Mikey Campbell
Apple has agreed to pay out $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the company of replacing products covered by AppleCare and AppleCare+ with refurbished devices, an alleged breach of advertised policies.
Dating back to a complaint filed in 2016, the class action lawsuit takes aim at Apple's practice of replacing products covered by its first-party warranties with refurbished equipment. The strategy is claimed to run afoul of false advertising and unfair competition laws.
Apple's documentation notes AppleCare and AppleCare+ services promise to repair an iPhone or iPad that exhibits a hardware defect or accidental damage, or replace it with a device that is "equivalent to new in performance and reliability." Plaintiffs in the case argue that remanufactured or refurbished hardware does not meet Apple's stated criteria.
The tech giant attempted to have the case tossed by arguing, among other points, that plaintiffs were unable to prove that reported issues were caused by used parts and that AppleCare's "equivalent to new" statute does not mean "new." Those efforts failed and a class was certified in 2019.
Lawyers for the class further claimed that Apple illegally profits by charging customers premium prices for AppleCare and AppleCare+, but fails to deliver on that contract.
The parties failed to reach a settlement during three mediations, but came to a resolution after a fourth session held on June 30, 2021, under the guidance of retired Judge Rebecca Westerfield.
Should it be granted by presiding Judge William H. Orrick, the settlement provides for a common fund of $95 million, which is anticipated to be whittled down to between $63.4 million and $68.2 million after administrative costs, incentive awards and attorneys' fees are deducted. That final amount is expected to cover 13% to 25% of estimated damages as assigned by plaintiffs' expert witnesses.
The motion for settlement was filed last Friday and spotted by MacRumors on Monday.
Members of the class are designated as individuals who purchased AppleCare or AppleCare+, either directly or through the iPhone Upgrade Program, on or after July 20, 2012, and received a remanufactured replacement device. The class period cutoff date is set at Sept. 30, 2021.
Potential class members can find more information at www.replacementdevicelawsuit.com.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
15 Comments
Does it apply to Canadians? I had a 6S plus replaced in 2017 under Apple Care.
If a device needs to be replaced under warranty, it should be with a new device. In the case of AppleCare, the contract should make the terms crystal clear and up front.
Refurbished devices should be labelled as such, discounted and sold through the relevant channels.
It's been years since I had an AppleCare policy but at the time there was a lot of 'may and might' in there and on key issues like on site repair.
I also have issues with repairs involving known potentially faulty parts (due to design or manufacturing issues). An age old practice.
I wonder if the butterfly keyboard will ever pop up in court and force Apple to reveal its internal communication on the design and functionality.
I had my SE replaced in 2019 because Apple apparently destroyed it replacing the battery. I thought that was odd. The phone they replaced it with, the camera didn’t take anywhere near as good of photos and I believe this is why.
When I got my iPhone SE, The first one, the battery was bad. It began to swell within about a week. I took it in and a few days later received a replacement SE. In all likelihood it was a refurb unit, meaning that they had gone through it front to back to make sure it was in top condition. So I got a refurb unit, and you know what, I DIDN’T GIVE A DAMN THAT IT WASN’T BRAND NEW.
I have assumed that with any device or appliance that needed to be replaced rather than repaired under warranty, I could receive a refurbished unit. As long as it looked new, and worked, I was happy. I remember returning a couple of 64GB Apple TVs years ago, to exchange for 32GB ones. One had been opened but I never took the ATV out while the other was in with intact shrink wrap. The Apple person opened both - that was policy - to return to Apple. I am sure they both were sold then as 'refurbished', so that is why refurbished always are like new.