Apple faces US$9-Million fine in Australia
As per a news source, the Australian Federal Court has ordered Apple to pay $9 million as penalty for making false or misleading representations to customers with faulty iPhones and iPads about their rights under the Australian consumer law.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took action against Apple US and Apple Australia, following an investigation of complaints relating to “error 53”. This error disables some iPhones and iPads after owners download an update to Apple’s iOS operating system.
Apple US admits that it had represented to at least 275 Australian customers from February 2015 to February 2016 affected by the error that they were no longer eligible for a remedy if their device had been repaired by a third party. These representations were made on Apple’s US website by Apple Australia’s staff in-store and on its customer service phone calls.
Apple has implemented an outreach program to compensate individual consumers whose devices were made inoperable by error 53; the program is extended to around 5,000 consumers. They have also offered a court enforceable undertaking to improve staff training, audit information about warranties and detail Australian consumer law on its website, as well as improve its systems and procedures to ensure future compliance.
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