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  • Italian Antitrust Group Threatens to Temporarily Close Italian Apple Operations
    by
    Phillip Swanson
    Published on 07-02-2012 12:59 PM
    16 Comments Comments



    Apple’s warranty policies hav resulted in some terse legal exchanges with foreign nations like Taiwan, who made Apple offer a 7-day return policy on App Store purchases. However, the ongoing legal battle with Italy over Apple’s AppleCare warranty policy could result in the temporary closure of Apple’s Italian operations.

    Italian antitrust authorities already made Apple pay nearly $1.2 million in fines after the company lost an appeal in March. Now the Italian government has threatened Apple with another fine, and possible “temporary closure of its operations in Italy” if Apple doesn’t amend its warranty policy to comply with EU law.
    Apple Inc was threatened with the temporary closure of its operations in Italy and with further fines of up to 300,000 euros ($377,500) if it does not offer customers a free two-year warranty as demanded by Italian law… The AGCM said in its monthly bulletin that Apple was continuing to adopt unfair commercial practices in Italy and noted this could eventually lead to the closure of its Italian operations for up to 30 days. — Reuters
    The previous $1.2 million fine seems to have had little influence over Apple’s warranty policy. This isn’t surprising considering how insignificant $1.2 million is to Apple. Apple still offers what Reuters calls a “free one-year guarantee scheme, which can be extended” with a fee of course. The underhanded aspect of Apple’s “scheme” is that the company encourages customers to purchase the extended AppleCare without informing them Apple is required to offer a two-year free warranty by EU law.

    Perhaps shutting down Italian operations and the threat of as many as 10 more countries taking similar action will force Apple to institute the policy.

    Source: Reuters [via 9to5Mac]
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Italian Antitrust Group Threatens to Temporarily Close Italian Apple Operations started by Phillip Swanson View original post
    Categories:
    1. iPhone,
    2. iPad,
    3. iOS,
    4. Apple,
    5. Mac,
    6. iPad
    Comments 16 Comments
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-02-2012, 01:14 PM
      Stupid policy....

      I don't understand why it should matter at all...
    1. dsg's Avatar
      dsg - 07-02-2012, 01:23 PM
      Why is it stupid, it's EU law, Appl£ should adhere to it or close up shop,

      Look at it like this, A company sets up shop in your country and blatantly ignores your counties laws, which gives the customer a bad deal

      how would that make you feel?
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-02-2012, 01:33 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by dsg View Post
      Why is it stupid, it's EU law, Appl£ should adhere to it or close up shop,

      Look at it like this, A company sets up shop in your country and blatantly ignores your counties laws, which gives the customer a bad deal

      how would that make you feel?
      I'm talking about the warranty policy in general. 2 years is a bit much. 1 year should be the minimum.
    1. dsg's Avatar
      dsg - 07-02-2012, 01:38 PM
      Companies used to have more faith in there products, you used to be able to get a lifetime guarantee for some products, I personally think two years is great, but it should come from the maker of the product not a law
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-02-2012, 01:39 PM
      That's what I'm saying too bro. Apple's products are made very well, so they really shouldn't have to have a 2 year guarantee. It'd just give more people an excuse to drop it and come in crying for a new iPhone.
    1. MPS3's Avatar
      MPS3 - 07-02-2012, 02:34 PM
      all product sold in EU comes with 2 years warranty
      so not so stupid
      its the law there
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-02-2012, 02:35 PM
      That's what we were discussing the whole time?
    1. Painkiller006's Avatar
      Painkiller006 - 07-02-2012, 02:54 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by H4CK3R View Post
      That's what I'm saying too bro. Apple's products are made very well, so they really shouldn't have to have a 2 year guarantee. It'd just give more people an excuse to drop it and come in crying for a new iPhone.
      If Apple's product are made very well then it shouldn't matter if EU laws says 2 or even 5 years warranty. But like the article says, Apple wants you to buy something extra that you don't need because the law says you have 2 years warranty on the product.
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-02-2012, 03:09 PM
      It's that and the fact that people like to make claims that their iPhone hardware 'failed' when they really tried to modify it or something.
    1. hank197857's Avatar
      hank197857 - 07-02-2012, 04:09 PM
      it's not clear here to me what the two-year warranty entails. does it allow the customer a full refund? an exchange? free repair service? i suppose it doesn't matter. the law is the law. it wouldn't be difficult for apple to comply. even if it were difficult, it's still the law. comply or do business elsewhere. samsung will gladly flood the void. i'm sure apple knows this and will be more than happy to abide accordingly. speaking of samsung, when is the new iphone arriving?
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-02-2012, 05:35 PM
      People are *guessing* it'll be here in either August or September.
    1. rkswat's Avatar
      rkswat - 07-03-2012, 05:28 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by H4CK3R View Post
      That's what we were discussing the whole time?
      Seems like the only one that doesn't get this is you. So you're saying you would rather have a one year warranty than a two year warranty. Yeah, that makes sense. You live under power lines or something?
    1. hank197857's Avatar
      hank197857 - 07-03-2012, 07:31 AM
      well, the lag time between the release of the s3 and the upcoming release of the iphone 5 is giving iphone users an opportunity to sample the samsung goodies. coupled with fines and lawsuits, apple may wish to rethink its marketing strategy. yes, it has worked quite well up to now, but as we can see, a cool wind is blowing.
    1. H4CK3R's Avatar
      H4CK3R - 07-03-2012, 07:32 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by rkswat View Post
      Seems like the only one that doesn't get this is you. So you're saying you would rather have a one year warranty than a two year warranty. Yeah, that makes sense. You live under power lines or something?
      I never said that, I'm just saying they shouldn't have to give out 2 year warranties.
    1. Gioshanghai's Avatar
      Gioshanghai - 07-03-2012, 10:59 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by rkswat View Post
      Seems like the only one that doesn't get this is you. So you're saying you would rather have a one year warranty than a two year warranty. Yeah, that makes sense. You live under power lines or something?
      I laughed for 20 minutes....
    1. Agent929's Avatar
      Agent929 - 07-05-2012, 12:31 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by rkswat View Post
      Seems like the only one that doesn't get this is you. So you're saying you would rather have a one year warranty than a two year warranty. Yeah, that makes sense. You live under power lines or something?
      A 2 year warranty is Excessive for any electronic product in my opinion.

      Plus...he never said that. I would think you don't quite understand something lol.
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