[Macpartners] Apple Powerbook Display Scam

[John C. Welch]

On 2/17/04 9:10 AM, "Matthew Walburn" <matt at math.mit.edu> wrote:

>> The article with Apple's policy is here:
>> 
>> http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=22194
> 
> I understand the policy.
> 
> My primary issue is that since this IS their policy, that they owe it
> to their customers to make this policy known at the time of purchase.
> It's unethical and misleading to sell a $3000 computer in good faith to
> someone and then have this little "policy" hidden away to cover them
> when things go wrong. It's blatant deception of consumers... executed
> because apparently Apple won't stand behind the quality of their
> displays.

Caveat Emptor. Every LCD manufacturer has done this for well over ten years.
It's not a case of quality, or standing behind things. It's a case of
manufacturing limitations. Apple could very easily reject all screens with
even the slightest imperfections.

But that costs more. That cost is not absorbed by Apple, nor is it absorbed
by the factory making the LCD screens. It's absorbed by the consumer.

This is not limited to the computer industry. Anything you buy is going to
have "an acceptable range of defects". Cars have them, etc. If the defect
isn't critical, then you're going to kind of be stuck with it. As well,
since Apple does have the policy on their web site, (the modern day
equivalent of "fine print"), it is feasible for you to know this policy
ahead of time. (ignorance of such a policy does not make it null and void)

Having said that, you MAY have a chance to get this fixed, depending on how
you approach this. Calm, rational, and non-hostile will get you a LOT
farther than anger. When you get hostile, the willingness of people to bend
rules or put themselves out shrinks rapidly. I've had good luck with such
things because I set my anger aside.

> 
> If this is going to be their policy, one of the following should be
> true: a) customers need to be educated of this policy at the time of
> purchase, so that they can decide if they want to take the risk, or b)
> customers need to be allowed to examine the merchandise they are about
> to spend that considerable amount of cash on. Why doesn't Apple allow
> these things? Because if they did they wouldn't be able to sell as many
> LCDs.  They'd be be forced to step up their quality control and that
> would affect their profit margins. Instead, Apple (literally) gives you
> a black box, one that you're not allowed to open before purchase. How
> convenient for them.

Who says you're not allowed to open it before purchasing? Did you ask? Have
you checked appropriate laws on things? Why would you assume that you can't
open it? As well, why do you assume it's endemic. I have no less than 4 LCD
screens from Apple in my house, they're all perfect. I've owned or used 9
Powerbooks, never had an LCD problem. Does that mean my experience is the
rule? Well, for me. Yours is different.

But, to be blunt, no company has a defect list on their products. No company
has a list of every known possible defect. There is a reasonable assumption
that anyone spending thousands of dollars on something would do some
research on such policies. Error is unavoidable, and there is no product
manufactured that is 100% error free.

> 
> Would you buy a car if you weren't allowed to kick the tires a bit and
> take it for a test drive? I don't think so. The only reason I didn't
> insist on this with the laptop is because I was told I had 10 days to
> return a defective item, with no stipulations explained to me as to
> what constitutes "defective". It is not the consumers responsibility to
> dig through Apple's knowledge base to become educated on the gotchas of
> their return policy, it's the responsibility of Apple and their sales
> people.

Why should Apple be held to a standard that no other company or industry is
required to meet? I agree it sucks, but I fail to see why it's anyone else's
responsibility to tell you every possible thing that can go wrong at every
stage of the manufacturing process.

Perhaps they should include a warning that dropping a laptop could damage
it, with charts showing relative damage from varying heights? Of course,
that's silly. You're expected to realize that dropping something could
damage it. 

I'm really willing to bet that an polite request to power up the machine
before the sale is closed would not be taken as out of line, especially if
said request was a requirement for the sale to be complete. Especially if
you had your credit card in your hand, and that sales person was seeing that
commission floating right in front of them. And if they grumbled about it,
you were to, politely, point out that you can always get this somewhere
else.

This would work REALLY well at the Galleria, since there's an Apple Store on
Rt. 9, and Micro Center not 5 miles away, and they'll happily stick it to
the galleria.

john

-- 
Klingon programs don't do accountancy. For that,  you need a Farengi
programmer."