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After being hit with a fine for misleading customers, Apple has quietly updated its warranty coverage throughout Europe to remind customers that they are entitled to two years free protection in the EU.
Back in December 2011, Apple received a £750,000 slap on the wrist from Italy's Antitrust Authority for duping customers into buying its pricy AppleCare Protection Plan.
According to the legalise on Apple's site, customers got a one year warranty for free but need to pay up for AppleCare (which costs anywhere from £26 to £280, depending on the product) if they want to extend that to two or three years.
The problem came because Apple forgot to explicitly tell customers that it is obligated to offer a two year warranty throughout Europe (if not longer, in some member states) free of charge, under EU consumer protection laws.
Apple appealed the fine, but then lost that appeal at the end of March. Apple will now appeal the appeal on 9 May.
Apple's warranty webpage now states, "European Union consumer law provides statutory warranty rights in addition to the coverage you receive from the Apple One-Year Limited Warranty." It also says that, "non-Apple-branded products purchased from Apple are also eligible for coverage under EU consumer law."
But some still aren't happy with Apple's clarification. There's a big disparity between the coverage offered in the first year -- by Apple -- and in the second year -- under EU law.
For the first year, you're offered a repair or replacement for "defects arising after customer takes delivery". After 12 months are up, you'll only get service if you can prove the fault was "present when customer takes delivery" (emphasis Apple's).
After year one, it's up to the customer to prove that their broken iPad camera or dodgy iMac screen was a result of the manufacturing process, rather than the customer's fault.
The Dutch aren't particularly happy, either. Consumer group Consumentenbond says that Apple's new document is a start -- but it isn't clear enough about specific Dutch consumer laws.
A spokesperson said ( machine translated), "the Dutch law offers consumers more protection than the European legal minimum of two years. That information is tucked away in a footnote. Apple still gives no information about what this Dutch scheme involves and how it relates to the warranty that Apple offers."
Image: Apple Care / <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/benhinc/">Ben Hinc</a> / <a rel="xh:license xh:license xh:license license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0</a>
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
