EU Says Apple's Warranty Advertisements Are Unacceptable 266
An anonymous reader writes "The European Union believes that Apple should be investigated for the way that it advertises warranties on their products. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding wrote to the member countries which is 27 to ask them to check whether Apple retailers failed to let buyers know about the right to a minimum 2-year warranty for products such as the iPhone and iPad under EU law."
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:5, Informative)
You're right. Sometimes it's more then twice the price.
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, it does, and we have this discussion every fucking week on /g/ and a new price comparison chart comes out which proves it time and time again using the latest prices from various manufacturers.
EVERY. TIME. Apple is AT MINIMUM 1.5X the price of a similarly-specced Windows Boxen.
Re:What about... (Score:5, Informative)
Does the 2011 calendar still correctly show the days of the week and the dates for 2011? If so, not defective.
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
They're trying to make people think that they will have to pay for something when in fact Apple is required by law to provide it for free.
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
The law includes a requirement to point out what remedies the customer is entitled to under the law. Probably, that is exactly to prevent sellers from deceiving the buyer into thinking they must pay for an extended warranty. Apple ignored that bit exactly so they could sell the extended warranty.
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:0, Informative)
Just because someone can find a Windows box cheaper than a Mac doesn't magically make them all work out that way. I spec'd a Dell T5500 against a Mac Pro with the same specs and the Dell ended up being $50 more. Of course, this was in the $3500 workstation range. You can always find some cheap plastic Windows box for cheaper than a Mac.
Re:What about... (Score:4, Informative)
Not everywhere; here in Portugal the burden of proof never shifts.
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:5, Informative)
Envy 15
Display: 15.6" 1920x1080
Processor: 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM Processor (2.6 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
Graphics: 1GB Radeon(TM) HD 7750M GDDR5 Graphics
Storage: 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive
Memory: 8GB 1600MHz
Height: 1.11 inches
Weight: 5.79 lbs
Warranty: 2 years
Price: $1,579.99
Macbook Pro 15
Display: 15.4" 1680x1050
Processor: 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
Storage: 750GB 7200-rpm hard drive
Memory: 8GB 1600MHz
Height: 0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Weight: 5.6 pounds
Warranty: 1 year
Price: $2,349.00
Comes down to the Macbook Pro costing $770 more, with the Envy 15 having better specs in almost every category where I couldn't make them 1:1. The most notable deficiency of the Macbook Pro is the puzzlingly low resolution display for their "premium" label. And yes, before anyone says it the Envy 15 has amenities like aluminum housing, backlit keyboard, and slotload optical drive.
The EU is strict about this. (Score:5, Informative)
The European Union is strict about consumer law [europa.eu] so that consumers will be comfortable buying across national boundaries within the Union. It's part of the "single market" concept which defines the EU.
"A practice is misleading if it contains false or untrue information or is likely to deceive the consumer, even though the information given may be correct. In particular, this information relates to: ... the consumersâ(TM) rights on aspects of the sale of consumer goods."
Here's how Apple misleads customers: Start at the Apple UK site. [apple.com] Try to find warranty information. The "support" page does not mention a warranty. There's "AppleCare Products - extend support coverage for your Apple products." Going to that page, we see "All Apple hardware comes with a one-year limited warranty (1) and up to 90 days of complimentary telephone technical support.". Down at note 1, in grey 77% white type, there's a link to "Apple Products and EU Statutory Warranty" [apple.com] Only there does Apple admit there's a 2-year warranty.
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:2, Informative)
Such comparisons are IMHO only in order right after the Apple has released its product. The deal is that Apple doesn't lower their prices really, while others come out with cheaper products. Besides, nobody forces you to buy brand new Apple. There's buyers remorse and you can usually get it a couple hundred bucks cheaper just weeks after release, and $500+ cheaper months after release. That doesn't seem to happen to other hardware that was much cheaper to begin with.
Envy 15 looks pretty much like a product made to look like Apple as much as possible without getting sued into oblivion. I'm pretty damn sure without healthy competition from Apple it'd never have seen the light of day. Not from the sedentary headless monster HP currently is.
Re:Not honouring the warranty (Score:3, Informative)
Now in the first 6 months the seller has to prove that the fault wasn't present when you received the item, after that you have to prove that the fault was there when you received it. You also didn't say whether a repair has happened; after a repair it would be impossible to prove anything about the defect. If you haven't paid yet, the important things are EU law, _and_ that you haven't caused the damage and no reason to believe you did.
(You have to _prove_ the fault was there when you bought the item. But clearly with every fault either it was faulty when bought, or you damaged it, or someone else damaged it. If the item is something that shouldn't break without visible outside damage, and there is no visible damage, that would look like you bought it with the fault).
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:4, Informative)
Amongst other things he forgot to mention is battery life. First review I could find:
Since heat has a negative effect on battery life, the included 6-cell, 51Wh battery was simply not enough to accommodate a portable power-house like the Envy 15. It scored 1 hour 55 minutes in MobileMark 2007 tests. Meanwhile, similar systems like the MacBook Pro 15-inch and Dell XPS 16 delivered scores of 5 hours 30 minutes and 4 hours 20 minutes, respectively.
And the heat management does not seem to be on par with my experience with MacBookPro, also seem to explain the poor battery life:
The palm rests registered 89-92 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 110 degrees in the base—while idling.
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:4, Informative)
So PCs can't match the Retina display, and Macs can't match the myriad of other hardware options like a bluray drives, top of the line GPUs, swivel displays, touch screens, ruggedized hardware, dock connectors, wireless displays, or track pads that double as a secondary information display [razerzone.com]. Seriously, if you want to get into a battle of "we have hardware you don't have" you're going to lose. I mean, can you even configure a Macbook with integrated WWAN?
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:4, Informative)
Plus, whenever CNET does a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air-like Top 5 video podcast, at least one of them ends up costing more than the Apple product they're comparing to, and usually has a detrimental issue too (cheap case, etc..) Also, on other PC laptop reviews, whenever they talk about the trackpads, they almost always make comparisons to the trackpads in Mac laptops, once in a while getting to "almost as good as"..
(BTW, I don't have a MacBook Air.)
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
it's only there now because they got their ass handed to them in court already.
Re:Apple needs to think a bit more... (Score:3, Informative)
Right, and that backs up the 1.5 to 2 times the price argument, because a zenbook can be had for $500-666... Wait, no, a zenbook with the i5 from the bottom end MBA costs $950...