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.
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. 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, 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.
