Not the Foundation
Apple’s $80 iPhone battery replacement program has upset the Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights, a nonprofit consumer watchdog group. Busybodies, I like to call them. The Foundation doesn’t like that Apple charges $80 to replace a battery and that Apple didn’t announce any battery replacement plans whatsoever until after the device went on sale. I’m more inclined to get upset at the latter rather than the former: replacing the battery was sure to cost something, but Apple didn’t need to wait until people had already bought the phone to drop the news. It’s just not being forthright, if not completely dishonest.
The Foundation did a little math and figures that the average consumer will need to replace their iPhone’s battery every 10 months. So, $600 phone plus $80 every 10 months… Is the iPhone really worth that kind of investment? What if someone sold you a car and said, You know, you have to replace the engine every 10 months, and it’ll cost you $2,000?
Complaint (PDF) [Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights via Macworld UK]
Issue new policies or we will have no choice but to issue another press release! This is your only warning!
Depends if it was a really cool car or not. :)
I’m more inclined to get upset at the former rather than the latter. How do companies get off charging so much for a battery?
I don’t care that they didn’t announce replacement plans beforehand. Everyone knew the battery wouldn’t be user-replaceable, just like the iPod, so no-one should have expected to be able to do it themselves. Furthermore, I doubt most people’s purchasing decision would have been altered at knowing that it would cost $80 to replace it.
Dear lord. Scooter Libby just got his sentence commuted and THIS is what people are getting upset about? It’s a freakin’ $80 battery! If you don’t like it, don’t buy an iPhone! Choose your battles!
Who in the world replaces their battery after 10 months? I’ve been running on my same old Nokia battery for three years now. Sure, I have to recharge it every other day now and it dies if I talk for more than thirty minutes at once, but hey, look at all the money I saved! ;-)
Am I the only one who knows how this really works? I feel like I’m stuck in a sick practical joke. Anyway, here come the facts…
Having been an employee at the Apple Store, I know how they handle their products and typical trends.
1. Most people never brought in iPods with problems until at least a year after purchase.
2. The iPhone is FULLY covered for a year. (unless they can see that you destroyed it)
3. The AppleCare Protection Plan (available in July) will give TWO years of full coverage.
[the following is an excerpt from Apple’s Legal iPhone Warranty]
http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/iphone.pdf
“(1) YEAR from the date of retail purchase by the original end-user purchaser (“Warranty Period”). If a hardware defect arises and a valid claim is received
within the Warranty Period, at its option and to the extent permitted by law, Apple will either (1) repair the hardware defect at no charge, using new
or refurbished replacement parts…”
There you have it. They don’t charge you to replace the battery until your warranty is up AND the protection plan ($69) is less than the cost of a battery replacement.
If you check the consumer reports, you’ll notice that they’ll tell you to NEVER buy protection plans or extended warranties… unless it’s the Apple Care Protection Plan.
Find the facts at the real site.
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/battery/
(notice how it says “Out-of-Warranty”)
Hope this information was useful.
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