with a final price tag of $700 from Gamestop. EVERY store did this and EVERY store sold out.
Once again, corporate blamed for the bite from the little snake in the grass.
Re:bad apple policies (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't threaten anyone, or shouldn't, but it is brandishing, which is an offense and should be.
Exactly, and it's something I once got in trouble for doing. The following is a true story:
One day years ago, I had been having some trouble with a drug-addled neighbor. It had escalated throughout the day and finally reached the crisis point around 7 PM, when I though he was going to come in through my window and cause harm to my wife, a dinner guest and I. I ran into the bedroom, grabbed my Mini-14 and made sure he saw it as I racked the action. The guy left, but a while later, I noticed the motion sensor light in front of the house had come on. Thinking it was my neighbor returning for more trouble, I peeked out through the blinds only to see that it wasn't him, it was several police officers. Armed police officers, one of whom had his M-16 pointed right at me. Trust me when I say that that's not a good feeling.
In short, all three of us in the house were ordered out, handcuffed and sat down on a wall while the PD sorted the whole thing out. In the end, I wasn't arrested or anything--in fact, the cops said it was my neighbor's fault--but I learned that just showing a weapon can be considered a crime under certain circumstances.
Just buy and return accessory (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's an easy fix and get your 'revenge' at the same time. Buy iPad + accessories. Go back to your car and put your iPad in the trunk. Accessory in hand, go back to the customer service desk. Tell them, on second thought, this accessory I bought wasn't what I thought it would be. I'd like a refund.
Now I'm sure they would have to refund you. I doubt their terms and conditions of refund behind their receipt would have any wording that would suggest that the iPad would also need to be refunded.
Its a PITA. But I'll bet when it starts costing the store thousands and taking up staff time, they will get the message.
Re:Bad summary (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:forced (Score:3, Interesting)
Its not new, its certainly not new for Apple. They haven't changed. They aren't getting any worse. They aren't the only ones that do this sort of thing, its pretty common
Indeed. Apple are one of the most prominent and popular, however, and that makes it worthy of discussion. The same publicity that gets them in the papers and on television and makes articles like this on Slashdot regular news (when something from Buttfsck Electronics probably wouldn't be). That's why it's discussed.
If you don't like that, either tell Apple to shut down their PR department or head off to an Apple-lovers-only forum. It's not my problem!
even if you're too busy railing against the machine to know how often you buy into this same thing.
Nice strawman. Do you actually think everyone who says anything against Apple is a stereotypical counter-culture consumerist (dreadlocks? cannabis leaf t-shirt? expensive anti-The-Man clothing bought at a capitalist-owned chainstore etc)?
Sadly, you probably do.
As soon as you stop making retarded statements about how evil the company is
In this case, I didn't say anything about how evil Apple is. I said that they weren't entitled to immunity from criticism.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY IT YOU FUCKING MORON.
Well, y'know... I haven't, and I won't. Because it sucks. (^_^)
Re:Bad summary (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a simple question. If they have no virus checker but did have some bit of malware operating under the radar, how would you know? If it's quiet (to the user) and doesn't break anything, would you have any reason to go looking for it?
Mal-2