Apple to issue refunds for sparky, prematurely dying products
Canadian iPods and US power adapters get what's coming
Apple has agreed to give US and Canadian customers two separate settlement offers to make charges of faulty and misrepresented products go away.
Canadian owners of older iPods can get a CDN $45 (credit) rebate over claims the battery life in its devices were much shorter than advertised.
Americans who purchased replacement power adapters for Powerbook and iBook notebooks will get cash refunds betweeen USD $25 and $79 over accusations the device did a fine impersonation of a Morning Glory sparkler on Independence Day.
Assuming they kept the receipts.
Eight hours of muswughla...
Apple Canada is offering CDN $45 (~ USD $44.70, £23) store credit to as many as 80,000 customers who purchased first-, second-, and third-generation iPods before June 24, 2004.
The settlement, expected to be finalized by June 20, is the result of two lawsuits alleging Apple misrepresented the lifespan of iPod batteries.
The plaintiffs, Bradley Waddell of Toronto and Ines Lenzi of Montreal, claim the older iPod batteries failed after only three hours between recharges, rather than the eight hours advertised.
Take note the settlement is as good as $45 in Apple funbucks - customers get store credit that's only usable at Apple's online retail store.
And even then:
A Store Credit may not be used on the Apple online education store or any Apple online specialty store, and may not be used to purchase gift cards, gift certificates, software downloads, iTunes content, refurbished products, any products which are not Applebranded, or any products redeemable for cash. More specifically, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a Store Credit cannot be used to purchase or obtain a refund on iTunes content, iTunes Store Cards, iTunes Store Gift Certificates, iTunes Song Codes or Allowances, or any products redeemable for iTunes content.
A copy of the settlement is available here (PDF warning). More details on how to recieve the credit should be made available as the settlement nears finalization.
Sparky the wonder adapter
Apple will pay US customers refunds between $25 and $79 to settle claims that some of its power adapters overheat and shoot out sparks.
In 2001, Apple recalled about 570,000 adapters used for Powerbooks because of the overheating issues. But some customers complained that Apple wasn't truthful about the full scope of the problem, and a lawsuit was filed in 2006 in US District Court in San Jose, California.
A settlement for the cash rebate was reached in March, and is currently awaiting final approval in September. Once again, more details on how to receive the money will likely arrive closer to that date. ®
COMMENTS
No way.....
Apple misrepresent??
You mean their I-mac commercials which say MAC computers aren't prone to virus' like PC isn't the first misreprensentation?
Apple must be stuck in a universe of their own.
Maybe I got lucky..
I got my first gen ipod.. circa 2001. Lasted till about 2006 of near constant usage. I used it as a music player during the majority of the day (8 hours or so total), then I'd get home and use it as a portable hard drive (woo 5gb!). Finally, in about late 2005, my battery life started dying so that I'd only get about 2 hours a day out of it, and then in early 2006, it became pretty much unusable as the battery would die even while it was off.
I've had many MP3 players in my day, several before the ipod, and several after.. I was always happiest with my ipod. Even iTunes isn't -that- bad, especially compared to the utter shit that is the crap a sony I briefly had, shipped with. (You know the one, sold as an MP3 player, but doesn't support MP3s.. needs to be converted by the SLOWEST algorithm I've ever seen).
I also bought a Samsung video mp3 player, worked ok except for the screen sucked, battery life sucked - but it -was- linux compatible (via a hidden usb drive feature).
Seems fair.
So Apple are admitting there is a problem and offering a small cash settlement to those who have incurred a fault. I think that is noble and rightly so, only receipt holders qualify. This is more than some manufactures offer. True the sum offered is only going to cover some or maybe all of the cost of a new charger but again what more do you want? Oh wait we are talking US and Canada here, yea, enough to clear the mortgage, change for a Hum-Vee and burgers for life yeaaa compensation culture!
" Yea Ma take that ole' Apple thang back to tha mall see if youl can get us enough for a new RV'
@ remember, apple products are more aerodynamic than pc stuff....
Ooh an apple tossing contest....
Ahh... That explains why tossers like Apple.
