14 DAY TRIAL // Apple seems reluctant to play ball when it comes to the imposed two-year warranty for expensive electronics all around the world. In Australia, the company has reportedly instructed retail staffers to hide some warranty details from the public.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Apple has announced a change in policy regarding its standard 12-month warranty which has conflicted with laws involving consumer electronics worldwide.
In Australia, Apple now offers the imposed 24-month warranty for expensive electronics, but it is reportedly trying to hide this aspect from the public.
“The change was announced to Apple staff via email and to resellers on a web portal and first revealed publicly by Apple enthusiast website MacTalk.com.au,” reports smh.com.au.
“But it appears some high-up employees within Apple don't want the change talked about too widely. One email Fairfax Media has seen, which was circulated within an Australian Apple store, told staff not to talk to customers about the detail of Apple's new policy,” the Australian paper adds.
In other words, Apple is not very pleased to have its hand forced like this. One reason behind such a decision would be to sell the AppleCare extended warranty service to customers.
The rumor certainly can’t be confirmed, especially since Apple Australia media spokeswoman Fiona Martin declined to make a comment.
AppleInsider cites Rod Stowe, Fair Trading commissioner for the New South Wales government, as saying that it’s “rather surprising and disingenuous” for Apple to hide the details of the 24-month warranty.
“To instruct your staff to not let people know is something that seems of quite concern, and I don't understand why they wouldn't want to be upfront about it. Apple seems to be generally one of those businesses that is quite responsible to problems,” Stowe added.
Of course, that internal memo could have been wrongly interpreted. It’s also worth noting that Apple is a highly secretive company, not necessarily with the intent to deceive the public.