14 DAY TRIAL // The Korea Herald is reporting that a 13-year-old has turned down Apple’s attempts to settle a lawsuit under the table. Lee Chul-ho had filed a suit on behalf of his 13-year-old daughter in October, seeking 294,000 won (US$251) in compensation after an Apple service center refused to fix her water-damaged iPhone 3G for free. The device was still in its one-year warranty, the suit said.
Apple reportedly claimed they could not fix the girl’s phone for free as water damage sensors found on the handset indicated exposure to high-level moisture.
If an iPhone or iPod has been damaged by liquid (for example, coffee or a soft drink), the service for such liquid damage is not covered by the Apple’s one year limited warranty.
The same policy applies even for those who purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan (APP).
iPhone models and iPod models that were built after 2006 have built-in Liquid Contact Indicators that will show whether the device has been in contact with water or a liquid containing water.
The family, however, denied that this had been the case with their daughter’s iPhone.
The report claims that an attorney for Apple’s Korean operations attempted to settle with the family under the table.
In exchange for repairing the iPhone for free, Apple’s legal allegedly asked the family to keep quiet and not speak of the incident to the press.
The family, however, refused Apple’s settlement claiming that their goal was actually to ensure that this doesn’t happen to other Apple customers.
“Although we filed the suit to receive the repair fees, the ultimate purpose of the suit was aimed at demanding that Apple improve its service policy so that people facing similar situations can get back unjustly paid repair expenses,” Lee said.
“There is no point of raising the suit if only one individual gets compensation,” he concluded. The court hearing is to take place on January 13, the Korean paper says.