Apple is investigated over its AppleCare package in EU–AppleCare under fire

iPhans will call it as unjustified, but at the same time they simply call EU Vs. Microsoft as justified and now they may call it as EU needs money to cover its bad debts. In any case it is mandatory of two year guarantee in EU, sheesh I would love to have it here in US as a consumer. AppleCare comes with 1 year warranty and anyone in EU who purchased Apple product would be eligible for second year guarantee. And it seems Apple or its retailers either ignored it to inform its users about this or not prominently advertised it. That made Italian Regulators to fine Apple for 1.16 million USD (900,000 Euros), which of course is just a tiny drop in the ocean though. Taking this as a cue, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is calling for an investigation by the EU’s 27 states. Bloomberg is reporting Reding wrote member countries to verify that Apple and its retailers failed to advertise and inform buyers’ right to a minimum two-year warranty for products such as the iPhones and iPads.

“Apple prominently advertised that its products come with a one-year manufacturer warranty but failed to clearly indicate the consumers’ automatic and free-of-cost entitlement to a minimum two-year guarantee under EU law,” Reding said to ministers in the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg News. “These are unacceptable marketing practices.”

In addition to this The Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection is also looking into AppleCare.

Of course, Fanbois or Fangals complain that EU found fining successful companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Intel etc. would help the struggling economy there and bailout the struggling countries in Europe. One thing for sure, most of my Apple fan friends think fining Microsoft and Google is right, but not Apple.

Sources: Bloomberg, 9to5Mac

Images: Apple