Apple rejects repairing imac under consumer law (UK, England)

[GrumpyShrimp]

Hi there, Apple has rejected repairing the screen of a 5 year old iMac that’s facing image ghosting on the display. The device was shown and confirmed that the damage is hardware failure and not user induced (by an Apple store repairman).

Is the display considered a consumable? To my understanding if it’s a hardware failure that’s not a battery fault, the device merits a repair under the consumer law. The device purchased on June 2015 from Apple.

Below is what they’ve said to us as a response.

https://imgur.com/a/92LlsU8

This is apples page regarding consumer law in the UK: https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

To my understanding, a hardware failure like this screen case is a defect. Most screens would not fail after just 5 years of use. Consider if your television did that. Does anyone know what steps to take after this rejected proposal?

 

[leman]

I assume that you are looking for a free (warranty) repair? In this case it would probably make most sense if you contacted your lawyer or a consumer protection group. I doubt that these forums can help with a legal issue of this kind.

 

[James_C]

To make a valid claim you need to prove that it is a manufacturing defect and within 6 years if you are in England and Wales, 5 years in Scotland.

Also the claim needs to be made against the retailer not the manufacturer. Did you buy the laptop directly from Apple ?

The bit about the manufacturing defect is you need to prove the display had an inherent defect in it when you purchased it. This is a bit of a grey area for the fault that you have. Might be worth another go if you purchased it from Apple and you don't live in Scotland.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

In this case it would probably make most sense if you contacted your lawyer or a consumer protection group.

...I don't think that would be economical for even a high-end five-year-old iMac. Under the worst-case scenario where Apple or the other retailer continues to refuse, and OP is sure they're in the right and willing to fight, they'd presumably be looking at small-claims court, which still means no lawyer. (I'm pretty sure small claims works similarly in the UK to the US...)

 

[brianmowrey]

To my understanding, a hardware failure like this screen case is a defect. Most screens would not fail after just 5 years of use.

"Hardware failure," as you put it, due to aging/usage is only "a defect" if the law, in this particular use, is understood to mean it to be.

The border between what the market calls defective vs nondefective on a given product/component is usually reflected in the manufacturer warranty, even though we expect most of the products we buy to outlive that boundary, and would not buy expensive things otherwise. It's not a guarantee.

You have five years to make a claim, but your claim would have to present that the display was improperly manufactured from the moment you bought it. Apple obviously does not feel you can make this claim as the display was working for five years. They might be wrong, but ask a lawyer.

 

[hobowankenobi]

...I don't think that would be economical for even a high-end five-year-old iMac. Under the worst-case scenario where Apple or other retailer continues to refuse, and OP is sure they're in the right and willing to fight, they'd presumably be looking at small-claims court, which still means no lawyer. (I'm pretty sure small claims works similarly in the UK to the US...)

Or...perhaps threaten to get a consumer advocate group involved? Nobody likes bad press. If there is such a group locally, they may have insight based on other local area claims or hurdles.

 

[ruka.snow]

Follow the instructions and pay for the repair for your 5 year old machine or buy a new machine. Over 5 years all kinds of things happen to screens, including them getting dimmer over time or failing. It's an old machine.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Hi there, Apple has rejected repairing the screen of a 5 year old iMac that’s facing image ghosting on the display. The device was shown and confirmed that the damage is hardware failure and not user induced (by an Apple store repairman).

Is the display considered a consumable? To my understanding if it’s a hardware failure that’s not a battery fault, the device merits a repair under the consumer law. The device purchased on June 2015 from Apple.

Below is what they’ve said to us as a response.

https://imgur.com/a/92LlsU8

This is apples page regarding consumer law in the UK: https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

To my understanding, a hardware failure like this screen case is a defect. Most screens would not fail after just 5 years of use. Consider if your television did that. Does anyone know what steps to take after this rejected proposal?

5 years is actually quite a long time for a screen to last (depending on usage). I think you would be very fortunate to find the law helps. If it was 2-3 years old then maybe. But after 5 years of use its reasonable to say the defect wasn't there from day one.

By the way Eizo who sell there hi end screens with a 5 year warranty limit it to 10,000 hours rather than 5 actual years. But I don't know if its possible to see how many hours an iMac screen has been used. If it was and you could show its had little use (hours), then there maybe a better chance.

 

[pmiles]

I have a 4K HD television that has a stuck pixel that causes a horizontal and vertical line to cross the screen. The display is fully functional, it merely has a visual defect, which is mostly only really noticeable in dark scenes. This sort of defect would have to have been present at the time of purchase in order for me to have it replaced. If it happened a week into use, it's all on me. Mine showed up just after of year of use. Not worth the price of a new TV to get rid of it as I have learned to ignore it.

If your display still functions and is still usable, albeit with a visual defect present, the display hasn't failed by any legal definition. Display manufacturers are pretty good at defining just what constitutes a visual defect versus a manufacturing defect. It's also why most warranties are written to cover the very period that you are most likely not going to suffer from a problem. Outside that window, the chances go up exponentially and they don't care because it's out of warranty.

I remember when you had to have a certain number of dead/stuck pixels in order for it to be considered a manufacturing defect. That was when stuck/dead pixels were almost synonymous with any non-CRT display.

 

[homonto]

Hi there, Apple has rejected repairing the screen of a 5 year old iMac that’s facing image ghosting on the display. The device was shown and confirmed that the damage is hardware failure and not user induced (by an Apple store repairman).

Is the display considered a consumable? To my understanding if it’s a hardware failure that’s not a battery fault, the device merits a repair under the consumer law. The device purchased on June 2015 from Apple.

Below is what they’ve said to us as a response.

https://imgur.com/a/92LlsU8

This is apples page regarding consumer law in the UK: https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

To my understanding, a hardware failure like this screen case is a defect. Most screens would not fail after just 5 years of use. Consider if your television did that. Does anyone know what steps to take after this rejected proposal?

I went to Apple store in UK where I bought my Macbook Air, it was 2 weeks after 1 year warranty expired. The display developed vertical lines.
They did NOT replace it for free, and their motivation was: "please prove it was broken when you bought it - not under warranty repair, 450GBP". There was nobody to talk to about it - sh.t.
I replaced display for 180GBP by independent service.

 

[MapleBeercules]

I went to Apple store in UK where I bought my Macbook Air, it was 2 weeks after 1 year warranty expired. The display developed vertical lines.
They did NOT replace it for free, and their motivation was: "please prove it was broken when you bought it - not under warranty repair, 450GBP". There was nobody to talk to about it - sh.t.
I replaced display for 180GBP by independent service.

I had the same situation but it was 2 weeks before the warranty expired and they repaired it no questions asked.
I also had an issue where I stepped on my 13 inch macbook pro and bent the crap out of it. It would have costs me nearly 700$ out of pocket but apple included a keyboard replacement (butterfly crap) so it only costs me 400$ to replace the upper case (which includes new battery). So apple will work with you but only if you realize they dont have too.

Apple once repaired a macbook air that dropped out of an airplane, so if your nice enough to them, they will help you best they can.