Apple gives in, two year warranty for Europe

Re:Apple gives in, two year warranty for Europe by hackermom on Sunday April 01, 2012 @12:06PM (#3784022)

This isn't an extension of the one-year warranty. It's a clarification of the consumer complaint period and an acknowledgement of it. While EU mandates a minimum of 2 years, in some countries, this time period can be longer, like in Sweden where it's 3 years. However, there is a big difference between warranty and a consumer complaint case: Apple's warranty covers things that break after the customer has received the product - essentially a guarantee that the customer will be able to enjoy 12 months of fault-free goods - while a consumer complaint case covers defects and flaws (including false or erroneous marketing) that were present in the product before the customer received it. Examples of this can be a manufacturer claiming that an LCD screen is a 24-bit truecolor display while it is in fact an 18-bit dithering display, or claiming a certain resolution for a digital camera higher than the camera's sensor can actually provide.

If something in the product that was working ok and as advertised for 1 year suddenly breaks, you're not covered by Apple's warranty, and you're not covered by the consumer protection laws of the EU. If you within the established consumer complaint time period find that something about the product isn't as it should or isn't as advertised, you have a legal right to a full refund providing that you can prove that the problem in question accompanied the product when you received it.

The bottom line: you still just have 1 year of warranty, but now Apple also lets you know that you have another type of consumer right that extends beyond the warranty period.

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Re:Apple gives in, two year warranty for Europe by morsch on Sunday April 01, 2012 @02:33PM (#3784507)

At least here in Germany, in many ways, the two-years "consumer complaint time" works out as an implied warranty. When I'm not discussing the difference between Apple's manufacturer warranty (Garantie in German) and the legally required one (Gewährleistung), I'd simply translate it as warranty. If anything, the protection offered by the Gewährleistung extend beyond the ones offered my many manufacturer warranties.

If any piece of electronics dies within two years that's not expected the die from mere use (e.g. laptop batteries), I immediately return it to the shop I bought it from (not the manufacturer) and I can typically expect some sort of remedy; repair, replacement or a refund. I'm not sure how much of it directly derives from the EU regulations, I sort of expected it to be very similar in other EU countries but I might be wrong.

Incidentally, we also get fourteen days to return anything bought online for a full refund, no questions asked, including shipping costs for for stuff >40 EUR. Naturally it ends up being a zero-sum game, the shops have to recoup those costs some way.

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Re:Apple gives in, two year warranty for Europe by xyzzyz on Sunday April 01, 2012 @04:07PM (#3784717)

In Poland, if a disagreement between sale contract and reality is found before 6 months from sale have passed, it is assumed that it existed when sale contract was made. If product does not work, and the fault is not on customer's side, it is considered to be a disagreement between contract and reality, and the seller is required to fix or replace the product. This way, there's a 6 months implied warranty on almost everything.

Of course, 6 months is less then 1 year, but I can easily imagine it to be extended further.

Also, IANAL.

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