To all you diggers, this is now on Digg. Please go and digg it -
hopefully it will get some publicity if it hits the main page.
http://digg.com/tech_news/Apple_discriminates_against_Australians
On 06/09/2006, at 2:44 PM, Martin Hill wrote:
Well, it looks like news of how Apple is handling the battery
recall here in
Australia is making the news. It will be interesting to see if the
bad
publicity results in a change to Apple Australia's Battery Recall
policy.
-Mart
-----------------------
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34153
Apple discriminates against Australians
Neglignet recall behaviour down under
By Charlie Demerjian
Tuesday 05 September 2006, 15:29
APPLE APPEARS TO BE DISCRIMINATING against customers in Australia
over the
battery recall <http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?
article=33926> .
There is no excuse for the behavior it is showing, it sold them
defective
products, and now will not fix the problems in the same way as they
do US
customers.
If you live in the US, they will mail you a new battery ASAP,
Australia,
find a dealer, bring it in, wait a few weeks, and have a g'day
mate, hope it
doesn't explode before you get it here.
Take a look at these screenshots, taken just before midnight PST on
Monday
September 4th. The first shows where the battery recall screen
takes you if
you are in the US, the second if you have the misfortune of being
Australian, and possibly a resident of several other countries.
US
Australia
If you are in the US, you\re asked for your shipping info, and send
you a
new one with a mailer for the old one in short order. From what I
understand
it now pretty efficient about it, even after a few early teething
problems
<http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33934> . Either
way, you
get the new one before you have to return the old.
That is the US though, in Australia, you appear to have big
problems. The
same screen takes you to a service centre locater where you are
supposed to
find your nearest dealer and bring the batteries there. According
to the FAQ
<http://www.apple.com/support/batteryexchange/2006/faq/apac.html> ,
you will
get a new one in four to six weeks, maybe, with no battery to use
in the
mean time.
Our source in Australia called Apple to confirm this was indeed the
case,
and was told he would have to make two trips to an Apple service
centre to
resolve the problem, presumably one to drop the battery off,
another to pick
up the replacement a month later. Considering the geography of
Australia,
this can be a less than appealing proposition for many Apple
customers down
under, and to add insult to injury, our intrepid correspondent does
not have
a car available.
Does it get worse? Of course. The same person has a wife who
unfortunately
had a recalled MacPro battery in the last round. Guess what they
did then?
No points if you say they mailed out a battery, that is indeed the
case.
Apple was notified of this problem by the affected person on August
25, and
more than a week later, there is no resolution. The local Apple
dealer has
indicated that he will help our correspondent, but that is just the
kindness
of a local dealer, not company policy.
What we have here is a large company that sold a dangerous defective
product, and will not take appropriate action to resolve these
problems. The
fact that Apple do take the appropriate action in the US, and they
did it
before in Australia says it has the capabilities, the
infrastructure, and
the ability to do so again. For some reason, Apple is abdicating
responsibility this time.
If they make it easy, like they do in the US, people will be much more
likely to exchange these hazardous batteries. If they make the cost
of doing
so 3/4s the cost of a new battery, the two taxi trips will cost the
letter
writer $150AU, a new battery is $199AU, then what are the odds that
it will
happen?
Much as I hate to say it, this is the reason class action lawsuits
are born,
and while lawyers are icky, they do serve a purpose on occasion.
Apple has
shown the capability to fix the problem, was warned over a week
ago, and has
made other changes to the site in the mean time. Complex web sites
do not
get set up on their own, nor do dealers get informed of company
policy.
This needs to change, and change now. As always, my email is at the
top of
the page, if you are serious about fixing the problems you caused
Apple, I
can put you in touch with one of the affected individuals. That
said, you
could just respond to the emails he sent you notifying you of the
problem,
it would be much easier and less embarrassing. Better yet, Apple
could have
acted responsibly from day one
--------------------------------------
Martin Hill
email: mart "at" ozmac.com
homepages: http://mart.ozmac.com
Mb: 0417-967-969 hm: (08)9314-5242
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